Once you fill the crack, you can never go back

The addition struck over 15 years ago.  My father looked up at the ceiling of a neighbor's recently remodeled Eichler and thought it looked different somehow.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Now we caulk every ceiling when it's being repainted.  Just a wet finger and some caulking is all that's required (and a strong neck).

You may never look at the your tongue and groove ceiling the same way again.   Sorry!

Some "Before" Pictures

Here are pictures of our current master bathroom, which had a low-cost remodel done shortly after moving in.  The primar focus was to expand the shower from the original 3x3 stall.  In addition, the original vanity and tiled counter-top (with huge grout lines!) had to go.

First, a shot from the master closet:

 

You can probably tell that the expanded shower pan is a standard sized fiberglass unit, which are a little too short for the space, so about an inch of gypcrete (?) board was added under the tile on the far wall to make it flush.  But otherwise it was easy to install, at least compared to our remodel concept where the shower floor starts level to the rest of the bathroom and slopes down to the drain (which may not even be feasible).


The main issue with this shower is that I should have raised the height of the showerhead, because we have to duck under to get your hair wet.

 

The vanity cabinet was actually custom built by a friend-of-a-friend that does mostly kitchen cabinets.  The countertop is a standard 48-inch Corian prefab unit that was relatively inexpensive.  This setup is very functional with lots of storage, but not very attractive, despite the cool drawer pulls I found.  Just too much white, and somewhat hulking.

Sweet Home 3D

This is an excellent software package for laying out room designs and then visualizing them.  Best of all, it is high-quality, free software that works on Macs, PCs, and even Linux.  Definitely worth checking out:

http://sourceforge.net/community/potm-200910/

Tom and I have been using this software for the last few months, and while it requires a bit of an engineer's mentality to take accurate measurements and adjust the furniture models to your exact dimensions, the end results can be quite realistic.

And it also prints out nice blueprint style documents:

Note that the Concept sketch a few posts earlier was done by our general contractor, who wanted to learn Google Sketchup.  Also a fine product, it emphasizes a different but also interesting visual style.

Model 914 Floorplan

Here is a quick scan of the Eichler Model 914 floorplan, coming from a photocopy of the Meadow Park sales brochure.  This is the model that I grew up in, and is pretty similar to our Eichler, except where the outside wall zigs in at the garage / all purpose room in the 914, it is a straight wall in ours, but then it does zig in at the living room.

What you can't tell from these floorplans is the roof pitch.  The two I've lived in have peaked roofs with the high-point centered over the garage centerline.

But a few houses down the street there is a very similar model with a multi-tiered flat roof, and also one with a peaked roof where the highpoint is offset from the garage centerline.  Both of those also had the middle bathroom moved next to the master bathroom, which is a tweak I've never liked since it also loses the door to the outside and feels more cramped.

I'll try to upload a few more floorplans from the brochure...they're all quite interesting.