For those that have been reading my blog for a long time, you may recognize the name Mark Haslam.  He was they one that did a lot of hand holding and hard work for me when I built my addition behind my house in Sugarhood.  Back then he was working for Benchmark Modern, and together they went on to do a lot of great modern projects, including a few I was able to do some work on.  The House 2 project I featured last year was my first big job with my new side company Modern Union.

Not only is Mark one of the nicest guys I know, in my opinion he is also one of the best general contractors in SLC to build a modern home.  I get a lot of people who ask me who they should use, and I always point them towards Mark. 

So what does this have to do with Sausage? Oddly enough, that happens to be the name of Marks new construction company.  Mark has decided to branch off from Benchmark and do his own thing. I expect great things coming from him in the near future, so do yourself a favor and bookmark Sausagespace.com now. You'll thank me later.

Sausage : Modern home construction in Salt Lake City

Here's a snipet of video from the House 2 project that wrapped up last year. Video (and cabinetry) by Modern Union. Enjoy!

Last week I gave you a little peek of the completed House 2 project, and many of you were asking for more interior shots. I've pulled a couple off of the Modern Union Flickr page, and added a few off of my Flickr page as well. As is typical, the photos really don't do the space justice. The thing I'm most impressed with is how the house feels, not looks. The proportions are just so nice. All the VG fir woodwork by Modern Union really does a lot to warm the space up too. White walls and concrete floors can sometimes come across cold and sterile, but all the woodwork really makes the whole house feel very warm.

Builder Mark Haslam did a fantastic job with the entire project. I need to get over there and get some more photo's of the exterior too. The whole thing just turned out so nice.

See the whole House 2 project.

Modern Union on Facebook

Lots more photo's after the jump.

Photo by Modern Union

Photo by Modern Union

I took the following photo's a while ago, before everything was totally finished.

Hallway with built in storage and desk niche.

Master bedroom. I love how the 12' run of cabinetry has no fillers. Perfect fit.

Master bedroom. Looking the other direction is a full wall of glass with two big sliding glass doors.

Kitchen looking towards the front of the house.

Kitchen with dining table in foreground.

This bookcase is 8' x 8'. That should give you a bit of an idea of the scale of the room. 10' ceilings feel perfect for the space.

Remember the House 2 project I was going to be following last year? Yeah, I didn't do too good of a job updating on the progress. Luckily the general contractor and subs did a great job of finishing it up. The owners have been in for a couple months now, and a few weeks ago my friend and amazing photographer Kim Guanzon came over to take a few pictures (above). The exterior cedar rain screen turned out fantastic, and is a great warm contrast to the white stucco. Similarly the interior has a fantastic contrast of stark white walls with lot's of fir woodwork to warm the space up. All the cabinetry, bookcases, window benches etc. were done by Salt Lake City based Modern Union, a new local company that is focusing on modern cabinetry and furniture. Modern Union is filling the gap between the low cost Ikea option and the high priced european cabinetry companies like Bulthaup, Poliform, Boffi etc.

Look for a full house tour coming soon.

Kim Guanzon Photography

Modern Union

I have been doing an admittedly horrible job keeping up with the local projects I have committed to follow. Luckily the builders are way more on the ball than I am. I have had a couple chances to drop by my favorite of the three projects lately and snapped these pictures a couple weeks ago. I'm always amazed at how much a space is transformed once the drywall goes up, and House 2 is shaping up to have some wonderful spaces. Since I snapped this picture everything has been painted, and the cabinetry and finish woodwork are starting to go in. I promise to have some more updates soon on this one.

More pictures after the jump.

The very top picture is of the kitchen/living room. This one is of the same space, only looking towards the front of the house instead of the back.

This is the master bedroom with two huge sliders looking out to a nice outdoor space.

Even the kids room has a nice slider.

This is the studio that sits separately behind the home. The raised area will be a guest bedroom and the space below it can be accessed from outside and serves as a storage shed.

I've been eagerly waiting for the Strie Architecture designed House 2 to get windows, and this last week the day finally came. All the windows and sliding glass doors were manufactured by Kolbe, and are aluminum clad exteriors and VG Fir interiors. They look absolutely fantastic, especially the HUGE double sliding door off of the mater bedroom. With all the plumbing and electrical in place they should be starting on the drywall next week and it will really start to take shape.

More pictures after the jump.

Master Bedroom

View from the studio behind the house

The House 2 project is completely framed up now and they are starting to put the roof membrane on almost in time for all the wet weather we have been having. It's great to be able to get a sense of what the spaces are going to feel like. My favorite is the kitchen/living room area. The extra high ceilings really give the room a nice feel. They have also finished framing the small studio in the back yard since I was there last.

More photo's after the jump.

This is the kitchen/living room looking toward the front of the house where there will be a large window seat.

Kitchen/living room looking out into the courtyard with the studio in the back yard.

This photo gives you a bit of an idea of the scale. The opening for the glass slider is way taller than your typical 6' 8" door.

Last week I introduced a new project going up near downtown Salt Lake dubbed House 2 (as it is the second house the architect designed for this lot). Today I'm happy to announce that there is some great progress on the project. We are stepping into it a couple weeks in, and to date the footing foundation has been poured complete with radiant tubing in place. All the concrete will be exposed in the finished home and it has already been sealed and saw cut. There are some imperfections in the finish (aren't there always) but to me that is some of the charm of exposed concrete. Framing has started and will likely be finished in the next week or so. It's exciting to see the home taking shape, and I can already tell there are going to be some great spaces. In the photo above you can see the Architect looking out on the courtyard that is accessed from the kitchen and bedrooms. I can't wait to see that the huge open space in the foreground get filled up with a nice sliding glass door.

More pics after the jump.

View from the kitchen area looking through the future slider into the courtyard. Hard to tell from the photo, but the slider will 8'+ tall.

Another view from the livingroom/kitchen area. This time looking down the hallway towards the bedrooms. You can see all the radiant tubing poking out of the concrete on the left.

This gives you a little perspective of how the house sits relative to the neighbors. It's a typical skinny downtown lot but the design should still afford a lot of privacy.

Today I'm thrilled to announce we will be following a new local modern home construction project. It's called House 2 as it is the second house designed by the architect for this particular lot near downtown Salt Lake. It is the first single family residence of new construction whose funding source is the Redevelopment Agency of Salt Lake City (RDA). The project is in one of SLC's only FEMA Flood Zones, requiring it to be built 1 foot above the flood plain. The project will be constructed as a joint venture by Sausage (Mark Haslam) and Benchmark Modern.

From the architect/owner:

The house is a 1,200 SF, including 2 bedrooms and a bath + a separate Work Space building of 200 SF which includes a half bath. The project will be occupied by a devilishly hansom couple and their child to be. The project parameters and restraints included the owners paranoia, privacy issues associated with an adjacent apartment building and neighboring property, historical precedent and context, zoning restrictions, FEMA restrictions, and budget. The single level house is 'L' shaped and is separated into two volumes, the higher of which contains an open kitchen, living, and dining space and the lower of which contains the bedrooms and bath. The houses primary focus is on a south facing side court with access to the court from all spaces through large sliding glass doors. The recessed entry is covered by a cantilevered canopy that meets the setback of the adjacent covered porches prevalent on the street. Building materials of the project include cladding of blackened cedar and raked cement plaster, bent steel canopies, and clear anodized aluminum clad VG fir windows. The house uses passive ventilation for cooling, and a high efficiency combined boiler, for the radiant heat, and on-demand hot water. The house will be completed by November of 2010.