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!