Time for an update...

OK, I just realized that it has been a bit since my last update (already slightly annoyed because I have started this post a couple of times, and lost the text while trying to post pictures; ANYWAY), and the fireplace is complete - grouted, sealed, and functioning. I love it. Fires at home (in the proper place) are an amazing treat. I have also had the front windows replaced, which is a HUGE undertaking (I did not attempt myself, this was definitely a job for the pros, and I did find a great one, kudos to Emil for sending Roberto my way). But on the same day that the windows happened, Oscar also came to join the family (sometimes it is easier to just get everything out of the way right away, and this was no exception)

here is the finished fireplace (yes, I will be adding trim, crown molding, and an oak mantle eventually, but this is where we are now...)

And introducing, Oscar...

Oscar and Vergil are doing very well, although many are astonished that Vergil could ever be thought of as 'the little dog' - Mom says that in a pict I sent of the two together that Vergil looks like a chihuahua...I am sure that she's exaggerating. They all make me really really happy. I do kind of wish that I had gotten a shot of Oscar and Gita (the chocolate point siamese) nose to nose, but they wouldn't hold the pose until I got the camera...will have to try for that again. Pema, Gita's sister wants little to nothing to do with Oscar, although she has acquiesed to coming out of my room and making appearances with him in the house.

Less exciting in pictures, but really thrilling in person, the windows are in, and they all open, have screens, and already make a huge difference in heat transfer. Perhaps picts of those later.

Short days, long nights

In preparation for the first winter in my new to me home, I have been trying to finish a few of the inside projects to keep me warm and snug in the chill of the cold (not that it really gets all that cold here in Southern California, but still, I could see my breath the other night, so that counts for something). I picked the fireplace as a great place to get started, not because the fireplace wouldn't work without making it prettier, but because if I have to look at it, and it really is one of the first things to see upon entering the house, I want it to be done, and it is one of the projects I could do myself.

I found some really beautiful slate and I love the idea of slate tiles to the ceiling (which changes the whole look of the livingroom since it was previously only half way up the wall). One oddity was that the slate I found was 16x16, and that was really too big to look right in the small space, so I cut all of the slate down to 8x8 which made it far more reasonable to work with as well as far more interesting. Attached are the pictures from before (way, way before - when I was waiting to close on the house) and one of after the tile is up, but before the grout goes in...that will be this weekend. I do love my fireplace.

Refresh the beginning

It has been a while (months even) since I have entered anything onto the blog, and it is time again to get started.

I have moved into the house, and it's kind of like camping. I have made some progress in several areas, and need to make more progress in other areas. I have no kitchen. The dining room furniture is temporarily housed in the guest room, which is also a semi-functioning guest room, so amusing without a doubt. The turtles have been moved out into their pond, the living room is coming along, currently the slate tiles are spread out all over the floor to create the pattern for their installation. The bathroom is functional, although the more I inhabit the house, the more I see changes I want to make in even the one room which was somewhat thrown together prior to my moving in, and the problems which are glaringly apparent from even the bit of work completed prior to the move in now make me laugh.

I am going it somewhat on my own, although I do need assistance for things like hanging the ceiling fans (they are too heavy to hold up and attach at the same time). I love my house, and the more time I spend here, the more I see in the potential here.

I had a funny incident when I attempted to buy the roofing supplies to replace the existing roof. There is a logic here, I promise. My intention with the house is to make it a renovation using high efficiency pieces parts, and recycling as much as possible in the process, as well as using some recycled parts. So I did a bunch of reading on different types of roofing materials for the replacement of the roof. I am somewhat lucky in that the roof has a very low pitch (3-12) and there are several options from which to choose. I finally decided on solar reflective shingles, located a local distributor, and moved on from there. I consulted with the contractor who will be doing the actual labor (sorry, there are some pictures I do not need to have in my head, and the 'oh shit' of me falling off of the roof in some fractured accidental grace is not one of them). I called the distributor, got some pricing comparisons, and found that the initial outlay seems to be overwhelming, however the end result when comparing to traditional shingle is under 300 dollars after the tax refund, and then the electric bill compensation makes it gravy.

So I go into the distributor to order the shingles, and it doesn't go well from the start. The guys behind the counter tell me that none of them remember talking to me, and they are the ones who would have talked to me. They look through their printed pile of quotes, lo and behold, there I am. Next? Why do I want to use these shingles? Who said that I have to do it? Who advised me on this? Then the run around for a bit - the ones I had actually picked out are on back order until after the new year, and there is another company who has some that they are coming out with, but the old colours are on back order, and the new colours are available immediately, but they don't have samples of the new ones.

Big deep breath.

OK, I tell the guy that I don't really care about the colour, the pitch of the roof makes it negligible as the only place you would see it is from an airplane (although my mother did point out that hot pink would make an interesting choice at that point). Then the guy starts to tell me that he has been in the roofing business for over 26 years, (have you noticed that NO conversation which is going to go to anyplace good starts in this way?) and no matter what claims they make about protective coatings or reflective anything in these shingles, the roof is still going to get hot, and I need to make sure that the insulation in the attic is sufficient, and...and...and...

I interrupted him at this point and told him to ask me what kind of roof I have now.

When I told him that I currently have hot mop and gravel, he laughed. My job was done, the goal was to get him to see things from my perspective a bit, and I did. I even made him laugh to boot.

Downside, the sales guy from the manufacturer never came in with the shingles, they never called me back, I can not seem to get the roofing materials. I will have to employ my other lessons that I am learning with this renovation, and be flexible enough to move on to other areas.

More later with pictures. And in a more timely manner this time.

The starter bell rings...

Closed. Finally. Really thought that "maybe next week" was going to be the mantra forever. Instead, I actually did close just in time to have the Memorial Day weekend start the demolition of the kitchen and bathroom, the redo of the existing bath (tiling and putting in a new vanity) and getting the yard cleaned up.

I took a day off from work, went in and surveyed some of the wreckage, there was a lovely piece of panel used in the living room against the fireplace (I do hope that you could see the sarcasm in the term 'lovely') and once the panel was gone (and the mantle piece too) there was big black MOLD behind the fireplace. Well color ME happy. Going to need some bleach - not the ideal in my world, but trying to be open minded here. I prefer non-toxic cleaners, but I also prefer non-toxic 'stuff' in the house.

Today, there are reinforcements coming to assist, and life will be good. Two weeks to start moving in, and things are looking a bit daunting.

Additionally, on further inspection of the supports in the ceiling, there are going to have to be some redesign points in the kitchen. Either that, or that brass stripper pole coming down into the dining room that I joked about will be a reality. Not tempting, but possible.

Fabulous news is that I did manage to get two beautiful vessel sinks for $100.00 on Craigslist, a lovely granite vanity top (already cut for a vessel sink) and possibly all kitchen appliances from a woman who is redoing her kitchen in stainless steel so is selling her relatively new black appliances for very low rates. I do love a bargain. I also procured pebble tiles for the bath which are really beautiful for under $3.00 a square foot. I love Craigslist.

Siobhan has driven down from Salt Lake City for the weekend (this is actually the third Memorial Day weekend we have 'celebrated' together - but this is the first one where we have not had mere relaxation and party in mind). She is a fabulous trooper for doing the hand holding and input, and huge thanks to her.

Gotta run and get to the house!

OK, the time is slowly dragging on, I am packed up at the house, I have gotten rid of a bunch of stuff, and now I am in the holding pattern to close on the house. This is not really the fun part. The upside is that Ron and Ro have returned from their trip and have begun designing the new kitchen and laundry room/bath combo. It is going to be AMAZING. Ron and I spent the day on Saturday at IKEA (found a cool sink and faucet for the kitchen) and then at Lowe's (very lovely cabinets, made in Oregon, custom done, will be delivered right to the house) and some really lovely appliances. I am determined to get the sexy washer and dryer this time - the ones I currently have came from the erstwhile husband's latest sucker - always makes me laugh - she got him, I got the washer and dryer, and I really did get the better end of the deal.

Anyway, the cabinets are cherry (the redder ones, not the dark ones) and the floors throughout the house will be saltillo tile (with radiant sub-floor heating) so the colours are looking like they will be in the warm tones - which is good for me (since I am picking them out and all). Ro and Ron have really done a fabulous job on the kitchen specs so far, and I am more than ready to get started. More pictures and such soon...

next step - (my favorite)

next on the list of things to do: formulate a plan, do some research - do more research, formulate more plan, and execute.

Went to see the house with Shiv this weekend - she can see the potential (I am really thrilled at that, since it's kind of important that she like it too...)

Planning out the colour scheme, the rough estimates for what the end will look like, and how to get the resourcing to go along with the planning and make things move relatively seamlessly.

the first weekend, the plan is to go in to clean and paint and rip out cabinets in the kitchen. I think that the order will look a bit more like rip out cabinets, clean and then paint, but no worries, all will be accomplished. I also need to close off the yard so that Vergil does not scare the neighbors - I have observed a bunch of people out walking their dogs, which is fabulous, but none appear to be more than ankle biters, which could be an issue for my buddy. He doesn't mean to, but he does scare the crap out of the owners of little dogs.

Anyway, also found an interesting article on energy wise renovation. Love it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/opinion/06moe.html?_r=1&em

More later (with pictures)

the walkway looking into the street

then the walkway looking into the house - dining room on the right (directly ahead in the pictures) living room to the left, complete with fireplace. Yeah, the institutional green will have to go. The plan is to bring everything to a neutral colour then decide on a direction to go. One thing is for sure - the painted brick will be sand blasted.

Just beastly. Really.

mmm...more of that precious kitchen. Made the decision that none of my stuff is even going in there. The cabinets will be ripped out first thing on Saturday morning. Bringing demo crew (namely Karen and anyone else who would like to get out a bit of frustration on some good old fashioned sweat equity)

Luckily, on this side of the kitchen, there is not as much to take out.

The gigantic ficus tree in the front yard. Really needs to be trimmed up.

Ah, home sweet home.

Things are progressing pretty well at this point. We are in escrow, I have started packing (a bit, mostly books and things I do not use often at this point). The inspection and appraisal have been completed. I was aware of several of the issues, but a few have taken me by surprise. I did take photographs of the house in far more detail, so I will be posting before too long. Sarah came with me today for the inspection and she definitely sees the potential within the house, which was incredibly reassuring. Siobhan will be here next weekend which will help as well. Still super nervous about taking on some of the projects, but I believe that a really good plan is being put into place and all of those years of saving copies of Dwell will actually come into fruition.

After extensive searching, and several offers, I have finally had an offer accepted to purchase a house in Vista CA. The criteria for the house were relatively flexible, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a fenced yard and a garage. The harder part seems to have been that I wanted something which was architecturally interesting and a 'fixer'. My architectural interests are varied, and given the tone in Southern California, the majority of possiblities seem to be in the category of 'mid century modern'. At the moment, the only forward motion seems to be that the offer has been accepted, which in itself seems to be some sort of hurdle. I will be sharing pictures of the impending purchase, as well as details of the process (learn vicariously from the mistakes of others) and then the renovation. I have quite a list started already. Enjoy!