The post Custom Mahogany Windows with Crank Hardware appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>Initially the client requested the windows to be made of cedar, but Dan suggested using mahogany, a much more resilient wood that holds up better under the everyday strains of window use.
The windows consist of three pieces – a fixed trapezoidal top piece, an operable outswing sash, and a fixed square window.
Dan drew out the plans for the windows first:
Below the trapezoidal section is a square section.
The client initially asked for the windows to be push-out awning windows, but due to how high up they would be Dan suggested an easier-to-use alternative: crank hardware. Below are his drawings of the operable components.
Here is a short clip of Dan demonstrating the crank-out function:
Our in-house woodshop is always creating new and interesting pieces for our clients – from custom windows and doors to live edge dining tables. Learn more about our woodshop services here.
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]]>The post Custom Ellipsis Kitchen Counter: Process & Install appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>Dan then cut the boards into the elliptical shape the designer detailed, making sure the grain was oriented in regards to how the counter will intersect with the kitchen island.
Dan then routered dadoes into the bottom of the counter in order to accept the steel grid Brian Parnell (of Parnell Design & Fabrication) fabricated to support the cantilevered counter. He oversized the dadoes so the wood would have room to expand and contract seasonally without causing damage to the wood.
Below is the steel grid that will attach to the island and support the counter.
Dan built a pony wall and assembled the counter and grid to test out the support in the shop – he wanted to make sure it worked before it was sent up to Seattle to be installed. It did!
Once it arrived in Seattle the team working on the whole house remodel project installed it in the freshly remodeled kitchen. Check it out:
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]]>The post Woodshop Wizardry: H&H Shop Transforms Challenging Slab Into Sleek Family Table appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>The slab sat in their garage for four months before they concluded that they might have gotten in a bit over their heads. At this time, a friend at Hammer & Hand reached out to see if our shop wizards could lend a hand. When MAC, H&H Operations Manager, and Dan Palmer, H&H’s Woodshop Manager, first inspected the slab, they noted a few obstacles in the way of the Jenkins’s dream table.
In an attempt to prevent the slab from twisting and bowing during the drying process, the seller had attached breadboards to each end with 5” screws drilled into the endgrain, a well-meaning attempt that had inhibited the natural flex of the wood during drying. Vast smears of beige wood filler had been applied to the cracks and knots that had opened up as the wood dried and the slab was cupped with the center rising 2” above the live edge, a serious hitch on the road to a table that wouldn’t send dishes sliding to their doom.
Dan and MAC discussed these complexities with the Jenkinses, but reiterated that the shop was confident they could work with the challenging source material. Dan proposed cutting the slab crosswise into three pieces, achieving a double golden ratio, mitigating the bowing while keeping the slab as thick as possible. To visually marry the segments, Dan proposed using two steel bands to serve as a striking design detail. Here’s an example of a similarly designed table Dan built for a client in New Hampshire:
With this first solution resolved, Dan and the client got the creative wheels turning and worked out a plan for the leg detail based off of a photo the Jenkinses had found. After a few iterations, the team landed on chevron-shaped steel legs with the lines connecting to the table surface’s steel bands. Plan in place, Dan brought in the slab and let the wood acclimate to the shop before diving in.
Mac and Dan knew that the breadboards on the end of the table had to be removed to let the wood relax and return it to an unrestricted, stable state. The Jenkinses agreed to the removal. As soon as Palmer started the surgical action of removing the breadboards, it became clear that they had also been glued on, and as the screws and glue began releasing from the wood, the full amount of tension released and a crack instantly split a third of the way down the slab’s middle. Dan went to the other side, as he started removing the second breadboard, the slab contorted under the pressure’s full release, sides flaring like a taco shell before the crack cleaved the slab the rest of the way in half.
So, yes, it looked dire. But this twist of fate (and wood) presented new strategies for the slab’s revival.
“We were devastated,” Jenny recalls. “But it’s the best thing that happened, as the guys at Hammer & Hand were able to put it back together.”
The previous warping had eased immediately when the wood was able to relax, improving the slab’s overall condition. Dan and Mac knew the shop had the chops to fix it and wanted to get the table through primary sanding to prove that their theories would work. At that point, the Jenkinses could assess if they wanted to move forward with finishing the table or nix the project altogether. They agreed, and with a new plan in mind, Dan set to work with surgical precision.
With the split down the middle and the planned crosscuts, the slab was left in six pieces small enough to be fed through a 50” sander planer to help flatten it. A minor reverse cupping remained which Dan was able to pull out and straighten, effectively shimming the slab pieces by filling the wedge-shaped cracks with marine epoxy. Shop carpenter Josh Tinker then stepped in to add butterfly-shaped Oregon Walnut wedges along the central crack to work like sutures, preventing the crack from spreading or reopening.
Encouraged by the progress on the slab, the Jenkinses gave the green light to finish the table. Thus far in the slab’s story, structural challenges had dominated the table. But with the wounds healed and the puzzle pieces reassembled, the slab wasn’t done with surprises. The initial sanding and coating revealed a truly beautiful piece of wood with striking figuring that had remained hidden.
Josh and the shop used a Rubio Monocoat penetrating oil floor finish for easy maintenance and a matte finish that doesn’t hinder the tactile feel of the wood. “The finish is absolutely perfect, it’s like butter,” Jenny says.
The shop worked with metal fabricator Brian Parnell of Parnell Design & Fabrication to mold and shape the edges of the steel bands to match the slab’s contours. It was a dance between the H&H shop and Brian to get the shapes just right, and after a few iterations they struck a true match. They added a gun blue finish to blacken and antique the steel over time, and a clear powdercoat over the finish to keep the steel’s care low maintenance for the clients.
To ensure that the slab doesn’t try to creep or move in undesirable ways, the shop reinforced the structure with a steel frame on the table’s underside with slots to give the wood room to expand and contract in a controlled manner. 3” pocket screws drilled in opposing directions underneath are a final insurance policy that the Jenkins’s dream table will stay that way for a very long time to come.
It was a long and winding road to the finished table, but everyone involved is thrilled with the results. It took incredible mastery of the materials and craft to save the table from its original condition, and Mac, Dan, and Josh are proud of how the shop was able to create something long lasting and beautiful out of such humble origins. And the clients are beyond happy to see their hopes fulfilled for that once raw, dusty slab.
“It’s truly a piece of art, each area of the slab has its own characteristics and it is so much fun to just look at. We’ve done puzzles, played games, eaten, and just stared at the thing over the last several weeks,” Jenny says. “It’s something we have wanted for a long time: a table big enough to host almost everyone we know. Come for dinner one night – we’ll show you!”
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]]>The post Whole House Remodel Gives Mt. Tabor Home New Life appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>“It was a spectacularly built home: solid brick, great design, phenomenal location, but with all the downfalls of a 1952 home,” said the client. “Inefficient electric and plumbing, no insulation.”
The team brought the home up to modern day energy efficiency standards and then some: they replaced single pane windows with high performance triple-paned Reynaers windows, added a solar array and radiant floor heat, and installed much-needed insulation inside the walls and attic. The team also replaced the existing concrete tile roof with a metal one. The work didn’t stop there, though!
Like most mid-century homes, the house did not have a master suite. To create one, the team removed a bedroom to make room for the suite, complete with his and hers vanities, new skylights, and adjoined walk-in closet.
While not as big of a change as a new master suite, another important piece of the project is the beautiful hand-milled cherry wood trim add throughout the home.
Before remodel and trim work.
The existing laundry room was located in an unfinished basement and not very accessible. The team turned that room into a music listening room and transformed an upstairs bathroom into a new laundry room.
Another jewel of this project is the new back deck. The existing deck was old, not structurally sound, and needed to be replaced.
Before
The clients had the idea of a glass deck in their minds for years, and were excited to make the dream come true during this remodel. “Michael (the architect) really ran with it and came up with an incredible design,” said the client. “We love it and it’s a spectacular piece of architecture and beauty.”
The team built the deck using structural triple-laminated glass (with an anti-slip surface) which allows natural light to filter through to both the patio below and into the windows underneath the deck.
Now they can safely enjoy the stunning NW views of Portland from their deck!
It was such a pleasure to see this outdated home transformed into a comfortable and functional space for our clients to enjoy.
“A day doesn’t go by that we don’t marvel about the happiness of how it turned out,” said the client. “The quality of living is so much better.”
Visit the Mt Tabor Mid-Century Remodel portfolio page for more photos of this project.
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]]>The post A Look Back: Highlights of 2016 appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>WONDERS FROM THE WOODSHOP
We’ve loved seeing all the amazing custom work the H&H woodshop has crafted for clients near and far in 2016. From high performance and Passive House exterior doors to elaborate pocket doors to a custom entry cabinet, our carpenters really shone last year with the stunning variety of custom work they crafted.
2ND EDITION OF BEST PRACTICES MANUAL
We released the second edition of our Best Practices Manual. The new edition included updates throughout and added new sections including vented and unvented roof assemblies, parapet walls, flat roof assemblies, air sealing, insulation, wall assemblies, and more.
TIME IN THE COMMUNITY
Last year we really enjoyed working on projects in a couple of Portland’s schools. Work at Cedarwood Waldorf School included some classroom, kitchenette, and bathroom remodels as well as installing custom-made art glass windows gifted by Cedarwood parents. Last summer we also enjoyed building an outdoor structure for the children to enjoy at Escuela Viva, a Buckman neighborhood preschool.
HOME SWEET HOMES
As always, we’re very proud of all the great work our teams have accomplished on homes in Portland and Seattle. This past year we were lucky enough to do some historic matching on a home in Laurelhurst, updated and created better indoor/outdoor connections at a home in Lake Oswego, modernized a Wallace Park home with a whole house remodel, and completed a beautiful kitchen and bath remodel in Eastmoreland, just to name a few.
HELPED BUILD BUSINESSES (LITERALLY)
We love working on commercial spaces just as much as residential, and last year we were pleased to build out spaces for some great businesses. We finished up building out an open office space for a Ballard software company featuring reclaimed wood details, a bull pen, and separate offices for focused work. Our Seattle team also completed a restaurant TI for a new sandwiches and grits restaurant called Cycene down in Pike Place Market. In Portland, we made improvements to Red Hills Market, a gourmet deli and wine shop in Oregon’s wine country.
We had a great 2016 and look forward to many more interesting, challenging, and exciting projects in 2017!
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]]>The post 5 Ways to Add More Space to Your Home appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>Here are five home improvements you can make on your current home to get that extra space you need:
ADD AN ADDITION
Additions are the biggest way to add space to your home. Whether you build up, out, or even down (yes, it is possible to add a basement!), an addition can double the size of your home.
FINISH OUT A BASEMENT
Don’t let all that empty space underneath your home go to waste. A basement remodel is a great way to add the space you need to your home. Need a bigger laundry room? Want a guest bedroom? A basement can be just about anything you desire. If the basement has its own separate entrance you could even turn it into an accessory dwelling unit for family or for extra rental income.
ADD A BUMP OUT
If you need just a little more elbow room a bump out is a good option. A bump out can be done to add a bathroom to a bedroom, expand a small kitchen, or create a mudroom at the entry. It’s a less invasive project than an addition and is a good way to add a little extra room in one area of the home.
CREATE AN OUTDOOR LIVING SPACE
An even less invasive project that adds space is to develop part of your yard into an outdoor living space. In the project below a new outdoor fireplace and some outdoor furniture creates a second living and dining area. Outdoor living spaces can be enclosed or covered as well for year-round use.
ADD SECOND STORY BALCONY
Another way to use outdoor space is to build a second story balcony. It could be a small one that’s just big enough for a chair and side table, or could run the length of the house and serve as a larger entertaining area.
There are some other smaller projects you could take on to get a little extra space, too. Sometimes removing a few walls can open a space up and give more room where it’s needed. On the other hand, sometimes putting up new walls can create a new room or private area if that’s what you’re looking for. Architects can often find creative ways to add space to a home, so make sure to consult with one before taking on a project, and when you’re ready we’ll be happy to help you build it!
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]]>The post Restaurant TI at Pike Place Market: Before & After appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>Pike Place Market dictates what the storefront exteriors look like, so we kept the exterior as-is, but Cycene added maple butcher block tables and seating. The interior, however, received a serious facelift.
Before
After
Where tables once sat in front of the window now has a continuous counter and chairs for patrons to sit and eat while watching the bustle outside. The team kept the existing counters but gave them new fronts, paint, and maple butcher block countertops. A black and white paint job on the walls helps make the space feel bigger and more modern.
Before
After
The team also kept the existing booths, but made some modifications to update the look and comfort of the seating area. H&H cut down the booths to open up the area and provide more visual space into the restaurant. New black upholstery and paint created a clean, modern look. New hardwood flooring covers the existing concrete floor and warms up the space.
Before
After
One change the team made that isn’t visible, but may come in handy, is modifying half of the u-shaped counter in the back to be removable. The wall lifts out for easy access to the heavy duty stove in case it needs to be taken out and replaced in the future.
We really enjoyed working on this quick commercial TI project for such a great restaurant. They’re now open for business, so be sure to stop by if you’re in the Seattle area!
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]]>The post H&H in the Community: Escuela Viva appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>After meeting with the school director, it was decided that a hybrid pergola shed with a table inside would fit their needs just right. I drew up a quick sketch and began collecting usable materials. A recent project involving some demolition left us with some nice clear fir 6 x 6 posts, which would provide the post and beam structure we were looking for. Miscellaneous framing lumber found at the lay yard would fill in the roof.
As I began digging the three footings we needed, I looked past the yellow caution tape roping off the active construction site to discover I had an audience. It was not the inquisitive neighbor or extremely interested homeowner but a line of children, mouths agape, in wonder and awe about what in the world I was doing.
On day two, H&H carpenter James Fox joined the party. We started setting posts and beams as our audience filed in and took their places, 1/16 of an inch behind the caution tape. We designed an L-shaped structure with a shed roof that required a pretty funky valley but as it took shape, the children couldn’t wait to see what would happen next.
James and I decided to fillet some 4″ ABS pipe and use it as a gutter. And after measuring a few kids, we determined that the best height for a preschoolers’ activity table is 21 1/2″. But what really got the crowd cheering was when Mr. Fox carved rabbits into the fascia boards.
Our projects today are often complex, involving extensive project management. It’s refreshing to fit in a job like this, so focused on creativity and craft. At Escuela Viva, we could see a reflection of why we started building in the first place.
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]]>The post Historic Matching in Laurelhurst Tudor Remodel appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>Inside the home, the bump out provides more space in the kitchen for cooking and casual dining. The kitchen also received a full remodel, including a new built-in dining bench and custom cabinetry by Jason Hernandez of Jason Andrew Designs, marble countertops, and reframed stairs leading from the kitchen down to the basement. The team also added a mudroom entry area with built-in bench and cabinets.
Below the kitchen, the bump out also added square footage to the basement for a family room. The team also helped the homeowners make better use of their basement space by adding a built-in desk and shelves, a new bathroom, and new bedroom.
On the main floor, H&H removed French doors that closed off the dining room and kitchen to the rest of the home to create a more open, light-filled, space.
An interesting challenge the team came up against was patching the old oak floors both upstairs and downstairs. The existing historical floors are made from oak boards from 1923. Newer oak has slight aesthetic differences – it grows faster, so it has a slight grain difference and won’t take stain the same way. In order to patch the floors without contrasts, the team pulled all the old flooring from the kitchen, dining room, and foyer and used the boards to fill in patches upstairs and in the living room so those ares would have matching boards. Then they put new boards in the kitchen, dining room, and entry with transitions at the stairs. Since the new and old boards won’t take stain the same way, the team stained the boards with slightly different ratios of black to get them to match. The result is beautiful, updated hardwood floors throughout the home that maintain the historic look.
Visit the Laurelhurst Whole House Remodel project page to see more photos of this whole house remodel.
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]]>The post The Gift of a Legacy: Art Glass Windows at Cedarwood Waldorf School appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>H&H carpenters Josh Tinker and Jason Woods modified the original transom windows by building frames around them in order to fit them inside the new width of the doorway. They then installed the windows above the new doors in such a way that the reveals around the perimeter match those of the adjacent finished door. The result is a doorway that meets both ADA requirements and the aesthetic history of the school.
As you may notice in the photo above, the transom window on the left features a Celtic knot design while the one on the right is clear – but probably not for long! Cedarwood parent Carrie Bacigalupi came up with the idea to paint the transom windows when her child was in second grade. Many of the windows had been painted over in white (to disappear into the walls) or just left clear. Carrie thought it would be a nice holiday gift to her child’s teacher to spruce them up.
“We were trying to come up with creative ideas to appreciate our teacher that time of year,” Carrie said. “So we thought it was a good legacy to leave in our teacher’s name if we turned all these transoms into stained glass.”
At Cedarwood the students keep the same teacher every year, so it became tradition for the class’s parents to pool their money together to have the transom windows above each new classroom turned into stained glass. So far they have had four windows painted, each window’s design representing a theme of that year’s class. “We took it to the teacher so she knew it would be coming and asked her what theme or design she wanted to build it around,” Carrie explained.
Once the designs were selected, the parents brought the windows to local glass artist David Schlicker to turn the plain transom windows into works of art.
This window hangs above the fourth grade classroom and was the third gifted window. The Celtic knot design ties in with the 4th grade’s focus on Norse and Celtic mythology. This photo shows the window newly installed by H&H into the widened doorway.
This window is above the 5th grade’s classroom door and is the most recent gifted window. The design represents geometry, an important topic of the fifth year’s coursework.
“They look pretty, but it means something much more special if you were in the class and know the meaning of the piece,” said Carrie. “These windows will be the teacher’s legacy in the building.”
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The post The Gift of a Legacy: Art Glass Windows at Cedarwood Waldorf School appeared first on Hammer & Hand.
]]>Tags: Artificial Turf as alternative to patio?
]]>Tags: Artificial Turf as alternative to patio?
]]>Tags: DIY backyard sprinkler
]]>Tags: DIY backyard sprinkler
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]]>Tags: My dahlias started growing horizontally instead of vertically and are killing off other plants in …
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