Phase 5 - paint and floors

Welcome to the new house. Move in day is in 2 days. Kate assembled and installed this new address plaque after the exterior was painted. We are changing the light fixture shortly.

New exterior paint and trim is now complete, along with all of the interior painting.

Living Room bay window... carpet to be removed shortly.

Master bedroom. Color is Cream. Light socket switches and sconce lighting on the left to be installed shortly.

This is the office. The color is Glamour... but looks like purple. GO KINGS!

Floors yet to be done, but the color of this guest bedroom is Koi Pond.

Dining room painted. Kitchen to the left.

Cabinets mostly installed but covered so the painting could be done.

here is the kitchen tile.... a little dusty from all the sanding and grout... but they look good. Kate told the tile experts to stand back and tiled the majority of the kitchen herself. Apparently, they were not doing it right. I was beaming with pride.

This bad boy needs some stainless steel polish but you are looking at our double drawer dishwasher. I think Kate stained it with her greasy fingers. I asked her to be careful hoisting it into place as I relaxed and took the picture. Supposed to save water and is more energy efficient. We are soooo 2009.

Here is the stove/oven... Countertops installed tomorrow.

Check out the hardwood floors... The carpet was pulled up, rotted wood replaced and a new stain applied. The color is spicy brown. We are heating things up.

Final coat!! next up... moving day!

Phase 4

Guest bath/shower area is complete. Next up... sink, toilet and wall paint.

Boston is lending a helping paw. Check out the dust on the floor.

The master bath is coming along. The photo above illustrates the shower. What you see is the waterproofing mud. The tile will be laid on top of the mud. The shower has been placed where the doorway from the kitchen into the former laundry room once sat.

Here is a close up photo of the color. You can see the interior side of the windows are covered because they are painting the inside. The exterior trim will be BLACK instead of green. Be sure to click on any of the photos for a larger picture.

Phase 3

House is being painted. Major improvement to the outside body and gutters. Windows and front door will be black. The interior should be done by Saturday. We actually had a few neighbors thank us for purchasing the home. They must like the updates we've been doing... or maybe the former green exterior was just that bad.

Expert crew installing the new kitchen cabinets. We'll select the granite countertops this weekend.

Detailed view of the cabinets

This guy is standing above the area where the stove will go.

Phase 2

It has been one week since we last updated the blog. As you can see, the weeds, cement slabs, tree stump and nasty red manger have been removed. Now we have a blank canvas to build our backyard oasis... perfect for outdoor grilling.

Lots of work still to do in the backyard... but you can see the dark gray stucco covering/repairing the former doorway from the old laundry room to the backyard. The new doorway is covered in plywood to the far left of the house. The all glass french style door should be installed this week. The old kitchen cabinets and stove/oven won't be enjoying the sun much longer... time for the trash dump.

Guest bath... Waterproof drywall is hanging near the shower... will be tiled shortly.

We have started to lay out the tile work for the guest bath. The floor will use these field tiles in a 12"x12" size. The shower wall will display the same tile in a 6"x6" size. All oil rubbed bronze fixtures for faucets and shower knobs... complimented by a white classic Pedestal sink. For those of you familiar with our guest bath in our leased home, it will look similar.

The master bedroom. If you scroll down to the original posts, you can see what this room looked liked when we bought it. The door into the kitchen has been covered and the new door you see leads into the master bath suite.

Homes built in 1926 don't have large closets. We doubled the size of this one in the master and will add the french double doors leaning against the wall tomorrow. By the way, the white powder you see covering the closet floor is construction dust... its ALL over the place and makes us sneeze. Poor Boston walked the site with us tonight and he came out looking like he had snorted more cocaine than a 1970's Go Go Dancer workin' the dance pole at the famous Studio 54.

Not a very exciting photo... but you can see the beginning of a shower floor with drain... soon to be complete with dual shower heads and floor tiles, made from tumbled river pebbles.

This is the kitchen. The old doorways to the master bedroom and old laundry are gone. They have now been "sheet-rocked" and "skimmed" (that's right, I'm dropping construction lingo). The doorway on the right leads to the new laundry room, complete with utility sink and new French Door leading to the backyard.

Here is the same old view of the kitchen we have been showing you in prior posts... but its changed quite a bit. As you can see, the kitchen walls are being textured and new electrical, including outlets/recessed lighting has been completed. The gas lines and plumbing has been completed. New cabinets and appliances arrive this week! Kitchen tile floor to be installed on Wednesday.

Phase 1 - Demolition

Master bedroom... I took out that closet on my own with a sledge. It took 2 hours while Kate removed on the plastic covers for electrical outlets and did some of her own handy work in the guest bath. We had Boston with us. He wanted to chomp on the discarded 2x4's so badly... he was denied though... too many nails.

This photo represents the biggest change so far. Remember the wall that divided the dining room and kitchen? Gone. We've decided to open the kitchen up. The refrigerator will go on the left behind the brick structure you see. The stove/oven will be placed along the back wall. New cabinets and granite counter tops to be installed. The giant doorway with the existing refrigerator stashed away will become the laundry room with utility sink. Kate is VERY excited about that sink. You can barely see the opening into the attic with wires coming out. That is for the new HVAC.

Another view... this time from the kitchen to the dining room. The "chimney" structure to the right is the old heat stack and has not been used for 50 years. It's in rough shape and will be dry-walled over. You may recall the 1965 yellow oven/stove that once sat in the right side of the photo. Its now gone and unfortunately sitting in the driveway. The neighbors LOVE us.

Remember the old water heater? Gone. This is becoming the master bath. The door and window will be stucco'd shortly.

Here is a photo taken the other day. You'll notice the front bushes have been removed so that the bay window is more visible. We took the photo as the sun was setting and it makes the home look like its been painted. The home is still greenish... painting will come in a couple weeks. Colors are being debated but will most likely be off-white with black trim around the windows.

The New Home

After nearly 6 months of searching, Kate and I found a home in Sacramento's Curtis Park area. On the day we closed escrow, the home was 3 bedrooms and 1 bath. It was built in 1926 and needless to say, it needs a lot of TLC.

For those of you that have been to our leased home in the Land Park area, you'll be happy to know that Curtis Park is within the same zip code and has all the amenities and architectural charm as Land Park (the new home is located about 2 miles from our leased home). Kate and I found the neighborhood feel of Curtis Park to be even more welcoming and had more of the style of homes we enjoyed.

We expect to move in during late May and have many remodeling projects to tend to prior to the big move. We thought it would be fun to share the experience with all of you. Before we get into the details of the remodel, we wanted to provide a short article on Curtis Park, we found online...

http://sacramentorealestatevoice.com/2007/05/04/curtis-park-homes-in-sacramento/

We hope you enjoy reading our posts and can celebrate the new home with us very soon.

Interior Views

Back of the house... the current doorway to the house will be blocked off and replaced under the window currently covered by a bush on the left.

Away in the manger, no crib for a bed... I think this may have been the inspiration for all the Nativity scenes you see around church... Jesus was born here. There is a nasty tree stump on the left side of photo that will be removed, along with the manger.

Detached garage in the back. It's in good shape but needs to be repainted. Maybe we'll replace the garage door with glass windows to display my kayaks and cool outdoor stuff. You can tell its late and Kate has gone to bed. She would have never let me write that.

Former Breakfast Nook.... will be the laundry room. You may recall that the original laundry room will become the master bath. The window you see will become a door to access the back yard.

Guest Room 2. We think this may have been used as the original master bedroom. It has a larger than normal closet currently (not pictured).

Guest room 1... will be repainted... but you can see the hardwood floors that will run throughout the house.

Current Laundry room with access to the backyard. This will become the master bath and the door you see will be closed off and stucco'd from the outside. New tankless water heater will be added later.

Master bedroom... there will be a doorway into the new master bath. The door will be located on the blank wall pictured. The doorway you see leads into the Kitchen. It will be walled off shortly. We've added HVAC and removed the floor furnaces and nasty window fans you see hanging from the middle window.

Inside the Kitchen. Hello 1965????? check out the yellow stove on the bottom right.

Taken from the dining room into the kitchen doorway. Wall is actually removed now. Those photos to come tomorrow.

View in the Living room taken from the fireplace. The large bay window overlooks the front yard and the park in the distance, 3 blocks away.

Photo above is the Living Room. All carpet to be removed to reveal the hardwood floors underneath.

Looking into the dining room with the Kitchen doorway in the distance.