Tatami House

Nelson Sunflower Clock

2012-01-22T21:33:00.000-08:00

We have wanted the Nelson Sunflower Clock for about 10 years.... the day has finally come.

Panel Fix

2012-01-15T22:01:00.000-08:00

One of the concrete panels had to be resurfaced. My original contractor tried to fix some of the corners and surfaces of the panels and "messed up". They "messed up" so bad that they had to cover the entire panel with a thin layer of cement/plaster. There are two panels that were "fixed" and this one was failing bad, the "fix" was peeling off.

Arturo who did my block wall and has some experienced in tilt-up construction, scraped off the "fix" and then roughed up the surface with a grinder. He then put the correct concrete tilt-up finishing compound on the panel. He will come back this week to seal it, the concrete won't match perfectly but that's fine.

Home Tech Review - Etón American Red Cross AXIS

2012-01-10T21:50:00.000-08:00

Home Tech Review - Etón American Red Cross AXIS

After the great Los Angeles windstorm of 2011 we picked up the Etón American Red Cross AXIS Home Safety Device.

The unit features:

Machined Aluminum Hand Crank and Handle
Rechargeable Battery Power
Standard Battery Power
USB connector for cell phone charging
Digital AM, FM, Weatherband radio with weather alert
4 LED flashlight with Red flashing beacon

The unit is really good looking (it's displayed on our bookshelf) and very well constructed. The only 2 negatives are that the LED flashlight is not that bright and it would have been nice to have solar power as well. Great combination of function and design. We are ready for the next blackout!

Etón American Red Cross AXIS : Highly Recommended
Etón website

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over and the tree is in the bin. Happy New Year !!

Side Door Finished

2011-12-27T23:51:00.000-08:00

New side door was installed with added weather seals and overhang.

Minimal Christmas Lights

2011-12-18T10:05:00.000-08:00

New iMac

2011-12-17T22:06:00.000-08:00

We now have matching computers.

New iMac to replace the one that died.
21.5" - 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7

Christmas Tree 2011

2011-12-11T14:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas Tree

2011-12-10T18:27:00.000-08:00

We bought our Christmas tree today, decorating it tomorrow.

Overhang

2011-12-09T23:00:00.000-08:00

The overhang over the front door was finished up today. The new side door was still not ready, hopefully next week.

Front Door

Work in Progress

2011-12-06T20:42:00.001-08:00

The side door replacement is still in progress. Waiting for the new door to be painted. They installed the new overhang today. The front door overhang should go in later this week.

Blog Visits

2011-12-04T14:26:00.001-08:00

After the article in Dwell magazine, Dwell subsequently added a story about 3 homeowner blogs. The site visits went crazy. Usually the site averages under 10 unique visitors a day, after the blog article the counter went as high as 306!!

Falling Leaves and a Dead Mac

2011-11-27T13:16:00.001-08:00

The leaves are now falling quickly from the tree....

... and my iMac died !!!
I think a can recover most of my files. My new machine should come in a week...argh!

Dwell Magazine - Update

2011-11-17T12:05:00.001-08:00

The Dwell magazine article is now up on their website.

-link-

Door Replacement?

2011-11-16T09:53:00.000-08:00

removing original door

We had a new contractor come out to fit and adjust the new side door. After removing the old door and prepping the new door they realized that the color on the new continuous hinge was wrong. It is supposed to be brushed aluminum but they were given black. They will have to come back when they get the right color....

Dwell Magazine!

2011-11-13T13:25:00.001-08:00

Our house is in the Dec-Jan issue of Dwell Magazine. The 5 page article turned out pretty good. The magazine just came out so it is not on the Dwell website yet, probably later this week.

Home Tech Review - iZON

2011-11-06T09:27:00.000-08:00

Home Tech Review

We are trying out the iZon Remote Room Monitor to see what our dog is doing when we are away. The set-up was fairly easy, it took me 2 tries to get it working on our wireless network. The Stem App is where the system fails, it crashes frequently. Connecting to the camera on 3G fails about 10-20% of the time. The biggest problem is that it stopped recording, I am still waiting on iZon tech support to get back to me. When it does work, it automatically uploads as a private youtube video. Resolution is only QVGA -320 x 240 which is fine for iphone viewing.

iZon Remote Room Monitor: Not Recommended until the Stem App is fixed.

Update: The latest firmware has fixed the recording. There is a 30 20 second delay in the video which they say they are working to reduce. There is also a delay of what is recorded when you hit the record button. It's too late for me to return the item, speaking to them on the phone, iZon knows they have issues and they are working on them. It still can be a great product.

As far as the dog watching we have discovered some things. Our dog barks and cries (more like howls) off and on for 5-10 minutes but she spends most of the time waiting in front of the door to the garage.

Halloween Pumpkins 2011

2011-10-31T23:50:00.000-07:00

My wife made the Totoro pumpkin and the flower pattern, I made the other three. Happy Halloween!

The pumpkins in the daytime don't look as good.

Totoro Pumpkin and Friend.

Someone's watching me.

Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

We carved our pumpkins today, results posted tomorrow.

HDR Photo - Sunset Clouds

Autum Leaves

2011-10-23T18:04:00.000-07:00

Tagged !!

2011-10-12T20:27:00.000-07:00


Our sidewalk was tagged by some chalk wielding bandits.....

...and we responded back.

Pumpkins

2011-10-09T21:34:00.000-07:00

We went to a pumpkin patch today for our Halloween decorations.

Overcast Sunday

2011-09-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

Not much sun today.... let me sleep (υˇェˇυ)…zzZ

View from the Sofa

2011-09-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

Lazy Sunday.... laying down on the sofa reading a magazine.

Window Screens

2011-09-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

We installed some temporary window screens last month for the summer months. In the winter and spring it was fine without the screens but as summer came so did the bugs. I had the screens made locally and added some flat tension springs to keep them in place. Unfortunately because of the opening size they needed a spreader bar in the middle to keep the screen from hour-glassing. The screens have been working great and we are staying cool!

Sleeping Dog

2011-08-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Lazy Sunday

More Office

2011-08-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Another photo of the office, not always this clean.

Office

2011-08-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

My wife and dog in the office.

Lotta Art

2011-08-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

We are slowly finding art to put on our very blank walls. We found these great limited handscreened prints by Lotta Jansdotter to add color to the space.

Photo Shoot

2011-08-02T23:01:00.000-07:00

We had a magazine photo shoot today! It was pretty exhausting for just standing around. My wife baked and sewed for the cameras. Mei had a good time but was exhausted as well. More info on the shoot in future posts.... Zzzzzzz

Saturday Morning Talk

2011-07-30T23:04:00.000-07:00

Reflections

2011-07-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

Another artsy photo - reflection from the courtyard windows looking down the hallway

Sunset

2011-07-17T20:42:00.000-07:00

The sunlight coming through the side window just before sunset.

Relaxing

2011-07-10T21:41:00.000-07:00

Everyone is just relaxing.

1 Year

2011-07-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

Our dog enjoying the skylight.

Last week it was the 1 year anniversary of us moving into the house. It has been a rough year having to call back the the contractor numerous times to take care of issues. With all the problems it has still been a joy living here.

Parapet Repair

2011-06-26T20:12:00.000-07:00

Contractor came out on Saturday. I recently noticed that the stucco detail at the top of the courtyard parapet did not carry over and down, "capping" the top of the wall completely. The water waterproofing membrane that was installed there was also exposed and falling apart. Turns out that according to one of the workers it was "never finished", they thought a metal cap was going to be installed so for whatever reason it was left like that.

After various emails were sent out the contractor came by to correct / "finish" the installation. They started by chipping away some of the stucco.

New waterproofing membrane, metal channels and mesh for the stucco was added.

New stucco was added so now it runs down the wall enough to properly cap the top of the wall and prevent future water intrusion.

Visitor

2011-06-23T22:34:00.000-07:00

Dwell on Design 2011

2011-06-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

Our house was one of six selected by Dwell magazine for the Dwell on Design Westside Home Tour!

We did not stick around for the day, it was going to be too hard watching strangers walk around the house.

It was a ticketed tour, the final tally was 432 people! My wife spent a week cleaning, I did help a little... Now we can relax.

Our dog can relax too.

Skylights and Woodchips

2011-06-11T19:26:00.000-07:00

Hosed down the skylights today.

We also put down some woodchips in the planter areas.

We will eventually plant something, still unsure what exactly we want.

Sofa

2011-06-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

After almost a year we now have a sofa in the living room but still no TV.

Fence - Done

2011-06-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

The fence contractor has some touch up work to do but he is pretty much done. I cleaned off the deck and watered the plants in the back. The plants should grow taller than the wall and give us some more privacy.

One of the side gates.

Front door and new gate.

Front, all the rock is in but no plants.

Fence - Progress - Miscalculations

2011-06-03T21:52:00.000-07:00

The block wall is done! We had some concrete curbs also poured for planting areas. I miscalculated and was one plant short!

They miscalculated and did not have enough rocks for the front. They will bring some more tomorrow and hopefully finish the gates.

Fence - Progress

2011-05-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

The wall is done and the inspector came out for the final. They had to do one corner by the utility pole in wood as required by the DWP. They need to have future access to the pole if it ever needs to be replaced so no concrete block allowed. The wall contractor is now going to do some clean-up, add two gates, planter areas and add gravel around the property. No grass for us!

Contractor Fixes

2011-05-25T19:49:00.000-07:00

Building contractor MS Enterprise Builders was out to finish replacing light fixtures and other patching and painting. For whatever reason they had originally installed 3 fixtures that were not the same type as the others in the house. These fixtures were not right for the type of bulb and cover used causing the wiring to overheat. I have my theories to why they were used but.....I don't need to get into that. My contractor did start the conversation with "all fixtures have exposed wiring".....WTF?

I asked him if this was normal?...... he then went out and bought a replacement fixture. After one of the workers mentioned that the other 2 locations that had the same type of fixture were going to burn out the same way I placed a call to the contractor and he brought two more fixtures the next day. I have to thank the worker for not ignoring a possible problem and letting me know, a real class guy. We still have a couple of outstanding issues left with the contractor.....

Fence - Progress / Contractor Fixes

2011-05-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

More fence work today. Another inspection tomorrow and they should be done.


We also had the building contractor MS Enterprise Builders come to fix/patch some things. We had a bad light fixture that needed to be replaced and now they are coming out again tomorrow to replace 2 more! They are also patching some drywall cracking and some smaller items, I think I had a list of 13 items for them today.

Fence - Progress

2011-05-22T14:12:00.000-07:00

We got the all clear from the building department regarding the property line on Friday so they finally started on the walls.... our dog waits patiently for her backyard.

They can only go half way up before they have to call the inspector again. One corner has a power pole so that portion has to be done in wood so the DWP can have future access to the pole if needed.

Survey

2011-05-18T23:02:00.000-07:00

I had to hire a survey crew to mark the corners of the property for the owner in the back and the building department inspector.

Fence - Delay

2011-05-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

The inspector came out on Friday to look at the trenches, now they want additional permits and some information from DWP because there is a power pole in the corner. I wish they would of told us that we needed these "additional" permits when we got the first one. Hopefully they can start back up soon.

Fence - Progress

2011-05-11T20:01:00.000-07:00

Not much work happen last week. Monday they pulled the permit, Tuesday they could not come so today they started back to work.

Almost done digging the trench for the new footings.

Morning Light

2011-05-09T20:52:00.000-07:00

Early morning light

Wall - Demo

2011-05-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

Finally starting the perimeter wall! We are only doing 2 sides. The one neighbor, after 3 weeks could not produce me a document stating that I would agree to their conditions. I verbally agreed to everything but they would not let me start until their lawyer drafted a document. So now we will leave that wall as is and deal with it in the future. They had a chance to get a free wall but now they get nothing.

Backyard

Flower Arranging

2011-05-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

We tried our hands at flower arranging today. The pot is Onta-Yaki from Oita, Japan that we purchased from tortoise in Venice. The pussy willows we found online.

Glass Re-install

2011-04-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

After the glass was removed, the popping sound went away. The glass guys came out on Thursday to put back the glass. It took them 3-4 tries filled with plenty of cursing and as I was holding the ladder for the installer he said "if it breaks, close your eyes".....yikes!!!

Luckily they were able to get it back into place in on piece. They installed a looser gasket around the glass, hopefully this will work and the popping sound does not return.

Update: The popping sound so far has not come back.

Fence Update

2011-04-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

Fence Update: Have the contractor picked. 2 of the 3 neighbors are fine. This neighbor is a rental and the renters are a nice family but the owner gave me conditions. Since it is a shared wall, they will okay the demo of the wall but want the new wall to be built on my side of the property, not down the middle. ...............fine

Now they want a draft a legal document saying that I will put the wall on my property, that was a week and a half ago and still no document. I just want to get my contractor started but I just have to wait. What happen to friendly handshake agreements with you fellow man/woman?

Early Morning Light

2011-04-10T12:06:00.000-07:00

The sun just started to come out.

Glass!

2011-04-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today the glass installer came out to temporarily remove the glass above the Master Bedroom. During the past 2-3 months there has been this popping sound coming from the frame, mostly at night and early morning waking me up! Sometimes once an hour, a "pop" at worse every 15 mins. This is not a normal settling sound so something had to be done.

After many possible theories it has come down to this, removing the glass to see what happens. We will see what over the weekend and decide what to do if the noise comes back or not. They dropped a piece of trim which landed on my new TV!! luckily only some minor cosmetic damage. The falling trim also put some small holes and marks on the wall! Argh!!!!!!!

Happy Tree

2011-04-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

The tree is going strong!

Front Door Repair

2011-04-03T19:53:00.000-07:00

The front door was worked on Saturday. The threshold plate was installed crooked (in my opinion) by the contractor so there was a gap. When it was taken apart, it was black from where the water was getting in.

Christian a European window and door specialist was brought to fix the plate as well as find other possible causes of the water intrusion during heavy rains.

A solid piece of Oak was added to the bottom of the door to help divert the water.

Courtyard HDR

2011-03-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

HDR Photo from my iphone.

Here we go again

2011-03-24T21:41:00.000-07:00

The contractor MS Enterprise Builders came out today to fix the leaks.

Today it was determined that the water was getting into a crack where the water line was going into the Master Bathroom. They did go around and fiberglass tape and add more Henrys water seal to all the other pipe and vent locations.

...checking to see if there was any other water damage or intrusion.

More sealant was added to the wall cap flashing.... we shall see how it goes, unfortunately the rainy season is about over. We still have issues with the doors which have yet to be resolved.

Ridiculous!!

2011-03-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

This is how I spent my Sunday!

Water was leaking down the new vent pipe all over the floor in the laundry room.

Henry Sealant to the rescue! In the pouring rain I sealed a joint that was not sealed and added more sealant all over. This seemed to have stopped the leak........

Just when I thought all was well, water was dripping from a light fixture in the Master Bathroom! I cut a hole in the ceiling.

Not sure where the water is coming from. I sent an email to my contractor yet again. Maybe it is time for some legal action or maybe hiring a construction defect consultant if leaks keep happening. The first step if issues are not resolved maybe is to file a complaint with the contractors board.

More Leaves!

2011-03-19T21:34:00.000-07:00


In just 2 weeks the tree looks like this!

Leaves!

2011-03-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

Our Japanese maple is waking up, the first leaves of the year are coming out.

Our dog is also checking up on the tree.

Rainbow Inside?

2011-02-26T16:09:00.000-08:00

Our dog wonders why there are rainbows inside the house ....... a small amount of water on the rim of the circular skylights remain after a rain that creates mini rainbows all over the house.

Repair Try #3

2011-02-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

Contractor MS Enterprise Builders came back out again for the 3rd time.

This time instead of just patching the surface, they removed some roofing material to check out the plywood below. They reset the drain and redid the waterproofing around the drain. They tested the drain with a water hose, good so far... we shall see what happens during the next rains.

Still Leaking!

2011-02-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

Around 8:00 at night we heard the sound of dripping! The leak that the contractor "fixed" 2 times was leaking again! I cut open the ceiling myself to see where the water was coming from.

The water was coming in from the area around where a roof drain penetrates the plywood of the roof structure.

Bids and Adjustments

2011-02-13T20:08:00.000-08:00


We had a couple of contractors come out to give us bids on replacing the block wall around the house.

The front door was adjusted and some troubleshooting was done to figure out how and where water is getting in during heavy rains.

Master Bedroom Entertainment Center

2011-02-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

Here is our Master Bedroom Entertainment Center. Sony 55" TV - Zvox Speaker - Ikea Cabinet - XBOX360 - PS3

Repair Work

2011-01-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

The contractor MS Enterprise Builders came out to repair the roof leak. They did not find the leak but patched everywhere they could.....

They also repaired some cracking in the drywall.

Heater Repair Complete

2011-01-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

Heating guys from Temperatures Unlimited came to install the new concentric venting on the roof. Heater works great now!!

Hello

2011-01-15T21:16:00.000-08:00

What are you looking at?

Heater Saga Continues

2011-01-13T19:49:00.000-08:00

The heating company was out yet again! The tankless heater for the floor heating has been working much better since the new gas meter but it also has shut down with an error code 6 times. The result from today's visit, the venting on the roof was installed with the wrong parts! The system uses a concentric vent to intake and exhaust air. The venting on the roof was for a standard exhaust system which meant it was not getting the air flow required. Parts on order and should be fixed next week!

Happy New Year

2011-01-09T15:12:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year ! This year we hope to build the wall around the property and get some landscaping done. I also hope we resolve all the little things the contractor needs to address soon.

New Gas Meter

2010-12-30T20:21:00.000-08:00

The Gas Company came out to replace the meter with one with more capacity. The original meter was too small and did not provide enough flow for the 2 tankless boilers. Why was the wrong unit installed in the first place? The boiler for the radiant floor system seems to be much happier now and has stopped making a loud racket when it fired up.

Glass

2010-12-24T09:56:00.000-08:00

Now for some positive news for a change. A couple weeks back we went to the United Glassblowing holiday sale in Santa Ana and purchased some hand blown glass by Caleb Siemon.

They were selling glass work by various artist. We purchased pieces by Caleb Siemon. The items were on sale because they were either samples, had a small defect/air bubble or slightly too big or small from their catalog description.

They were also doing demonstrations, amazing!

Moss Banded Tear Drop Vase

White and Yellow Vase

Rain Rain Rain

2010-12-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

A week of rain the number of leaks has grown..... more info later.

Heater Fix?

2010-12-22T08:58:00.000-08:00

Heating company Temperatures Unlimited came out to look the unit and figure out why it was making so much noise on start-up. It looks like we don't have enough gas coming to the house and the unit is struggling to start the burner. Luckily the unit does eventually come on and we do have heat. The gas company is going to come out next week to confirm and hopefully install a larger gas meter.

Water!!!!

2010-12-19T20:17:00.000-08:00

It rained all night and this morning I found a puddle of water by the side door! and it was not the dog!! We have never been happy with "quality" of installation on this door. I put some plastic on the exterior and it seems to be keeping the water out till the contractor comes out.

Christmas Tree

2010-12-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

Our first Christmas tree!

Radiant Floor Fixed!!

2010-12-09T19:24:00.000-08:00


We had a problem of the radiant floor heating not getting hot enough to heat the house. The heating sub-contractor Temperatures Unlimited came out twice and finally found the problems. The first visit they found air in the lines which they removed. That did not fix the problem so on the 2nd visit they found that the filter on the heater was clogged with construction debris. Now we have a nice warm home! Update - now the boiler is making loud noises on start-up!! Time for another repair visit!!!

Quick Panorama

2010-12-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

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I downloaded 360 Panorama app for my iphone for 99¢.

Put your cursor over the photo, hold the mouse button down and pan to the left or right.

Shelving Installation

2010-11-29T20:16:00.000-08:00

Soli and crew came to install the shelves today.

Office

Side Hallway

Outside?

2010-11-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

We still need to put up a new wall and gate around the house, so for now the dog stays inside.

Shelving

2010-11-09T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today, I went to cabinet maker to check on the shelving we are having built.

These shelves will go into the 4 niches we have in the rooms and hallways.

Sample piece the cabinet maker made a couple week ago to show that they could match the shelves we have in the office.


Soli's sign is a little beat-up but I like it.

Halloween

2010-10-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

1st Halloween at the house.

2010-10-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

The weeds / grass out front have grown with all the rain.

It was time to clean up the front so we don't look like a vacant foreclosed home.

All clean, we are still need a new fence around the property and landscape.

A Little Sun

2010-10-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

It has been cloudy and gray all week. We had a little sun today!

Autumn Rain

2010-10-04T20:39:00.000-07:00

Last Monday it was over 100˚, today in the mid 60˚ and rain.

Reflection

2010-09-30T21:59:00.000-07:00

Morning Toast and Coffee

2010-09-26T22:40:00.000-07:00

Busy Weekend!

2010-09-19T21:10:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had to wait around the house for our mattress to be delivered on Saturday from Room and Board and the bed frame to be delivered on Sunday from CB2. Earlier in the week I had to replace the front door light motion sensor, that only worked half the time.

I also had to replace an outlet in the kitchen that stopped working. I check the breakers and reset the outlet but nothing. This lead me to discover a bigger problem, the breaker panels!

This is the sub panel, it had 7 circuits that were mislabeled and 2 that I have yet to track down. The 2 are labeled but do not do what is written. I started to cross out and write over the labels but it became a bigger mess.

The main panel had 5 circuits that were mislabeled and 6 that I have yet to figure out.

The new and improved sub panel. I made new labels with our Brother P-touch.

Main panel relabeled.

I also took down the bamboo invasion in the back.

Bed frame parts.

Bed frame complete and the weekend is over!

Trim Fix

2010-09-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

It's back to fixing things around the house.

Some of the trim was painted on and there are gaps.
I spent some time today scraping paint and caulking the trim around the doors.

Looks much better now!

Vacation Morning

2010-09-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

3 day holiday weekend and I plan to do nothing but relax !!

Courtyard at Night

2010-08-24T21:17:00.000-07:00

Clouds

2010-08-19T21:00:00.000-07:00

Clouds from yesterday.

Skylight and Window Cleaning

2010-08-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

The skylight were covered in dirt and bird droppings so it was time to give them a good cleaning.

The skylights are acrylic so I used a constant flow of water and a sponge so not to scratch the surface.

Inside I used a damp sponge to remove the plaster splatter and drywall dust from construction. The sun came out so I finished up in the evening. Next time I clean these I will need to get some plastic polish to remove scratches I found.


On Saturday we started to clean the windows.

Kitchen: Cooktop and Oven

2010-08-10T20:19:00.001-07:00

Miele - 4 Burner Cooktop
Miele - Convection Oven
Wesco - Vent

Garage

2010-08-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

The garage is all cleaned up, we can now park in the garage.

Inception

2010-08-04T19:47:00.001-07:00

I saw the movie Inception over the weekend.

Window Oiling

2010-07-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

With all the dust during construction, it was recommended that we oil the window frames at the end. I put down some plastic just in cased I spilled, then wiped down the window frames with a damp sponge.

We have a whole bucket of oil from the window company so I put some in a smaller bottle.

The dog watches from below.

Courtyard is done! The other exterior windows next week.... maybe