​The rough in of our bathroom systems is complete!  We started with the framing the walls after the drain lines were installed.  The first wall we did was the one along the family room so we could get that space put back together.  Then we went along the exterior walls, and used the drain lines to make sure all the spaces were precise for setting our systems.  Since the floors aren't exactly level, having an additional point of reference helped a lot. 

​One of the long-term projects in our house has been the evolution of our main basement space.  When we first bought the house, it was a closed-off illegal bedroom (everything was there except the egress window).  It became our office space for a while after that, but when the condensate pump broke and flooded the carpet one weekend, we decided to start making changes.  The main change then was to remove the now-moldy carpet and drywall in areas where it had wicked water up from the floors.  

I live in Minnesota. One of my goals for our house has been to eliminate gas from our house. Normally, Minnesota and gas-free heating have been mutually-exclusive in winterized homes. But, as technology has changed, we have changed with it!

Initially, I wanted a geothermal heat pump. These are incredible for moving temperature from below the frost line to either heat or cool an area. They are extremely efficient, and have only gotten better as systems have improved. We were looking at a closed-loop, vertical system that would have required essentially digging a well in order to lay the heat exchange loop. There are a few people in Minnesota who do these systems, but the cost to dig the loop was prohibitive because of the geology of our area. We live in an old limestone quarry that still has a lot of hard limestone and shale layers: digging a 200-300 foot well would have been both incredibly expensive on our end and potentially equipment-prohibitive with our city lot.

So, we went with an air-source heat pump with electric resistance backup. A few companies make them now, including Mitsubishi and LG, and we landed on the 3-ton Daikin system. The heat pump has a lower bottom-end range than other brands, so it can provide heat to our house down to 5° F (-15° C). Once the temperature reaches near 5° F, the system switches to using the electric resistance for providing heat. Working similarly to a typical furnace and AC system, our blower moves air through our forced air system all the time. It's only on the days of extreme cold that the blower will operate with heat. The heating coil in the blower functions much like a convection oven. The blower passes the air over a super-heated coil before moving it into the ductwork. ​

​One of my most controversial design opinions is that timeless design... just doesn't exist.  This is especially evident in kitchens and bathrooms.  The desire to achieve timeless, sedate design has become a trend the last few years.  But what does that really mean? And is it even attainable?

When people talk about timeless design, they are rarely doing so within design context.  Not only have our needs changed in homes over the last century, but how we achieve our goals within our homes has as well.  A century ago, many homes didn't have what we do in our kitchens.  Even in my turn-of-the-century neighborhood, there are plenty of homes with kitchen and bathroom additions, as these weren't originally in the house.  Outdoor privies and well pumps were the "timeless" kitchens and bathrooms, because the only thing that really exists across time is function.