We bought our place a little over a year ago in one of San Francisco's up and coming burbs.
A beautiful two bedroom/1 bath place, which you can see some pictures of here. The house was built during the dying breath of the Arts and Crafts movement, with a "Mexiterranean" facade so common to Californian homes. The interior has curved plaster ceilings, with archways common through out the house(even over the bathtub!) and curved corner block mouldings over the windows and doors. Even better than that - the original faux wood painted finishes on most of the doors and wood work are intact, that is so sought after in 1920's and 30's homes.
It was a rental for about 15 years before we bought it, but we're pretty sure we are the 3rd owners, judging by the number of original fixtures and type of work that was done to the place. The vintage 1938 gravity fed furnace? That will have to go, even if it does still work beautifully.
The garage level of the house is completely unfinished, only framed in - and is tall and big enough for another bathroom, bedroom sewing room and storage/workout room to boot. Don't be deceived by the tiny front yard - the house is on a 8,000 sq ft lot! We're going to finish off the down stairs after replacing all the electrical and plumbing, then eventually add on to the house in the back so we'll have a master suite.
Work done so far, not a whole hell of all lot. We're broke! We've replaced the horrid and worn faux brick linoleum in the kitchen with some vinyl tiles my dad got for cheap, which'll do until we can ready for a full remodel. Done lots of gardening,
installed a natural gas grill, fixed (and created) a couple of plumbing problems (now that one is a story in of itself).
I'm quite lucky, my father is the buyer for a small industrial supply firm and can get me just about anything for cost or cheaper. The only problem? My husband deployed to Iraq a few months ago. Luckily, I'm the handy one in the family but I hate to put stuff in with out him at least getting to look at it first.
One thing I've been having trouble with is finding suppliers for things beyond lights. Most old home retailers seem to think old homes cease being old after 1920, or throw in some very Art Deco fittings which aren't always appropriate for my
house. Any pointers to web retailers would be great (that way I can share them with hubby).
6 comments:
what a sweet house! my house, which was built in the late 30's as well, has an arch over the bathtub too. i'm looking forward to the unfolding of your renovation.
I tried to look at your photos but for the life of me I couldn't get to them...I don't know what my problem was? boo hoo...I wanted to see!
That's because I screwed up the link and "http" ended up there twice. I've corrected it, and you can find it here.
http://pics.livejournal.com/jenlemus/gallery/0000a66w
I made my way back over this morning and checked out your photos...what a darling house! I love all the details around the archways and the built in bookcases in your living. The faux fireplace is a cute too! Chalk me up as another one who hears those purdy hardwoods calling your name...
I'm sure I'll enjoy following along with your blog. Thanks for fixing the photo link :)
I enjoyed seeing the photos now that the link is working-- the house really is adorable! I wish I had those built-ins. :)
Hi! Glad you joined the rest of us housenuts out here :)
I hope you can find some good resources now that you're blogging your house.
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