It's Finished!

Merry Christmas!!

Just a little phrase we like to say around here! And how Merry it is right now. Friday, November 30th, we officially finished our home addition. YEA! We called for our final building inspection and passed with a grade of: WOW! We got great appraise from Aurora's building inspectors. They were a good team to work with and very kind to us.

Quick note: If you are viewing this blog with Internet Explorer, click on the 75% or 50% viewing option on the bottom righthand corner to view the larger thumbnail images.


Now for our story!

If you have been following our home addition, you will undoubtedly recognize the fireplace. Here it is, as it was meant to look. Decorated with garland and stockings, we are ready for CHRISTmas. Since we use the fireplace to heat our bedroom, I had to warn Kaleb against loading up the stockings with chocolate! Didn't want that gooey surprise on CHRISTmas!


Funny thing is that I sketched this fireplace numerous times: on drywall, on scrap board, on the back of prints. Those around me never really could envision the final product, but this is exactly how I saw it from the beginning. I love watching my designs come to life!





Here's a shot of our bedroom. The pair of Pella windows above the bed are on the East side of the home, which provides great sunlight to way to wake up to. We do not have air-conditioning in the home, but the ceiling fans do a great job of circulating the outside air for us in the summer. The pair of lights above the bed provide independently controlled lighting for reading, something Kathy and I enjoy doing in the evenings. The window above the fireplace is a German window, which swings inwards (not outwards like most American windows). It's very, very cool and completes the fireplace composition!


My lens on the camera only opens up to 24mm, so I created a collage for you to better understand the view from our bed. When we look up, we can see the fireplace on the right, the entrance on the left, the french doors on the otherside of the room (west wall, which will eventually lead out to a future deck). The main ridge beam that the fans hang from is 12' above the floor. It's such an impressive vaulted space!








As the project wrapped up, the $$ ran out! Eventually we would like to add a couch and tv to our "Sitting Area". But for now it's not important.

You can better see the wood wainscot in this shot. I still have to put a wood cap on it....just trying to find the right wood and grain to complete the finish!







I just love the way the ceiling turned out.

Funny story: the mechanical inspector didn't even notice that we had a fireplace in the bedroom because he told us he was too busy looking at the beautiful beams!

The lights inside the triangular space are direction spot beams that illuminate the fireplace. Accent lights!











I found a pair of antique pocket doors stored in my boss's garage. He sold the pair to me for $200. I designed the opening around them, installed a high-strength aluminum track with steel ball-bearings for the doors to float across. They are simply beautiful! The great thing about the doors is that we only use them for privacy. When not in use, they are not in the way like french doors would have been. The view below is from our bedroom side.





































































You can see the landing at the top of our stairs there behind Kaleb. There is a door on the left that leads to our closet, and a door on the right that leads to our bathroom.








Here's the view from the hallway side. You can see just a sliver of the doors resting in their pockets on either edge of this picture.















Our bathroom turned out beautiful! Lots and lots of hard work to make it happen! His/her vanities. His/her medicine cabinets. A toilet room (with an exhaust fan and operable window!!) The steam shower. Jetted claw-footed tub. Travertine (marble) tile. Lots of daylight, but very private. We are very, very happy with the final product. If you ever come and visit, you've got to try the steam shower. It's a hit!











































You'd never believe it, but we inserted the tub unit through those windows. I kept the window unit nailed in with only 6 nails so that we could remove the window when the time was right. We removed the fixtures and legs from the tub and slipped the unit through the opening. It fit: barely!

A lot of people keep asking about the tub. We got it from a supplier in Florida: http://www.sansirousa.com/index.html

And yes, the tub is just as beautiful as the picture implies. I really wanted an old-fashioned tub for the space but with the amenities of modern-day comfort. This tub is absolutely amazing and exceeded our expectations! This picture is misleading. It looks so small, but it's a 73" long unit. Plenty of space! Worth every penny!!



Now that we're done with construction, Kaleb is able to have a bedroom ALL TO HIMSELF, an amenity he is grateful to have!
















And Jade gets to share her bedroom with Kim, a burden she welcomes and is anxious to share! A "NO BOY'S ALLOWED!" space.

Her room was a bit messy for this shot. She's not nearly the neat freak that Kaleb is. For those of you who have visited our house, this space used to be our master bedroom. The wall with the polka-dots was added, eating into the space. But the stairs to our new bedroom are behind this wall. Jade and Kim will share a room for the time-being. Eventually we figure that Kaleb will want to move to the basement bedroom which will allow Kim to move into his current bedroom. When we started this project, we committed to living in this house for the next 12 years. This gets our children thru grade school. YIKES!

















Well, as always, I tend to ramble. Sorry about that. There's just so much to tell! Come on out and visit us and see the space firsthand! Bring your swim trunks and you can try out the steam shower!



Happy Holidays from the Zimmer Clan!




WOOF!