Our old house was on the eastern side of our lot, and the driveway entrance on the western side. With the new house, and the local solar access ordinance, we could not build a two-story structure on the eastern (really north-eastern) side as it would block some of the sun from our neighbors lot, whichRead more about Curb, gutter, and sidewalk[…]
We wanted our exterior surfaces to be as low maintenance as possible. In the house I owned when Lisa and I met, there was about 1800 square feet of redwood deck. Every year, I had to power wash, sand, and re-stain the deck to keep it looking nice. It took several days to get itRead more about Blue stone decks and porches[…]
It’s been about 2 1/2 weeks since the last updates, but it feels like much longer. The freeway to / from the south of us finally opened after the mudslides, and work can once again proceed as normal. Now that things are once again moving, we are making a concerted effort to shore up theRead more about Project update 2/3/18[…]
A week ago, during heavy rain, the wealthy enclave to the east of us experienced some horrific mudslides. The Montecito mudslides have made the national headlines for days now since they occurred a week ago. The Santa Barbara area, at around 230,000 people, is a small community with about 3 degrees of separation between anyRead more about Mudslides and the schedule slides[…]
The cabinet makers installed quite a bit of the kitchen mill work last week. The scale of our kitchen is really coming into view. Wow, we have a lot of counter space. In the foreground is where the island will go. This was finished a week ago but I was also struck by the entireRead more about Kitchen and mill work update[…]
The pool house is really taking shape. We started with the grading and excavation of the area ar0und the old fireplace in the back yard. Next, the plumbing and electrical was run to the pool house and the foundation was prepared. Then, the foundation was poured. Now, the framing is taking shape quickly. As youRead more about Pool house framing[…]
We saw a lot of progress on the cabinets last week. The 2nd floor is almost entirely done. Here are some particularly nice features. My office (I do quite a bit of my work from home): Our master bedroom: The master closet: And, our laundry room: Interestingly, with a few of the cabinets, once installed,Read more about Much progress on cabinets[…]
You might have heard about the fire we had this month, the Thomas Fire, now the largest fire in California history. Here is a great shot I took from my car on December 16th, the day we had the major wind driven flare-up in the fire. The plume of smoke is about 10 miles awayRead more about Carpentry progress[…]
The craftsman style was less about being opulent and more about showing off the talents of the craftsmen doing the work. As such, it is common for craftsman houses to have some interesting details where things don’t quite work perfectly, but are done in an interesting way. Charlie the builder calls this the perfection ofRead more about That funky craftsman style[…]
The roofers installed the leader heads and remaining down spouts this week. Boy do they look sharp. The attention to detail on some of these downspouts is amazing. The one just above goes across a rounded slot in the window casing. The one below goes across a rounded slot in the stone work.