We did finally move in, just 5 days before Henry was born. With a few bumps along the way, the last 2 months have been a bit of a whirlwind of endless packing and unpacking plus dealing with a new baby and a wilful 2 year old.
We had been documenting the demolition and reconstruction and so the day before we moved in, I took the "after" photos. Figured it would never look as good again as soon as the kids are let loose on it.
BEFORE: Living Room with the previous owners' furnishings
Sadly, there just wasn't going to be any room for that terrific concert grand Steinway that the owners sold to us
Fortunately, Tiffany sold it a few days later to a piano store in Oregon, who came to pick it up.
we removed the hanging lights throughout the house and opened up the area to the left of the fireplace to make a more open flow from living to dining room.
view from dining room on other side of fireplace
removing the soffit in the dining room
the mantle and mexican tile were removed to reveal the original brick fireplace
unfortunately, not in good enough condition to leave "as is"
it looked worse before it looked better
AFTER: painted and refinished floors and new fireplace and mantle
a cabinet was built on other side of living room with doors and drawers still to go in
view from dining room to living room
AFTER: dining room
BEFORE: Kitchen
all the cabinets were taken out and donated to Habitat for Humanity
AFTER: backdoor added (originally, the only backdoor was thru a bedroom)
counter was leveled to become a peninsula to be more open between kitchen and dining rm
BEFORE: Master Bathroom. Overall size was kept the same but there were 2 doors in to it. One from Chloe's room in addition to one from the master bedroom. We closed off Chloe's door, which allowed us to make the walk-in shower a bit bigger. Instead of one small sink, we put in a trough sink.
removing the 2nd doorway and tub/shower to make a walk-in shower
AFTER: Tiffany picked out some beautiful Roku glass tile for the walls and a really nice marble tile for floor with a basket weave tile for the middle of the floor.
BEFORE: Guest Bathroom - very small and narrow also with 2 doors in to it.
just behind one of the doors was a very small shower
we closed off one of the doors from a bedroom and moved the washer/dryer across the hall to the pantry to make the guest bath bigger
AFTER: washer/dryer moved and space given to bathroom
there was now room for a bathtub/shower that can be used for the kids and guests and a bathroom with a bit more space. Again, Tiffany picked out some great Walker Zanger blue tile for the walls and marble hexagonal for the niche and floors.
BEFORE: a number of large metal hanging lights were replaced by something more contemporary. This one was by the front door.
AFTER: Tiffany picked out a George Nelson lamp for the foyer and dining room
BEFORE: Master Closet was very small, so we took the walk-in closet from Chloe's room and made one larger master walk-in closet.
because space was at a premium opening doors in the hallway to the master bedroom, Tiffany researched sliding barn doors, which is what we ended up with and a nice size master closet.
BEFORE: Chloe's room had all this built-in office furniture
AFTER: because we took away the walk-in closet in this room to give to the master closet, a smaller wooden closet was built on to the opposite wall (doors to still be added)
BEFORE: the deck was termite ridden and not up to code with lots of big gaps for young children to slip through.
AFTER: so it was torn down and made to look a little more in keeping with the house rather than an afterthought.
BEFORE. Finally, the exterior got a new coat of paint.
AFTER
now just a small matter of the backgarden...
Our Easter festivities started the weekend before at the LA Arboretum where they had an egg hunt, some peacocks, and other fun things for kids. It was probably 1000 degrees outside, so we didn't stay long. This was the same place we went to last Easter.
On Easter Sunday we woke up to find the Easter Bunny had paid us a visit. He hid some eggs around the house with one M&M inside of each one, which was a genius decision since Chloe ate the M&M after finding each egg. C
hloe had a fun time going around the house looking for the eggs (and eating the chocolate), as well as opening a gift from the Easter Bunny, too!
Easter afternoon we had a nice brunch with my family. A delicious ham, potato salad, a Bulgarian tomato dish, garlic green beans, fruit salad, croissants, homemade hot cross buns (thanks Andy!), and rhubarb pie (thanks Jacque!) After a major meltdown, Henry spent the entire brunch swaddled up in the swing. The swing was right next to the table where we all ate, so he was still with us.
But I didn't want 10-week old Henry to miss the opportunity to meet the Easter Bunny on his first Easter.
