#engineered wood floors portland

[simplefloorspdx]

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[jeanjauthor]

THIS IS PROOF OF AGGLOMERATED GEOPOLYMER GRANITE !!!

...Lemme explain.

Joseph Davidovitz is a world-renowned geopolymer chemist who has done a lot of work on creating things like...granite countertops.  Artificial-granite countertops.  The polymerization of artificial granite.  Modern-day can use epoxy materials...but this same guy also realized that Ancient Egyptians Had Artificial Granite, too.

It actually starts, though, with Artificial Limestone.  You know the great big huge blocks of limestone that comprise the majority of the mass of the Great Pyramids?  Yeah.  Those aren’t real natural limestone.  They���re artificial.

See, the first clue is that in natural limestone, it’s basically a bunch of seashells and other stuff that settled on the ocean floor, and eventually over time compressed into limestone.  (it’s primary chemical component is calcium.)  But you can still see many of the seashells, right?  And they’re all lying as they fell on the seadbed floor, in natural strata.  Aka, layers.

The limestone blocks used in the Great Pyramids DO NOT HAVE THEIR SHELLS LYING IN NATURALLY LAID STRATA.  They’re mixed up.  Jumbled.  Tossed around and then frozen in place by the concrete, agglomerated too quickly to settle into neat layers.

The second clue:  Naturally formed limestone does not contain magnesium. (At least, not in Egypt.) Yeah, this is a chemistry lesson!  You gotta understand the chemistry involved.  Not only is the agglomerate (shells & rocks) all higglety-pigglety, jumbled in unnatural ways, but the composition of the binding material is not natural.

Davidovitz figured out a way that the Ancient Egyptians could have used the natural local limestone--not quarried from far away, but done right on site--to dissolve it, rake out the shells and rocks to one side, use the slurry with other things (including wood ashes from cookfires, which at the time were demanded from all households by the priesthood...for, y’know, adding to artificial stone binding material), along with magnesium and a few other things from other sites.

This caused the binder slurry to reharden in specific ways.  To which, while it was still wet, they re-added the rocks and fossils and shells raked out of the slurry, to use as the agglomerates--the rocks mixed into cement to turn it into concrete, which is what gives concrete some of its great strength.  This meant that they created concrete.  Not Portland cement style concrete, but it’s still an agglomerated geopolymer.  (Technical term for what was being done.)

Now, the thing about this, is you can add in as much or as little of the aggregate (rocks and stuff) as you want.  You can use big chonky rocks, or really find sand.  It depends on what sorts of effects you want.  In most cases, by volume the binder itself (the limestone plus magnesium) is going to be a very small percentage, around 5% on average.  And it will be a thin amount tucked in between the agglomerate particles, gluing them all together.  Once it hardens...it is very difficult to sample something of such a small amount.

But Davidovitz managed, because, dude is really into his work.  Once he figured out the limestone blocks of the Great Pyramid were artificial...by sampling it and finding the unnatural inclusion of magnesium...he used his chemistry knowledge to do the research, reverse engineer it, and worked out the steps to make ancient Egyptian artificial limestone blocks.

“But wait, Jean, you were ranting about artificial granite blocks!”

Yes!  Yes, I was!  And do you know what?  The limestone blocks held a lot of limestone rocks, chunks of the original that had not been dissolved, and did not hold any magnesium because it was still a natural chunk of limestone.  BUT...the magnesium was only found in that 5% of the binder material.

“Uhhh...still don’t get it?”

Did you know that it doesn’t matter what you use for the aggregate?  So long as it is sufficiently sturdy enough.  The Romans used pottery shards (god knows they had enough of ‘em!), and by it, created a fairly waterproof version of cement.  All you need is something rock-like!  You can use sand, you can use pebbles, you can use chunks of limestone...and you can use chunks of granite.

Those statues up there?  You can see that their interiors were made of assembled blocks.  This makes sense.  You’re trying to fill volume, and it’s pretty easy to hack some chunks into brick shapes, stack them up, and then...well, you do have to glue them together with mortar, so that’s a reason to use a mortar that’s a mix of granite dust (leftover from the chiseling efforts) as the “sand” and your geopolymer limestone cement...

But you can also save a lot of time by making up more of your artificial granite concrete, waiting for it to stiffen up to the putty stage, and slap that over the outside of everything.

And then. You. Sculpt. It.

Look at those statues.  The interiors show blocks, the internal support mechanism...but the exteriors are smooth.  If you were to get up really close...you’d have a hard time seeing where the granite-putty was applied to the granite-block, unless the cracks had weathered into existence.  Cracks that happened because of earthquakes, time...and different chemical compositions.  A very slight amount of difference, only 5% or so, which is the aforementioned binding material holding all the bits of granite dust, sand, and other debris...and in that 5% of binding material, only a tiny percentage of that would be found to be the magnesium, etc, mentioned above.

Davidovitz found it.  Those statues weren’t hand-chiseled.  They were sculpted out of wet cement.  And the high polish of those statues was not made by years of laborious polishing.  It was made through using a particular ratio of agglomerate to binder to water...and then polished for weeks, because the surface was smoothed for the most part while it was still drying.  Kinda like how you smooth pottery at the leather-hard stage, then you go back and burnish it at the almost dry / dry stages, but different.

You can do this with just about any type of agglomerate.  Limestone, granite, marble, on and on...  And there’s a couple of lovely videos of Davidovitz and volunteers using tools only available to Bronze Age Egyptians to make limestone blocks out of a chemically near-identical artificial-limestone mix.  (They did have to add kaolin clay to their local powdered limestone to make it as close as possible in composition to Egyptian powdered limestone, because their French supply didn’t have the kaolin quantities that were found in Egypt...but that was the only thing different.)

And this is the same guy who made a fortune on making artificial-granite using modern means...proving that the Ancient Egyptians, too, could make artifical stone.  Even way back when.

--JUST LOOK AT THOSE STATUES!!

The Colossi of Memnon in the Mortuary Temple of Amenhotep III, Kom el-Hettân, West Thebes

[amberfaber40]

Grand Barn Doors

Grand Barn Doors

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Heritage Restorations - Timber Frame Restoration & Construction

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Barn Office

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This Sunny A-Frame in Oregon Is Every Outdoorsy Person's Dream

When a Portland couple renovated this a-frame house outside of Portland, they added windows everywhere to energize the traditionally dark architectural style

Overlook

Unique and Creative Shipping Container House from Creative-Cabins

Take a closer look at the unique and creative shipping container house with Livinginacontainer! Click here to learn about container homes, ideas and more.

3500 Miami

As we finish up 2019 at HbJD, I thought this would be a good grand finale post. I started designing this home last Christmas and worked on building and interior designing / decorating throughout most of 2019 to make it one of our new models. It was very humbling for it to then get voted as best of parade in October by the public. Come and see it on Sundays 1-4 after the holidays! I hope you like it.

Dream Home

48'x60' Great Plains Western Barn Home - 10ft Open-lean-to

Converted Barn/Artist Studio: Provincetown, MA

Photographed by Don Freeman for The World of Interiors. All photographs courtesy of the artist. To see more of his interiors photography, visit donfreemanphoto.com

One House Leads To Another

...there are often times an existing YBH house design provides the inspiration for a new client’s home.

Catskill Lodge

Make a good first impression with a unique front entryway. Ready for a new look inside? Our interior doors add flair. With more than 20 years’ experience, we customize every detail of your custom wood doors, from wood species, to stain color, to the amount of light filtering through your entryway.Solid Wood DoorsYou know your style; we know custom millwork. From the start, you’ll be partnered with an engineer who will turn your vision into a beautiful, high-quality solid wood door that matches your design and functionality needs.Our WorkInstallation ProcessWe work with architects, builders, general contractors, interior designers, and homeowners. We understand your unique situations and streamline the production and installation process to deliver consistent quality — hassle-free. Tight timelines, out-of-the-box requests…give us what you got, and we’ll make it happen.Testimonials"We worked with Amos and his team on a custom sapele mahogany front door and trim for our home. They never made us feel that it was too small of a project even though they were busy with much larger projects at the time. We were impressed with how detailed they were and how they allowed us to be very involved in the process. We were very pleased with the whole experience... Our door is a staple of our home!"- Sarah B“My first exposure to Vintage was meeting Amos Fisher to inquire if they could replicate the front façade windows of a 1913 building I was restoring [the West Reading Motor Club]. Amos and Daniel Glick were wonderful to deal with and replicated the exterior and interior window moldings and updated the windows with insulated glass. Their craftsmanship was so outstanding they were asked to do a number of additional projects at this site. In 2020, the restoration won a Pennsylvania Main Street Townie Award for best restoration. Subsequent to this project, I reached out again to Amos for building custom front and garage doors for a new Craftsman-style residence. These doors make the new home stand out. They are great to work with, and their quality is superb.”- Frank CocuzzaDownload Our Brochure

[castlebespoke]

Luxury Wood Flooring Supply Store from Scratch: A Step by Step Guide

You've got a nice idea for a luxury wood flooring supply store business, and you know you can make it successful — but how? It's not enough to start any business.

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Jerry Brudos: The 'Shoe Fetish Slayer'

Jerry Brudos was born in Webster, South Dakota, as the younger of two sons. His mother had wanted a girl and was very displeased that she had another son instead, and constantly subjected him to emotional and physical abuse. 

Brudos had a fetish for women's shoes from the age of five, after playing with stiletto heeled shoes at a local junkyard. He reportedly attempted to steal the shoes of his first grade teacher. Brudos also had a fetish for women's underwear and claimed that he would steal underwear from female neighbors as a child.  He spent his teen years in and out of psychotherapy and psychiatric hospitals.

In his teenaged years, Brudos began to stalk local women, knocking them down or choking them unconscious, and fleeing with their shoes. At age 17, he abducted and beat a young woman, threatening to stab her if she did not follow his sexual demands. Shortly after being arrested, he was taken to a psychiatric ward of Oregon State Hospital for nine months. There it was found Brudos' sexual fantasies revolved around his hatred towards his mother and women in general. He underwent a psychiatric evaluation and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. 

In 1961, Brudos married a 17-year-old girl, Darcie, with whom he would father two children, and settled in a Salem suburb. He asked his new bride to do housework naked except for a pair of high heels while he took pictures. It was at about this time that he began complaining of migraine headaches and "blackouts," relieving his symptoms with night-prowling raids to steal shoes and lace undergarments. Brudos would experience a transvestite period, where he used the female persona as a form of escape mechanism.

Between 1968 and 1969, Brudos bludgeoned and strangled four young women and attempted to attack two others:

Linda Slawson, 19, a door-to-door encyclopedia saleswoman who knocked on Brudos's door on January 26, 1968. Brudos lured her to the basement while his mother and children were in the house, knocked her out with a wooden plank, and strangled her. He dressed her in different female undergarments and shoes he had stolen, arranged her body in provocative poses, and used a hacksaw to cut off her left foot, which he kept in a freezer and used to model his collection of high-heel shoes. He disposed of the body in the Willamette River.

Jan Susan Whitney, 23, a motorist whose car broke down on Interstate 5 between Salem and Albany on November 26, 1968. Brudos offered to drive her to his home with the excuse of letting her call a tow truck there. While still in the car, he strangled her with a leather strap and raped her. He kept the body hanging from the pulley in his garage for several days, during which he dressed, photographed, and had sex with it. This time, Brudos cut off one of her breasts and made a resin mold of it that he used as a paperweight. Afterward he tied the body to a piece of railroad iron and threw it in the Willamette along with Slawson's foot, which had rotted.

Karen Sprinker, 18, abducted at gunpoint from a parking lot outside a department store on March 27, 1969. Brudos was dressed in women's clothes during this attack. He brought her to his garage, made her try on his collection of undergarments and pose while he photographed her, raped her, and strangled her by hanging her by her neck from a pulley. Brudos had sex with the body on several occasions and cut off her breasts to make plastic molds. Afterward, he tied the body to a six-cylinder car engine with nylon cord and threw it in the Willamette.

Sharon Wood, 24, attempted to abduct at gunpoint from the basement floor of a parking garage in Portland on April 21, 1969.

Gloria Gene Smith, 15, attempted to abduct on April 22, 1969.

Linda Salee, 22, abducted from a shopping mall parking lot on April 23, 1969. Brudos brought her to his garage where he raped and strangled her, and played with her corpse. He decided to not cut her breasts off because they were "too pink," and instead applied an electrical current to the body in an attempt to make it "jump", which failed. Afterward, he tied the body to a car transmission with a nylon cord and threw it in the Willamette.

Brudos would dress up in high heels and masturbate after committing a murder. In May 1969, a fisherman found the bodies of Salee and Sprinker in the Long Tom River. The police asked students at a nearby university campus about suspicious men and one led them to Brudos, who had phoned her several times to ask her for a date. Brudos gave police a false address, which increased their suspicions. At his garage, the police found copper wire that was determined to have been cut with the same tool that cut the cords used to tie the bodies. Brudos was arrested, and he made a full confession.

On June 28, 1969, Brudos pled guilty to three first-degree murders (Sprinker, Whitney and Salee) and was sentenced to three consecutive terms of life imprisonment in Oregon State Penitentiary. Though he confessed to Slawson's murder, Brudos was neither tried nor convicted for it because he did not make and keep photographs of the body, unlike in the other cases, but only of her foot. Whitney's body was found a month after Brudos' conviction, about a mile downstream from where he said he had thrown it.

While incarcerated, Brudos had piles of women's shoe catalogues in his cell. He wrote to major companies requesting them, and claimed they were his substitute for pornography. He lodged countless appeals, including one in which he alleged that a photograph taken of him with one of his victim's corpses could not prove his guilt, because it was not the body of a person he was convicted of killing. In 1995, the parole board told Brudos that he would never be released.

Brudos died in prison on March 28, 2006, from liver cancer.

[springtimebat]

The Uneventful Life of Alan Walker

It was a bright summer day. Alan Walker was stepping out of his house to greet the rich morning sun, milk bottles chiming in his strong hands. Alan Walker is Little Patch of Heaven’s milkman. Its only milkman. The others vanished a long time ago, one by one. Except for Alan. Alan somehow got away with it. Alan’s also a Walker and anyone who knows anything knows that Walkers can’t be trusted. He’s the only Walker left. Sometimes that’s a problem but not today. Not during his rounds.

He makes his way around town, delivering and collecting milk bottles. He occasionally leaves newspapers too, on the streets closest to the newsagents. He stops on Portland Drive around noon to watch Angel Jones undress in front of her bedroom window. Sometimes he’ll climb the tree in her front yard to get a closer look. But on this particular day, her parents are home, so he just leaves her a pot of strawberry ice cream on the doorstep instead. 

At four, Alan stops his truck on the corner between LPH elementary and LPH high. He puts the ice cream banner up in the left side window and presses the stickers of ice pops and lollies onto the screen door. Then he talks to the children as they come out of school. Alan gets along better with children. They’re polite to him and they flatter his ego occasionally. He gives them ice cream because they want it. He enjoys their company. It reminds Alan of old times, playing with all his brothers in the mud, before they got told to stop and had all the grit scraped away from them. 

Sometimes he’ll dislike a kid that comes up to him. Maybe they’ll say something stupid or disgusting, make him uncomfortable. He’ll deal with them when the crowds fade away. Or a higher up will deal with them later. Either way, they won’t make Alan uncomfortable again. And they’ll have some story to tell their stupid friends the next morning. They’ll stay away. That’s good. 

Around five, Alan drives across town towards the Kendall Woods, directly below the Devil’s Thumb. He collects herbs from the water’s edge. Rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano. It all grows by the Black Spots’ banks. It goes nice with all the things Alan eats at dinnertime. As he leaves, Alan Walker will see the shadow man, watching him from behind an oak tree. 

His eyes will be glassy and his trenchcoat will be tattered. He’ll be angry, as usual. 

“Are you going to the Joneses again?” The shadow man will ask. 

“Yes I am,” Alan Walker will reply. He always does, no matter the weather. He won’t break his routine for anything. 

The shadow man will shake his head, “You’re a bad man Alan,”

“Am I?”

“A terrible man,”

“Is that so?”

“You’re split down the middle. Your brothers were too,”

“Oh really?”

“You were all too clean. Your brother’s got caught. They got punished for all the filth they spewed. You will too.”

“Someday?”

“Someday soon.” 

Then the shadow man will walk away, back towards the Kendall Woods. Alan will collect his herbs, throw them in the back of his truck and wipe the mud off of his boots. He’ll then drive back into town. Back to Portland Drive.

Three times out of seven Mister and Missus Jones will be home by six and Alan Walker will be invited in for dinner. Very welcoming couple, the Joneses. They have such interesting things to talk about. Mister Jones was an engineer at the power plant nearby just by Cowhorn and knew all sorts about the Devil’s Thumb caverns. Missus Jones knew all about fashion and elastic. She worked at a flower shop on Geek Street. They both liked Alan Walker. He was an interesting fellow and so polite whilst at the dining room table. Alan Walker liked the Joneses too. Still, he looked forward to the times Mister and Missus Jones were not home. Because, four times out of seven Angel Jones will be left all alone at the house when Alan calls around six. She’ll bring him into the kitchen and fix him a cup of tea. Afterwards, Alan will bend her over the counter and just make love to her for an hour or so. They’ll lie on the floor for a while after, Angel wrapped in Alan’s strong arms. Alan couldn’t always predict what she’d say. That’s why he loved her. Still, she’d always start a conversation with the same thing. 

“How’s your day been?”

“Fine,” He’d say, “Much better now.”

She’d smile and pull herself closer to his chest so she could listen to his heartbeat. 

“Do you love me?” She’d ask.

“I adore you,”Alan would reply. And he would mean it.

After that she’d giggle and they’d either have one last roll in the hay or she’d talk some more. By eight or so, he’d be told to pack up and go home. Angel would walk him to the front door and kiss him on the cheek as if the last few hours hadn’t happened. Then she’d wave him goodbye as Alan got into his truck. Then Alan Walker would start up and head home for the night.

Alan Walker’s house is grey and soulless. He doesn’t live there. He just sleeps and eats there when he needs to. People like Alan don’t need homes. They live wherever they can, appear wherever they’re needed. And at around nine, Alan was needed down in the basement. Because on this particular day, he has a guest. They’ve been down there for a  week, sleeping in the dark. Now it's time to wake them up.

The first splash only startles them. It’s the waterfall that cascades down their deformed skull that makes the creature open their eyes and splutter. The thing’s disgusting, bulbous eyes. Alan Walker stares at his guest, a bat in his hand. He waits for it to notice him, sitting on an old box. Finally, after what seems like hours, the guest twists its head towards its host, its ghastly, wrinkled skin making Alan wince. 

“Who are you?” Alan asked, his voice no higher than a whisper. 

The thing chained up in his basement groans, stretches and releases a hideous, piggy squeal. 

“Excuse me?” He is answered with the same actions, perhaps a little more strained than before, as the creature begins to cough in the dark. Alan sighs. This one is far less intelligent than the...things before it. That changes things quite a bit. 

The creature shivers in the cold and Alan can see black feather uncoil from its withered shoulders. Huh, wings. Who would have thought? Alan lifts himself from their waiting spot, swinging the old, oak bat in his left hand. The guest’s eyes narrow and stare at him, as if he’s realized what will happen. 

“I don’t know how the law works where you come from,” Alan begins, “But here, where I was born and raised, we have specific rules about trespassing... very, very specific rules.” 

The thing begins to frown. Good.

“Our law, our basic human rights, state that a man can defend his land from trespassers with any means necessary. Nod if you understand me,” The thing nods, “Now speak if you’re capable of speaking. It’s rude leaving someone to have a conversation with themself.”

The thing gurgles but can’t seem to form any words. Alan gives it a small smile. 

“Ah well that’s a shame. No use holding off the inevitable. Let me just go get the lights.” Alan Walker, the only milkman in town, strolls back towards the basement door and reaches out to flick the lights.

“I’ll give you a few moments to think.”

Light flashes in the abomination’s eyes for a brief moment. However, afterwards it can see just about everything. The blood staining the carpet, the boxes, the dresser. It sees the cracked mirror on the opposite wall. It sees the rusted saw and Alan’s retired baseball bats from his younger years on the old workbench; tired, worn, covered in guts. Most importantly, he sees his captor’s large collection of shrunken, severed heads; twisted and marked by pus, their eyes swollen, wide open and empty. That is when the creature seems to realise what is going to happen. When Alan approaches him again it makes no vile attempts to communicate. No, much to Alan’s surprise he holds his head up high, sticking his pointed chin into the stale, basement air. He dies, soon after, without a fight. Alan leaves clean up duty for later. 

And thus ends a day in the life of Alan Walker, last of his kind. Tomorrow he will do the same things, follow the same routine. And when he drifts off to sleep, Alan will dream of the same thing he dreams of every night. The Shadow man, in his rotten trench coat, his eyes like little suns.

“You’re a bad man Alan. A terrible one. All split down the middle. One day you’ll get caught. Everything will be at peace. Until that day, the loop will continue.”

[architectnews]

London Houses: New Property Designs

London Houses, Property Images, New Homes, Buildings, Architects, Residential Architecture

London Houses: Properties

Contemporary Residential Buildings in South East England – Contemporary British Homes in the UK Capital

post updated 13 May 2021

London House – Latest Designs

London Residential Architecture News, chronological:

4 May 2021 Highgate House Restoration, Highgate Conservation Area, North London Design: Cairn photograph : Peter Landers Highgate House Restoration This Edwardian property restoration project brought a dilapidated home back to life, re-organising the arrangement to suit the lives of a young family and converting the roof space. A huge amount of work was required to restore the home and modernise the layout and environmental performance.

27 Apr 2021 Sponge Urban Living

21 Apr 2021 House for a Gardener, Haringey, North East London Design: Amos Goldreich Architecture photograph : Ollie Hammick House for a Gardener, Haringey A much-loved garden was central to our design of this side and rear extension for a Victorian mid-terrace house in the Stroud Green Conservation Area of Haringey. The project arranges a sequence of living spaces around the garden and an internal courtyard that gives constant connection to greenery.

21 Apr 2021 Vault House

Mountain View House

Chiswick House Extension

Bladerunner House

Cascade House, Hampstead Village

1 Mar 2021 Cloistered House, Chelsea, south west London Design: Turner Architects photograph © Adam Scott Images Chelsea Georgian terraced house The restoration and extension of a Cubitt-built Georgian terraced house in a conservation area. The Cloistered House was carefully given life having been left to ruin for many years.

20 Feb 2021 Library House

16 Feb 2021 Eclectic House, Camden

14 Feb 2021 Melbury Studio

14 Feb 2021 Harcombe House

14 Feb 2021 St Georges House

14 Feb 2021 Boscombe House

29 Jan 2021 The Rower’s House, Chiswick, south west London Architects: Loader Monteith photography : Emanuelis Stasaitis The Rower’s House in Chiswick The clients wanted a home with four bedrooms, space to entertain, and an accessible garden – with plenty of space to live and work, as well as a divisible section for a relative to use autonomously. Despite a questionable original design, the couple found the perfect potential property in a quiet corner of London.

1 Feb 2021 Art House, Paddington

10 Dec 2020 Kensington Townhouse Design: KNOF design photography: David Cleveland Kensington Townhouse, Hyde Park KNOF Design, an international design practice founded by Susan Knof, has just completed a major London commission – the unification of two separate townhouses near Hyde Park to create a single 7,500sf family home.

4 Dec 2020 Pitched Black House

26 Nov 2020 Sugar House

17 Nov 2020 17 Portland Place Renovations

16 Nov 2020 Regency Villa, Kensington

16 Nov 2020 EC1 Penthouse, Clerkenwell

15 Nov 2020 Chiswick House Extension, West London Architects and Interior Designers: Found Associates photograph : Nick Hufton, Al Crow Chiswick House Extension A double-fronted Edwardian house has been updated and extended in dramatic fashion for a television and radio presenter and his family. This four storey villa sits on a corner site with unusually large gardens to the rear. The renovation and reinvention of the villa reinforces the sense of connection between house and garden.

7 Nov 2020 Winter House Renovations

24 Apr 2020 Two and a Half Storey House, Central London Architects: Bradley Van Der Straeten photograph © French + Tye Two and a Half Storey House The Two and a Half Storey House project that circumnavigates a local planning restriction by building a half-height roof extension! The clients owned the existing two-storey, two-bedroom property, located on a central London Housing Estate.

1 Apr 2020 Hampstead Penthouse Property, North London Design: Ungar Architects photograph : Peter Cook Hampstead Penthouse Property A breathtaking new penthouse in Hampstead, with panoramic views across the UK capital city.

1 Apr 2020 Contemporary London Penthouse Properties Penthouse Properties London

5 Mar 2020 An Eclectic Victorian Home Extension North London

3 Mar 2020 Slim Studio’s Flat Interior

26 Feb 2020 Collector’s Flat, Central London Design: MATA Architects photograph © Peter Landers Collector’s Flat Interior in Central London Extensive refurbishment and interiors fit out of an apartment in a mansion block constructed at the turn of the 19th century. The works included substantial structural modifications altering the flat’s layout and introducing new services.

30 Oct 2019 Brexit Bunker Design: RISE Design Studio photograph : Edmund Sumner Brexit Bunker This sunken garden room was envisioned as a way of adding a new studio and extending the program of the house, without having to intervene in the existing portion of the building.

15 Oct 2019 Fleet House in Hampstead

20 Sep 2019 Dukes House, Alexandra Palace, Muswell Hill Structural Engineer: TZG Partnership photograph : Will Pryce Muswell Hill House This North London property is an ornate Edwardian Terrace, in the shadows of Alexandra Palace. The home has been given a complete make over.

20 Sep 2019 Aperture House in Islington

More contemporary London houses designs online soon on e-architect

London Houses Designs in 2018

23 Oct 2018 Duke’s Avenue House, Chiswick Architects: IBLA photograph : Brotherton Lock Contemporary House in London The clients, a pair of doctors, wanted to significantly increase the amount of floor-space in their West London home, whilst maintaining the existing character and external massing of the original house, and keeping their garden intact.

2 Oct 2018 Volcano House, Shoreditch, East London Architects: Urban Mesh design ltd photograph © Charles Hosea New House in Shoreditch The interiors of the home were playfully designed to suit the desires and personalities of the Client and his family.

20 Aug 2018 Benbow Yard Home, Southwark, South London Design: FORMstudio Architects photograph © Bruce Hemming Contemporary Home in Southwark This new property is a response to the Mayor of London’s Policy to optimise the re-use of small sites across the UK capital city.

19 Jun 2018 Victorian Townhouse, Highgate, North London Design: LLI Design photograph © Victorian Townhouse in Highgate Conversion of a Victorian property in reasonable condition to form a warm, comfortable home with contemporary style touches.

30 Apr 2018 Step House, North London Architects: Bureau de Change photo © Ben Blossom North London Property Extension Using bricks reclaimed from the fabric of the house, the architects exploited the rights of light diagram to create a staggered, extruded form that appears to melt away from the existing structure. This rhythmic stepping generated by the brick is echoed throughout the interior, and is integrated in both the plan and section of the extension.

27 Apr 2018 Roof Conversion, Crouch End, North London Design: JaK Studio, Architects photo : Francesco Russo Crouch End Flat Extension JaK Studio create unique loft conversion in large Victorian property by adding a new dormer extension to form a dramatic two-storey cathedral-esque space.

29 Jan 2018 The Etch House, Honor Oak, Lewisham, South London Design: Fraher Architects photo : Adam Scott Honor Oak Home Extension Joint Third Prize in ‘Don’t Move, Improve!’ 2018: this 1460 sqft property re-examines the layout of the traditional Victorian terrace house. A modern floor plan sits within the old house walls, hidden behind the retained street elevation.

26 Jan 2018 Sun Rain Rooms, Islington, North London Design: Tonkin Liu Architects photo : Edmund Sumner Sun Rain Rooms Home Extension ‘Sun Rain Rooms’ has been crowned London’s best and most innovative home extension as overall winner of New London Architecture’s (NLA) annual ‘Don’t Move, Improve!’ competition.

London Houses Design News for 2017

8 Dec 2017 Highgate Hill Townhouse, North London Design: LLI Design photo from LLI Design Highgate Hill Townhouse Winner in the Interior Design, London category – UK Property Awards 2017-18. LLI Design recently completed a total redesign and refurbishment of a 7 storey townhouse in Highgate, a leafy and desirable part of London.

15 Aug 2017 Hilltop House, Kingston-upon-Thames, South West London Architects: Coupdeville photograph : Simon Kennedy New Teddington House Commissioned in 2012, the architecture studio were asked to design a five bedroom house on a large 0.26 acre single plot, while retaining the existing building.

11 Aug 2017 Fairfax House, Teddington, South West London Architects: Coupdeville photograph : Simon Kennedy New Teddington House The proposal is for a contemporary dwelling that is based on a series of banded layers, that allow for a light filled interior and a dynamic and interesting external appearance.

24 Mar 2017 Oak Hill House, Hampstead, North London Design: Claridge Architects photograph : Simon Kennedy New Hampstead House Shou Sugi Ban, a UK based manufacturer of charred timber products, has selected Kebony, to create a distinctive modified timber cladding using the ancient Japanese techniques of burning, brushing or pre-weathering timber to provide a long-lasting and beautiful wood.

London Property Design News for 2016

27 Nov 2016 Increasing Value of Residential in the British Capital City Flipping Property Prices in London

1 Sep 2016 House of Trace Design: Tsuruta Architects photo : Tim Croker House of Trace A beautiful and unconventional extension to a London terraced house designed by Tsuruta Architects has been awarded the 2016 Stephen Lawrence Prize.

2 Jan 2016 Madeira Residence, Bromley, South east London Design: Rado Iliev Architect photograph : Assen Emilov New Residence in Bromley

5 Nov 2015 Newington Green Road Property, North east London Architects: NK Architects image : Robin Hayes Newington Green Road House

16 Sep 2013 Mayfair House Design: Squire and Partners, Architects photo : Gareth Gardner Mayfair House The contemporary interpretation of leaves are crafted as a metallic shingle, which cover a three storey elevation and rooftop pavilion. The PPC coated folded aluminium leaves – 4,080 in total – subtly vary in tones of bronze to mimic organic growth patterns. The concept was designed over a three year period of research and development working closely with Swiss manufacturer Tuchschmid.

London Homes – archive page up to and including 2013 photo : Alan Williams Photography

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[semperintrepida]

The Sellout: chapter four

four: the first thaw

This was a mistake.

Kassandra only had time for that one, brief regret as she toppled backwards into the display case. A bang clapped through her skull and left her ears ringing, and a manic grin loomed before her as the world desaturated to grey, then black... and then her vision returned in a shock of light and color as crisp as sunshine on fresh snow. Then time slowed down, down, down and she stopped thinking and started moving: finding her feet, grabbing fistfuls of the man's coat, and launching herself forward. She pushed him along, gathering speed as she angled him towards the windows, and then she threw him into the wooden bar hard enough to send the stools on top of it flying.

He bounced off the edge of the bar and landed on the floor in a sprawl, and as she sank to her knees, she heard the slap of his shoes against wood, then the door opening and closing, and then silence.

Every straight line in the room curved in on itself, and she pressed her palm into the floor to keep from falling over. Her chest was a furnace, each hot breath harsh in her ears, and she knelt there, staring at a knot in the floorboards, fascinated by the way it punctured the woodgrain around it.

Footsteps approached her in a hurry, then a voice, thin and tight, said, "Are you— Hang on, okay?"

Kassandra studied the cracks radiating out from the center of the knot. A weakness in the grain. Stupid. She'd thrown herself in harm's way for a woman who hated her. Why? She didn't even know the woman's name. So stupid.

She heard metal jangling against metal at the door. Then the footsteps returned, and the woman knelt beside her, a phone in her hand, its screen bright enough to sear a halo into the edges of Kassandra's vision.

"I'm calling 911—"

Kassandra put her hand over the screen, and as their skin touched, the woman jerked her hand and the phone away as if scalded. Kassandra sighed. "Don't."

"Don't what? Call?"

"He's long gone. The cops'll never find him, and they'll bring you more trouble than it's worth." And more trouble than Kassandra wanted to deal with to keep her name out of the newspapers and off of Twitter.

"Fine. No cops. But you should still go to the ER."

Her head ached too much to shake it. "No. I hate hospitals."

"Everyone hates hospitals."

"No ambulance."

The woman exhaled, sharp and quick. "Then what do you want to do?"

"Call an Uber, and go home." Despite her aching head and stiff neck, the burn in her lungs was fading, and the lines of the floorboards, and chair legs, and table tops were straightening back to true.

"That's a terrible plan."

Kassandra shrugged, and then she started to climb to her feet. She got as far as raising herself on one knee before her body refused to move any further. She swayed precariously. The floor seemed a long way down, and she imagined how it was going to feel when she smacked face-first into it — but hands grabbed her by her shoulders and held her upright. So much strength in those hands, but not an ounce of warmth.

"Sit here and don't move," the woman said, guiding Kassandra down so she rested with her back against the window. "I'm calling an ambulance."

Desperation drove Kassandra to catch her by the arm. "Don't. Please," she said, and the light in the room chilled from warm yellow to cold fluorescence, and instead of coffee she smelled disinfectant. She shuddered with the memory of medication and pain and being trapped in beds in white rooms, and it set off a fresh round of ringing in her ears.

The woman stared at Kassandra's hand wrapped around her forearm. "Okay, fine," she said, and when Kassandra released her, she rocked back on her heels, putting space between them. "Have it your way."

Kassandra shivered again, her spine cold where it pressed against the glass window.

The woman frowned and leaned closer. Her irises were rimmed with red, and graphite smudged the skin below her eyes. She clearly hadn't been sleeping much.

Kassandra could guess the reason why. She looked down at her hands. Stupid, coming back here — she should have left things to her research and legal teams and stayed out of the way.

"How does your head feel?" the woman asked.

"I've got a headache."

"Did you lose consciousness?"

"For a moment, if that."

"Stay here, okay? I'll be right back."

Footsteps, then rustling, and a drawer opening and closing. More rustling. More footsteps. And then the woman was back and handing her a bag of ice wrapped in a clean bar towel.

Kassandra took the ice and pressed it against the back of her head. "Thanks."

"Don't thank me. This wouldn't have happened if I'd locked the fucking door like I was supposed to."

"And you didn't because I was distracting you."

"You sure as hell did." The woman shook her head irritably. "Offering to buy me out. You don't even know what my books look like."

"I don't even know your name."

Her eyes widened a fraction. "Don't you have... people to figure stuff like that out for you?"

"Yes, but I was holding out hope you'd volunteer it."

She snorted. "Even after I told you to fuck off."

"I guess I'm just optimistic."

"No, you're just used to getting whatever you want."

It's called winning, Kassandra's brain offered unhelpfully, but she clamped her mouth shut around the words just in time.

They stared at each other in a silence that grew more and more awkward until the woman sighed and gave in. "My name's Kyra."

Kassandra extended her hand purely out of reflex. "Kassandra."

"I know," Kyra said dryly, and after the slightest of hesitations, she reached for Kassandra's hand and shook it.

A handshake was a message, and Kyra's said I don't suffer fools gladly. Her grip was firm but not crushing — though the muscles in her hands certainly held the strength to do so. Solid muscles, calloused skin. Powerlifter? No, too lean across her shoulders and thighs. Her mystery remained unsolved.

The ice was working its magic, tamping down the ache in Kassandra's skull. "I'll call that Uber now," she said.

"How did you get here?"

"Drove."

Kyra said nothing for several seconds, lost in thought. Then she gave a quick nod and said, "Look. I'll drive you home, or wherever. If you want. It's the least I can do after you..."

She didn't say ended up with a concussion on my behalf but she could have. Kassandra considered the offer. Passing out in her own car was more appealing than passing out in some random Uber, but there'd be a stranger at the wheel either way. She could see herself now: out cold in the front seat of her Audi, a flash of brake lights, the door opening, then Kyra dumping her into the nearest gutter...

Of course, if she was that worried about it, she could just call an ambulance.

"Okay," she said.

"Okay." Kyra sat back. "You all right with waiting a few minutes? I've got to close out the till."

"Sure."

Time passed in the form of sounds and silence, and then Kyra was crouching in front of her and asking, "Ready?" and when Kassandra nodded yes, Kyra offered a hand and helped haul her to her feet.

The room tilted out from under her, the floor bending like a rubber band.

A strong hand slid under her upper arm and steadied her. "You gonna make it?"

"I'm fine." She stared at the floor until its planks straightened again.

"Sure you are," Kyra said, but she didn't let go. She guided Kassandra around the stools that had fallen from the bar, and only released her when they stood before the door to the shop.

Kyra unlocked the door with a twist and jingle of metal keys, and then it swung open and Kassandra stepped into cool, night air. She waved Kyra's hands away and took a deep breath. The damp breeze sweeping in from the river was almost enough to cover the greasy carbon smell of exhaust. Around them, the sidewalks were already empty. No city packed up and went home as early as Portland did.

Her Audi sat by itself a few spaces up the way, lit by a streetlight. "I'm assuming that's yours," Kyra said, nodding in its direction, and she could have been pointing out a garbage truck for all the enthusiasm in her voice.

"Yeah." Kassandra walked gingerly to the car. The streetlight blazed down, bright as a spotlight. It made her eyeballs throb, and she squinted as she opened the passenger door and eased herself inside the car, grateful for the darkness of its interior.

It was disconcerting, sitting on this side of her own car, a mirror universe where everything was reversed and a stranger was sliding into the driver's seat. Kassandra leaned back so her head held the bag of ice in place — and then she pulled her seatbelt extra snug.

"It's like the cockpit of the space shuttle in here," Kyra said, as she ran her hands over the steering wheel and eyed the blank computer screen that took the place of a gauge cluster.

Kassandra grinned. "Push the big red button to start the launch sequence. Just don't... stomp on the gas."

But Kyra didn't leap at the chance to drive it like she'd stolen it. She took her time adjusting the mirrors and getting comfortable in her seat, and only then did she push the button to start the car, biting off a curse at the sudden roar of a hundred explosions a second being contained in the engine right behind her. Then she checked her blind spot and pulled onto Belmont as Kassandra worked the navigation system to make the route to her condo appear on the display.

Kyra's driving was competent and composed, and Kassandra began to relax despite the growing silence between them. They knew next to nothing about each other, and what they did know was something neither wanted to talk about.

The car turned as smoothly as a greased bearing onto the Burnside Bridge, the river an oily black ribbon below. At the far end of the bridge, the big "Portland Oregon" sign flashed its lightbulbs and neon, a vintage throwback that set the tone for the neighborhoods behind it.

Kyra changed lanes. "I'm surprised this thing doesn't drive itself."

"In a few more years I'm sure they'll come out with one that does, unfortunately."

"Unfortunately?" The passing streetlights lit her face in alternating stripes of light and shadow.

"I like driving. The sound, the feel of it."

"Driving one of these, sure. You're like a shark among the sardines."

"True." Kassandra couldn't imagine driving a beater Honda in rush hour traffic, and was glad she'd never had to experience that particular displeasure.

They glided downtown in a smooth bubble of movement, and whether that was from the car or from Kyra's driving, Kassandra couldn't say. Downtown, where food trucks clustered under high-rise office buildings and tent cities squatted within sight of every luxury hotel.

Burnside Street took them to 10th and the Pearl District — a neighborhood as clean, shiny, and multilayered as its namesake. Dig far enough and you'd hit the industrial sands it was built upon.

"Turn into that driveway on the left," Kassandra said as she fished her keycard out of her wallet. The gate lifted and let them inside, and she guided Kyra through the cramped nautilus of the carpark until they reached another gate. This one led to her private garage, isolated and secure.

The garage had three bays, but she hadn't bothered to ship any of her other cars here. Instead, she'd brought a pair of motorcycles: her favorite Triumph custom for the street and another bike for the dirt. The riding here was supposed to be some of the best in the world, but she'd rarely had any free time to find out.

Kyra eyed the bikes as she shut the engine off and opened her door.

"You ride?" Kassandra asked from the other side of the car.

"Nah," Kyra said. "I'd never have the time." A shame. She'd look good swinging her leg over that Triumph, wearing a black leather jacket to go with the red lumberjack flannel and jeans she was wearing now...

Her voice brought Kassandra back to reality. "You've got someone at home to watch you tonight, right?"

This is what Kassandra would come home to: high ceilings, tasteful furnishings, a spectacular view of the city — all of it very, very empty in its solitude. She'd have to admit it one way or another, but if she stayed silent she wouldn't have to hear herself say the words out loud.

Kyra looked at her. "You don't," she said quietly, and Kassandra couldn't tell if she was surprised by it or not. "I fucking knew I should have driven you to Legacy and bounced you onto the doorstep of the ER."

"I'm glad you didn't," Kassandra said. "And now that I'm here, you've done your good deed and you're free to go. I'll call an Uber for you, or a taxi. Whatever you want."

"Oh no, I'm not about to let you go on alone, just so you can die all by yourself."

"Wanting to watch is a bit bloodthirsty, don't you think?"

It was a good thing there was a car between them, because Kyra looked about ready to strangle her. "That's not what I meant."

Kassandra couldn't help herself, and she laughed even though it made her headache flare. "Well, come on, then. You can hate me up close all you want."

Up close is exactly what they got: in the stairwell, in the narrow hallway to the private elevator that serviced the upper floors of the tower, and in the elevator itself, where Kyra stood as far away from her as possible. Kassandra slapped her keycard against the reader. The numbers on the floor indicator ticked higher and higher, until they weren't numbers at all, just "PH".

The elevator released them into a small foyer.

"I don't hate you," Kyra said suddenly.

"Jesus doesn't like it when you lie," Kassandra said as she used her keycard to unlock her front door, and whatever Kyra's answer would have been was swept aside by their arrival.

The lighting and window systems woke up as Kassandra's smartphone connected to her home network. A soft glow from unobtrusive fixtures brightened the open interior of the space, while the windows shed their tint to put the city skyline on full display.

Kassandra crossed the room and sank onto the low-slung couch with a grateful sigh. She kicked off her shoes, then set the melted bag of ice down on the glass end table beside her.

Kyra was still lingering by the door, where the nearest wall displayed a triptych of poster-sized, black and white photographs. A lone dirtbike outracing a dust storm across the desert. A crumbling building made abstract in shadows and light. A landscape of the mountains encircling the bowl of Death Valley.

"Who took these?" Kyra's voice echoed from across the room.

"I did." Back when she had time to ride and travel. Now most of her shots were hurried sketches taken with her phone.

Kyra's circuit of the wall pulled her past the flatscreen TV, past Kassandra's bookshelves, until she stood in front of the windows. "It's so beautiful," she murmured as she gazed at the twinkling panorama of the city's east side.

Kassandra nearly got lost watching Kyra enjoy the view before she remembered her manners. "Can I offer you something to drink? Beer? Water?" She grinned. "Coffee?"

That made Kyra turn and approach the couch. "Is it from Starbucks? Then no, thank you." She picked up the soggy bag of ice on her way past, holding up a hand when Kassandra sat forward. "No, don't get up. I can find my way to your fridge," she said, glancing at the kitchen in full view before them. A trace of humor instead of irritation. Seemed this evening would bring Kassandra one surprise after another.

But no surprise would top the fact that there was someone else here with her. She'd never invited anyone — no friends, no lovers — to her home, or to any of her homes, really, and now some stranger was rooting around in her refrigerator and cupboards.

She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of Kyra making herself right at home: the fridge and cabinet doors opening and closing, a quiet "Ahh!" of surprise as Kyra found her coffee stash, and then the kettle being filled and a gas burner igniting.

Then there was a gentle swirl of air beside her: Kyra, perching on the armrest of the couch, offering her a fresh bag of ice and a bottle of water. "You should drink this," she said.

Kassandra raised the bottle in thanks and took a swig.

"You've got beans from Camber and Sweet Bloom. So you do know something about good coffee."

"Not as much as I should. But coffee's not really my gig," she said, well aware of how it sounded. "I know a lot more about buildings and the land they sit on." She'd cut real estate deals and maximized returns on investments for over a decade, always high enough up the chain where the numbers involved had at least seven digits, insulated from ever having to see that the mom-and-pop competition belonged to real people instead of numbers on a spreadsheet.

Kyra's jaw clenched around a response. "I hope you don't mind me dipping into your stash," she said instead, keeping up the détente between them. "I'm going to be up awhile."

"Have as much as you want."

The sound of the kettle whistling drew Kyra away, and when she returned a few minutes later, it was with a mug cradled in her hands. She sat at the edge of the armchair across from Kassandra and closed her eyes as she inhaled the steam. "I'd offer you a cup, but I'm not sure you should with..." She gestured vaguely towards her head.

"I'm fine with this," Kassandra said, tilting her water bottle. "Which one did you pick?"

"The Sweet Bloom." Kyra sipped from the mug, then shrugged. "Aspirational, I guess, given our circumstances. And this particular roast cuts a nice profile."

"How so?"

"Light, honeyed, lots of florals. And brewed right, the results are"—she sipped again and smiled—"amazing."

That smile was enough to fill Kassandra with the irrational urge to keep her talking. "Who's your roaster?"

"Heart, here in town."

"Ahh, I should have known." They had a coffee shop of their own just up the street. "Why them?"

"They're local. And they haven't sold out to Wall Street like Stumptown did." She stood up, abruptly, and took her mug over to the windows, drinking from it as she watched the city lights. "Do you know why all the indie roasters started focusing on lighter roasts?"

"No."

"Because Starbucks went in hard on the dark roasts." Then she laughed, a brittle sound that bounced off the window glass. "I got into this business as a barista first, because I love how the best coffee tastes. I still do. I'll never serve anything less." She gazed pensively at the city, seconds stretching into minutes. Eventually, she turned to Kassandra. "How's your head?"

"Sore, but I'll live." She turned her neck experimentally. Still stiff. At least her head wasn't ringing anymore.

Kyra returned to the armchair and sat down. "Tired?" she asked.

"A little." More than a little. She'd been up since five and it had to be well past midnight by now.

"Sleeping would actually be good for you."

"Really? I thought it was the opposite," Kassandra said, remembering being poked and prodded on team flights and buses, kept from sleeping by assistant coaches after games where she'd cracked skulls with some opposing player. But that had been a long time ago.

Kyra flashed her a wicked grin. "That's why I'll be here to wake you up every couple of hours, to make sure you're just sleeping and not slipping into a coma."

Kassandra had been prepared for awkward silences, and perhaps some talking spiked with vicious, vicious words. But falling asleep while Kyra had free reign of her home... This was a terrible plan.

Kyra's grin grew wider. "Don't look so scared. My face is all over your security cameras and you know exactly where to find me." She made a show of studying her manicure. "Besides, murder's not really my style."

She had a point — and an actual sense of humor. Kassandra smiled. "I'm not so sure. You seem to know a suspicious amount about head injuries."

"I've seen enough of them to pick up a thing or two."

"I didn't know the coffee business was so dangerous."

"Not at the shop," she said, rolling her eyes. "Out on the rock, and in the climbing gym."

Rock climbing. How had Kassandra missed that connection? "Cliffhanger."

"My three loves put together."

Coffee, climbing, and books. "Tell me about them?" Kassandra winced at how inane the question sounded.

"I can definitely bore you to sleep if that's what you want."

"If I fall asleep, it won't be because I'm bored." And right on cue, she yawned.

"Well, this won't take long, then," Kyra said brightly. "So speaking of the folks at Heart — they called me up last week, all hot about this small, family farm they'd stumbled across the last time they were in Honduras..."

And Kyra talked, about heirloom coffee, and how roasters searched the world for the most interesting varieties, and Kassandra stretched out on the couch and listened, sometimes asking a question, but mostly resting in silence, mostly thinking about what it was like hearing another voice in a room that was usually so quiet and still.

And much later, she woke up to Kyra's hands gently tucking a blanket around her. "I'm awake," she murmured, wriggling in the blanket's soft cocoon.

"So you are," Kyra said wryly. She settled back into the armchair and picked up the book she'd set aside. "Go back to sleep."

"Not yet," Kassandra said, her voice thick and drowsy. The blanket was warm, like Kyra's hands had been. "I want to know what book... you're..." And then her brain tucked itself in and said good night.

Chapter four of The Sellout. Continued in chapter five...

[ecfandom]

I don’t have a good name for this headcannon or pairing yet. Maybe you all can come up with something clever...

So it imagine it this way. Lexa is the shiny, new chief operating officer (COO) of the Gustav St. Helen Metropolitan Hospital in New York City, the medical industry’s cutting edge leader in biomechanics. In dire financial straights, the hospital sought out two years prior to find the uniquely talented individual to save their hospital from financial doom. They had the incredible minds and innovation, but the prior C-level executives had managed investor money so poorly, the hospital was in major debt before any of their new pipeline products could make it off the ground. They began their year-long search and landed on biomechanics’ genius, prodigy extraordinaire, Lexa Woods. 

Lexa had grown up inventing almost as early as she learned to walk. She had a brilliant mathematical, engineering mind that was constantly meddlin and tinkering, making new things and improving upon old ones. By high school, after being inspired by a dear family friend, Lexa had been accepted to nearby MIT to supplement her high school engineering curriculum. By 17, she was enrolled at Northwestern Univeristy in their accelerated dual degree program in biomedical engineering and medical school. By 22 she’d graduated with honors and had her own start-up engineering firm fully funded by venture capitalists, and was in her medical internship at one of Chicago’s top hospitals. By 25, after completing her residency in orthopedic surgery, she’d left th surgical world to focus on engineering, and by 27, she had three of the most successful patents for cutting-edge prosthetics, and her electronic wheelchair was being mass-produced in 15 different countries. 

She loved what she did, and she was damn good at it, but by 30, Lexa was ready to get out of the lab and try a new way to help people. She wanted to teach, she wanted to guide and create protocols, to streamline processes and create efficiencies. She wanted to continue to make an impact, but she wanted to slow down. The fast, high-life of her multi-million dollar generating inventions had helped keep her mind focused when all it really wanted to do was lament the loss of her child-hood sweetheart to budding career paths and long distance strain. But by 30, she was ready to face the fact that she would never truly be over the girl next door that’d made her world go round, and no amount of focusing on her inventions would solve that. They texted and emailed on the very rare occasion, to keep each other updated—they were friends after all and had ended amicably...as amicably as one could when losing the love of their life—but it would never be enough. She had to face it, and she had to live her life anyways. Cue, her entry into the world of administration. From 30-35, Lexa kept an associate professorship at NYU while working in and out of various executive administrative positions at labs and hospitals, gaining knowledge and experience in how to run an organization. It wasn’t until Gustav St. Helen Metropolitan Hospital approached her with their COO position though that things really began to click. 

One year into that position, and Lexa had finally found a sense of peace and contentment; the purpose, she had been longing for. Her colleagues were amazing, despite the overly aggressive flirtations of some of the residence and physicians, and the annoyingly obvious gold-digging intentions of others. Though Lexa was not much of a socialite, she enjoyed their company. There was only one thing that could have made it better, and she never could have imagined it would show up in her email 13 months after beginning her new positions at the hospital. 

Clarke Griffin is an incredibly trauma surgeon in need of a new attending position after her hospital in Portland merges with another and her position is claimed by an older man with seniority and a brother on the board. Always keeping an occasional eye on Gustav St. Helen’s open positions, she nearly falls out of her chair the morning she sees the posted opening for a trauma attending. 

She could hardly believe her eyes. There was no way the hospital the love of her life now worked at had the exact position she needed. There was no way. This was it, she had finally gone delirious from sleep deprivation and caffeine poisoning. And yet, when she refreshed the page, there the posting was, just waiting for her resume. 

Rather sheepishly, the first thing she did, was email Lexa. 

Two weeks later, Clarke walks through the doors of the beautiful, state of the art  GSH Metropolitan Hospital for her first round of interviews, so giddy she can hardly contain herself. It’s not the interview that has her trembling with excited nerves, it’s who she hopes to see. The one person that had been on her mind every day for the past 4, 375 days. But who was counting? Certainly not her. And certainly not for the past 12 years. The occasional chats over coffee when their schedules lined up or they landed in the same city for more than a few hours had been nice over the years, but this? The prospect of being in the same city for days, hell months or even years? Clarke could hard keep still as she sat in one of the waiting rooms for someone from HR to collect her. 

When a senior white coat came out to greet her with a warm smile and firm handshake, Clarke knew she was going to like it here. Fingers crossed that she’d make it to the next round of interviewing.

She was was walking down the hall with Taryn, her first meeting host, when her name came echoing down the hallway. She should chide herself for how disgustingly predictable and cheesy her reaction is to turning around to find Lexa jogging down the glass stairs from the atrium walkway, a beaming smile on her face. Clarke can’t help it when her walk turns into a jog and her jog turns into her body slamming into Lexa’s in a desperate hug laced with delighted laughter and a smile so wide it genuinely ached. 

“Hi,” Lexa says to her and it’s so familiar, Clarke wants to cry. But she’s too happy to cry, so instead, she laughs and throws her arms around Lexa’s neck once again until the taller, always quieter, always subtler woman is laughing again and squeezing her tight. 

“I missed you so much,” Clarke sighs into Lexa’s shoulder, smiling again when she feels Lexa’s squeeze in response. 

Clarke can feel Taryn watching them, knows she should hurry back to her and not keep their meeting waiting, but Clarke finds herself glued to the floor when Lexa holds her at arms length, hands resting lazy yet possessive and familiar on her hips for a moment before slipping away to disappear into perfectly tailored business slacks. 

“It’s so good to see you,” Lexa says, a smile on her face to rival Clarke’s. 

“It’s good to see you too.” 

“I don’t want to hold you up. Do you have plans after?” 

Clarke can only shake her head, all her energy directed at attempting to keep her smile from growing any wider. 

“Will you come find me after?” 

“Yes, of course,” Clarke says too quickly to be casual or cool, but she doesn’t care. The greatest love of her life, her soulmate, was standing in front of her again, and it wasn’t a dream this time. She had no idea how Lexa felt about them, if she was with someone—that thought alone was enough to momentarily cause her smile to falter—or if had long since stopped loving her. But for Clarke, the feelings had never gone away, and simply having Lexa back in her life would be enough for now. 

Lexa’s smile is adorable and shy and sexy all at once as she nods at Clarke’s enthusiastic response. “Good. My office is upstairs. Kind of a maze, but just ask someone. They’ll get you there.” 

“I’ll see you then, then,” Clarke says, laughing at herself when she hears how insane she sounds. 

Lexa laughs too and Clarke knows she’s in danger of floating away on cloud nine any minute now. 

“See you then. Break a leg in there, I know they’ll love you,” Lexa days with the calm, understated charm of her voice Clarke had fallen in love with over and over again throughout the years.

“You think so?” 

“I know so.” Lexa gives her a wink and Clarke melts like the 16 year old that had melted the first time Lexa had pressed her up against the rusty door of her ‘67 chevy pick-up and kissed her breathless. “You’re gonna do great. Come find me after.” 

Clarke hugs her again, taking in the first full breath she’d managed in the last 4,375 days. But who was counting? 

Stay tuned for part 2! 

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Laminate Flooring-Simple Floor Portland 

With the laminate flooring from Simple Floor Portland, enjoy the functionality and timeless beauty. Our stunning range of laminate flooring offers a beautiful balance between durability and aesthetics, adding a touch of class to your room. Our laminate flooring is expertly crafted to replicate the rich textures of hardwood while offering simple maintenance and great resilience against everyday wear and tear. At Simple Floor Portland, we take great pleasure in providing high-quality goods that accommodate a range of preferences. Our laminate flooring alternatives can satisfy your need for a contemporary, rustic, or historic environment. Improve the look of your home with laminate flooring, which turns any space into a compelling retreat while being reasonably priced, environmentally responsible, and aesthetically attractive. Choose laminate flooring from Simple Floor Portland for sophistication and performance for your floors.

[ovenpriest54-blog]

Get Substantial Good quality Wood Flooring With the Hartco Flooring Firm

Hartco is the only flooring company who can claim to give unequalled flexibility for its costumers when it will come to customizing their living spaces to fit their unique personalities. Deemed as a single of the top manufacturing organizations in the worldwide flooring market, Hartco Good quality Wooden Flooring delivers flexibility and adaptability for inventive people who would not want to merely settle on the conventional hardwood patterns. Hartco Flooring acknowledges this need and desire to give rein to one's creativeness and self expression - right after all, your home is an extension of your persona and floors need to be presented more thought in purchase to set a best stage. Started because 1946, Hartco has unquestionably been identified as the foremost companies of hardwood materials with wide distribution channels all in excess of the entire world. It first received fascination and recognition by delivering the industry a fresher approach to parquet flooring treatment and given that then appreciated a large pursuing of customers both from the commercial and residential market. With a myriad of wood species, designs and grains, finishes and hues, Hartco hardwood flooring encourages people of unleashing creativeness that exists in each strip or plank of Hartco wooden floors. The patterns and the color contrasts will help decorators create stunning flooring treatment options from the traditional, modern and the avant-garde. Hartco provides wooden types in strips, planks and parquet tiles alongside with a variety of gorgeous edge therapies this kind of as the micro, squares, and the beveled edges. prima flooring can also decide on from various stain therapies that would greatest complement your inside decor and also determine on the two well-liked kinds of finishes: wax and urethane. However, if you favor the more affordable different, you can also purchase the unfinished woods, with procedure that are largely dependent on the coloration and grade. Amongst the popular wood specie they offer you are: ash, birch, cherry, kempas, maple, merbau, oak, pecan and walnut. With their chopping edge innovation, Hartco expertly delivers out the distinctive people of oaks and maple that effortlessly deliver any space to daily life. The Maple Assortment has obtained a fast reputation particularly between household house owners with its distinctive and gentle shades that is recognized to flawlessly compliment any decorating styles and methods. It is accessible in 2 ¼ inch strips and three-inch planks that provide you with enough area to investigate versatility in different decorating techniques. Amid the highly suggested therapies is alternating the different widths of mixing at the very least two widths to develop much more personality on your flooring systems. No 1 understands this require for perfection and individuality better than Hartco and they have definitely outdone on their own in offering superb choices to suit every single whim and fancy. Now you will find minor remaining to ponder why so several decorators from every single corners of the world have duly identified Hartco and have been dedicated follower of the diverse great wooden remedies styles have Hartco offers. If you choose the Hartco Flooring Engineered product traces, then you browse by means of excellent choices this sort of as the Beaumont Plank, Beckford Plank, Binghamton Plank, Century Farms, Metro Classics Cherry, Exotic Treasure and Backwater Vintage, together with other equally excellent selections. If you choose to use the Hartco Flooring Solid, then you will definitely is not going to lookup in vain with 25 wonderful types this kind of as the Portland Strip, McKinley Plank, Sugar Creek Strip, Walton Strip and Northbrook Strip, just to name a handful of. Folks are ever more demanding with the consistent try to redefine perfection in their abodes that have extended been regarded as a welcoming sanctuary for globe-weary souls. So if your severely contemplating on getting a new flooring program, consider Hartco Flooring Techniques, where flooring is not just treated basically as a useful portion of your house but also an extension of your creativity.

[castlebespoke]

Ways You Can Save Bucks On Engineered Wood Floor in Portland

While wood floors are considered a luxury item, they can also be affordable when considering them as one more considerable picture component. Here are some ways to save bucks on best wood flooring. Call us at 1.503.946.8333

[dekored]

Basement flooring options

Hi - Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions you may have.

In Massachusetts - I have a finished basement that is one large room, with one smaller room and a bathroom. The bathroom has porcelain tile that kind of looks like hard wood. I wish we did this to the entire basement when we refinished it.

The other two rooms are wall to wall carpet. We haven't really been using the basement that much - the carpet is gross. When it rains - worms come up through the carpet. Plus about 8 years of usage - kids and dogs.

I would like for us to start using our basement more often. I would like to remove the carpet. In the small room I would like to start using a home gym and add floor tiles like these https://www.homedepot.com/b/Flooring-Gym-Flooring-Gym-Floor-Tiles/N-5yc1vZc4oe.

For the remaining basement - I would like to replace the carpet with something practical, cost effective and aesthetically pleasing. The thing is - I think I need to keep access to the house's sewer line? And also by the back door - I think the carpet is covering a drain that looks like this - https://www.homedepot.com/p/RELN-40-in-Channel-Complete-with-Portland-Grey-Grate-003102/207134581?MERCH=REC-_-searchViewed-_-NA-_-207134581-_-N

So many questions. I'm a single mother and love a challenge - but I am also realistic about my skills and lack of skills.

I'm thinking I can remove the current carpet?

Then I'm wondering how I should go about getting a new floor. And what flooring options can accommodate the sewer drain and drain by the back door? And what other things should I take into consideration that I am not thinking of? And what is a reasonable budget for installing engineered hard wood if that would be a good option.

Thank you!

submitted by /u/kkklllmmm2 [link] [comments] from The Hivemind Improving Homes https://ift.tt/3zZWlJd

[architectnews]

First Tech Federal Credit Union Corporate Office

First Tech Federal Credit Union Corporate Office, Oregon building, New USA Architecture Photos

First Tech Federal Credit Union Corporate Office in Hillsboro

Nov 13, 2021

Architecture and Interiors: Hacker

Location: Hillsboro, Oregon, USA

First Tech Federal Credit Union Corporate Office

First Tech Federal Credit Union’s motto is “People First” and their new Oregon campus is designed to support and promote the health, comfort, and happiness of their employees. Each design choice – from the cross laminated timber (CLT) structural system and the vast windows, down to the material details and finishes – aims to blur the line between inside and out, bridging a connection between people and nature.

Viewed from a distance, this 156,000-square-foot building nearly disappears into the landscape. The mirrored façade reflects the sky, trees, and creek, and the randomized pattern of the exterior paneling helps to minimize the visual size of the building. The boomerang-shaped building footprint creates an embraced courtyard that allows work and leisure spaces to spill outside.

The site’s naturally sloped topography continues into the first and second floor, expressed through shallow terraces in the communal dining area and culminating in an amphitheater-style all hands space that expands into a double height atrium.

Much of the building’s design draws on the beauty of wood and the CLT structural system. The elegant timber frame is visible throughout the building, complemented by a warm, natural material palette. The glulam beams frame floor-to-ceiling views to the park and the creek that surrounds three sides of the site. Raised access floors conceal HVAC, electrical, and low-voltage systems, contributing to clear, uncluttered spaces that showcase the simple beauty of the CLT.

The open office system is designed with emphasis on equitable access to natural light and views, with workstations on each floor arranged to ensure that all employees can benefit from biophilic opportunities, and that there are no “bad” workstations.

Additional program elements in this office build include: a distinctive central commons with stadium-style seating, capable of accommodating large gatherings and presentations; a kitchen and lunch room adjacent to the courtyard; a coffee bar, which is operated and staffed by students through a partnership with the local school district; a game room; training rooms; private huddle rooms; and flexible collaboration spaces with retractable walls allowing teams and work groups to define their own spaces as needed.

The building is LEED Gold certified. An exemplary score was awarded in the regional materials category as all the columns, beams, and CLT were sourced and refined within 500 miles of the site. First Tech is also one of the largest mass timber and CLT buildings in the U.S.

First Tech Federal Credit Union Corporate Office in Oregon, USA – Building Information

Hacker Design Team Corey Martin – Design Principal Jennie Fowler – Interior Design Principal Stefee Knudsen – Project Manager Chandra Robinson – Project Architect Scott Barton-Smith – Project Designer Brad Smith – Project Designer Vijayeta Davda – Project Designer Maddy Mackin Freeman – Interior Design Matt Sugarbaker – Project Designer Amelie Reynaud – Project Designer

Project Team Architecture and Interiors: Hacker Contractor: Swinerton Landscape: WHPacific Civil Engineer: WHPacific Structural Engineer: Kramer Gehlen Mechanical & Plumbing Engineer: Apollo Electrical Engineer: On Electric Group Lighting: O-LLC Acoustical Engineer: Listen Acoustics Client: First Tech Federal Credit Union

Photography: Jeremy Bittermann

First Tech Federal Credit Union Corporate Office, Oregon information / images received 131121

Location: Corvallis, Oregon, USA

Oregon Building Designs

Contemporary Oregon Architecture

Oregon Architecture

Arvin Residence, Hood River Architects: Paul McKean Architecture photo : Paul McKean New Residence on Hood River

Rangers Ridge House, Portland Design: Giulietti / Schouten Architects photo : David Papazian New Home in Portland

Panavista Hill House, West Hills, Portland Design: Steelhead Architecture photo : Josh Partee House in Portland

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Neal Creek House, Hood River, Oregon Design: Paul McKean Architecture photo : Stephen Tamiesie Oregon House in Hood River

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Comments / photos for the First Tech Federal Credit Union Corporate Office, Oregon page welcome

Website: Corvallis, Oregon, USA

The post First Tech Federal Credit Union Corporate Office appeared first on e-architect.

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recycling initiatives for store

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Bamboo flooring-Simple Floor Portland 

Bamboo flooring has a timeless appeal, and Simple Floor Portland is delighted to offer it for your living area. Our assortment of bamboo flooring embodies both beauty and sustainability, offering a wonderful framework for your decor. Our bamboo flooring alternatives, which reflect our devotion to excellence, excel in both strength and beauty. Each plank's distinctive tale is revealed in its natural grain patterns, adding authenticity to your home. Select from a variety of finishes and designs that are in line with your design goals while also promoting eco-friendly living. Since bamboo is quickly regenerated and encourages sustainable habits, it is an environmentally favorable material. Bamboo flooring, available from Simple Floor Portland, will enhance the environment of your home with its warmth and refinement.