Before and Afters...For Now.

So, today the next phase of the home renovation started. The kitchen design team showed up with a trunk full of tile, granite and cabinet samples. After really liking the first three samples that Shanda pulled out of her magic bag, I knew we were going to be in trouble. (Life would be much easier if there was only ONE type of granite, ONE type of tile and ONE cabinet facing.) And then, to make matters worse, Spence decided we should take a trip to their giant showroom in Lathrop to "finalize our decisions." Yeah, right...if we can't decide between three types of granite, I'm pretty confident adding another 300 to the mix isn't going to help the situation much...We're planning on making that trip sometime next week. That should be entertainment at its finest...

When we bought the house, I was pretty comfortable with the idea of being able to get the kitchen done by Christmas (but secretly hoping for Thanksgiving). Since November somehow snuck up on me, I was a little hesitant to ask about timing, but still hopeful that Santa would be able to enjoy cookies from a newly renovated kitchen. My Christmas deadline was met with choreographed laughter from all three designers -- who were measuring and re-measuring all facets of the kitchen. Okay...so maybe Christmas of 2010.

So before we begin the next "chapter" in the home renovation, I wanted to at least share some before/after photos of what we've accomplished so far. Because I'm fairly confident postings in the weeks ahead will be singularly focused on kitchen remodeling. :)
Come visit us soon, if you haven't already!

Trever & Spence

Previewing the Finished Product

In the marathon known as our home renovation, we're nearing the half way point. It's cause for celebration...we've reached a significant milestone, but we still have a LONG way to go...and know that it's likely to be painful at times as we cover the distance ahead. Despite that, we keep putting one foot in front of the other. For those that don't run marathons, this may not make much sense. But hopefully you get the idea.

Over the course of the past two weeks, we've moved in completely and have managed to achieve some level of organization. (Translation...We now have a place that can sufficiently entertain guests and give us a quiet retreat from real life!) We even have cable and Internet installed -- including my favorite Apple TV!

Yes, we still need to replace the furnace, and do about 100 small projects around the house, but it's generally livable. This -- we've decided -- is also the calm before the storm as the kitchen designer arrives next week. While the kitchen remodel is absolutely necessary, we expect it to be a bit disruptive over the next month or two. Fortunately, there are great restaurants in Napa that make cooking very unnecessary!

In the next week or two, we'll have real before/after photos posted that will hopefully reflect some of the changes we've been making, but for now, these photos will have to suffice. And for those that don't follow Spence on Facebook or me on Twitter, you'll notice one with the hot air balloon. This was taken from our backyard early Saturday morning as Abbey and I enjoyed our morning coffee.

Check back soon for the "reveal". (Sorry, we've watched too many HGTV shows...) Or better yet, plan your next trip to Wine Country. We've leave the light on for you.

Cheers!
Trever & Spence

It Looks Like a Real House!

Over the past week, our house has undergone a huge transformation. The wood floors are in, as is a new vanity, toilet and tile in the bathroom. We spent the weekend painting (of course!) and hanging new light fixtures. Phase 1 of the Napa renovation is nearly complete. Whew....

And not a moment too soon. The movers are coming this weekend to move our furniture to Napa. In the very near future, we will have a fairly functional house to host afternoon wine tastings for anyone that is interested.

Spence and I are excited to have the next couple of weeks behind us. After spending countless hours at the house or driving to/from it (more on that in a minute), we are looking forward to a weekend of doing absolutely nothing. The renovations have been -- dare I say -- enjoyable because we've done a decent job at understanding what is within our capabilities, and what is best to contract out. We know there will be endless weekends of projects ahead of us, but it's nice to know that the "big" work is drawing to a close (at least for what we are physically doing).

So, now to the driving story...which I think is best told in a simulated Twitter format. Read on for a chronological account of our afternoon...

1:30 p.m. : I wonder if the furnace works? Let's turn it on and see.
1:45 p.m. : Hmm...No heat. No pilot light. Faint smell of gas. Not good.
3:00 p.m. : Maybe it works now? I'll try again.
3:15 p.m. : Nope. Still nothing. I give up.
9:30 p.m. : Finally...we're leaving. Can't wait to get home.
10:30 p.m. : Crap. We left the thermostat on. With a furnace that may or may not be leaking gas into the house.
11:00 p.m. : We should drive back up. Blowing up the house would ruin our night.
11:01 p.m. : Let's switch cars. Mine goes faster.
11:55 p.m. : turn thermostat off.
1:15 a.m. : Finally crawling into bed.

So, as you can see, going to work on Monday morning has been a welcome relief lately. Not exactly the way weekends should be, but it's become somewhat normal for us. Thankfully, we have movers moving us this weekend. This, I've decided, it even more stressful than renovating the house. Especially when the home you're leasing has been foreclosed on.

But that, is a story for another day...

Cheers for now!
Trever & Spence

Harvest Weekend in Napa

We spent this weekend -- like the many before -- in Napa. The only difference was we mixed in a bit of play this weekend as well. Friday evening we joined a few friends for a Harvest dinner sponsored by ZD Wines. Held at the Carneros Inn, the evening went a long way in reminding us why we've been putting in hours of work on the renovations. The good news is...with the house in mid-renovation a few miles away, we restrained from purchasing any wine over the weekend. And for those of you who have spent time in Napa, you know this is difficult to do when "tasting".

During the day, we continued our quest to re-paint the entire house -- one room at a time. The living room and downstairs bedrooms are now done...just in time for the wood floors to be installed. For those of you who plan to paint anytime soon, the only feasible way to reach vaulted ceilings (or the wall over the stairs) is with a Little Giant ladder. A big shout out and thanks to Chris for letting us borrow his ladder.

The upstairs is also nearly complete! (Wahooooo!) New carpet was installed on Friday. Walking bare foot without fear of catching a disease is really very exciting. Believe it or not, it is actually starting to look like a real house.

Another Weekend, Another Update

If it's Sunday night, it must be time for another update on the Napa House renovation. This weekend's theme was "fun with paint." Actually, it was a mad dash to get the upstairs bedrooms painted prior to new carpet being installed this next week. It's not that I don't trust our abilities to paint without making a mess, but it's much more fun (and quicker) to paint without regard to getting a drip or two on the carpet. So, after debating the finer qualities of "natural linen" "cafe latte" and about three dozen other colors, we settled on the paint and spent a good 20+ hours of two days priming, painting and painting some more. (See before/after pic above!)

As a side note, I decided the perfect color for one of the bedrooms was "Dusty Grey". When you start making up your own paint color names, you've been staring at little 2x2 inch samples for way too long.

The most painful part of the weekend was the weather. It was a good 95+ degrees in Napa both days, which made painting in the upstairs bedrooms of an un-air conditioned home less than pleasant. We combatted the heat with a steady flow of water, Gatorade, and Michelob Ultra (at least in the afternoons).

Looking ahead, our ability to schedule contractors will be tested. Texturing, painting, carpeting, tile and hardwood floors all start in the next week or so. I'd like to say it will be controlled chaos. Guess we'll see soon enough.

One Week Closer to Done,

Trever & Spence

Let There Be Light!

Yes...Despite the several weeks of silence on the blog, we've been hard at work meeting contractors and getting bids on virtually any home renovation project you can imagine. The good news is that the projects are lining up nicely and we should make some significant progress over the next 6-8 weeks. The bad news is...oh...can you hear that giant sucking sound??? Yep, that's money leaving our bank account. But, at least you all have a nice place in Napa to spend the weekends while we work our second (third?) jobs.

Our first positive project (improvement vs. demolition) was completed this weekend. The living room, which only has one window, was dark and uninviting most of the day. With the addition of two skylights, it is now full of natural light for as long as the sun is shining. What a difference two little holes in the ceiling make. Let there be light!

On a sidenote...never strip wallpaper from a decades old home. After countless hours of scraping, peeling and scrubbing, I've come to the conclusion that it's actually easier -- and maybe less expensive -- to tear down the wall and start over. It certainly has to be more interesting.

That's pretty much all we've done lately. Hopefully updates in the coming weeks will be more exciting.

Exhausted in Napa,
Trever & Spence

Popcorn...And Not The Good Kind

This past Sunday, we left for the Napa Houes at 6:45a.m. Our mission for the day was to scrape the popcorn texture off the ceilings. After extensive minutes of research on YouTube, we were confident we knew how to do it. It goes something like this...spray it with water, scrape off the popcorn texture, make an enormous mess and try not to get lung cancer from the possible asbestos floating through the air.

We started the day diligently wearing all of the required protective gear (notice the smurf-like costume in the pic). And by the afternoon, we decided the bubble suite was optional and opted for a respirator mask and goggles (most of the time). Fortunately, Spence was able to devise a homemade scraper of sorts that saved us a good couple of hours in getting the vaulted ceilings in the living room completed. And a short eight hours later, we completed our task (wahoo!).

Next step is to strip the wall paper, then get the ceilings/walls re-textured and painted. Yes, the fun continues...

Day #1

So day number 1 of home renovations is behind us...and what an eventful day it was. We picked up the keys from the realtor early in the morning, and immediately had contractors show up to start giving us bids. The other main task for the day was trying to prevent Abbey from eatting Decon mouse poison tablets that have been strewn about many of the rooms. (That's a real comforting sign to me since most of you may know that I'm not a big mouse fan unless he was created by Walt.)

With an empty house, it's easy to see the many, many "opportunities for improvement" everywhere you look. Extensive before photos have been posted here in case you want to feel really good about your own home.

We also discovered that the previous owners managed to exist by P.O. Box alone, and hadn't had mail delivered to the home in years. We decided a mailbox made more sense for us, so first project was installing a new mailbox. Yes, it's the first project completed. No, it wasn't on the project list. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing it adds a good $50 of value to the house...Money well spent. Plus, we now have somewhere to receive our mortgage bills.

It also served as an official ice-breaker for the neighbors. I think installing the mailbox was the most exciting thing that has happened in the cul-de-sac in years. Nearly every neighbor had to come out and say hello (which was actually kinda nice.) It's also comforting to know that we have watchful neighbors looking over the place when we're not there.

Unfortunately, we also discovered that the nicely manicured landscaping has been left for dead by the previous owners. By the looks of it, they turned off the sprinkler system a couple weeks ago. Most of the flowers are wilted, and the backyard has a few giant brown spots now. We really appreciate their help in maintaining what was the best feature of the house. Hopefully it's an easy fix though.

Judging by the speed and efficiency with which we installed a mailbox (it only required five hours, two trips to Home Depot and a number of neighborly chats), I think we'll be ready to have guests at the Napa house in 2015.

Cheers!

-Trever & Spence

Some before pictures...

So here are a couple of BEFORE photos of the kitchen and living room...like I said...not updated since 1972. Also including a picture of why we bought the place. When you walk out the back door there are views of vineyards and mountains. We'll be spending a lot of time out here drinking wine when the renovations aren't going so well...

Our journey begins...

On August 14th, Trever and I close on a home in Napa, CA. After MUCH indecision on location, property type, etc we finally made the decision to buy a weekend home in Napa. During our 2 years in CA we have spent countless weekends enjoying the wines of Napa and Sonoma, so it seemed fitting that's where we should buy.

As some of you know, the house we are purchasing was built in 1972...and in our opinion has not been updated/renovated since 1972. We have a total gut job ahead of us...new flooring, new kitchen, new siding, scraping that ugly popcorn stuff off the ceiling, new bathrooms, new fixtures, and last, but certainly NOT least...the installation of the pool!! (Trever and I are currently divided on where the pool ranks on the lists of priorities)

While we are both excited about the journey we are about to begin...we realize that we may have some "difficult" days ahead of us during the renovations. To help us laugh through the process (rather than dwell on the money pit we have just purchased) we decided to setup this blog to document the renovation progression. We'll keep it updated with our renovation war stories, before/after pictures, and status of the project (including when the place will be ready for guests!!). We also want your input too. While our tastes are similar, Trever and I are confident that it won't be long before we have a knock down, drag out fight over whether we should go with the tan or the beige paint. We will be posting "option A" and "option B" choices throughout the project that we would love your input on. (I will remember all of you that side with me, and give you priority on use of the house...just something to keep in mind)

Hope you all enjoy the site - and we can't wait to have you visit us in Napa.

Trever & Spence