Engineering, Plans, and Permits

It's been a year since anything remotely interesting (construction-wise) has happened at our house...as I'm sure you've surmised, since there have been no updates on the blog.  Our other house still hasn't sold, but some renewed and enlarged contracts at work are bringing our project closer to becoming a reality.  We have our house plans basically finalized and approved by the Home Owner's Association's Architectural Review Board, which means the next steps are getting the plans engineered and permitted through the city.

The architect we are working with is Jeff Jeannette from Jeannette Architects.  Everybody in the office has been great to work with, and we are getting eager to see some of these drawings come to life.

 This is going to be a big project, even though there won't be a lot of structural changes happening.  The biggest change will be the addition of a large subterranean level, complete with a theater, bar, and wine cellar (underneath the dining room and kitchen). The kitchen and master bathroom will be getting completely redone, but the rest of the house is staying much the same--mostly a matter of finishings and surfaces being updated.

I'm glad that we got the chance to live in the house before working on it.  In many ways it has brought me to appreciate the house more for what it is.  It has also helped me to let go of some of my romantic notions (for example, the master bathroom has a very unique bathtub...when I finally fell into it last week I instantly became much more willing to accept a new design.)  We did end up doing a major clean up of the front yard, since it was really getting out of hand.  There is simply too much landscape to make it easy to keep up!

First on the task list is making a hallway to the room above the garage that is currently only accessible through the garage.  It is time for our girls to have their own rooms, so we are preempting any other house plans in order to accommodate this.  As a side note, if you are interested in the mid-century modern style of the house, the book Atomic Ranch has some fabulous examples of how other homeowners have managed to preserve the spirit of a house like this, while also fully updating it.

Maintenance

Okay, so it's been a couple (or may I say three?) months since I've posted about the house.  Lest you should think I am shirking my duties, let me assure that the remodeling is as much, or more, at a standstill as my blog.  Between crossing our fingers hoping the economy will improve and our other house will sell, months have happened to pass with little other than maintenance happening around here.  Apparently when a house isn't used to being lived in, it has some issues.  This is what we've been doing:

1. replaced the electric stove top with an inexpensive gas one so that we can make it through until we remodel
2. replaced about a million florescent light bulbs
3. replaced two garbage disposals
4. repaired a dishwasher
5. repaired a refrigerator
6. fixed electrical switch issues in master bedroom
7. bought an oven thermometer so we could use our oven predictably
8. fixed lighting issues in the laundry room
9. replaced the sensor on one of the garage doors
10. figured out why some of the sprinklers weren't working (hello hidden GFI)
11. had the heaters serviced for annoying buzzing noise
12. fixed non-functioning doorknobs and deadbolts

I think I've blocked the other things out of my memory.  There has been countless time spent outdoors trying to tame the madness growing out there, and as far as house design goes, we are in the process of refining what changes we want to make.  Hopefully there will be something to show soon!

Hidden Treasures

One of the fun things about this house is how many things from the past remain. Not only in design, but in actual objects left behind and forgotten, waiting to be rediscovered.

A fun discovery was the built-in microwave.



Also found in the kitchen was an old platter in fabulous condition.



While putting things away in the office, I discovered some things shoved way back in some of the drawers. Some of those things were a little less exciting:



And some were a little more exciting:


None of the pictures had names, very few had dates, although most appeared to be turn-of-the-last-century. Most of them don't look to be related, so it is possible that they were purchased from an antique store at some point (stickers on the back of the platter support this idea). But you won't hear me complaining...it is right up my alley regardless of it's origination.

We were left records and an 8-track player, and the kids even found a few odd toys hidden in their rooms. One of their favorite things to tell people about the house is that you never know what you will find next.

Outside Spaces

One of the real surprising things about this house, is how much outside space it has.  When you really start walking the property, paying closer attention to the landscaping, it is surprising (all over again) how much space is here.  There are a lot of mature plants, which is a good thing at times, and a bad thing at other times.  I love the mature trees, but the ivy and juniper I could do without.

The walkway to the front door is actually a sort of bridge over a dry creek bed.

There really is too much space and too much going on to really show everything, but here is a view of the front of the house taken from the bridge.

Down at the far corner of the house, the landscaping includes brick footpaths, stone steps and arbors.

The back yard is largely taken up by the pool, but there is a surprising amount of planter space that we may repurpose at some point.

The house is on a corner lot, with the garages, driveway, and family entry around the corner from the front of the house.

I think I'm more excited to work on the outside of the house than the inside of the house.  I love getting my hands in the dirt!  Like the inside of the house, it can definitely use some updating, but it doesn't need it so badly that it's unlivable.

The Great Room

Apart from the outside and the garages, the only thing left to cover in my "Before" pictures is the Great Room. Earning it's name because of it's size and how impressive it is, (rather than because it is combined with the kitchen and dining room like so many great rooms nowadays,) this room is nearly as large as the first house we owned. There are two couches and one sectional (brown velvet straight from 1966) and the room still feels empty. We could probably set up 5 queen sized air matresses and still have room to move around just fine. This room is one of the favorite rooms in the house.

Living Room and Office

The living room is next to the kitchen--same room, actually, but the kitchen is a half-level higher, so they feel like different rooms.  My favorite part is the fireplace with the concrete bench and reading nook.  The hanging lamp and wall painting are pretty cool, too, but I don't know that I could live with them.

The office is unique; located by the entry with a double sliding door entry. There is a small kitchen off of the office to service the pool area which will come in handy when we remodel the kitchen.

The only room left to cover in my "Before" pictures is the Great Room...so as soon as I get some good pictures of that room you'll have seen the whole house.  And then I can move onto the outside!

All the Other Bedrooms

Apart from the Master Bedroom, this house sports a maid's room (see this post) that will eventually be converted into another bedroom, two bedroom suites near the Master Bedroom, and another bedroom suite on the other side of the house, above the garage and near the front door.  The two bedroom suites near the Master Bedroom are nearly identical in design, although the colors differ.  The part that the kids love the most about the rooms is the cabinets and counters.  Something with pink counters and tile for the girls:

And one with tan and green for the boys:

The knobs on the cabinets in these rooms, (and throughout the house,) are great.

The bedroom suite on the other side of the house is one of the places that got the most use with the previous owners, and will end up being completely redone.  In fact, the plan is for this room to become a game room/play room and the storage room that is behind the bedroom will be converted into a bedroom.  Currently the storage room is adjacent to this bedroom, but only accessible from the garage.