Friday, October 14, 2011

House Renovations and our company, Summer 2011

This summer of 2011, my parents bought their first house. The interior design was decently livable, but some things had to be changed so that the personality of the house suited our family.
In other words, the house needed a lifting... and so a big project began.
Before buying the house, my brother (who is 1.5 year older) and I knew that the work was pretty big. Here is what we had to do:

  • repaint the whole interior of the house 
  • eliminate ALL the carpets
  • install hardwood floor (1700 ft squared)
  • except in the kitchen and family room (500 ft squared)
  • then build a giant shelf in the garage, plus a couple more in the laundry.
  • build a couple of "nice" shelves for the living and dining room.
  • install crown moldings and baseboards in the whole house
  • do the plans for the basement and get the permits, and all the necessary materials.

Here is what we have left to do in the basement for the 2011 winter break and 2012 summer (which has already been started):
  • insulation
  • electricity
  • plumbing (bathroom to finish)
  • floating floor
  • drywall
  • painting
  • and then the finishings!

This took us the whole summer, working an average of 25hrs per week, and we were of course not paid as this was for the family. But the sacrifice was definitely worth it, as we saved a lot of money, and learned also quite a lot.
The house as it was before, the first time we visited it.
The kitchen with the ceiling light box, and wallpaper which had to be removed.
Largest room in the basement
My brother and I nailing down the hardwood floor. We had to take out all the carpets before.



Slates came out to be way longer and harder to install than hardwood flooring; and because we chose natural slates, they all had different thickness, and also sometimes had slanted thickeness, making them pretty tricky to level.

Me working hard

My sister singing at the end of the day

Our finished kitchen with its new painting, slates, baseboards, and crown moldings



Our finished dining room, with new painting, hardwood floor, crown mouldings, baseboards and homebuilt suspended shelf.



The effect on the blue wall...an artistic trace I left on the house

Homemade suspended shelves

Homemade bookshelf

Our finished living room: new paintings, lights, flooring.

A few compact shelves made in the laundry
The garage as it initially was



The huge shelves in the garage with the power station. It was probably the thing we had the most fun constructing as we made it directly onto the wall, and had to each time climb one level to work on the next one, quite acrobatic.



And now, after having finished the work, my brother and I actually have our own company in partnership.
So if you live in Vancouver, and need some work done on a house or building, at a lower price than usual, contact us!
Soleo Contractors
606 460 8843
778 899 1967






All the wood structures and furniture in the following pictures were built by our company:








My father's bakery shop I re-painted last year, which my brother and I are using as our current workshop.


Thursday, October 13, 2011

Music


Well I have basically been playing the violin since about thirteen years.
I recently recorded two violin pieces for my university applications, but well, there is only one here because I didn't like how I played the other one. To be honest, both were not that great and I know I can play better, but I also did not have a lot of time to practice lately because of school.
My goal is to one day compose film and orchestral music.

Here is a recent composition I did; however, because I am a violinist, I wanted to do 2 violins at first, but I then changed my mind to one piano; and as a result, I think the fingering is impossible for only one piano. Also, this is played by a software, not me (I don't play piano).

Sketchbook #3 (2011)


This is the my last sketchbook, and I am actually only halfway through it.
Sketching ideas for water bottles. I tried to reflect the characteristics of water; however, I'm not sure it really worked... but well here they are anyways.



Glasses in the same spirit

Here I was just thinking how a person was sitting on a motorbike to try to make a sketch of a more ergonomic bike.










Funny looking planes...

And my final sketch, at least for now...



The couple of following images are all architectural sketches: I was trying to sketch some pathos.



Autoportrait (with a spelling mistake in "portrait"). The comment is inspired by the painter Magritte.
Geodesic dome


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Sketchbook #2 (2010-11)



Because I was doing some blacksmithing at school in the metal workshop, I sketched a few ideas of different shapes of railings to then try to make one.

ideas of stylized headlights

Not a great sketch, but I was working on my perspective skills.

It can be quite tricky to get it right.










some plane sketches, VTOLs




A few sketches for my Extended Essay I like (the EE is for the International Baccalaureate)

My final VTOL sketch. I chose four props instead of 2 for stability, and to make it simple. Also, almost ALL the random machines I draw are based on electric motors, which are more compact and versatile than most other types.

Different systems for the propeller to rotate.







I really have to work on my perspective









Thats one of my favourite sketches (apart from the last VTOL) in this sketchbook.