Final Post

This blog was started while our new house was being built in 2016-17. It was meant to chronicle the milestones along the way, but now that we’ve lived in the house for several years, I’m posting my last entry.

The house continues to please us (despite the mortgage…) and the landscaping continues to mature. In particular, we enjoy the heated floors, the natural light, and the clarity of its lines. Regrets? I’ve had a few, but they’re not big ones. I should have used floor trusses instead of I-joists for the main floor, avoiding some of the soffits that we needed to put in for ducts (we did use floor trusses on the upper level). The mud room could have been outfitted a bit differently. The laundry room could have been a touch larger. But that’s about it. Live and learn. The entire experience of designing and building this house has made me a better architect, and I look forward to applying the lessons learned on future design efforts for clients.

If you’ve read this blog over the years, thank you!

Maturing Landscapes

After 5 years, our landscape is really coming into its own. The roof garden’s sedums are in bloom and the grasses are growing taller (they’ll get about 3 feet high), and the backyard rain garden is becoming lush with a variety of plant species.

The backyard overhead view shows a covered cage, which is for our cat. It’s covered today because of the rain.

Basement Bathroom

When we built the house in 2017, we made the decision to leave the basement bathroom and family room “roughed In” in order to save some some money. We have since decided to finish them off, and the final work in the ¾ bath is nearing completion. This is an exercise both in cost control and aesthetic experimentation. The main floor tile is the last of the excess tile we had from one of the upstairs bathrooms. The IKEA vanity’s dark gray thermofoil finish was matched for the accent wall paint and the additional tiles needed to “stretch” the tile area in order to cover the floor and base.

General contractor: E.L.F. Construction

New tile: Kate-Lo

Lighting: Robinson Lighting

Vanity, medicine cabinet, towel bar, toilet paper holder, robe hooks: IKEA

Towel “Pegboard”: Thomas Oliphant

Plumbing fixtures: IKEA, Menards

Paint: Sherwin-Williams “Grecian Ivory” and “Peppercorn”

"Houses By Design"

The house is a current feature on Fine Homebuilding’s website, on its Houses By Design Blog!

https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2020/01/30/eco-conscious-and-scandinavian-inspired

This, by the way, will likely be the last entry in the Newland Architecture House Blog. Look for an “On the Boards” or “In Development” section to replace it.

Green Roof, Year 2

The various sedums are filling out now that they’re in the middle of their second summer.

"Nordic modern home"

http://www.startribune.com/nordic-modern-home-makes-the-most-of-small-minneapolis-lot/506563172/ is a link to Lynn Underwood’s article. It’s an odd feeling to have our home in the paper!

Home of the Month

Our home will be featured in the March 3 Homes section of the StarTribune, with an article written by Lynn Underwood and photos by Aaron Lavinsky. It was an interesting experience for JoAnn and me to be interviewed by a reporter and to have the house (and us) photographed. Aaron particularly liked our very sociable cat, who may or may not appear in the feature!

In any case, it is an honor to have been selected for this, and hope that the StarTribune’s readers find aspects of the house that they like.

Shelter from the sun

The roof deck umbrella went up today, while the final green roof module aluminum edges get cut (to be installed this weekend). And we got a bargain on a propane grill! All of this in the nick of time so we can enjoy the deck a few times before winter hits!

Rear entry soffit, finally

After a mix of procrastination and other priorities, I'm finally starting to add the cedar soffit boards to the east entry soffit.

Living Roof

The LiveRoof modules are now in place on the west roof, giving us a new elevated landscape to enjoy from the deck.  All that needs to be done to complete the installation is some cutting to length of the edger pieces and some protection membrane trimming.  So far, the weather has given us no need to water!

This 160 sq. ft. installation uses two different module depths (4" and 6"), with an island of the deeper modules positioned toward the street to allow the Karl Forester grasses to be seen from below.  The entire live roof cost about $3700 from Bachman's, and we did the installation ourselves.

The front yard is done (more or less)

Today, we planted the rest of the "Fireglow" Sedum plants in the non-turf area of the front yard.  Once these grow and spread, along with the "Calgary Carpet" Juniper, the basic landscaping will be complete.

A lesson I can't seem to learn: Always get more mulch than you think you'll need.  Maybe then it will be enough.

Rain Garden basics

We calculated the drainage area that the rain garden will receive, conducted two percolation tests, and sized the basin accordingly.  We next dug out the basin and created a flat bottom, approximately 6" below the invert of the overflow drain pipe.  We've since mulched the area and are now selecting plan species for the bottom, sides, and perimeter of the garden.

The cage at lower right is for our house cat.  The dead grasses at left are a first attempt from last year at a roof terrace screen.  Trial #2 will be implemented yet this summer.

Landscaping, slowly by surely

We are plugging away at the remaining landscaping, mostly in the backyard.  Here, the completed path under the garage eave shows the pavers, crushed stone and hostas.  Many of these hostas were transplanted from a generous client who was doing a little thinning out of her garden.

Home of the Month

I'm very pleased that our home was selected to be featured in the StarTribune's Home of the Month program.  We don't know when the feature will be, but it's exciting to have been selected.

Beam splits: ??

We're wondering about some splits in the sides of both glu-lam beams, only noticed recently.  Is this normal for such large members, due to low winter humidity and the long-term drying out of the lumber?  I've asked the engineer at the firm that manufactured them.  Stay tuned!

2/26/18: This is "seasonal checking" and not a structural concern, I am told.

LEED SILVER!

No certificate today, but I was informed by the USGBC that the house is certified LEED Silver.

The certificate, at last!