Dreaming....

BEFORE

DURING

Look!  No studs!  And despite having been told by the GC that we'd need a load bearing column, he now says we do not.  Sweet.

I have a little time for a brief design plan overview....

Master bath - going for the carrera marble look + chrome fixtures + black vanity.  Not sure yet about wall color - either blue or yellow.
Guest bath - basic decor. White tile floor, white sink vanity, big white tub with tile surround. Still haven't settled on the tile yet - I'm waffling between green and blue.  The tile store has some cool extra long subway tiles that tempt me with their slightly-more-edgy styling. Brushed nickel fixtures.
Kitchen - Mixing in some Mexican colors. Floor will be Uxmal limestone tile (the one tile I have officially ordered - thanks 360flooring.com!) Cabinets against the wall by the window will be creamy white with a brown glaze. Island and cabinets in dining area will be a medium brown stained wood. Thinking of Silestone (aka Quartz) in "Seleno" for countertops.  And back splash will be amarillo talavera 4 x 4 field tile with blue/yellow/white talavera accent tiles spaced periodically throughout.
Family room - we're vaulting the ceilings and the floor will be cleft black slate probably in a brick layout.

And some sites I'm loving right now, as the help me through this process.

www.houzz.com    Maybe the designs are a long shot, but a girl can dream.
www.cottagehomemaine.com    A new favorite. Old English farmhouse table in reclaimed pine? yes please.
www.amazon.com   Because you know, you can't beat free shipping, no sales tax and the best prices around. Sucks that sales tax will start in CA this fall :(
http://cityhomecollective.com/    Because I have to share this design eye candy. Maybe someday I'll have the cajones to put up faux library/book wallpaper.

Meeting with the kitchen cabinet salesperson on Monday!

Current floor plan

A very special thanks to Inga for these floor plans. This is just one of several that did she for us. To scale and everything - will really help me get a better sense of the space for planning!

Even more demo!

Before I show more gritty demo, here's a reverse shot of the "family room" which I haven't yet shown.  This is the wall opposite the one that formerly had built-ins - in case you remember that one. There's the sliding door to the back patio, old [nonfunctional] plumbing from the built-in bar, that part of the wall in the center of the shot is the back of the fireplace, and formerly more built-ins to the left of the stairs [which lead to the living room.]

So, we're vaulting this ceiling and putting in a laundry room in that corner with the window. Ultimately, the plan is to make that a 1/2 bath, too, but we can't do that now or we'll have to wait months for permits.  Not an option when carrying rent + mortgage....

Ok, now for more demo shots:

Here you can see the dining wall starting to come out.

This is where those built-ins were in the dining room.  Look closely and you can spot where the laundry once was, some time long before we bought the house.... removing house layers is always interesting.

Close up of where the dining room built-ins once stood.  That's hardwood under there!

An interesting shot. This is the view down the kitchen [from the dining room]. You can now see through 2 walls!  That's bathrooms 1 & 2 through there.

 Our bathtub arrived tonight. It's going in the 2nd bath, but I hope to make use of it, too. So I opted for a 5.5' x 3'. Should be nice for a tall gal like me!

Demo has begun!

Yahoo! That wall to the left will also come out.

Kitchen and storage - coming out.

This whole wall is actually coming out - currently between dining and kitchen.

View of kitchen - studs to the right coming out.

Kitchen ceiling (new duct work!)

Tile at entry... gone! And the hardwood might be salvageable!

Back to the Beginning

Now that I've given a taste of what's to come, let's do a little show of where we're starting . . . .

It's a 3 bed, 1.75 bath (the .75 seems pretty common around here as the large elderly population is fond of the shower stall - really, I don't blame them - we intend to stick with that fraction + eventually add a 1/2 bath - does that make it 2.25?? JK.) It's just shy of 1,800 sq ft on .27 acres. Below is a view of the side of the house + more yard. Bonus with all the land, aside from space for the boys to run:  we've inherited a lime tree, apricot tree, peach tree, avocado tree and 2 persimmons.

Next we have the back of the house from Right to Left. We don't really have any plans to change things here in the foreseeable future.

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living room windows. dining room sliding door on the left.

Now for the interior . . .

Front door and opening to family room

Entry - showing tile to be removed and excess storage (by furnace) also to be removed. Shelves to be turned into closet.

Old fireplace (as you've already seen) + entry to family room on the left.

Family room (former garage) - built-ins and carpet already removed. Tile to be removed. Ceiling to be vaulted. Laundry room to be added to the right of the sliding door.

This is the kitchen wall immediately opposite the fireplace. It's coming out!

Doorway into dining - wall being removed.

Dining room built-ins. All coming out.

Sliding door in dining room.

View into kitchen from dining room. This wall is coming out!

Original kitchen - some stuff already removed.

Another view of the kitchen + exterior door to the side yard.

Ew. former laundry + pantry. Will become fridge + pantry.

Looking down the hall to the bedrooms. Kitchen wall on the left - coming out. Storage on the right coming out.

Storage being removed.

2nd Bath.

2nd Bath.

2nd Bath.

Hall view of master bath. This doorway is being closed off to make it a true master bath.

Master bath shower stall (next to hall door).

Master bath.

Master bedroom.

I'm not going to bother posting pictures of the other 2 bedrooms.  There's not much to see and we're not making many changes, other than painting and putting in new doors.

The first thing a cabin needs is a fireplace.

Original Listing Photo

I'm going to start with the fireplace since that's pretty much completed. And it was a fun project on the slightly easier side of things, as far as design was concerned. Which isn't to say that I didn't still put a lot of thought into it. And despite dreaming last night that I saw the work in progress and was neither overwhelmed nor underwhelmed ("Can you ever just be 'whelmed'?"), I would say that I am pleased with the final product.

I wouldn't say "cabin" is really the theme of our remodel, but it's probably not a stretch to suggest I'm straying rather blissfully from local design norms - the masonry guys pushed hard for Santa Barbara sandstone - blah. I guess you could safely say I'm trying to bring a little bit of Utah to Santa Barbara.

To start, we had an asymmetrical mid-century fireplace with some sort of marble tile veneer and a stove insert of some kind. Unfortunately, I didn't snap a shot before OG had already yanked the stove out! Demo can be rather cathartic, you know?

After perusing the local stone yards, I considered ledger stone, flagstone and slate, but bucked the trends and went with my heart on this one. Yes, I was daydreaming in June of curling up with a good book by a big, crackling fire in my cabin-y, river rock fireplace. Originally, I was planning to do a natural, stained wood mantel shelf, but the contractor suggested stone and I agreed as I thought it could be interesting (and it meant less work for me in tracking down the mantel!)

On the slightly less glamorous, but just-as-important, side of things, we had them bring the gas starter back to life, repair/replace the back of the interior of the fireplace, fix the damper, and add a spark arrestor at the top of the chimney to bring it to code.

Ah, I can feel the warmth already. This may be California, but somehow it still gets cold here at night! Now I just need some cool fireplace tools . . . . Here's to many nights of relaxing by this lovely centerpiece.