Our story began about a year ago...we were looking for a Craftsman house...possibly in Pasadena, or Eagle Rock. We saw an ad for an open house in the West Adams area and decided to check it out on a whim. We fell in love with the large rooms, built-ins, and the wonderful Batchelder fireplace. We decided we could make an offer on the house, and we got it!
Wow, we're living in the heart of the city, instead of a bedroom community like "Bungalow Heaven" where we had been looking. We were a bit shocked, a bit nervous. To our amazement, neighbors began to come over and introduce themselves, welcoming us to the neighborhood. We thought we were in Mayberry. It wasn't too long before we knew most of our neighbors by name and were actually socializing with them. There are wonderful people here.
We moved into our house in February of 2005. Our house is a 1905 Craftsman built by the California Bungalow Company. The house was previously owned by a flipper who held the house for less than a year. She had some work done, including new plumbing and electrical, and a bad exterior paint job, but ran out of money and didn't quite finish too much, and simply made a mess of other things. Our plan is to live downstairs while we finish the entire upstairs, and then move upstairs to finish the downstairs.
Our first order of business was to get a new foundation--a very costly proposition, but necessary for our peace of mind. Next, we decided to strip all the upstairs wood, even though it was originally painted. We are still working on that project ten months later. Most recently, we've been shopping for tile and fixtures for the upstairs bathroom which was left completely gutted. It seems it is easier to go shopping than actually go upstairs and try to get some paint out of a nook or cranny. Many weekends go by when we do no work on the house at all, so this whole project may take a great many years.
