Ask any grandparent – grandkids are a joy. And, if possible, they deserve a room of their own. When we first bought the mid-century ranch, he was still sleeping in a crib. By the time we finished and sold it, he was closer to the age you see him here, and that wasn’t such a […]
Sometimes, the process of change is not pretty. Clearing out the ugly can create more ugly. There were many things that needed changing inside the mid-century ranch. Some were, like the house as a whole, just weary from long service. Others, however, were downright ugly.
Decks are places for sitting on warm summer evenings, contemplating the mysteries of the universe. Decks are places to gather with friends, to exercise your culinary imagination on the grill, to feel fresh breezes wafting over your skin. Decks connect you to nature, yet keep you out of the dirt. Like I said, I love […]
I confess to being ambivalent – in the true sense of the word; I feel strongly two ways – about swimming pools. On the one hand, nothing enhances a back yard space more elegantly than a well-appointed pool. Add a water feature – a fountain or a waterfall, for instance – and you can have […]
So. The problem was the low-hanging eave that stretched the entire length of the house, making an already-below-street-level structure appear fit for hobbits. How to raise the roofline? Here’s a reminder: Not only is your eye drawn downward by the roof, but the entry looks like a cave rather than a doorway. Nothing says “Come […]
The first transformation we’ll walk through was a kind of tired, low-roofed ranch built in the mid 50s . The house had seen lots of wear and tear but we felt from the minute we walked in the front door that it had also been the site of good times – laughter, love, and happy […]
