Here is my journey of the building of pico-dwelling, from most recent, back to the beginning in 2003. Years! The place is getting furrier with a cowhide rug on the deck. 2010 With the recent Home Depot price breakthrough on LED bulbs - LED bulbs to replace two CFL blubs. 2010 An update of depth, width, and height measurements reveals: 182 square feet of area, and 1879 cubic feet of volume. 2010 The video lounge view, with Pi. Hot pink Eddy and signed Molteni. 2010 Distracted by bicycles and things while I gather up resources for the next push. 2010 This is a likely direction for the steps - white powder-coated steel to match the heater box panels. 2010 Sketch for white powder-coated steel panels for the bottom of the overhead heater box. A sticky place for magnets and lights above the table. 2010 Twenty-ten! 2010 And picoparty8 went off well with a moving count of around ten guests at a time. Much fun! 2009 The Langster London trying out the bike storage area in a temporary way. Seat hooked on a pull-up bar. 2009 Winter Solstice, picoparty8, coincidence? I think not. 2009 I finally captured stainless clamp fittings for horizontal railings for the 'tiger cage', and used poplar-wood horizontal rails to soften the look. Piet Mondrian? 2009 Something different: A sunrise walk to the pico-dwelling, through the Seattle Art Museum Sculpture Park. Calder's Eagle and the Needle. Waiting for parts in the mail. 2009 The deck-jack stair-hinge is installed! It ensures that the cantilevered deck doesn't flex under load, and will support stair steps. 2009 Just a countersinking of the screws remains for the deck jack lower plate. 2009 The next stainless steel piece - a screw-jack for the deck, and to set up for some stairs to the deck. Again, much hard hand-work to push the steel toward my will. 2009 Header for railings for the the climb up and down. A few more pieces to go - solid stainless bar and boat fittings. Tiger cage. 2009 'Twas pico-party-7, near the autumnal equinox, and it was fun! Thanks for coming! 2009 The table has been in for a while, but here's a clearer picture with the leaf extended. 2009 My LED flashlight shines through the translucent panel from kitchen to bathroom. 2009 The towel bar fittings are complete and installed! Certainly one of the more perilous tasks; stainless steel is an unforgiving material to cut and drill, and my hands show the battle! The bar is 1" of solid stainless. 2009 More heavy lifting on the towel bar fittings at Andrew's shop: Drilling, tapping, grinding, polishing, swearing. 2009 And the three partially-finished parts. Need the base plates now. 2009 The price for custom towel bar parts drove me to make my own. The Atlas lathe to the rescue to cobble together some stand-offs for the towel bar. 2009 I found some stainless steel chain to support the table extension. Now I can seat six, and now there's a nice bit of dungeon aesthetic. 2009 Taking a very special yerba maté break - I've added a window sill board and a table. 2009 An inch of translucent 3form Chroma material over the tub; rub-a-dub-dub, nobody in the tub (yet). 2009 Eleven foot clear fir 2x6 for the final bed1 surround - bike transport from Blackstock Lumber. I remember when this nice, clear fir wood was inexpensive. It is not inexpensive now! 2009 Bed1 frame reworked to near-completion - comfortable last night (there was a mattress and whatnot on top)! 2009 Working on shelves for dish storage. The first set of dishes will become shelf liners for the second set of better ones of simple white bone china. 2009 A second Tolomeo wall light for the lounge chair spot. A compact florescent bulb will become an LED bulb one day (I don't like compact fluorescent bulbs). 2009 A hunge-fity refrigerator works better than the $1300 commercial one it replaces - cool!. The humidity is way up at ~57-60%, so I'm experimenting with a little dehumidifier... [For sale: 3-drawer stainless commercial fridgilator]. 2009 The bench seat for the video lounge is starting to happen. I changed the dining chairs a while back from black glossy to white matte to bring some more light. DWR, Christa, again. 2009 Bed2 frame for Zoe is complete with spacer blocks and arched slats and a mattress stop. 2009 A tempered, frosted, 3/8" glass table top is now the bathroom ceiling, and a 5-port vent panel made from a scrap of 3form. 2009 One of two Tolomeo reading lamps and an iPhone bracket for bed1. 2009 And the next iteration, using eMachineShop's CAD tool. This design allows for a clamping bolt. 2009 Next I need some brackets for towel bars and railings and such - of one inch diameter stainless steel bar. I sketched this widget, and Kevin turned it to a 3D model in minutes. 2009 The kitchen/bathroom barrier is complete, the countertop is finished and sealed with Paperstone oil/wax. And the first real dinner party for four! 30Mar09: Guacamole and chips, dutch oven chicken with thyme, parsley, carrots, brussels sprouts, and a cucumber salad. 2009 Smart fortwo passion coupe! Seems to fit doesn't it? And I was able to carry a pile of cut 2x4s in it already. 2009 The iPhone is starting to influence the design, as it embodies a lot of things that might have been discrete objects - phone, books, radio, clock/timer/alarm, camera, remote control, maps,...! 2009 The bathroom sink has finally come together, using more of the floor wood as a deck, Ikea shelf brackets, a glass vessel sink, and satin-finish pipery. 2009 And into 2009... I did a quick scan around the building for radiation - because I could (borrowed Paul's 'geiger counter') - all clean! And, western Washington has very low levels of spewing radon gas - "levels less than 4 picocuries radon per liter of air". 2009 Bathroom trim from extra hardwood flooring.   Cut, glue, clamp, sand, cut, glue, sand, oil, assemble. The opening between the kitchen and bathroom is covered by white translucent 3form Varia material. 2008 Here's a view in/out the window to the snowy outdoors.   Another couple of inches accumulated during the party. 2008 Heavy snow toned down pico-party-6 a bit, but some guests did arrive, and the party went on! Thanks Leanna, for this and everything else! 2008 The Winter Solstice in the Centennial year of the Avalon Building was the date for pico-party-6! 2008 For the 100-year anniversary of the Avalon building, a 50-year anniversary Eames Aluminum Group Lounge with fabric:  m | a | h | a | r | a | m :: Messenger :: Nile.   2008 A mini armoir from West Elm exactly fits under the shelf! Closet improvements, a bed surround board, a window shade (see in next image). 2008 Moved in (for a couple of weeks)! The bed is in above the closet area. There is much more to do, but everything works just well enough, and it is very peaceful. 2008 Under the cafe deck is the video 'room' - to be a bench seat for two and a flat panel in the hanging box. Five rounds of my sketches were turned into steel frames by Nick. 2008 The cafe deck in the window will support chair and a table, and the step up to the bed platform is sized to serve as a chair as well. Under this deck is the 'living room' where a lounge seat and video will be. 2008 The clothes rail will be under the lower shelf in the closet area. The lower shelf also serves as a stand-up work area. The upper shelf will work well for shoes and folded clothes. 2008 The bathroom wet-wall is tiled with blue glass tile, and the other walls are tiled with white subway tile. The floor is concrete, and has a rim around the edge for floor planks. The sink counter frames are visible, with the sink faucet and sink drain. 2008 I've started the framing for the elevated decks and more built-in, structural furniture. This cabinet will hold entertainment electronics, and below and to right, probably shelves and a mirror. 2008 And... progress party number 4 (really the fifth), with fondue warmed on the stove, and cold things from the refrigerator. 2007 The kitchen is fully functional, but still not quite finished. The upper walls are painted, and the mid-wall band is painted with blackboard paint. Joel helped me to get an early piece of EcoTop for the countertop - very nice material! 2007 Matt has the Brazilian hardwood (sustainably harvested) floor on the way in, over the top of new floor joists and concrete fill, a vapor barrier, and an inch of plywood subfloor. The concrete wall panel was poured in place, and backs a compartment for drop-down window-cover panels. 2007 The kitchen is coming together, built from oak butcher-block, to include the gas range, the sink with disposal, and the dish drawer. I used Ikea hardwood shelving for drawer boxes, a table-top for drawer fronts, the countertop planks for framing, and heavy duty drawer glides. 2007 Sheetrock went up over the ceiling and some intrusions by parts of the steam pipe system. The lamp is on one of two outlets that are controlled by a light switch at the entry door. 2007 I removed the framing against the outer wall, and rebuilt it with treated wood, adding some rigid foam insulation. 2007 Pico-mega: About one hundred 40-pound bags of concrete carried, mixed, and poured - some with Giorgio. The last pour of the tub-box is setting. 2006 A third progress party ensued, replete with trash bins full of broken concrete. 2006 It seemed that the rebar support in the base of the shower needed to have some symbolic power... 2006 I used copper water supply pipe to supply the kitchen and bathroom fixtures. I lathe-turned some brass fittings to adapt the stainless steel faucets that I found. (Fortunately, I just happened to have my Dad's metal lathe hanging around.) 2006 I added water drain and vent plumbing for a shower, and toilet, and two sinks. The plumbing and permitting took more than a year to complete, even with Tracy's help! 2006 I removed the existing water supply plumbing, and added new shutoff valves for hot and cold water entering the unit, and framed the electrical panel and supply valves. 2006 This is about the time for the second progress party. I've added 5/8" sheetrock over the OSB on the walls, and a raised mid-wall band. The band delineates the lower and upper space, provides a cable-run space around the room, and provides a structural attach point for later installations. 2005 The floor was sealed by loose-poured concrete over dirt with floating 2x4 joists. I removed the flooring and the concrete to expose the area under my intended bathroom. 2005 The walls are covered first with oriented-strand-board sheets to provide shear strength and puncture resistance. I watched the sun's rays through the window make a path across the space, and thought about how it might influence the design. 2005 The walls and ceiling are thoroughly insulated with fiberglass - the only part that Clifford didn't like. The pipes route steam to radiators throughout the building, and serve as the heat radiator for my unit. 2005 The large glue-lam beam serves to repair damage to the ceiling above that was done when retrofit water supply and drain plumbing was done at some time in the past. The beam installation was designed by a licensed city engineer. Preliminary vent ducts are in place to connect bathroom and kitchen fans to the air shaft with ducting to the roof of the building. 2005 I held the first progress party, and solicited ideas from friends over drinks and snacks. 2004 When the raw space was cleared of all the debris, it had good chi. The steam pipe which passes through at about eight feet above the floor is just visible. 2004 I stripped all of the wall and ceiling coverings off, and pulled thousands of small nails out of the structural wall and ceiling boards. And Susan. 2004 This is what the interior looked like when I acquired the space. It was being used as a store-room for an accountant. There were three ceilings - the visible drop ceiling, a framed and gypsum-board ceiling a foot higher, and a lath and plaster ceiling on the joists above. The walls were lath and plaster, then covered with paneling. 2004 There is one 4' x 4' window that is about six feet above the floor inside, and about a foot above the sidewalk outside. This is the natural light source, the fresh air source, and the emergency egress path. 2004 The build started at the end of 2003, and continues in 2010. Running up this page is a pictorial journey through time, showing an outline of the build progression. 2003
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pico-dwelling © by Steve Sauer, OIXIO ™ 2001-2010