August 17, 2005
The hedge gets a haircut
Of course the day to day maintenance goes on. Today the hedge got its six month trim. I love seeing the guys walking up on top of the hedge. It's like a scene out of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
Right before we start.
Posted by dana at 01:52 PM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2005
Around the Outside of the House
I wanted to show you the yard. In the three years we have lived here, we have devoted a lot of energy to the yard and the foliage around the house. We installed a brand spankin' new sprinkler system. Outdoor lighting, which looks spectacular at night. We completely relandscaped the front yard. It used to be mainly camellias shaped like lollipops and azelias and begonias. We wanted it to look more modern and concentrate on varying textures rather than blooms.
Below are pix of the front of the house:
Here is the house from the street.
Here is the walkway to the front door. We installed all the lighting and none of these plants were here.
And below are a couple more shots from different angles.
This is the garage door. We are getting a new one made to match this one. During the rains this past winter, it became so waterlogged it wouldn't stay open.
On the north side of the house, we have a garden. So many tomatos!
The below pix are of the backyard.
One thing our predecessors did right was the pool. Gotta give them credit for that. It's a salt water system, so the dogs love it.
This is the outside shot of the patio looking into the sunroom.
Below is the office, RemodeLogue international headquaters, from the outside. You can tell is was an add-on. Being on a slab at ground level, it flooded a little in the rains last winter.
Below is the arbor we put in on the south side of the house. It helps keep the office cooler in the summer.
So that about wraps it up.
Posted by dana at 02:09 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2005
The House Tour Part II
Now let me show you the part of the house we are not working on in the first phase. That is the dining room, kitchen, Bedroom 3, and office. All of these rooms will be demoed in phase 2, so get a good look now!
Again, here is a floor plan of the existing house. It is the demo plan, actually. The dotted walls are being torn down.
Below is the dining room with the kitchen in the background.
Below is the kitchen. The first picture looks out to the patio, the second picture looks in the opposite direction. Notice this is where the washer and dryer currently live.
Below is the office. Yes, I know it is messy. It is also an add-on to the original footprint of the house. We think it started out as a work shed. It is like a shack stuck onto the back. It is also remodelogue.com's international headquarters! When we first moved in we ripped out some lovely wall to wall carpet and probably 35 years worth of tiles and linoleum to the cement and then had the floor tiled with slate. Keeps it a lot cooler in the summer.
Below is bedroom #3 which will be our home for the remodel. It is on the other side of the house from the other rooms.
Below is the 3/4 bath. It will be our bathroom for the remodel. Notice the cheap vanity. The last owners, laid the tile floor, which extends into the kitchen, around it so we could not remove it without doing some major floor work. Another mistake we bought with the house. So this bathroom will not be remodelled but destroyed! But that will have to wait until phase 2.
Posted by dana at 02:19 PM | Comments (1)
August 12, 2005
The House Tour
I guess now is a good time to give you a tour of the house so you know what this project will entail. The house is a 3 bedroom 2 3/4 bath ranch style house. Other rooms include the Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Office, Garage, and what we call the Sunroom.
Here is a floor plan of the existing house. It is the demo plan, actually. The dotted walls are being torn down.
We are dividing the project into two phases. The first phase is the right portion of the house. The master bedroom, Bedroom #2 or den, Foyer, Living room, Sunroom.
Here are pictures:
Below is the foyer looking in from the front.
Below is the living room from the foyer. You can see the sunroom on the right.
This following pictures are of the sunroom. You can see the old window separating the living room from the sunroom. Originally, the sunroom was an outside space that was covered by the roof. It was later screened in and then finally enclosed. the sunroom is on a slab, while the living room is on a foundation. We are creating one large living room by joining these two rooms together. We are also replacing the windows in the sunroom with telescoping sliding doors that will open up all the way to give a greater in/out flow. They will have the same divided light look that you see here.
The following pictures are of the master bedroom. It is an enormous room. Too big really. It will be getting a little smaller. Check out the "I Love Lucy" closets!
These pix below are of the Master bath. We call it our Dynasty bathroom. Can't you see Crystal getting her hair pulled out over that sink? Everytime we shudder at the thought of living through this, we remind ourselves that if we lived with those gold and chrome faucets for three years, we should be able to tolerate anything.
This will become the hall bath and we are creating a new master bath between the Master Bedroom and the Living room.
This is some cheesy plywood shelving. Gonzo.
This is Bedroom #2 or the den on the demo plan. Not much is happening to this room except the closet is being rebuilt with stain grade cabinetry. It will look more like an executive office than a bedroom. Though it will still be a bedroom technically.
This is some cheesy plywood shelving though. Not worthy of Crystal or this house.
This little bathroom is going to be turned into a laundry room. It makes so much sense to have the laundry room near the master. So you don't have to constantly schlep clothes all the way accross the house.
Posted by dana at 11:40 AM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2005
The bad add-on
When you purchase an old house, you are purchasing a lot of mistakes of past owners. One such blunder of this house is the addition of the master closet. While we love the size of it, the way it was added greatly complicated our desire to replace the sliding glass door. When they added on, they used cement flooring instead of continuing on with hardwood flooring. This meant that hardwood throughout the house ended in the middle of the bedroom. In an odd but very real way, this floor joint is what led us to the large scale remodel. Because it is the beginning of the domino chain that reaches all the way to the other side of the living room.
The hardwood floor stops in the middle of the bedroom.
So we couldn't take out the carpet
Nice Carpeting, huh? We were able to take it out of the other bedrooms and expose the beautiful hardwood, but not the master. This complicates things. Can we rip out the cement and continue the hardwood? No. Do we put different hardwood on top of the cement creating a little step in the middle of the room? We could, but we felt that would be awkward, and also didn't think it would be a pleasing look. We did decide on a solution, stay tuned.
This is the addition from the outside.
Notice the siding. the rest of the house is stucco. We are going to have the siding taken down and have it stuccoed so it looks like the rest of the house.
A little wear and tear.
When you get upclose, the closet addition is looking shoddy.
Posted by dana at 12:03 PM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2005
The Sliding Glass Door
It all started with the sliding glass door in our master bedroom. It is the cheapest door made by the biggest company US. It gets stuck, comes off the track easily. The lock mechanism is broken.
This is a view from the outside.
And here is a view from the inside.
We sprayed WD-40 on it. We sprayed silicone on it. Nothing worked. Who would put a door this cheap into a house with such good bones? We know -- they sold us the house. What started out as a simple door replacement blossomed into a full fledged remodel because as with any house 66 years old, replacing the door would not be so simple. It had the result of a chain reaction that would lead to the other side of the house.
Posted by dana at 11:07 AM | Comments (2)