in the beginning...

Welcome! We're in for quite the adventure, so I'll start at the beginning...   It was just a few months ago that Daniel and I decided we were ready to move out of our apartment and take the home buying leap. We've both been long time renters, and although it has worked out in the past we're ready to move on (literally!). We started looking for a house... something near where we live now (in Silver Lake, Los Angeles), something in our price range, and most importantly- we both wanted an OLD house. And look what we got-- a house from 1895! After a lot of back and forth, a few shady dealings, and a ton of paper signing, the tiny abode on Laveta Terrace was all ours! In this first post I'm going to share some of the original pictures from the real estate website. It's not all a pretty sight, but rest assured we are knee deep in renovations and soon we hope to have whipped this little beauty into shape! Without further ado... welcome to our house!

In the above picture you can see some of the wood detailing we truly love, and the Home Depot "house flipper special" front door that we truly despise. It may not look that bad in the picture, but that door has got to go! We're off to the architectural salvage yard again this weekend in search of a new (old) door!

This is the view as you enter the house, or rather, was the view. Our contractor and his crew have already amazingly torn up all those ceramic tiles, in preparation to lay a new hardwood floor. We had hoped to restore the original hardwood flooring that is below the ceramic tiles, but unfortunately it hadn't been cared for very well in the last 115 years. New floors it is! Also, the wall heater has been removed since this picture, and we've got a new heater trick up our sleeve. You'll just have to wait for a later post to find out!

 Ahh, the bathroom... We've got our work cut out in here! It's a really tiny bathroom, so as part of the remodeling process we're enlarging it a bit. Also, new toilet and sink to come!

The other side of the teensy bathroom. I had to include a picture of the tub, because there's quite a tale to be told! But that will have to wait until a different post... Just keep this image in your mind.

Oh the horror! I know I know!! At first, Daniel didn't know why these kitchen cabinets made me gag but I think he's come around now. As of right now they sit in a trash heap in the back yard (hooray!) as the kitchen awaits the pretty new cabinets we've designed. And a vintage 1950's O'Keefe and Merritt stove, my dream come true!

I'm skipping over quite a bit of the house (we have over 25 pictures total!), but you get the idea. Here's the backyard (notice the cement, what were they thinking??) and the little studio we'll be renting out once we move in. The backyard is already cement-free and a lot less overgrown at this stage, so expect pictures to come.

We look forward to the day when all this renovation is complete and we can sit on our front porch and enjoy this downtown skyline view. Till then, I'll be trying to keep this blog up to date with our progress. I can't wait to share the transformation with all of you!