The Remodel: After Photos

Speaking of overdue posts, remember a year and a half ago when we moved back into our house after the remodel?  And I promised to post After photos?

... 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.

My 4 year old

For so long now I have wanted to write about Ruby.  The more I have not written, the more that has happened and the more she continues to change.  The last year has been an almost indescribable year for Ruby.  We started it with her as the center of my universe; she was stuck to me like glue, and I to her.  I remember I used to tear up just thinking about how long we would have to be parted while I was in the hospital delivering Baby Sister.  Then Lucy was born, and I was startled to find my relationship with Ruby changing.  For the first time in her life, she was challenging in a way that could not deal with.  In those first few months, she was dysregulated, couldn't make her mind up about anything, didn't feel like doing anything, became afraid of everything, whined instead of talked, and was no longer the joyful child who brightened up my days.  At the same time I had a new love, a little bundle who cooed at me and smiled in her sleep.  For months I felt horrible that I had replaced Ruby.  We wondered if she was depressed.  I worried about how she would respond to preschool at a time when her confidence seemed at an all-time low.  Would she handle the separation?  The new environment?  All the unfamiliar faces?

It turned out that preschool was our salvation.  Over the last year that Ruby was been at school, she has blossomed.  I literally look at her and hardly recognize her.  When I watch her playing with her friends at the playground, she has a confidence that I envy.  I wish that I could be as imaginative, as carefree, and as natural of a leader.

At our first parent-teacher conference last Fall, Ruby's teachers talked to us about how their goal each day was to move her away from the play dough table.  Even though Ruby never had an issue with separation at preschool, her way of coping with her unfamiliar surroundings was to find a station where she felt comfortable and stick to it the entire morning.  Each day her teachers would rack their brains trying to think of ways to entice her to move into a different area of the classroom, or even, she shudders to think, the outdoor space.  Little by little, I'd hear reports that Ruby danced in school (something she does non-stop at home but never in the outside world), or that she played with so and so for almost the whole morning.  Then, Ruby fell in love.  She made her first preschool best friend, and now instead of slumping in her stroller at pick-up, she skipped all the way home, hand in hand with her buddy, stopping every few yards to hug or play Ring Around the Rosie.  By the time of our second parent-teacher conference in the Spring, her teachers told us they could no longer keep up with her.  She was always so animated and funny and dynamic, and she was the kid who the other kids came up to and asked "What should we play, Ruby?"

Ruby transformed outside of school as well.  After she turned 3, many of the classes she took turned into "drop-offs" instead of "mommy and me."  Her first session of "big girl" classes at her ballet school, she sat with her limbs entwined around me, not participating, responding to the teacher, or looking at the other students for a month and a half.  I was still getting my sea legs around transporting 2 kids around town, and Lucy was still in her phase of HATING the car.  So for weeks, Lucy would scream the entire 15-20 minute drive to Ruby's ballet school, whereupon Ruby would hide behind my legs and refuse to participate.  I was the mom the other moms avoided looking at because I was such a mess with a crying baby and a whiny 3 year old.  I seriously considered pulling her out, and then one day I told her that instead of watching the class, I was going to go to Trader Joe's and would be back at the end.  When I returned, every other mom in class came up to me to tell me how Ruby had participated in the entire class and was chatting non-stop to the point where the teacher had to tell her to be quiet several times.  Ruby just completed her very first summer camp experience at her ballet school, with a group of kids she had never met, many of whom were much older than her, and teachers she had never had before.  I could not have imagined Ruby in summer camp a year ago, as it is the culmination of things that are difficult for her: a totally new experience that only lasts a week (so very little warm-up time), having to independently eat her own lunch, having to independently use the potty.  The camp day was also considerably longer than her preschool day (ending at 2:00 instead of 11:45).  She LOVED it, and she had no problems whatsoever, as if she was never even that kid who she was just a few months ago.

These days Ruby is always surprising me by doing something I never thought she would do.  When she turned 3, her list of fears grew to include trains, carousels, jumpy houses, hand dryers, all animals, and any tub-sized or larger body of water.  Several months ago, on a playdate with a couple of preschool friends at the Cal Academy, she surprised me by rolling up her sleeves and touching the starfish and then drying off her hands with the hand dryers.  Nowadays, there is nary a visit to the Cal Academy that she does not run over to touch the starfish.  At the beginning of birthday season a few months ago, we attended a party with a jumpy house, and she surprised me by agreeing to go in for the first time in her life.  She had so much fun that she now SEEKS OUT jumpy houses and has to be dragged away when it's time to leave.  Today, she surprised me again by going on a Ferris Wheel without me, the first time she has ever gone on any kind of carnival ride without me holding her hand.  She sat next to her friend and was definitely scared at first, but they hugged each other tight, and she hasn't stopped talking about it since.

At 4 years old, Ruby is back to being the joyful little girl I always knew.  She has a renewed confidence and is wise beyond her years.  She is highly sociable, LOVES school, LOVES her friends, and LOVES Baby Sister Lucy.  I have always been and am still in awe of her.

Sketchy Santa

This Christmas is only the second year that we've gone to visit Santa Claus.  Ruby's first Christmas when she was about 6 months old, Steve and I were both working and just didn't muster up the energy to tackle the weekend crowds at Union Square.  By the time of Ruby's second Christmas, she was already afflicted with deep-seated stranger anxiety, and handing her off to a large, hairy man in a red suit seemed like a special kind of torture.  Last year on Ruby's third Christmas, we finally visited Santa at Macy's in Union Square.  We went during the week when there were no lines with Ruby's BFF, Eva.  Not surprisingly, Ruby would not sit on Santa's lap, but we still got a pretty good picture with Ruby on my lap.

This year, we visited Santa with Ruby's preschool friend Sydney.  There are two Santa Clauses in Union Square, one at Macy's and one down the street in the Westfield Mall.  After some debate, we decided to try out the Westfield Santa this year as he had received some favorable reviews from other parents.  While this Santa did look very authentic and gets an A+ on facial hair, he gets a D- on jolliness.  I almost felt like I was in a movie with the quintessential surly, move-it-along-dumb-kids type of Santa.  Lucy didn't mind at all and sat on him like he was a couch, but Ruby was quite off-put and refused to even stand next to him.  So Santa instructed me to sit on his lap and put Ruby on my lap, which was all very awkward.  The sketchy part is that in all the pictures with Sydney and her little brother, this Santa's expression was downright melancholy, despite the angelic smiles of Sydney and Noble.  However, in the photo where he had insisted I sit on his lap, he looks strangely pleased.

Dissatisfied with our Santa experience, we all decided to walk down the street to Macy's to visit Santa #2.  Fortunately the kids are not at the age to be too confused by this.  The Macy's Santa was much nicer, so Ruby deigned to stand next to him but still refused to smile despite much cajoling.

Merry Christmas everyone!

What Ruby Eats, 1st Edition

I decided to start a food section on this blog that documents the things I make for dinner.  One reason is that we just got new dinnerware from Crate and Barrel (Cyber Monday deal) and now all of our food looks better.  The other reason is that perhaps my efforts to cook dinner may be enjoyed for longer than the 5 minutes that it takes for Steve to inhale it and the 1 hour it takes for Ruby to stare at it and complain that she wants a different fork.  My strategy for cooking dinner is to make at least one thing that Ruby historically has liked.  Of course that is no guarantee that she will eat it that day.  Some days she eats a ton, which makes me feel amazing, and other days she eats nothing, and I am inevitably crushed.  Such is the fickle hand of preschooler food consumption.

Saturday - Stir fried beef with carrots, broccoli, yellow bell pepper, and mushroom:

Ruby's reception:
This is actually Ruby's favorite preparation of broccoli, so she will specifically pick out all of the broccoli from this dish to eat.  She also really likes the beef even though I get grass-fed and it's therefore pretty gamey.  She will also eat the carrots, but the peppers she only eats raw so I have to save some from my prep bowl.

Sunday - Stir fried chicken with purple potatoes and orange bell peppers:

Ruby's reception:
Purple and orange are two of Ruby's favorite colors, so I was going for visual appeal on this one.  Unfortunately this was one of the days she decided she didn't want to eat anything.  I also baked a small pumpkin that night, and she ate a few bites of that, and I think I will save the rest to make baby food for the 1st Edition of What Lucy Eats.

Monday - Stir fried pork tenderloin with nagaimo root and wood ear mushroom:

Stir fried on choy with garlic:

Ruby's reception:
On choy is now the only leafy green vegetable that Ruby will eat.  She can sometimes eat almost the whole dish on her own, leaving me with just some scraps!  She also has always liked nagaimo which is a root vegetable that has the consistency of an apple.  She claims to not like wood ear mushroom, but it doesn't seem to bother her if she doesn't realize she's eating it.

Until next time!

Turkey #6

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  Our first Thanksgiving with 2 kids was quite successful and surprisingly low-stress.  This was our 6th year hosting, and by now I've gotten it down to a science, the Thanksgiving production.  I know when to pick up the turkey, when to start brining, what to make on Tuesday, what to make on Wednesday, and how much I can do on Thursday without feeling overwhelmed.

Steve and I started hosting Thanksgiving the year we were married because I knew that if I didn't want to eat Chinese food for Thanksgiving that I would have to cook it myself.  Growing up I had always forced my mom to buy a pre-made turkey and sides, which she would then supplement with some Chinese dishes.  I had never met a raw bird before so the prospect of cooking my first turkey was very daunting.  That first Thanksgiving in 2006 was probably the most stressful one since I was reinventing the wheel and was also overly ambitious and made too many things all by myself and all from scratch.  It was also the year that we bought our largest turkey (an 18 pounder) which turned out to be a mistake because 2 of our guests were vegetarian.

My first turkey:

It was by far the best turkey I had ever tasted, if I do say so myself, as we had brined it, which is key to preserving moistness.  After about a week of turkey for every meal, we had had our fill for the year.

Turkey #2:

Our second Thanksgiving we had a mix of family and friends, which made for some slightly awkward dinner conversation, but was once again tasty and suitably overindulgent.  I believe this was also the year that Steve got two of our glass serving bowls stuck together while washing the dishes and had to break one with a hammer in order to free the other.

Turkey #3:

Our third Thanksgiving, aka The Announcement, was when we told family and friends we were expecting our first baby (future Ruby!)  That year Steve's parents, my cousin Hao-hao, and our friends Mark, Sue, and their son Johann celebrated with us.  I didn't have a lot of pregnancy symptoms so I really didn't cut any corners with that meal, but once we told everyone I was pregnant, I was no longer allowed to even lift a plate.

The year that Ruby was born was the only year that I didn't cook on Thanksgiving.  We were leaving for Hawaii a couple days later so we couldn't have any leftovers, and that was also an extremely busy and stressful period of time in lab, so I just couldn't get it together to cook.  We ordered a pre-made meal from Whole Foods, which was sort of sad and disappointing relative to the usual production, so we will not count that year.

Turkey #4:

The following year saw the return of the Zhang family Thanksgiving.  We had moved into our current house but it was pre-remodel.  That year my mom was there as well as Ruby's little buddy Zach and his mom Wanda (Zach's dad was home because their dog was sick).  Much cuteness ensued.

 I believe Ruby ate some of the vegetable sides that year but no turkey.

Turkey #5:

This was the Thanksgiving we spent at our temporary apartment while our house was being remodeled, winning it as the Thanksgiving meal cooked on the least amount of counter space.  The guests that year were Steve's parents, our friend Eric, and teeny tiny Lucy in fetal form.  It was still a bit too early in the pregnancy for us to have the announcement, so I was nauseous in secret.  Fortunately the nausea didn't really affect my appetite, so I was still able to pack away a good meal and blame my emerging baby bump on that.

Turkey #6:

This brings us finally to Turkey #6, enjoyed just a week ago with Ruby's long-time playgroup buddy Alex and his family.  This was the first year that Ruby actually consumed turkey!  Ruby had a great time playing with Alex.  It's so nice that they are now at the age where they can play on their own and entertain each other.  I only felt a little sorry for Lucy who could only sit and watch the rest of us eat.  It was one of the best Thanksgivings yet, especially because we have more than ever to be thankful for.