... Well, when we first moved back into the house, it was a DISASTER. The only functioning bathroom was the one that was not touched during the construction. There was no stair railing, so our contractor nailed in some wooden planks to keep Ruby from falling to her demise. The carpet was not installed in Ruby's bedroom, the deck was not built, the backsplash was not grouted, and just about a million odds and ends were in various stages of completion. It was NOT photo-ready.
For about 3 months we lived on a construction site. Workers were in and out of the house all day long. Ruby became good friends with our general contractor. She would follow him around, watching him drill this and hammer that, and then in the evenings she'd go around and "fix" things in the house with her pretend drill and hammer and say that when she grew up, she was going to be a "worker."
Between 3 and 6 months post move-in, work on the house was not being done on a daily basis, but there were still many loose ends that were unfinished, all the way up until Lucy's birth. After Lucy was born, the house sort of dissolved into clutter, and it was too embarrassing to photograph. Then we decided to work with an interior designer to get rid of all the furniture that Steve and I purchased when I was just out of college and 21 years old and replace it with new, adult furniture. That whole process took many more months, and I figured I would wait to take pictures until after the new furniture was installed. Most of our furniture pieces arrived just after the new year, but then there was always an accessory here and an art piece there that was missing, and I came to realize that our house would never be DONE.
Finally about a month ago, our designer and architect came together to organize a photo shoot of our home to highlight the work that they've done and to display it on their websites/portfolios. The photographers, along with our designer and her assistant, worked literally from dawn until dusk, meticulously arranging and photographing our house. The result is a magnificent, if unrealistic, representation of our home at the height of its order and cleanliness. (Of course if you had rotated the camera 180 degrees, you would see the pile of our crap that they had hidden from the shot.) So, two years after undertaking this project of transforming our house, I give you the After Photos:
Before: "Formal living room" that we kept as an empty staging area
After: Playroom/guest room
Moving wall panels allow the room to be open as a playroom so that I can see the kids from the kitchen and closed as a guestroom.
Before: Dining room
After: Kitchen
The area that used to be the dining room is now the open kitchen with added skylights to bring light into the center of the house.
Before: Master bedroom and bathroom
After: Guest bathroom
The upstairs master bedroom was eliminated to create a larger, open living space, and a new guest bath was added in its previous location.
Before: Kitchen
After: Dining area
The before photo shows the previous kitchen looking towards the front door. The after is taken from the same location, now the open dining area, looking towards the front door.
Before: Family room
After: Family room
After: New deck off of family room
A deck was added with stairs down to the backyard to facilitate indoor/outdoor entertaining.
Before: Staircase
After: Staircase and under-stairs nook
The staircase was relocated from the rear of the house to the center next to the dining area.
Before: Downstairs playroom
After: Master suite
The downstairs playroom along with the area formerly occupied by the staircase was converted into our master bedroom with en suite bath.
Before: Nursery
After: Nursery
The nursery (formerly Ruby's room) was redesigned for Lucy.
Our current unfinished project is Ruby's room, which we are completely revamping into a "big girl" room. Ruby had a heavy hand in this project, and was very clear about her vision, so hopefully she will not be disappointed. Photos of her new room will be forthcoming.
I have received a lot of compliments from visitors after the remodel, and what I always say is that I really cannot take much of the credit. The true credit goes to our inspiring architect, John Lum, our extremely scrupulous general contractor, Cameron Bryce, and our amazingly talented interior designer, Emily Mughannam. I only had the good fortune to work with them.
For more, check out this feature in California Home and Design.
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