Sep 25

The MBA’s (Master Builders Association) Remodel Home Tour is once a year and features 19 remodeled homes throughout King and Snohomish counties. We at Fine Construction, Inc. have participated in the Remodel Home Tours and the Remodel Kitchen and Bath Tour. This is a chance for contractors to show the public the craftsmanship and great materials used to renovate these homes.

Metal Stair System with Stainless Steel Cables

This is a chance for you to meet and talk with contractors like myself and see, touch and feel the finishes. We have a project in West Seattle. This home was just recently renovated, we added a third story addition

This project consists of renovations to  multiple areas of the house.  The project was developed by the Fine Construction Design Team and the Homeowners. Our design meetings are simple, we meet to discuss the clients needs and requirements, then we discuss their dreams and wish-list. From this we start off in the right direction, instead of us just designing something to see if the clients like it.   We designed the addition to the clients desires.

For these clients they had 3 bedrooms and needed 4 bedrooms. So it made sense to add a new suite for the parents with a new bathroom. The home sits on top of a hill with views to the south and southwest.

It made sense to do an addition to the house by adding a third floor for the new master suite.  The position  of the addition is great providing  incredible views from the bedroom and bathroom. Of course we put a window int he shower and at the soaking tub.  As you walk from the main floor to the master suite the stair treads are Tigerwood hardwood flooring, rich colors come out from the wood flooring and the Tigerwood runs through the master suite and into the master closet. The handrail is a black powder coated metal handrail with stainless steel cables running horizontally.   For the new windows we applied a mirrored glazing on the exterior to minimize the heat gain, minimizing the heat that comes into t e rooms.

The master bathroom has oval tiles running down the wall, giving the faux look of water running down the wall to the floor with more oval tiles. On the west wall there is a window (obscure glass of course)  in the shower, it’s great that they can stand in the shower and open the window and enjoy the incredible views. What a great way to start your day! The bathroom floor is comfortable during the cold mornings with the heated floor under your feet.  There are two vanities, with one vanity that has a sink and faucet and the other is setup for makeup. It’s nice that there is plenty of storage with both. On the mirrors are strip fluorescent light fixtures.

The entry is a open space with room to great guest, family and friends. The front door is a Fir, 5 panel door with opaque glass and a custom door lever with a remote entry lock. You can be in your car and unlock the front door. Also at the front door is a video camera and on each floor inside the house are video monitors. For the main floor we added Tech lighting and 7.1 surround sound system for the enjoyment of the living room music system and large flat screen TV. It’s nice having the music going while relaxing in the living room. Tech lighting is a favorite of the owners and we installed several new Tech fixtures throughout the house.

The new concrete walkway to the front door had a  dark gray color added tot he concrete and large pavers where placed in a random pattern. A curved retaining wall was built and we installed LED walkway lights in the wall.

The exterior front of the house has a trellis made of clear cedar which is the left of the garage doors. The garage doors are black aluminum with opaque glass panels.  The Trellis is made of clear cedar and large timber. In addition to the front of the house, all new siding was installed due tot he installation of plywood to the framing, (the house had no plywood or and shear walls, the siding was nailed right to the siding) we used Hardie Plank siding. With the building of the third floor master suite, this made part of the the deck on the second floor covered for  a good portion of it. Now they can cook on the grill and even eat outside under the covered deck and enjoy eating outside. The new deck has Trex decking that was installed with hidden fasteners and a aluminum railing with glass panels, so this doesn’t block any of the view and also cuts down some of the wind.

We thoroughly enjoyed working with these clients, the kids liked having our carpenters see them off to school and their activities.  The design provides a nice flow through the house and the addition looks like it was originally part of the house. They will have a great place to entertain and relax.  If you would like to discuss your dreams an ideas, contact Fine Construction today to begin making your dreams come to reality.

Sep 22

Come and see us at the Seattle Home Show 2 coming up starting October 8, Friday thru Sunday the 10th. We are excited being back at the Qwest Field Event Center.

Fine Construction participated for years with the Home Show,take a look at our first Home Show Booth, from 2003. It’s great seeing the progression in booths. "Will Robinson says Hire Fine Construction" I bought a trade show display booth off eBay and I posted pictures on the display, I used a sink and for people that signed up to discuss their project had a chance in wining a gift certificate. The item that made my booth stick out was the robot from Lost in Space. My brother was into Lost in Space so i borrowed it for the show. It was interesting the group of visitors that where really interested in the robot. Some of the guys, their eye’s lite up and a smile came on their face and all they wanted to talk about was the robot. It worked!  It brought people into my booth to talk about the robot and what they wanted to remodel.

The next Seattle Home Show was the 2004 and I hooked up with Windsor One who offers a great line of high quality millwork for the interior and exterior for your home. We received materials and we put together a great booth.

Fine Construction booth shows off Quality Millwork and ConstructionWe used this booth for 4 years and ti was great that visitors to the Seattle Home Show can actually see the finished product, they could come up close to touch and feel the millwork and joinery. Brian Kemly of Kemly Electric provided the lighting consulting and recess light installation for the booth.

Not only did we get the brothers and father involved with the Home Show’s but Kathryn, (Tom’s Oldest Daughter) is featured in a video about a project completed on the Fine house. Kate’s love for acting show’s in the video. Sit back and enjoy the Fine Construction Thanksgiving 2006 Video

Click on this link to see Kathryn Fine showing a bathroom remodel    MVI_1029_xvid

I look forward to seeing you at the Seattle Home Show 2

The MBA Remodel Homes Tour is coming October 16th & 17th, come and see our renovated project located in West Seattle.   Remodel Home Tour, Visist the Fine Construction Project


Seattle Home Show 2, Honey I'm Home, let go to the Home Show!

Sep 09

We’ve got the next renovation underway and a deadline in mind. This renovation consists of expanding the house to the North increasing the size of two bedrooms, relocating one bathroom and adding another. With this addition we are reconfiguring the front of the house for better street appeal, so friends and family members know where to go tot he front door.  The last project had the same problem.

I love the front of the house, why change it?

The homeowners had ideas of what they wanted and we sat down and started drawing. it didn’t take long to take their needs and put it on paper and then refine their ideas and our suggestions to come up with a nice flowing addition.  Thee design process went well. We produced a simple expansion so we could spend money on other parts of the house.  Stand by for Phase II coming up soon.

What I am enjoying right now is working with wonderful people. It’s nice when we communicate and keep the channels open and discuss what is coming and how it’s going to happen and what the impact will be for the clients so thy know what to expect.  The homeowners asked if they could stay int he house during the renovation and I said yes, but you will most likely be uncomfortable. Dust, inconvenience, interruption of utilities during the day, especially for the husband who works from home.

Out of my way, I've got concrete in my shovel

Out of my way, I've got concrete in my shovel

We excavated out the foundation and used Pacific Rim Equipment, Lee Forte is great and I’m glad he’s back in the game. We hauled out 30 yards of soil and for Phase II coming up shortly, we are looking at 40 yards and the only access is a small buggy, oh that’s going to be labor intensive.

Jeffery's On-site and Checking that everything is neat and organized

The Floor is framed and ready for walls

of We’ve got the trailer on-site, I’m so glad I made that investment, misc. parts are keep in it, in addition to some items being saved, especially for Seattle a place to keep things out of the rain.

The walls will be going up next and the following week we’ll get the trusses installed and ready for a roof.

Stay tuned for updates on this project, and watch for the next project, we’ve got in design. It’s a cute brick Tudor with a client that is organized and ready to make her dreams come true.

Sep 02

We had the pleasure of using a friends cab this past week at Hood Canal.  What a beautiful place this is, I am blown away at the beauty. I looked up to the fading snow capped Olympic Mountains and I see the massive green hills covered with evergreens.  As i turn to the water and I see  a multitude of starfish and oysters. It’s unbelievable that the water is so clear and all this beauty is in front of my eyes.  It’s so quiet and no cars, hardly any boats, birds flying by, not any bird but an eagle being chased by some birds. It’s mammoth wingspan, is this a documentary?

Hood Canal

Beautiful Star Fish

Hood Canal is over 70 miles long and some of the canal is used by the Navy for testing submarines.  We stayed in a log cabin built by the owners. It’s a wonderful place about 3,500 sq ft.  The large deck looks to the NW towards the Olympic mountain range, looking across the canal.  At nighttime I looked up tot he sky to see no city lights and just stars and peace and tranquility.

Girls Paddling on Hood Canal

After a great nights sleep, we all got up and made breakfast, Maggie wanted to go into the hot tub before eating, I had to bribe her to wait until after breakfast.  If I would have let her she would have sleep in the hot tub.  The hot tub is on the deck overlooking the canal.  Maggie talked me into going into the hot tub with her, while Kate could not wait to get down to the boats and see about getting on the water. There is a aluminum boat but it was not water capable, but we found some windsurf boards behind the shed. So I tethered them together and the two girls wen up stream a little ways and had a blast.  Peggy laid down on the shore and rested.

At Hood Canal looking to West

After a couple of days we left and headed to Bellingham to see my Dad. We headed North to Port Townsend. We got into Port Townsend around 3pm and we stopped at the Ferry booth to see about getting on the next boat.  Well that’s when we meet Debbie Downer that manned the ferry booth at Port Townsend. Oh so you want to go on the Ferry to Keystone, Well it’s running an hour late and if you were going to get on the 2:30, which you’re not, because it’s running an hour late and since you didn’t get reservations that mean you’ll have to wait for the 4:45 which is running an hour late and that would be 5:45 and since you don’t have reservations for the 2;30 or the 4:45 you won’t be getting on the 5:45, so you’ll have to wait for the 7:45 and you might make that one, but since there was a lot of people waiting you may or may not make that one.  Well we got in line and the fumes where coming out of my ears!  I am not going to wait and wait and wait! I say lets drive south to Kingston-Edmond’s ferry and then drive north from Edmond’s to Bellingham, now that’s a lot of driving, but not knowing if we are going to get on a ferry and being stuck in Port Townsend for a night without a room? The girls wanted to wait and see if we made the first ferry.  I turned the car around and started back the same way came from and 4 hours latter we arrived in Bellingham glad to get to a place we could relax.

Saturday Market a Fun Time and Great Pretzel Sticks

The next morning we had bagels and lox and off we went for a walk in the woods. The walk was hard on my neck and back and couldn’t wait t finish the walk, but is was a nice walk along Lake Whatcom. It was an abandon old railroad track, with the tracks removed and turned into a park.  It was amazing how many new homes are being built around the lake, were are they getting financing? My girls, including my wife Peg love old movies and so does my dad and he loves it when we come up and they all watch an oldie.  I got his new flat screen working in his den and the girls and Pops hung out in the morning and watched a great oldie.  After that we headed to the Saturday market and it was a beautiful day for going to the market.

Pops and the Girls at the Market

We had a nice visit with Pop’s and then we needed to get home for a dinner party with Ruth and John and their family, what a whirlwind week.  I truly need a vacation from our vacation.

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