I sat down this morning with Hammer & Hand’s lead carpenter and craftsperson extraordinaire Stephanie Lynch to discuss her work creating a cool second floor addition in Portland’s Mt. Tabor neighborhood.

The Portland remodel project, designed by Emerick Architects and built by Stephanie and her team, transformed a single story Craftsman home into a two-story jewel.

“The whole idea was to make the addition look like it’s always been there,” said Steph.

How was this accomplished?  Close attention to detail, exacting craft, and excellent design.

The detail of the exterior siding, with its short-short-long pattern was carefully recreated, as was the unique flaring trim detail of the window casings.  This casing was also applied to the custom dog entrance accessed from the back deck.

“We built this little exterior doggy door with a water trough right outside the door,” Steph explained.  “The dogs walk through the water to rinse their feet off, walk through the door into the mud room, dry their feet while walking across the mud room rug, and then enter the house.”

The new back deck and planter box were crafted with ipe, creating a within-arm’s-reach space for part of the owners’ plant collection.

This staircase was built with clear vertical grain (CVG) fir in the classic Craftsman style.

The unique exterior window casing detail was carried indoors and used throughout the addition.  Groovy historic light fixtures grace the bedrooms and hall.

The bathroom features a classic floor and vanity as well as more contemporary touches like a wall-mounted toilet and “apple martini” countertop.  “Our clients wanted to stay true to the house, but also added touches of the modern,” said Steph.

Whenever I get the chance to chat with Hammer & Hand’s craftspeople about projects like this one, I’m struck by the passion that folks like Steph bring to the work.  This is a company of stewards – building professionals who care about preserving the narrative contained within each building by crafting work that is, in Steph’s words, “true to the house”.  It’s a fire in the belly that can’t be faked … and it shines through in the beautiful results of each job.

-Zack

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Also known as the Llewellyn Home Tour by many (it’s a benefit for Llewellyn Elementary), the tour takes place on Saturday, October 2 from 10am to 5pm.  (Tickets are $12 and will be available at Llewellyn Elementary and Sellwood New Seasons).

I got the chance to visit the project this afternoon with Hammer and Hand’s president, Sam Hagerman.  It’s a beautiful Victorian home addition with nice modern touches … gorgeous wood cabinets and floors, handsome tiled bathrooms, the works.  Our crew, headed by lead carpenter Eddy Peterson, is making finishing touches now, including custom woodwork led by our master jointer and lead sawyer Dan Palmer.

We’re excited about the tour and, in fact, have become lead sponsors of the event.  As an added bonus, we’ll be showing several Upcycled Furniture pieces in the home on the tour date.  So please check it out!

Below is an exterior shot of the home taken with my iPhone this afternoon …

-Zack

P.S.  And please don’t forget the Build It Green! Home Tour coming up on September 25.  We’ve got two homes featured on that tour, as well as extensive booth space at free the fair at EcoHaus scheduled for after the tour.

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What started out as a modest 960-square-foot house with subtle late-Victorian styling is reborn this month as our 2800 square-foot Sellwood home with all the amenities of modern family living and a generous nod to its architectural heritage.  (See image portfolio of finished project here.)

The Sellwood neighborhood saw a boom in building in 1905 with the development of the trolley system connected to downtown Portland – this house was a product of that boom, originally built in 1905 adjacent to the historic Shannon House, which traces its origins to 1885. Previous owners of this modest home did some minor remodeling in the 1920s and ’40s, but luckily in a way the preserved a great base to grow on for the house and for our family.

Hammer and Hand was our builder and general contractor for the remodel and addition, with Stephanie Johnson Tottingham as architect, Willamette Building Solutions as structure engineer, Big Branch Woodworking for kitchen cabinetry, and Birdseye Hardwoods for flooring.

The groundwork for our home’s latest incarnation was laid in 2002 with the construction of a new foundation and livable basement.  The 2010 remodel involved removing the roof and adding another floor with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. This made room on the main floor for a larger, more functional kitchen and more family centric open space.

While creating a modern family home, we were committed to building a finished product that was a good fit with our Sellwood neighborhood’s landscape and architecture. Along these lines, we maintained the colored glass accents, interior fluted casing, high ceilings and the home’s connection to the street, where neighbors regularly gather.  The millwork inside our house was reproduced based on the original profiles in keeping with the home’s late Victorian design.

We also wanted to emphasize environmental integrity through sustainable and responsible use of materials and finishes. Much of the old lumber from the roof and ceiling was reused for framing the walls, and the wood benches, island countertop and long buffet in the dining room are all milled from the original 2×8 douglas fir rafters.

As we were interested in not only having a well crafted home but in a collaborative and enjoyable building process – one that would allow us to be part of the craft – we had to select a builder that we could be partners with.  Hammer and Hand exceeded our expectations and engaged us in a collaborative manner which made for an even better product – one that was on budget and on schedule.  At our typical Friday walkthrough meetings with James Eddy Peterson and Aaron Stevens we spent time not only looking over the current work and workmanship but also doing some thinking about potential creative solutions such as a custom island top milled from our ceiling rafters designed to facilitate our annual late summer pickle packing and canning, and the concrete porch slabs that will allow us to not worry about exposed wood and the placement of potted plants. Eddy and Aaron were a great team – now that our project is nearly complete I will miss our conversations and brainstorming sessions (I will have to look forward to our next project).

But certainly every project has a down side – this one seems to have very few – certainly the one that seems to stand out was simply obtaining financing to get the project started (“any day now”).  That process took almost as long as the project itself!  But it all worked out, better than expected, and we’re excited to open the house on October 2 for the Sellwood | Westmoreland Remodeled Home Tour.

We certainly find pleasure in telling the story – maybe we’ll see you there!

-David

Editor’s Note: The Sellwood | Westmoreland Remodeled Home Tour, also known as the Llewellyn Home Tour (because it’s a benefit for Llewellyn Elementary), took place on Saturday, October 2, 2010 from 10am to 5pm.

(For more about our services, visit our kitchen, bathroom, and home addition pages.)

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In “Home, Grown: A charming Alameda fixer-upper slowly evolves into one family’s dream home”, writer Amara Holstein charts the remodel process and the clients’ desire to pay homage to the architectural heritage of their bungalow and the surrounding neighborhood.

The article includes a nice slideshow showcasing the home and the active family scene that it supports.  Please check it out.  We also feature some beautiful shots of the remodel in the project portfolio section of our website.  (And take a look at the before/after image below.)

-Zack

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To transform the space Emerick Architects employed a small addition and new layout to connect the living room entry, kitchen and dining room. A new front Dutch door opens into a small mudroom area where occupants can take off their raincoats and shoes, stow bookbags and sporting equipment, and even charge their cellphones out of sight. By reversing the gable in the front of the garage/dining room we blended the overall lines of the house while preserving the cathedral ceiling of the back gable to highlight French doors opening onto a deck with a view of green space. Entering through the Dutch door, you see across the dining room to the French doors.

Overall, we transformed the core of the house to increase comfort and livability with finishes that seamlessly blended with the original look and feel of the space. We cut custom-designed knives to create molding that matches existing profiles. Aesthetically, we maintained the 1920s look with traditional painted and clear CVG cabinets topped by Jatoba wood and Carrera marble countertops. The Dutch door was custom built by our in-house craftsmen using reclaimed wood and historic mortise and tenon jointery to give the traditional detail of a Dutch door.

Before the remodel, the gable of house and garage did not match and seemed out of sorts and boxy.  Our small addition married the former garage with the original cottage, integrating the space inside and creating a unified front for the historic cottage.

The converted garage formed a cramped, code-violating space for eating, ignoring gorgeous views of green space. The dark, crowded kitchen was an outdated, hard-to-navigate space with loud tile.

Light, inviting, vaulted ceiling room invites visitors to sit and enjoy food, or move outside to experience the green space.

New open, light space features handcrafted Dutch door, farm sink, hand-oiled wide-plank walnut floor, open cabinet shelves.

Three finishes: Natural hardwax oil on walnut floor. Hand-rubbed oil on jatoba countertop. Traditional hand-painted cabinetry.

CVG fir cabinetry creates practical storage space for informal entry. Carrera marble reflects light from numerous windows.

Handcrafted Dutch door built from reclaimed wood and made with historic mortise-and-tenon jointery. Open plan moves from kitchen and informal entry into the dining space, connecting the house into continuous flow.

We opened the small space by choosing shelves instead of traditional cabinets with doors. We forged custom-cut knives to match historic molding from other parts of the house. Shelves of reclaimed wood were painted to match the casework.

The dark, crowded dining room is transformed into a light, inviting, vaulted ceiling room.

(For more about our services, visit our kitchen and home addition pages.)

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“It’s not a very big addition,” said Hammer & Hand lead carpenter Scott Gunter, “but it packs a lot of punch.”

The owners of this 1910 home in Portland’s Southwest Hills neighborhood had three problems on their hands: damaging water leaks in their basement, poor circulation around the kitchen and rear entry, and limited indoor space for kids to play.  So they approached neighbor Ann McCulloch of Ann McCulloch Studios to design a mudroom/bathroom/landscape solution and contracted Hammer & Hand to build addition remodel.

“I loved working with the clients,” said Scott.  “They have two great kids, and Sandy was always making us fantastic snacks, brownies, cinnamon rolls, you name it.  Really great people”

See this video of the clients’ kids singing their “Hammer and Hand song”:

Scott was joined onsite by Hammer & Hand’s Bobby Pinkham and Matt Ashjian, with Aaron Quint performing installation of the custom railing and ladder built in our woodshop by master jointer Dan Palmer.

“before” photos courtesy of client.

The first order of business was to rip out the existing driveway, a severely cracked concrete stretch that sloped toward the house, dumping a flood of rainwater toward the basement with each storm.

Our team poured a new driveway, this time sloped away from the house and properly drained.  Jeff Coleman Masonry rebuilt a basalt retaining wall and installed the landscaping for the project.

“after” photos by bright designlab.

Ann McCulloch designed the mudroom addition as a natural extension of the house, one that maximizes limited space.

“We used every bit of space on this addition,” said Scott.  “Those carriage house doors on the exterior open into a storage space for garden tools and equipment.  The ceiling of that storage space becomes the ‘floor’ of the kids’ loft space.  And the mudroom itself creates inside/outside connections and circulation to the kitchen.  It’s really well designed.”

McCulloch was careful to incorporate architectural detailing from the house into the addition.  On the exterior siding, a “belly band” of wider wood continues from the house and transitions to a white color as it wraps around the top of the addition’s exterior walls.

Details for the house’s eaves are pulled into the porch and eaves of the addition, including the 3′ overhang, the open framing, the tongue-and-groove ceiling and the shingle detail under the peak of the eaves.

And this care for detail continues inside.  The wainscoting throughout the mudroom matches existing design details from the house.

The newly remodeled powder bathroom’s fixtures and trim respect the home’s architectural heritage.

The lines of the built-in banquette, cabinets and shelving of the eating area take strong cues from the existing house.

And the custom-built ship’s ladder and rail that leads to the kids’ loft carefully complement the wainscoting design.

“I was so impressed with how well the details and the spaces of the addition interact with the kitchen and connect it all with kids’ space and outdoors,” said Scott.  “It’s a really elegant solution.”

The addition’s dutch door plays an understated but important role in this success.  The homeowners’ original hope was that their home’s pre-existing rear dutch door be incorporated into the new addition, but layout and dimensions precluded that.  The new door fulfills the original intent: to increase the home’s connection to the outdoors and facilitate parents’ access to children at play.

It’s a nice final touch to a successful addition and remodel.

P.S.

Check out this article in The Oregonian about the project.

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When the original builders of this stately craftsman house began construction nearly one hundred years ago, the last thing on their minds was where to place a hot tub.

Photography by Jeff Tan

“The challenge was taking a modern hot tub and making it match a hundred year old house, and making it look like it belonged there,” says lead carpenter Patrick Conrad. To meet this challenge, general contractor Hammer & Hand teamed up with architect Gabe Headrick of Steelhead Architecture to design and build a hot tub enclosure and mudroom addition that tied in seamlessly with the craftsman aesthetic of the home while preserving the homeowners’ privacy.

“We really wanted to incorporate the mudroom into the hot tub enclosure and have it be accessible to both their side yard and back ally. The enclosure has four steel posts holding up the roof structure and we did all of the flatwork and carpentry,” says project manager Chris “Coop” Cooper.

The posts were originally spec’d for wood but were replaced with steel to increase stability and durability. “We had the steel posts fabricated with buckets to carry the framing into big footings below,” explains Conrad.

The project team moved the door to the mudroom from the back wall to side wall and replaced the original concrete steps with two sets of wood stairs, granting access to mudroom from both the back ally and side yard of the home.

They say that “the devil is in the detail”, but so is the solution.

“A hot tub enclosure on a hundred year old craftsman could really look awful, so the detail of the corbels underneath the soffit and the way that all the trim details tie together were really key to the project,” says Cooper.

By matching the original details of the home, the mudroom addition and hot tub enclosure offer increased privacy for the homeowners without sacrificing the historic integrity of the home.

– Jeff

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Remodels are as unique as the clients who embark on them and the homes that they aim to transform.

Proof positive?  The selection of eight home additions by general contractor Hammer & Hand below.

Three of the remodel projects are second-story additions, some of which double the household’s space with new bedrooms, bathroom and other work and living space.  Two feature master-suite additions that add square footage to the home to accommodate gracious master bedroom space.  Another two involve small additions that allow a re-ordering of the home’s interior and its indoor/outdoor connection.  And then we have the 936 House, with its playful tower of light topped with a loft aerie.

Second-Story Additions

Alameda Bungalow – three new bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs transform a modest 1924 home:

Tabor Addition – a new master bedroom suite, kids bedroom and bathroom pay homage to Craftsman heritage:

Victorian Remodel – two new bedrooms and a bathroom, built with upcycled wood and environmentally responsible materials, add historically-sensitive functionality:

Master Suite Additions

Clinton Remodel – scissor trusses and a bank of south-facing windows brings welcome natural light to master bedroom addition:

Tudor Remodel – attic conversion adds new master bedroom suite and office space to historic Tudor home:

Small Additions to Re-Order Flow

SW Hills Home – a series of cramped spaces is transformed into a light-filled sequence of entry, kitchen, dining room and living space:

Mudroom Addition – an old porch is transformed into a new mudroom and entry, bike storage and kids loft:

Tower of Light

936 House – a pillar of ascending windows brings light into the home and provides owner with tower-top perch:

Enjoy!

– Zack (Connect with me at +ZacharySemke)

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When building any home addition, it’s paramount to ensure that the new addition responds to the structure’s original aesthetic either by playing off of it or blending seamlessly with it. This certainly was achieved with the addition of an outdoor covered area and pergola to a home in Portland’s Five Oaks neighborhood. Designed by architect Dick Spies and built by general contractor Hammer & Hand, the Skamania lodge-style addition transitioned smoothly with the home’s original Pacific Northwest vibe.

(Visit our home additions page for more about our approach, including project examples, videos, and articles.)

Photography by Jeff Tan

The amount of exposed detailing in the covered area and pergola left little room for error.

“We needed to be precise in order for it to look as clean as possible,” says lead carpenter Lee Alworth, “Everything had to be exactly where it needed to be.”

This need for precision inspired Lee to adopt a unique way of approaching the construction.

“I basically built the roof first and then built it back down to the ground. That was because with the finishes, I wanted to make sure everything fit where it was supposed to be,” says Lee. The same reverse building process was used in constructing the pergola.

“We didn’t want the concrete to get scuffed up during the construction process, so the pergola was built floating in the holes and then we poured the concrete in the base of it. The concrete was the last thing that we did,” recounts Lee.

The custom concrete pour around the pergola and pool area also allowed the team to upgrade the floor drainage by the pool to a more functional system.

“The concrete before had one small drain, like a little round 4-inch drain with a bunch of concrete which had wood as its control joints and dividers. It was buckled all over the place,” says project manager Alex Daisley. The improvements made added a larger galvanized drain and true expansion joints along the acid-etched concrete.

In addition to increasing functionality outside, the covered area and pergola addition opened up the living room and kitchen area without adding any square footage to the house.

“It was all disconnected before.  Now when you walk in that front door, that whole space is so much more open,” says Alex of the pergola’s effect on the front entryway and living room. By cathedralizing the ceilings, adding sliding doors, and removing shrubs, the addition of the pergola creates a natural pull into the room.

In that same vein, the picture frame window of the kitchen connects the covered area with the interior, giving the sense of a much more open space. With the custom built fireplace and BBQ area, the addition of the covered area brings the inside out and the outside in through the kitchen.

– Jeff

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We announced our Loyal Heights home addition project in early February, and construction is proceeding nicely.  The Seattle remodel, designed by Heliotrope Architects and built by Hammer & Hand, boasts both high design and high performance features.

Rendering by Heliotrope Architects

The building’s envelope, with its advanced framed walls, good insulation, and high performance windows, will deliver excellent thermal performance and comfort.

The image above shows how the new addition will relate to the existing cottage, connected by a small breezeway – a nice high design nod to the vernacular.

The crew will place roof trusses by early next week, followed by sub-slab and mechanicals.

– Zack

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