Our New House

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before and after, diy, home, house, new hosue, ouse, projects, real estate

The big reveal is finally here! This is our new house!
And in case you can’t tell by just that one picture, it’s a bit of a 1940 fixer. But a move-in-ready fixer (as evidenced by the fact that we’ve been living there for about a week!). I’m using some of the pictures from the listing (like above) and some I took, I don’t know how to attribute pictures from a real estate listing so if anyone knows… let me know?

On to the fun stuff! We’ve now got a larger and still flat lot. Our first home also had a flat lot, something I only mention because in our area there are lots and lots of homes built precariously on hills. The new house has a rectangle piece of land where most of it is behind the house so instead of big side and front yards, we’ve got tons of usable backyard! In the front yard alone we have a grapefruit and another citrus on the other side of our yard. Can someone tell me what kind of tree is in the left of the above picture?

Here’s a good look for your garden: A leggy rose on a tipping over chainlink fence gate. NOT. We’re going to need to work on the landscaping around here. Not pictured, there’s a hedge along the street side of the house (just like our last house!) that I already loath. You’re going down, hedge. Let’s enter the house:

You guys put kitchen cabinets in doorways too, right? No? That’s weird? That’s what I thought.

In the image above, to the left you see the dining room (there’s another doorway on that side) and to the hard left unpictured is the living room. We’ll return to that, but we’re going to go right, up the stairs since this is a split level home. Also to the right behind the entry door is a giant closet (with no light?) but we’ll skip that.

Up the stairs we go! You can see into the bedroom we’re using as our “master” for now, to the right is the 2nd bedroom/office and to the left at the top of the stairs is the world’s smallest full bathroom.

The above picture doesn’t do it justice. It’s so small you can only turn in a circle and that tiny toilet still means my long legs touch the tub when making use of the facilities. So how are we going to upgrade? Well, I like the bathroom in this location but as you can see the roof line starts to cut into it (and there’s a closet basically behind that tub in the bedroom) so right now we think that left wall gets pushed out into what is currently space made in the roof so there could be a full window. It may bump out into the kitchen headroom but I’ve already thought of a solution for that which I’ll explain further down. Before that, check out these fun bathroom features which make us not use this shower for now:

While I may be a little down on the bathroom, rest assured it’s because I’m stoked to get started on changing it which makes my heart flutter. I see white subway tile in our future.

In the “master” bedroom we’ve got some paneling and a ceiling following the roof which I will admit, I find charming and like it. I know it’s not everyone’s style but I think it’s cozy. However I do believe the paneling lets the sounds of the house settling come through louder than drywall, so not on our short list, we may need to check out insulation options or possibly drywalling at least part of the room.

All floors throughout the house need to be refinished but we’re waiting until construction stuff is finished since we don’t know where we’ll land with that work. The bedrooms up here were originally carpeted so you can spot some carpet glue and nasty spots. When the house was painted they didn’t cover the floors (they meant to refinish them) so there’s also paint spray in some places. The closets kind of got it the worst but they’re still functional. This is the rest of the bedroom and my closet (the husband took the one in the other room).

The other upstairs bedroom is in the front of the house and is our office. The staging picture below makes it look super tiny with a twin bed but it’s actually about the same size as the other room.

The quirkiest thing about this room is that the linen closet is in here, you can see it behind the entry door below.

Back downstairs, let me show you the living room. This is one of my favorite parts about this home.

Big open beamed ceilings. And that fish? It’s (allegedly) real and though this is staged, it was the previous owner’s. We’re told he caught it. I asked to keep it. Martin the Marlin is now still in the house!

Below is a picture taken from the dining room looking at the living room. It’s a good size and while I still am perplexed by floor vents, it will definitely accommodate plenty of seating. Again, these floors eventually will get worked on. And I haven’t picked any colors yet in the house. I’ll figure it out down the line…

This is what I call the “sunroom.” It’s an unpermitted structure attached to the house that will need to come down. It wasn’t built on a foundation and since we live in earthquake country, we want all structures to be safely permitted. Plus we have some big plans for this part of our lot (hint: they involve kitchen and master bedroom) so this structure needs to be removed anyhow. For now it’s just extra storage space.

Back inside, from the dining room looking at the kitchen:

Looks can be deceiving, the cabinets in here appear to be mostly original but with a newer wood veneer applied to them. Translation: Disgusting cabinets on the inside. But the granite countertops are actually nice looking and may have some repurposing in their future.

Remember me talking about the bathroom upstairs and kitchen headspace? If that becomes the plan, the wall you’re looking at above will jut out on the top of the wall. Which would be awkward except that we could add low cabinets that look built-in to make a large pantry. Maybe add a shorter wine fridge. I kind of am in love with the idea but we’ll see where it goes.

The layout of the kitchen is a little piecemeal and as hinted at, will be changing hopefully soon. This ain’t my first rodeo with kitchen renovation so I’m looking forward to tackling it, knock on wood! I’ve been Pinteresting it up on the kitchen lately. See the doorway above with stairs down? We’ll head there in a moment.

Oh, that old Wedgewood stove? It’s likely original to the 1940 home and is in great working condition. Plus now I never have to wonder how long to leave my rib roast or biscuits in the oven.

Outlets in the oven? Makes perfect sense. By the way, I don’t really understand the griddle on this thing. Do I use a pan ON the griddle or cook directly on it? Or is that just a cover (I don’t think that’s it). I’m just going to stay away from that for now.

Okay, down the stairs from the kitchen into a space that used to be garage. The door on the left below goes outside, the glass door on the right is a pantry and the door directly ahead is a full bathroom.

A rather nice but low ceiling-ed bathroom. The bathroom, pantry and a finished garage “living space” were unpermitted and added to this two car garage. We’re hopeful about keeping a half-bath down here (removing the shower) and probably will need to remove the pantry.

Here is our two car garage! The rest of the space is to the right and that wall at the end with a door is maybe 8-inches from the actual garage door. The ceilings in here are super low due to heating and AC ducts which may or may not remain that way. I’m looking forward to this being an actual garage again even if it is just because we want to put a bunch of shelves and storage in here. And a laundry area.

Back through the house to the backyard, the crowning jewel of this house:

There’s some work we’ll be doing ourselves back here but I can say that the deck comes out with the sunroom and my garden lives next to that (dilapidated) white shed. That other building you see? Totally stinky (smoking…something) and totally unpermitted. It will come down. And the greenhouse? TBD but likely will be removed and if I want a greenhouse, it will probably be smaller and not located right in the middle of the yard. The good news is: there’s plenty of room for a chicken coop!!! As long as the building removals reveal no skunks this time, we’ll be all set.

This next view is from the upstairs bedroom and gives you a better idea of the layout of the yard. On our “someday” plan will be extending the patio or a deck from the house about as far out as the sunroom and deck go out now (because remember, the sunroom/deck all get removed). There will still be plenty of room for some croquet playing and gardening.

My other current favorite thing about our yard is the peach, plum and pear trees. I’ll get some pictures of just how many pears we’ve gotten so far but it really amazes me. Looking forward to preserving some this weekend!

Here’s your final view of the house from its back side:

There are plenty of projects to keep us busy, just how we like it. We prefer to own a home that we can make our own and we are truly looking at this house as a blank slate. While we only added about 100 square feet to our living space (not including all those unpermitted spaces) we greatly improved the neighborhood we live in. We’re a few blocks from a wonderful park with a community center that has bocce ball, softball/baseball fields, tennis courts, a skate park and even a community garden! Two blocks away is a little commercial area with some restaurants, shops and a post office. Our commute is also a little better now so we’re doing better all around! Welcome to our new home!

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Making an Unfinished Attic into a Usable Space

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architecture

Ever since my husband and I moved into our house in October 2010 we have been working on projects large and small in order to improve what was once a complete fixer-upper into a desirable home with the intention that one day our 930 square-foot two bedroom and one bath house would allow us to make a jump to a home in a better neighborhood with more space. For, you know, dogs. And friends. And our parents to sleep over.

Recently my beloved and I were discussing the house and its future. One of the things we talked about was staying in the house for a few more years and what projects we would want to accomplish to make the best of our house. There was one thing that came to mind based on a house a few doors down with the same floor plan as ours: finishing off our attic for more functional space. Here’s the picture from their listing (when that house was sold, the same set of pictures I used to influence our kitchen remodel):

I was always curious about where they might have put stairs to gain access to this space until I asked another neighbor over the weekend who had seen the house during its open house. Pull-down stairs. Genius. In a home with a compact floor plan it’s a great way to incorporate stairs. Here’s what our floor plan looks like (not exactly to scale):

As you can see, there’s not a lot of unused space. A set of pull-down stairs could probably work in our hallway, though. That way, you would have access to the middle of the house (as versus the garage) and if the space is used as an office or even a guestroom the bathroom is right there. Here’s a shot of our roof thanks to Google maps, which is taken from the side of the house so it’s the above rotated 90-degrees counter-clockwise:

You can see where our fireplace is and also what we refer to as “the coffins” which are actually solar water heating from the 80s (yes, really, the 80s!) that are no longer connected. We need to replace our roof and are thinking that a potential attic project might be best if it coincided with a roof replacement? The point for showing our roof line is that there is actually some plentiful space in our attic– no complicated roof line chopping things up so it could be worth finishing.

And before I get into Pinspiration pictures, the current state of our attic: gross. The space above our garage has no attic, we only have some lofted storage space. But when we were having our kitchen done, there was some questions about a supporting wall and if it could be a beam instead, so I took one for the team and went up there. Naturally I took pictures while I was up there:

An old antenna, you know, just in case. Could come in handy in a zombie apocalypse.

I guess the important question was how much room is up there– is it enough to stand? How many beams are there? Would it be easy to move around? I can’t remember. It was icky and hot and I didn’t want to get super old insulation in my hair or inhale it. But let’s assume that it’s tall enough to stand and that there really aren’t an inordinate number of beams. Besides, if you’re working at a desk you’re sitting or we could have a low bed/futon and you’d be laying down. So for that, plenty of space.

Basically I don’t think it’s an impossibility that we might be able to finish our attic off. I’m not sure that’s it’s something I want to DIY (do you see that old insulation!?!?) but if we were able to bring in a pro to create a blank slate for us and add some window/skylights (a must!) then I think it would be a really neat space. So I’ve been scoping out Pinterest for ideas of what I like.

Check out this tiny, narrow attic with lots of windows:

I like the windows/ skylights as well as the storage but I think our attic is even wider than this. (Image originally from here)

Check out the sleeping arrangement here– even if we had a pretty low space this would work for some of our guests (better than our pull out!?):

I also like that image because it demonstrates that there is a post in the attic AND that they clearly just painted the current ceiling in the attic without adding drywall or anything. We don’t get crazy hot summers or snow where we live so maybe we wouldn’t need to drywall our attic ceiling? (Image originally from here)

For good measure, here’s a home office in the attic which is what we would be looking to do:

Love the wall paper on the ceiling and the bookshelves! (Image originally from here)

My hopes on this project could be dashed pretty quickly if I realize there really isn’t enough space up there to warrant such an undertaking. But for right now dreaming of taking over simply unused space in our home is a great use of time.

Do you like attic living space? Anyone else remember Clarissa Explains It All where she had a rad attic bedroom?

Fancy French Pumpkins

My fancy French pumpkin (Musque de Provence Pumpkin seeds from High Mowing Organic Seeds) plant officially has two pumpkins growing. I’ve got to recommend High Mowing Organic Seeds’ site to go and see cool vegetables you may have never seen or heard of, or if you had, you may not have known their names. I will gladly accept all kinds of seeds to try and grow next season. Hint, hint. Maybe for Christmas?

I noticed the first pumpkin developing at the end of September so I’m hoping to have the first pumpkin ready around Thanksgiving. I’m not holding my breath. Luckily I adore pumpkins so much I would be happy to have one any time of year (pumpkin pie, pumpkin, bread, pumpkin scones, pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry) even if it’s closer to Christmas. Maybe we’ll have a Christmas pumpkin instead of a tree this year?

Perhaps next year I’ll attempt to start them even earlier and hope for the best.

Time for rain boots?

As confessed here, I’m still not exactly ready for Fall to be upon us. In Northern California our warmest summer months are typically September and October and true to form, this week it’s been in the 80s around our house (when it was often chilly in June and early July!). In the mornings it’s a little cool, sometimes with clouds, then it all burns off for a temperate afternoon perfect for sitting out in the backyard.

Despite some fantastic weather, I can’t help but look forward to Fall weather being upon us. It doesn’t help when the magazines and blogs I read are already talking about Halloween– it’s a month away! A whole month!– and snuggling up in front of the fire again. Any way, it makes me think about what I’ll be wearing when the weather turns cold again, and my coworker’s new boots (she got hers from a sale that already ended online) showed up in the office and reminded me how much I want these:

Hunter Original Black (non-gloss)

Most importantly, I want these for tromping around in the rain but with thick socks they would be perfect for the snow as well! My “snow” boots — from Target a couple of seasons ago for $25– have been discovered to not be water proof. I actually have no waterproof boots. Let me tell you, wet snow knows where the weaknesses are in non-waterproof boots. And to trump all those reasons: if I wear them while gardening when it’s wet outside, I can HOSE THEM OFF. Yup. I’m a women’s US size 9.

Do you own boots for rain/ cold weather/ gardening/ horseback riding/ hiking/ a night on the town? What is your favorite part about them? What do men do when it’s pouring rain?

 

Hunny-Did List

The husband under our house installing insulation. He must really love me.

A month ago I compiled my hunny-do list before my dad and step-mom came up to enjoy the weekend with my husband and I. The above image was taken by my dad on another one of the weekends my parents spent “enjoying” with us. As predicted, before a round of golf, some of the list is able to be crossed off!

Men’s Work

• Install new interior doors & knobs
• Mulch
• Build wine rack (or find one) for over the refrigerator
• Remove solar panels from roof
• Make Alanna’s bike like new again

So, there’s the updated men’s list. And in the spirit of competitiveness, how did the women fare?

Women’s Work

• Spray paint frames white for hanging in the living room and/or dining room (finished project here!)
• Frame some art for the bathroom, maybe get frames for all the art I want to hang
• Pick out new bathroom hardware
• Get supplies for conquering the bathroom(sandpaper, tile sealant, paint, etc)

Not. Too. Shabby. I owe ya’ll an update on the bathroom but I haven’t painted the ceiling yet. I intend to this weekend and then will be able to show off the new hardware and the magic I worked on getting dried grout off the tile, recaulking, and more. As long as I’m at it, I’ll try and get some framed art work up in there!

As for the wine rack, it’s on our radar. Here is the picture of the above-the-fridge space that it will be occupying (before I got rid of the random things up there:

We had the refrigerator alcove– which took a small chunk of our garage– built so that it could accommodate a larger refrigerator or built in and one that also has those fancy water hookups. We, however, just kept our original basic refrigerator because 1) it’s just barely two-years-old 2) after doing a whole kitchen the last thing we wanted was to buy another new appliance 3) it works just fine 4) now I have space above it for a wine rack.

The wine rack thing has sort of been on our radar. The ones we’ve been seeing around are mostly not wide enough, though, at only about 4 bottles wide, and we haven’t taken time to measure the space. There are two kind of wine racks I would love to have:

This would be able to fit any size bottle from champagne to a more slender dessert wine bottle. Plus they can easily be removed.

This wine rack would have to be specially made to fit into the space and it may be harder to remove wine bottles that are stacked from this one.

There ya have it. I’m pretty sure my husband can whip up one of those wine racks no problem. It just may not be perfectly straight. And there would be a lot of cursing involved. But it’s the thought that counts.

Wishlist!

Gmail went down the other day, and so I took a mental break at work– I’ve read articles saying this actually makes more effective workers, so there– and realized that Google allows me to make a wishlist and have it linked from my blog!!! So awesome.

Why so awesome? Because I love lists and shopping online and making a wishlist online is like window shopping. It’s a great way to compose a list of thinks I’m dreaming of getting or actually might get at a later point and it’s all linked together with my other Google stuff. Not that anyone is going to view my wishlist, and remember it’s a work in progress and I had to get back to the grind, but it can be viewed by going to my full blog profile– link on the right– and under all my information its got a link to my wishlist. Again, work in progress. Maybe I’ll update it closer to the holidays… then again… do my parents still buy me presents???

Happy long weekend, everyone.