HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Trick-or-Treat Ready

Today is my first Halloween as a homeowner, so I'm interested to see how many trick-or-treaters end up visiting the house. I'm stocked up on candy and got my Jack-O-Lantern ready, so I feel relatively prepared and look forward to meeting some of the new neighbors.

LIVING WITH MY DESIGN

30-Day Post Occupancy Evaluation

One month ago today I moved out of my apartment and into the Starter Home 2.0 project I designed and developed, so it seems appropriate to take a bit of time in this post to reflect back on my first month in my new home, the lessons learned, and how it might influence my next and future Starter Home 2.0 projects.

• 30-day Takeaways from a first time Architect-Developer-Homeowner:

1. Flexibility breeds comfort: Comfort isn't about having the softest bed or coziest chair, it's about having the flexibility to create an environment that can both adapt to and change your mood at any given time. By having the ability to tune the amount of natural light and ventilation in the house, and access to a variety of spatial and furniture arrangements to accommodate work, play and relaxation, I have always found comfort in the new home.
2. Freedom = Happiness: There are few more soul-crushing experiences in day-to-day life than than being trapped in the jail cell on wheels that is a car stuck in rush hour traffic, so having developed a home where 95+% of my trips (job, gym, grocery store, church, etch) are within a 5-minute drive or walk of my house, it's hard not to be happy with where I'm at and the freedoms it affords me.
3. More than buildings, architecture creates experiences and memories: For me, those experiences and memories have been waking up to a home flooded with natural light, opening the windows to feel the cooling breeze flow throughout the both floors of the house, and family conversations facilitated by the open plan where the kitchen, dining and living area are one.

All in all, I think things are off to a good start in the new house and that I might be onto something with this Starter Home 2.0 project.

FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH

Appraiser Walkthrough

On Tuesday I met the appraiser hired by Guardian Savings Bank to establish the market value of the new home, for a walkthrough of the project. It was interesting talking to the appraiser while going through and around the house and getting some insight on how he approaches the task of establishing value for something like a home, which he acknowledged is purchased largely on a personal emotional reaction. That said, he pointed to a few key factors that sell homes in Cincinnati's neighborhoods, relating a couple of them back to Pleasant Ridge. They are...

1. Security: Above all else, people will not buy homes in places they don't feel safe.
2. Schools: Pleasant Ridge, which has access to state-funded private school vouchers based on past poor performances of neighborhood schools prior to the transformation of Pleasant Ridge Montessori to the thriving school it is today, has made Pleasant Ridge one of the most appealing neighborhoods for families with school aged kids in the city.
3. Walkability (a 'Less pricey version of Hyde Park'): With a walkable neighborhood business district, parks, playgrounds and a strong housing stock, Pleasant Ridge has many of the amenities of Hyde Park (widely regarded as the City of Cincinnati's premier residential neighborhood) but at a price point more attainable for most families 

All things considered, I'm really interested to see what this home appraises for since it is being compared to something that doesn't exist, which is new home construction in Pleasant Ridge. I'll post another blog entry on the topic when I get the report with the results.

PATIO LIGHTING

Exterior CFL Upgrade

This weekend I replaced a burned out incandescent bulb in one of the patio light fixtures and relocated the other to inside the garage so that I could be consistent and replace both lamps with a pair of exterior rated compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. While they take a few seconds to get to their full brightness, I am quite pleased with the amount of light they give off and their soft white color quality. The energy savings of compact fluorescent lights vs. the incandescent bulbs is another nice bonus. Now I just need to get some patio furniture to enjoy this nice illuminated outdoor living space.

LIGHT & AIRY

Opening Up the House

Sunday was a beautiful fall day in Cincinnati, which gave me the opportunity to open up all the windows in the house to take advantage of the abundant natural light and ventilation designed into the home. No lights, no furnace, no problem. I also got around to hanging up the photo mosaic of the house I mentioned previously, which has added a nice finishing touch to the main living space. 

WATCHING GRASS GROW

Grass Seed Taking Root

I was told a few weeks ago when the grass seed and straw mats were first put down across the front, back and side yards, that early fall is the best time to seed lawns in Cincinnati. According to Scotts.com, early fall is the best time to seed because of its shorter days, cooler nights, and heavier dews, while still allowing new seedlings time to build strong roots before the winter. Sure enough, that all looks to be true at Starter Home 2.0, whose yards have started looking especially green the past few days.

PLEASANT RIDGE PRESS

Cincinnati Magazine Article

This past week, the Pleasant Ridge neighborhood where the Starter Home 2.0 project is located, received some positive press from Cincinnati Magazine, being recognized as one of the city's hottest up-and-coming neighborhoods. Cited for its housing stock, family friendly conveniences such as the Montessori School, Library, Pool and Water Park, and a rapidly growing business district, people are starting to take notice of The Ridge as one of the more desirable places to live in the region. The name of the article is 'Pleasant Ridge is on the Verge, Finally: Your Kingdom of Vinyl and Artisanal Cheese Awaits', which pays tribute to both the old with Everybody's Records and the new with Share: Cheesebar.

Map I created of the Pleasant Ridge Business District

CLOSING IN ON CLOSING

Loan Conversion Process Underway

After spending a good amount of time this week on the phone with several different loan officers at Guardian Savings Bank, I was finally able to get the ball rolling on the process of converting the Construction Loan on the Starter Home 2.0 project to Permanent Financing. This involved paying off the final balance of the interest only payments on the construction loan, locking into an interest rate on the permanent loan (a portion of that form is shown below), and submitting to Guardian my latest round of pay stubs, bank statements and W2 forms from 2013-2014 for processing. In the end, the terms of the loan I agreed to is a 30-year fixed mortgage at a 3.875% interest rate. I will follow-up with another blog post about the closing process once that actually takes place.

PUNCHING OUT

Final Punch List Tasks Underway

On Tuesday the punch list work identified in last week's walkthrough got started on the interior with the installation of the final piece of back splash in the master bathroom, miscellaneous patching of dents and scratches in the drywall and trim, and missing cover plate installation at unused phone and cable jacks throughout the home. Earlier in the week on Monday, I met with the GE Service technician about some appliance repairs, and was told the parts for those should be arriving and installed early next week.

SNEAK PEEK

The Next Starter Home 2.0 Project

I've mentioned in previous blog posts that the Starter Home 2.0 house I am currently living in is intended to serve as a prototype for future Starter Home 2.0 projects that I would like to design and develop. That said, here is a sneak peek of the next Starter Home 2.0 project site, which I recently acquired and is located in Cincinnati's Oakley neighborhood.

HOUSE ARTWORK

Starter Home 2.0 Mosaic

Sunday I received a pretty great housewarming gift from my parents when I picked up the framed mosaic shown below, which is a photo of the house on moving day, composed of hundreds of smaller photos of the house under construction. I'm still trying to figure out the best place in the living/dining area to hang the artwork, but it will be displayed proudly wherever it ends up. Here is a link to the website used to generate the image.

Photo mosaic by: mbbnda @ Mosaically

FIRST FROST

Garage Utilization

Overnight temperatures fell below freezing for the first time since moving into the new house on Saturday, which meant putting the garage to the test of handling the season's first frost. Up until the beginning of this month, my car had never had permanent access to a garage before, so it was a welcome change to wake-up this morning and not need to scrape the windshield or defrost my car as I have become accustomed to.

RENDERING TO REALITY

Website Imagery Refresh

In addition to this blog, I also have a personal website at mbenkert.com that features a portfolio of academic and professional projects beyond the Starter Home 2.0 effort. For the past couple of years I made use of the Starter Home 2.0 renderings for a couple pages on the website, but thought with the project now complete, it was time for a 'Rendering to Reality Refresh'. Below are a couple examples of the swaps.

PUNCH LIST

Final Punch List Walkthrough

On Thursday I met with Richard Brown (Mike Brown Construction LLC) to go over the final punch list of tasks that are to be completed to get the project to be 100% done. Richard and Mike Brown make the point to let new homeowners live in the house for a week or two before doing this walkthrough, because many issues are not known until after having had the chance to settle into everyday life in the new environment. Over the past two weeks, I utilized Google Docs to develop a spreadsheet of all the punch list tasks broken down by room or exterior location, which made for an efficient overview of the to-be-completed tasks. The hope is to have all these outstanding items resolved within the next week, and I will post updates as tasks get checked off of the list.

LATTICE WORK

Porch Lattice Installed

Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon the trim carpenters were over at the house installing the 1x4 trim boards used as lattice work underneath the front porch and rear steps. The boards will eventually be painted to match the siding color, but the progress so far looks great and adds a nice finishing touch to the home.

SECURITY

Security System & Gate Update

On Tuesday the installer from Miller Security was on to wire in the security system for the Starter Home 2.0 project and provided me with a couple yard signs and stickers to advertise to potential intruders that the house is alarmed. I've already been caught off guard a couple times by the beeping when I enter and exit the house, but I'm definitely happy to have the system in place. The fence crew was also back at the property on Tuesday reworking the gate to match the rest of the fence, which closed out that installation.

FINISHED 2ND FLOOR TOUR

Final Walkthrough Video: 2nd Floor

Yesterday I posted the finished first floor walkthrough video to my blog and Starter Home 2.0 YouTube channel, so as a follow-up to that, here is the second floor video.

FINISHED 1ST FLOOR TOUR

Final Walkthrough Video: 1st Floor

If you have had the chance to view the Starter Home 2.0 YouTube channel, you will notice that I have uploaded several virtual and construction walkthrough videos of the project as it has progressed from concept, to framing, to drywall. Now that the project is substantially complete, I have posted the final walkthrough video of the first floor, with the second floor video to follow in a future blog entry.

BEDROOM FURNISHINGS

Master Bedroom Furniture

On Friday I finally got around to purchasing a comforter and linens for the new queen size bed that is part of the 3-piece Captiva set that was delivered from Macy's last week. This provided me the opportunity to actually sleep in the Master Bedroom (instead of the guest bedroom where my old bed is located) and take some pictures of the furniture to post on the blog. The comforter also came with a couple shams, but those have yet to be added to the bedding arangement.

FENCE UPDATE

Privacy Fence Installation

On Friday morning while at the gym, I got an unexpected call from the fence contractor I hired to install the privacy fence along the rear property line saying that one of his crews had an unexpected opening in their schedule and was at the house ready to meet with me to go over the installation. Fortunately, with the lot being less than 2-miles away from my gym and office, I was able to accommodate his request and get the installer started a few minutes later. After 3 short hours, the crew was finished with the fence and gate installation, and for the first time since I moved in, I actually felt a sense of privacy when I walked into the back yard. The 6 foot high privacy fence is made up of red cedar planks and pressure treated lumber, and matches the style of the neighbors' fences on either side. The gap left on the garage side of the fence is at that the request of the neighbor to allow space for the installation of their own gate to the adjacent public parking lot that empties out to the Pleasant Ridge neighborhood business district. The one correction that the fence installer has agreed to come back and fix next week is replacing the arched top fence gate with a flat top fence gate, so I'll post some images of what the new gate looks like once that is installed. 

FINAL INSPECTION & C.O.

Final Inspection Approved & Permanent C of O Issued

With the porch stair handrail installation complete and finished grading and landscaping in place, the building inspector was called back to the site for a final walkthrough and was able to approve the house for its Final Certificate of Occupancy on Wednesday. With this hurdle cleared, the conversion of the construction loan to permanent financing can now occur. It will also let me complete my application for the City of Cincinnati residential tax abatement for new construction. Below is a screenshot of the latest Cagis ezTrack record detail with the updates mentioned above.

USER FEEDBACK

Post Occupancy Evaluation

One of the most valuable, yet elusive tools available to architects and designers when it comes to improving future designs is comprehensive post-occupancy evaluations of completed projects by building users. Fortunately, when it comes to future Starter Home 2.0 projects (stay tuned for an announcement on the next one), that user providing the feedback is me. I'm the one living with all the consequences of design decisions, whether it's the challenge of refilling a kitchen sink soap dispenser that is installed behind the garbage disposal, or experiencing the mood boosting qualities of all the spaces with abundant natural light and ventilation throughout the home. By being positioned to recognize the design flaws and successes relating to usability, durability, cost and maintenance, I will have a comprehensive data set available to inform and justify the planning and execution of future developments, which will be a powerful selling point to potential lenders and buyers.

SEED & STRAW, CABLE & INTERNET

Landscaping & Cable Installation

Monday was a work-filled day at the Starter Home 2.0 with the landscape crew on-site all day grading, seeding and strawing the front, back and side yards. This also put me to work in the evening, watering the lawn to ensure that the grass seed takes root over the course of the next several days. Time Warner Cable arrived in the afternoon to hook-up the cable and internet service, which involved running a new cable line from the power lines across the street to the house near the electrical service drop and took a good 3-4 hours to complete. A couple other miscellaneous items that were resolved in recent days included the installation of blinds in the window above the stairwell, and the expansion of the dining room table to be in the full open position to maximize seating capacity. Power washing and exterior caulking is scheduled for today and the lattice work under the porch should be installed by the end of the week.

HOUSE WARMING

Entertaining Guests at the Starter Home 2.0

One of the benefits of the open plan concept in the Starter Home 2.0 is the ability to accomodate guests for social gatherings. With the capacity to comfortably sit 4 at the breakfast bar, 8 at the dining room table, and 5 on the sofa and love seat (with room to spare) in the same living area, the house is right-sized to be enjoyed by groups of almost any size. On Saturday, I had the pleasure of hosting the first guests to the Starter Home 2.0 when my parents, sister and brother-in-law came over for a house warming dinner, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to share that experience with.

Left to right: Mom, Dad, Me, Sister, Brother-in-Law

1ST FLOOR FURNITURE

Living & Dining Room Furniture Delivery

I mentioned in Thursday's blog post about how having all the furniture in the rooms made the spaces appear bigger, and that was definitely the case with the living and dining area once the furniture sets were delivered and arranged on Friday. The pieces do a great job complimenting the colors, materials and forms of the interior architecture and above all, make the house feel like a home. Below are a sampling of some of the photos uploaded to Photo Album #3.

RAILING, RINGING & RINSING

Step Railing, Door Bell & Washer Hookup

Prior to the delivery of the new furniture on Friday, the railings along the steps from the front porch to the driveway were completed, the doorbell and remote speaker were installed, and the supply lines for the washing machine were connected. Finishing these tasks effectively closed out all of the work until next week's walkthrough when a final punchlist will be compiled to fix and address any outstanding issues

HOME SWEET HOME

Starter Home 2.0 First Impressions

Wednesday was a long, exhausting and awesome day getting moved out of my apartment and into the Starter Home 2.0 house. Work continued on the front porch steps and railing as the movers and I loaded my belongings into the house, and the address numbers, mailbox and blinds were also installed. The biggest surprise for me after day one in the home, was how much bigger the rooms seem once the furniture is in, so I am looking forward to seeing how the living, dining and master bedroom spaces feel once the new furniture arrives for those areas on Friday.