Winter Topic: Maximizing Your Space in a 1300 sq.ft. Home

February 2014

Bungalow Friends,

It has been a very cold winter!  The polar vortex storm brought weather in the negative twin digits to Indianapolis--with record cold temperatures and wind chills below -30(F)!  New wall insulation has really helped seal up the bungalow and keep the cold out!

Needless to say, we've spent a great deal of time indoors!  What have we been up to? ...

...Glad you asked!

Some would find it challenging to live in a 2-bedroom, 1300 square foot home with children.  How do we do it?

Pullout Sofa in the Child's Bedroom.  This allows for dual-function use of the room.  It is a playroom by day, and a bedroom by night that can be shared by a couple little ones.  It also doubles as a guest room when family comes over.

Toys in the Corner of the Bedroom Which was Once a Study.
Even the dresser has multiple uses, doubling as a pull-out desk.

Bedroom/Office/Den concept in the basement allows for more guests, assists in working from home, and provides a casual atmosphere to lounge, watch movies or play.  It would also make a nice room for an older kid or someone staying with us for an extended period that needs a separate living space.  It is not finished--but is is furnished as though it is, and has the necessary electrical outlets to handle requirements of an extra bedroom.

The study is relocated the mixed use basement.

A bed in the basement is great for older kids who want a little more privacy, extended stay guests or a friend who needs  a place to crash for the evening.

A media and play corner provides a refuge to watch movies and play with toys.  It also doubles as a study on days that I work from home.

All-in-all, the room gets a lot of use!

Basement built-in-closet and side room provides storage for off-season clothes and decorations.

Could you do it?  Can you fit five in a 2-bedroom home? Yes!  Your grandparents probably managed.

All for now,

-Ryan & Kayla-

Spring Cleanup and Community Engagement

April 2013

Bungalow Blogger Friends,

What a year it's been!  We've spent the last year enjoying watching the little one grow up and realized how much we have neglected this blog.  But that's OK, because it means we are enjoying the outdoors, family and friends, and that is nothing to be ashamed of.

As I looked back at some of the posts, I realized we needed to dedicate a post to our neighbors, because living in an urban neighborhood in the process of revitalization does, from time to time, have its own challenges.  But we have been fortunate, in that our community sticks it out together through thick and thin which makes it all worthwhile and very rewarding.

This past April 2013, our neighborhood of approximately 900 homes held a bi-annual neighborhood clean-up and beautification.  Neighbors get together in the morning and enjoy breakfast together, and then break out into groups.  Some clean medians, plant flowers and trim trees.  Others clean alleys of the debris which has accumulated during the winter.  This is back-breaking work, so we enjoy the company of one another and have a cookout afterwards.  This is a neighborhood ritual that's practiced as regularly and attentively as Easter and Christmas celebrations might be in some of your families.

Below are some pictures dedicated to these tough folks!

Above, Neighbors Take a Quick Photo Before Breaking into Clean-up Groups

Alley work is back-breaking, and three generations of residents help with this work!

Above,  Neighbors Haul Away a Mattress

Above, Neighbors Clean A Main Street Leading to the Neighborhood

After the Cleanup, We Celebrate with a Cookout!  Kids are rewarded with a plaque for their help; we hope this day teaches a sense of civil duty.  We might have the next mayor or councilwoman with us!

This event was sponsored by Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Department of Public Works and the Mayor's Office.  Above, the Mayor's Neighborhood Liaison Paul Ross joins us for lunch!

DPW Workers assist neighbors in the clean up effort.

Above, the plaque which we presented the retiring individual who has helped coordinate the cleanup and other neighborhood events for many years.

  All for Now,

Ryan & Kayla

Early Summer Updates

Bungalow Friends,

It's been a busy past few months--shame on me for not updating you on the happenings at the bungalow (shame, shame, shame!)

To set this up, Kayla is 8 months pregnant, so the projects have changed with a focus on making the home more newborn-friendly.

The updates:

1. Refinished the basement.  This involved repainting the walls and adding a very durable, 2-part epoxy floor finish.  The result?  The space looks finished, and has room for the "man-cave" rec-room, the office, and storage.  

The 2-Part Epoxy Floor System from a local home center
really cleaned up the floor and provided a durable,
finished appearance!

The office.  So far I don't use it...sitting on the couch seems to be
the most comfortable place to work!

What....gotta have a little fun!

2. Find a comfortable rocking chair for Kayla.  DONE!

Mission-Style Rocker found at antique shop in Indy matches
time period of home.

3. With a now-empty bedroom, make room for baby. DONE!

Our black lab wasn't as excited as we were
about this...she knows she will always
be our first child!  She's still trying to eat
all the baby toys.

4. Rain Barrel.  This was on Kayla's list for me this year and honestly, it's been really nice to use a little bit of the rainwater to water plants!

All for now!  What exciting projects do you have planned at home this summer?

-Ryan and Kayla-

Refinishing a 1930's dresser

Hello Bungalow friends!

It's been a busy winter around our home!  We had a very enjoyable Christmas (complete with Family and a real tree, of course!)  We also had a sewer line replaced, which required pulling out the deck...and eventually just building a new one.  Fast forward a couple months, and with Kayla expecting in July, we've been trying to find time to relax and take it easy, and enjoy our last few months while its truly just the two of us.  Not that three is bad, but you have to enjoy every day for what it is!  And lately, the days have been all about rest, relaxation, and preparation. 

With the baby on the way, the discussion has turned to where Ryan's office will be relocated to make room for the baby.  I learned that this was a lesson in how important framing discussions is.  There is a big difference between "should we move the office furniture?" and "where will we move the office furniture?"    

Well....no decision on the nursery vs. office, or nursery/office/guest room hybrid, just yet, but what I can tell you is that over the past month, I decided to refinish an old dresser from the 1920's that I found at a local salvage yard.  It's top drawer opens to reveal a desk.  This could be a very good piece for us to have in the kitchen if we decide to leave a desk in the nursery...because many times, with the baby sleeping, we will need to find refuge in another room if we have office work. 


For furniture projects, I normally like the get down to bare wood, use stain, and several layers of polyurethane.  With this project, we went a different route and used a tinted poly which turned out very well.  It is marketed as a stain and poly in one step.  We also found glass knobs at a local big box store.  Admittedly, Anthropologie had some very nice knobs, however they did not attach to the doors as easily, and cost significantly more...we kept this furniture project simple and stuck with the big box knobs.    

Here are the final results of the desk refinishing project and the new pseudo-office-space in the kitchen!

Rebuilding a historic wood window

All,

I hope you had a fun New Year's celebration.

As we get into the new year, I am mapping out projects for next year and reviewing a few I never posted on. 

One of those was rebuilding a historic wood basement hopper window.  Most people that have a 100 year old basement window have been perplexed with what to do with these windows...
These historic windows are usually 3' x 2' openings, or another similar cinder block or brick opening size, and swing into the home.  They feature a 5-1/4" door jamb cut to make a window frame, and a 1-3/8" window sash which mounts to two top hinges and typically has a center cam lock.  They are set into a cinder block opening and secured with concrete at the sill, nails through the sill plate that they rest against at the head, and sometimes, fasteners through the side jambs into the concrete foundation walls.  In many cases, glass has broken from lawn mowers throwing rocks, etc...and often the replacement glass is merely siliconed, rather than glazed, in place with historic glaze that is built up flush with the mullions to prevent water infiltration. 

Before we go any further...let's look at the options for this window:

• Glass Block - High security, low maintenance, high light transfer, somewhat energy efficient, low or no ventilation (a small vent can be installed)
• Vinyl replacement slider with block frame - Medium Security, low maintenance, lower light transfer due to reduced opening and buck opening requirement (window opening must be framed out), higher energy efficiency, medium ventilation
• Original Window, Inswing wood hopper window- Low security, high maintenance, medium light transfer, low energy efficiency, highest ventilation.

I chose to rebuild the original window frame and sash to keep the historic integrity of the home, keep the option for increased ventilation in the basement or to get things through the large opening, and addressed the security concerns with reinforced locks (there are many options here, but I don't want to get into the weeds).  We also used a window well covering system to increase energy efficiency and lower the maintenance requirements (more below).

These windows typically sit at ground level...as such they are suseptible to quite a bit of weathering without proper maintenance and installation.  This was the issue with mine.  Below, a before picture of one of the basement hopper windows.





Original window had cracked glass, peeling paint, gaps between the glazing allowing water infiltration, a damaged frame, was sealed shut, and had multiple locks added through the years.


Now, let's look at each challenge to restoring this window:

• Damaged frame: Rebuild, or if necessary, replace
• Damaged locks: Replace, and consider upgrades with metal reinforcement behind the wood frame or security bars. 
• No weather strip Peeling paint
• No storm window
• Cracked glass

Here are a few ways to tackle this issue:

1. Retrofit, or use new wood frame with applied weatherstrip.  Add flashing on bottom of sash to dicect runoff water away from the frame, or add quarter round with weather rubber applied weather strip in combination with flashing.   I used a new wood door jamb made with Auralast, a wood which resists water absorption, wood decay and termite infestation.  This is perfect, since these windows sit at ground level.  But, that said, it is also good to dig a window well 6" - 12" below your wood window, and fill it partially with gravel so that water does not collect around your window frame. 
2. Remove all paint and repair wood work as needed (determine if you have lead based paint and take appropriate precautions if it is present).  I used a wood hardener on the softened wood on the bottom of the sash and treated it with Boiled Linseed Oil. 
3. Replace Cracked glass or Reglaze Window Panes: Remove all old glazing compound, metal glaziers points, and glass. Re-install with silicone between the inside wood sash and inside glass side.  Add glazier points to hold the glass in place while the silicone dries.  Then, re-glaze glass to the exterior side.  Repair mullions (I used square dowell rods to rebuild a mullion)
4. Reassemble or build a new frame (Sorry, no process pictures here...but you will basically replicate the old frame with new materials.  Again, I purchased a 6-9/16" door jamb kit from Home Depot and cut the jamb to size, and assembled the frame with 2-1/2" wood screws and metal reinforcement at the corners. 
5. Install New Frame by screwing the head jamb to the sill plate it sits against, shimming the sides, and bottom.  Underneath my sill (planed down from a door jamb), I had pressure treaded lumber which was secured to the opening with tapcons.  The Sill was then anchored into these boards. 
6. Complete your job with closing hardware and a window well cover or storm window.  This is for security, energy efficiency, and water mitigation.

After photos:

Finished Window.  Visible are the double locks, finger pull, window well and well cover.

New framing or retro-fitted weather stripping will dramatically improve the energy efficiency of the unit.  A storm window or window well cover will also help with this, reducce future maintenance, and help resolve many security concerns. 

Be sure to re-grade the land around your window, and add a window well, dug at least a foot below the window frame and partially filled with gravel.

Window Well protects our restored window.  It can be applied to the foundation wall with tapcons and is removable for large construction projects in your basement that require passing items through your window. 

Some of the products mentioned in this post to rebuild the window sash are shown above.

This mullion was flush with the window..which meant we could not glaze it.  So, we cut two square dowel rods, glued them together, glued them onto the existing mullion...and after glazing and painting, the window sash is fully restored! 

Other Resources:
More detailed window rebuild information is available in the following Preservation Brief: http://www.nps.gov/hps/tps/briefs/brief09.htm


All for now,

-Ryan & Kayla-

Planning an Expanded Garden for 2012!

Friends,

We wish you a happy new year!  What are your goals for 2012?

For us, one of those goals is to produce more of our own food.  We look forward to planting an additional square foot garden in 2012, as well as add a rain barrel to conserve natural resouces.

Below, a few photos from the garden in 2011....

Square Foot Garden, June 2011.  Left to Right, Back to Front, Tomato, Cucumber, Carrots

Tomatos

Carrot Harvest

carrot/cucumber harvest

Not in the garden...but we did have quite a showing of butterflies this year on the butterfly bushes!

That's all for now!

-Ryan & Kayla-

Shedding Past Remodels - Removal of a 1940's Bookshelf in Favor of a Coat Closet.

(October 2011)

Well, in the course of a busy summer/fall this year, we forgot to post a few updates.  At this point, we are basically done with all of the projects we set out to do in bungalow.

From the start, this home, and neighborhood has been an incredible place to make a home for our family.  As we enter 2012, we will continue to post updates from around the bungalow, but they should be focused more around the community, gardening, and decorating updates.

Thank you so much for the time you have shared with us on this blog!  We hope these project updates have given you confidence in the ability of a casual DIY couple, to tackle many rewarding projects around the house.  Additionally, we hope that they have given you an appreciation for the time period in which the home was built...from the solid craftsmanship of the homes, to the design of the neighborhood with esplanades...it has been a great journey and we look forward to the coming year!

This past year, the coat closet project was finally completed.  After sourcing a 100-year old 2-panel door at Audrey's Place in Indianapolis, we were able to convert a 1940's built-in bookshelf back into it's original life as a coat closet:


Before:

Before, Coat Closet entry is covered by a bookshelf which we believe was built in the 1940's.

This vintage 2-panel craftsman door was the perfect size and style for this coat closet.  The door handing was reversed from the original 1919 handing.

 

Inside, the closet now boasts room for shoes and extra layers

-Ryan & Kayla-