Nearing Completion - Great Room Photos

So we're getting very close to being done. We moved into the house and began major clean-up and have spent the past 4 weeks trying to get our life back in order.

Here's some photos of our Great Room (Kitchen, Family Room, Dining Room) in its current state. Pardon the mess. Soon we hope to get our entertainment center in place, which should really tie the room together.

Walkthrouh while floors going in

Here are some new photos of the house. bamboo floor is starting to go in. We are so happy about all the colors (great job ish!!). It's amazing how the bamboo really ties the other colors together.
Most of the lights / fans /plumbing / HVAC are also installed. We'd love feedback about the industrial look of the HVAC duct in the great room. We like the idea of displaying the workings of the house.
Environmentally it would make most sense for the heat registers to be in the ground, but on a slab floor this would have been very complex. I figured it would be more efficient for the heat to come straight out of the Furnace (straight pipes have less pumping losses) so the blower would have to work less, then we'll run our high efficiency ceiling fans in reverse (blow air up and around) to circulate he warm air throughout the room.

House Photos, starting to come together

Here our lots of photos of the greenhouse: Hubbel door's in, and paint is on, just clay, murrell, bamboo floors, counter tops and trim left, can almost start to see the rooms coming together.

Kitchen Cabinet

Well our kitchen Cabinets have come in! Peter and his staff did a wonderful job on the cabinets (www.artisticfreedomdesigns.com). They are all custom made of natural bamboo. Nothing too fancy, but eco! Since there is more work going on in the house we have had to install these cabinets and them protect them so we can continue on with the finishing. We also needed these installed to we could template up the plug for the poured concrete countertops (www.pourfolio.com).

Solar Tubes

So here are some photos of our really cool solar tubes! These things are great! There is a dome on top of the house (collector), and shiny metal tube that snakes down to the ceiling, an optional bulb receptacle (so it can still provide light at night using a CFL bulb), then a diffuser (not shown yet) that refracts the light into a 10 foot square lit area. We placed these solar tubes in the hallway, master bath, and the office. There will be skylights in Mom's bathroom and the kitchen dining area. Our hope is that with all these lights we will have tons of natural light and solar heat energy to reduce our heating and electrical needs. The skylights in the kitchen are even remote control operable, so we can open the lights to let out the hot air trapped in the vaulted ceiling. This is a view of the solar tube in the master bath. It gives a great view of the tube and how it snakes down, then gets mounted in the ceiling (most of the drywall for the master bath is yet to come, since we had to keep everything open while we wait for the city inspector.

This is a view looking straight up into the solar tube. You can see the lens collector at the very top, and the bulb receptacle sticking out into the center.

This is the office solar tube. From here it looks like a very bright light. I'll have to pull the numbers some day about the effective solar intensity (or candlelight power), but this looks brighter than any light I've ever seen in the daytime.


Here's a view of the solar tube for the hallway. If you look closely between the main vertical wood beam and the HVAC duct, you can see the 12" diameter tube as it snakes down from the roof to the hallway.

Here's a look from the outside as to what the solar tube collector looks like. I'll try to take some photos from the canyonside so y'all can really get a view of all the holes we cut in the roof.

Kitchen / Family Room / Dining Room Update

Here are some views of our Kitchen / Family Room / Dining Room / Entry
Here's Our New North Window. You can see the plumbing for the Downdraft piping which will be under the island where the cooktop and bar stools will go. There will also be a built in entertainment center on either side of the fireplace. The Downdraft blower will be externally mounted for noise.
Here's a better view of where the kitchen is going. The concrete floor was dug up, then re-poured with the new drainage for the sink. They are also putting all the electrical and plumbing supply in the ceiling to make it much cheaper to service if there ever is an issue down the line.
This is looking back at the dining room from where the TV used to be. That's Bill who's the general contractor and doing a great job!
And another view of the back. I can't wait till the wall and flooring go in. There will also be a pair of electric skylights which will go in the vaulted ceiling.

Worden House as Seen From above

 
Here's a shot of our house as seen by the NW view. All the Bedrooms in view on the side have the new Windows. You can see the new bay window in the front. You can also see the addition that will be our bedromm in the back. The solar panel will end up on the two roof slopes that face the neighbor's house, for they get the best sun. You can even see the port a pot in the front, all the crap we shoved in the Garage, and the shed I built where the band used to play.
Oh, and did we mention the neighbor's house to the North is also for sale? More on this later.
-Joshua