Another Kitchen Photo

I haven’t posted in a while, so here’s another view of the kitchen. I love how Chuck’s design opened this former bedroom into the dining room and living room. The colors and textures were all selected to coordinate with each other from room to room. The pale green walls in the living room speak to the atmospheric blue kitchen backsplash tile and blue accents in the handmade pendant lights, while a darker shade of gray defines the entrance as a separate space from the kitchen and dining room. The bamboo living room ceiling and the dark wood kitchen cabinets also tie the space together.

Here’s the kitchen when we first looked at the house on December 6, 2012.  It was shoved into a corner of what is now our dining room at the far end of the first photo. Our neighbors later told us that many people had viewed the house while it was on the market but walked right back out again, put off by its condition.Here’s the same space now.

Good Fences Make…

Chuck has moved on to some important projects in the yard, now that our interior is done. Like the backyard fence. Here’s what it looked like before. Ugh. It was in rough shape, with many boards beginning to rot. A coat of paint wouldn’t solve the problem.

And don’t get me started on the chicken wire side fence. Who exactly thought this was a good idea when they built it? I can imagine the previous homeowners’ conversation now: “Oh honey, let’s go buy some chicken wire and wrap it around a couple of random stakes shoved in the ground. That will add just the je ne sais quoi our garden needs.”

So here was the first step: a new series of sturdy metal posts in firm concrete footings, just inches from the old fence. It was a fairly delicate operation, as we needed to avoid disturbing the existing plantings and irrigation that just went in last spring.

The old retaining wall is an interesting example of amateur masonry. It’s not bad looking, and although it’s crumbling in a couple of spots, it’s structurally intact.   Even unfinished the new fence looked better than the old chicken wire.Next Chuck installed a LOT of redwood boards. He had to pre-stain them to match the new fencing on our side yard, because if we tried to paint them in place, it could have killed the plants.And here are the final results! I especially love the clean, modern look Chuck achieved by mounting a solid horizontal board to cover the dog-eared fence palings. The landscaping has already doubled in size since spring and the new fence is a handsome backdrop. We still have some work to do in the yard with more plantings, furniture and decking, so stay tuned.