Lake Shore Drive Remodel – Rough Finishes 3A

• June 27, 2022

Take a tour of the “rough finishes” stage of an incredible Lake Shore Drive condominium. Architect Amy Scruggs shares the step-by-step thinking behind a total redesign of a 1920s Chicago co-op and some of the challenges of remodeling in a city high-rise on Lake Michigan.

I’m so excited to welcome you back to 1500 North Lake Shore Drive.

We have done our insulation and we put in all our drywall and now we’re at the exciting part of the job where we get to see all the finishes come in.

I’m standing in the Great Room and we’ve been talking, through previous videos, about our opening and how we made it wider so that there’s a greater visual connection between the family room and what’s going to be a dining area and living room space.

You may not get a sense of how big the room actually is in this video, but it’s huge. And we wanted to bring the scale of the room down and also add some interest to a ceiling that’s otherwise 30 feet by 22 feet. And so we’ve added some beams. We have beams that are centering on openings. We have beams that are centering on the fireplace. And once that additional crown molding goes in, the ceiling is going to be absolutely stunning.

So, I’m standing in what we call bath #4. This was the bath that had the bathtub with the mechanical equipment installed above it. All of that mechanical equipment blocked a window. I think it’s so lovely when you are able to get light into a bathroom space.

On the floor, you can see, we are getting ready to install tile. The tile is going to be installed over a leveling compound. An orange isolation membrane separates the tile from the actual concrete slab. So, if there’s any shift in the slab, then the tile won’t crack.

To make all of the new layout work, we had to remove a radiator. In place of it for our heat source we’ve installed an electric heat mat. We post these stickers all over the job site for all rooms that have this heat mat. There are so many different tradespeople that are working on the project that sometimes it’s hard to make sure that everyone understands what’s happening. So we put the warning sign here, we put it over here and we also put it on the entrance to the room so as the cabinetry gets installed, as things are happening noone is going to damage that tile. And when it’s all said and done, we’ll have a beautiful warm floor.

We’ve installed, in this bathroom, a very classis ¾” by 3” white marble herringbone. We just met with the owner today and picked the grout color. And now that we’ve been able to do this, this cabinet, which is on its end being fitted to be installed, can go in.

On the shower wall there is a big red surface. It is called red guard. It’s a waterproofing membrane. Our painters have been in, they’ve started priming all the drywall and they’re working on getting rid of wallpaper where it’s still in place.

In future videos, we’ll see the crown on the ceiling, finishing these coffers. We’ll be able to see countertops going on the cabinets. We’ll have more cabinetry installed. You know, just the finishing touches: starting the painting, starting to get the wallpaper in, finishing and sanding the floors. It’s going to be a busy couple of months but we’re excited and looking forward to seeing you again soon.