Renovating and Revitalizing

While it was obvious that this house had been well loved in its life, it was more than a little tired when we bought it. Uncertain about where to start in the renovations, we decided, rather arbitrarily, that the very front of the property was as good a place as any to begin...so the front fence was the first project.

(One of our neighbors watched with amusement as we dug and dug and dug post holes to make sure we'd gone below the frost line. Old habits die hard! But, we figure that if there's ever an earthquake, tying the house to the fence will keep it secure...)

We felt slightly less ridiculous when another neighbor said he thought the house now looks like it should be in his hometown of Monterey:

A Handcrafted House

As the house began to be re-imagined, the quintessential California bungalows of the Arts and Crafts movement helped bring the house into focus. So, for example, a kitchen that once looked like this:

Now looks like this:

From Structure to Sculpture

The turning point for the project was a visit to Greene & Greene's masterpiece in Pasadena, The Gamble House. The woodwork in particular proved to be an inspiration (click here for some gorgeous images), like the built-in bookshelf in the living room:

And the fireplace:

There are pegged, scarf, and finger joints throughout both the interior and exterior of the house, and the wood trim in each room is all slightly different -- all individually designed and hand built. Today, the house is a unique, truly custom house -- a liveable sculpture -- that melds updated systems with classic Arts and Crafts soul. It is warm, whimsical, and embracing, and boasts the kind of custom details that come in million dollar properties.