First, the "Befores"

I am a sucker for makeovers. Not that I've ever had an actual makeover myself, I am way too chicken/cheap for anything like that. BUT, I have been known to DVR many a televised makeover stories of both people and houses and fast forward to the last 10 minutes. You know, the "big reveal." And right about now, I am wishing someone would just come to the house and tell us to go to a spa for a week and when we return they will "MOVE THAT BUS!"

But I know that won't quite happen, so I'll take the next best option: blogging about the whole painful blessed journey of a major remodel, all from the comfort of my in-laws' couch (that may or may not be a blog post of its own someday, FYI)!

First, the raw material.

Our lovely little cottage in the perfect neighborhood and location. Just needing a little TLC. Well, maybe a lot, as these photos will attest to.



Our "formal" living room, complete with fireplace! I can't wait to decorate that mantel each season;). Of course, we'll be redoing the floors to take care of that black hole, literally, in the far corner.


New floors will also take care of this lovely buckling wood accent in one of the back bedrooms..


and the general wear and tear that 50+ years of traffic, and more recently, bike riding, has caused:).


The floors are high on our to do list, as is the kitchen.


This will be a major part of the whole project, involving wall shifting, new floors/cabinets/counters/appliances - nothing will remain! Including, thankfully, these beautiful countertops, with authentic 1950's tile and the antique grout to match...


and this vintage dishwasher! If you think the outside is nice...


wait til you see the inside...


There are no words. Just a big sigh.

The kitchen will become part of a new great room, adjoining more fluidly to the family room, where we will be removing this fireplace wall...


for a number of reasons, not the least of which is this lovely crack...


and this super safe chimney separation on the outside...


Also in the family room, we'll be getting rid of the "step to nowhere"...


and generally making it look nothing like it does right now. We have plans to raise the roof. Literally. And the floor. I think this will in the end be the room with the most amazing transformation.

Less dramatic will be some of the details. All new windows are a must. Exhibit A: This really well placed crack in Liam's future bedroom window...


Our master bedroom will be getting a new closet treatment...



and losing this super classy paneled wall...

in favor of a sliding glass door opening onto the back deck.

The final plan for the back deck is up in the air... but the jungle like foliage will almost certainly be thinned out, and the arbor shade thing removed. Also, we have plans to shorten the deck significantly to provide a nice, wide expanse of lawn for our rambunctious boys...


And finally, the bathrooms. The hall bath doesn't appear to be in too bad of shape...


But then you zoom in...


Nice! So... all new bathrooms are coming!

Sadly, in getting the house ready to stage, the previous owners actually redid the master bath. Although, I have to say, looking at the shape the bathroom they did NOT redo is in, I would be a little frightened to see what the real "before" for the master bath was.

I think I am showing the house in its worst light in this post.

The New New Addition

So we are homeless right now.

OK, that's totally not true, and not really even funny to joke about. We are actually technically quite home-full, following the purchase of an adorable little cottage in Mountain View last May. The days of May and June are pretty much a blur to me, but essentially it's where the story starts, so I shall review.

May 1st: See cute little 3BR, 2BA fixer upper house on the market in Mountain View

May 3rd: Our realtor gets stealthy call to come put our bid in at 9pm on a Tuesday against multiple other offers. We win!

May 16th: Escrow closes! We are home owners. Times 2. Uh-oh, must list Palo Alto condo!

May16-June1: Frantically "stage" condo

June 1st: List Palo Alto condo, move into in-laws' for "the weekend"

June 3rd: Open House for condo

June 6th: Multiple offers (thank you, Palo Alto real estate market!), we accept an awesome new family to take over our condo.

June 16th: We get the keys to our new Mountain View house, and start packing like wild hyenas because...

June 22: Escrow closes on condo!

And here's where the story slows down. Waaaaaaaay down.

Because remember back when I mentioned the "fixer upper" characteristic of our new house? I was not exaggerating. It is not in great shape. "Livable," sure, but then again, both Itay and I lived happily in Isla Vista for several years, so that term covers a pretty broad range. Let's just say that my mother-in-law declared she would not let her grandchildren live in the house unless we did some major work. So since we had been staying at her house for about a month already, we (naively) thought, "OK, why not just extend our stay a month or so and do a quick facelift on the place?"

Enter architect.

For future reference, if you are indeed financially and/or emotionally committed to only doing a "QUICK" facelift on a house, do not speak with an architect. Because they will come up with some really dreamy possibilities for your home, and when the money/time constraints are evaluated, you will only be crushed to realize what you COULD be doing if you decided to move out and couch surf for a year while eating only Top Ramen. And sell your kidney.

Needless to say, the architect came back with a KILLER plan for the house, which actually didn't increase the "footprint" (high on our list of requirements, as the lot is not huge and a yard was probably the #1 reason we decided to uproot our two little boys and move). It did involve moving several interior walls, pretty much all the plumbing, and replacing the floor and roof in one room. No biggie.

Then the contractors came. Their evaluation before we put our bid on the house had been that it was structurally sound with a few minor repairs suggested. Now that we really got down to business, they started calling that "Plan A." BUT, if we really wanted to ensure that we weren't inhaling fumes embedded in the walls from years of cigar smoking and/or methamphetamine production AND if we really wanted to feel secure that our house wouldn't spontaneously combust one night as a result of ancient faulty wiring AND if "not falling through rotted flooring" was a quality we really valued in a house, then "Plan B" was really where we wanted to go.

And, no shocker here, Plan B was more expensive. By a lot. So we took a pause to reflect and try to figure out what we could live with for a while. Maybe just throw some cheap carpeting down over the rotten wood floors. And the linoleum and moldy tile floors in the bathroom. Well, maybe we JUST redo the floors. And put a bookcase where that corroded dishwasher now sits in the kitchen. And new doors on the cabinets so they'd actually close... OK, so just the floors AND the kitchen, but that's all. Well, that and the electrical - we HAVE to update the electrical box, and you might as well update the wiring in the walls just to be safe when you do that, and the easiest way to do that is to replace the drywall, and....

So after weeks turned into months of hemming and hawing, we finally just decided to go for it and figure out the "how are we paying for this again?" as we went along. And now it is mid-October, our plans are all submitted to the city, our contractor is almost lined up and we'll be breaking ground on the project any day. I am finally allowing myself to get excited! I can't wait to see our little home taking shape and since I LOVE a good before and after story, I am going to do my best to document ours!

And so it begins... The New New Addition!