Last year as I sat amongst all of our belongings still packed in boxes stacked upon boxes and thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could set up the tree next year?”

We still have lots more work ahead of us stripping this fireplace! We started this project last fall.

Well, next year has arrived with the den no closer to being ready. Sure, some of the boxes have been unpacked or moved out to the garage for the time being, but our house still isn’t Christmas tree worthy. But this time next year things will be different. We’ll be decorating our tree in a room that’s restored because I’ve decided that we need some additional help if we are going to complete our house any time in the next 10 years.

Fairly large hole on the side of our fireplace.

I have seen some amazing restoration work done in the West Adams area and the work I like was all done by the same craftsman. He is very busy and we have been on his waiting list since last summer. Juan and his team began work yesterday. They are starting in the living room and moving on to the den. Progress!

Two of the window frames have holes in them. God, I hope they weren’t from bullets.

Our realtor called the built-in seat a gentleman caller’s bench. That sounds so romantic. Although, only one gentleman caller at a time at our house!

If you find yourself in a similar situation and are looking for a contractor here is Juan’s contact info:

J & C Home Repair
Juan Reyes
626.793.7091

Believe me, we wouldn’t post his contact information if we weren’t extremely happy with the quality of his work. He does plastering, wood restoration, carpentry and painting.

The best surprise so far has been these gorgeous Victorian coat hooks. They were covered with so many layers of paint that we had no idea they had faces on them or any type of detail.

Look at that little face!

The vent cover is missing.

Pocket door handle looks so much better when it isn’t covered under gobs of paint.

The wall is severely cracked around the pocket doors. This must have happened when the house was elevated to replace the foundation.

The walls in the living room were originally a cinnamon color.

I love how the living room window is so large. It is nice to see some wood tones instead of white paint everywhere.

Looking at these historic photos and illustrations from the early 1900′s, I find it interesting that so many of the living rooms feature a table or desk in the middle of the room. This was the era before coffee tables were popular.

Photo of an upper class home, taken around 1914

Armstrong linoleum advertisement featuring a desk placed behind the sofa.

This photo was captioned “A simple bungalow living room” in the original publication. The room is sparsely decorated with a small table and lamp in the middle of the room.

Desk in front of the fireplace.

Side table and chair in front of the fireplace.

Desk in the center of the room.

Desk is prominently placed in the living room.

Never having owned or restored a house before, I thought I could single-handedly restore a room a month. Now here we are 3 years later with 3 completed rooms and 1 almost finished back porch and powder room. Our garage and sleeping porch are still filled with boxes that we can’t unpack until we restore the rooms where those items belong.

We never had that house warming party.

It’s a little embarrassing that we have no working sink in either of our two bathrooms. When people visit they end up washing up in our kitchen sink. At first it seemed like an adventure, then sort-of like camping and now sadly, it just seems normal. The “bathroom situation” has caused a few awkward explanations to friends and family.

The bathroom situation was never supposed to go on this long. We kind-of left each room “as-is” and intended to fix it up completely when we got to it. The problem is we haven’t gotten to the bathrooms yet. If I had known I would be brushing my teeth in the bathtub 3 years later I would have started our restoration in the bathroom! Instead, we focused on the main living areas that people see when they first walk in our house – the living room, dining room, and den.

David and several friends are working on an independent film project. Over the weekend they filmed a few scenes in our garage. For the first time our house was filled with people. Actors waiting for their scene to shoot spent time on our front porch while others congregated inside. Several people played the piano, others sat around the dining room table, people broke off into several small groups in the living room and den.

Our house filled with activity and life. It occurred to me how great our house is for entertaining, bathroom situation aside, because of the way the rooms are open and flow into each other.

It was house warming party that we never had.

Progress is being made on our living room again. Juan and his team are back after taking 2 weeks off for the holidays. David and I had planned on doing some work in there, like removing wallpaper, while Juan was away.

Ok, actually I planned and was going to tell David about it later but never got motivated. I just avoided that room and even started using the back door so I wouldn’t have to walk through the living room and feel guilty. Bad, homeowner. Bad!

Look at all those cracks around the pocket doors!

It was probably for the best. Once the wallpaper came off we discovered the plaster walls are badly damaged. It would have made for a depressing New Year.

Detailed view of the damage to the plaster walls.

Plaster walls around the gentleman caller’s bench. That piece of wood is holding the plaster in place. The plaster has separated from the lath.

I’m not sure if you can see it in this photo, but there are several long cracks running through the plaster over the fireplace.

Please, excuse me while I cry…

The front entry seems so much more inviting now.

The plaster wall has been repaired, the wood stripped and stained, and the walls painted.

Looking into the den before.

Looking into the den now.

Built-in book shelf and the gentleman caller’s bench.

David stripping the paint of our fireplace and fireplace today.

:: See how we brought back our fireplace’s luster after the bricks faded during the paint stripping process. ::

Stripping away layers of paint.

Lulu in the finished living room.

See Living Room Resources to learn about the products used in our restoration.

:: Paint ::
Ceiling Color: SW 6387, Compatible Cream
SHERWIN WILLIAMS
website: www.Sherwin-Williams.com

Wall Color: HC-34 Wilmington Tan
BENJAMIN MOORE Historical Collection
website: www.benjaminmoore.com

:: Stain ::
Read all about the paint stripping and staining process, the stain color and stain recipes here.

:: Reproduction Casement Window Latches and Entry Door Strike Plate ::
HOUSE OF ANTIQUE HARDWARE
3439 NE Sandy Blvd P.M.B. 106
Portland, OR 97232
phone: 888.223.2545
fax: 503.233.1312
website: www.houseofantiquehardware.com

:: Switchplates and Return Vent Cover ::
REJUVENATION
2550 N.W. Nicolai Street
Portland, OR 97210
Sales & Service: 888.401.1900
Retail Store: 1100 S.E. Grand Ave, Portland, OR 97214 (503.238.1900)
website: www.rejuvenation.com

:: Register Cover ::
THE CRAFTSMAN HOMES CONNECTION
PMB 343, 2525 E. 29th, Suite 10B
Spokane, WA 99223
telephone: 509-535-5098
fax: 509-534-8916
website: www.crafthome.com

Register Cover: Metal Registers Style 1, Antique Brass Finish
They now offer nice Mission and Rickenbacker style register covers that weren’t available when we purchased our register covers last year. Although, I would still probably select Style 1 since it most closely matches the original wall register cover found in the house.

:: 1910 Arts & Crafts/Mission Chandelier ::
ECLECTIC REVIVAL, Fine Vintage Lighting & Decorative Arts
email: eclecticrevival1@rogers.com
website: www.eclecticrevival.com

:: Wooden Electrical Outlet Covers and Deadbolt ::
HOME DEPOT
website: www.homedepot.com
Electrical Outlets had been added to our floors. I replaced the covers with natural wood ones that I stained to match our red oak floors. David found a deadbolt that is from The Craftsman Collection.

:: Furniture ::
CRATE & BARREL, Leather Club Chair and Sleeper Sofa
website: www.crateandbarrel.com

RESTORATION HARDWARE, Metro Recliner
website: www.restorationhardware.com

POTTERY BARN, Side and Coffee Tables, Henry Line
website: www.potterybarn.com

::Window Shades ::
SMITH + NOBLE
phone: 800.248.8888
website: www.smithandnoble.com

:: Paint Stripping, Wallpaper Removal, and Plastering::
J & C Home Repair
626.793.7091 ask for Juan

:: Floor Refinishing ::
DROR MENASHE
phone: 818.705.8799
cell: 213.798.9097

See Bungalow Living Room Before & After photos.

In any restoration there are surprises, both good and bad. The good news? We discovered just how nice our built-in storage bench is. The storage bench, sometimes referred to as a gentleman caller’s bench, is a fairly unique feature in our neighborhood for a bungalow of this size. It was difficult to see the details of the hardware and woodwork because they were hidden under layers and layers of paint. Everything seemed to blend in with the white walls. We didn’t even notice the bench before we moved in because the previous owners had placed a huge projection screen television in front of it.

It never occurred to me that anyone would paint over a mirror! I felt the bench needed a tiny mirror hung on it’s back but decided to wait until we completed the restoration. Thank goodness I waited or else I would have shattered the original mirror when I hammered a nail into it.

We were amazed to find the amount of detail present on the hooks. Each hook has a tiny face on it.

The bad news? Someone drilled holes in the pocket doors and later filled them in with plaster. The only thing I can figure out is that someone put a chain through the holes and then added a padlock to keep that room secure. My neighbor told me that our house was broken into twice when the previous owner’s grandmother lived here. She added bars to the windows after the second break in.

I’m not sure of the best way to repair these holes? The plaster will need to be knocked out. Maybe the holes can be filled in with Bondo?

:: Read about the process used to strip or remove paint from our woodwork. ::

The front door. You can see where part of the door frame was been replaced with plywood. That is also probably the result of a past break in.

The windows on either side of the fireplace are now stripped.

Built-in bookcases. The doors are missing. We hope to some day have replacement doors made.

Built-in storage bench with mirror and coat hooks.

Juan worked a miracle on our walls. He replastered them and we’re very happy with how they turned out. It is such a relief from the way the plaster walls looked before.

These pictures were taken yesterday while the walls were drying. The areas that look a little yellow are areas that haven’t completely dried. They did a final skim coat of plaster on the walls today. They also started on the ceiling.

Our douglas fir woodwork was been bleached with a wood and furniture bleaching agent to even out the wood grain. The bleach is brushed on, left over night and then washed off with water.

Woodwork after the bleaching

After the woodwork dries, stain is applied and then sealed with varnish. Read more about this process.

First coat of stain

We were trying to match the color of the woodwork in our dining room. The dining room, which is open to the living room, was worked on last spring. The stained living room woodwork matched the dining room almost exactly until the varnish was applied.

Layers of stain were applied to reach the desired color

After the varnish was added, the woodwork turned a different shade. The color is a deeper, richer red color, which I actually prefer. The woodwork in the dining room looks more yellow by comparison.

The color of the wood has turned redder after the varnish was applied

You only notice the difference in the color if you are a hypercritical homeowner and are standing in the dining room, looking into the living room. It’s not apparent from the living room looking into the dining room.

We are going to live with the difference since the only other option, stripping off the finish and starting over, really isn’t an option that I want to even imagine considering. The walls are primed and if we can decide on the exact color of yellow gold, they will be painted tomorrow.

After we moved in we realized that we were the only white people living in the apartment complex other than the property manager. The realization wasn’t a negative one, simply an observation. Early one evening we heard the woman who lived above us screaming a stream of obscenities out the window at her boyfriend who was standing in the parking lot adjacent to our dining room windows. The crescendo of her words accelerated to the point where they became jumbled together and unintelligible. Her words kept coming louder and faster, without pause. At regular intervals her boyfriend bellowed back, “Ghetto bitch! Ghetto bitch! Go get your hair done. You’re a ghetto bitch. You live in the G-H-E-T-T-O, bitch.”

That was our first realization that we lived in such a bad part of town. The whole fight culminated with our neighbor’s boyfriend storming off into the open field behind our apartment and firing a round of bullets straight up into the air. At that point Amy Jo and I dove to the floor of our apartment. We were shocked by the brutal, raw emotion of the exchange. That fight was completely outside our frame of reference for the world.

I looked at Amy Jo and said, “I guess this means we live in the ghetto.”

She quipped, “Yeah. We should get some tee shirts printed up. GHETTO BITCHES.”

That experience was good training for living in our current neighborhood.

The Pimp – Ho Fight
On a warm summer afternoon David and I were doing the typically mundane task of unloading groceries from our car. A little black hatchback car erratically pulled up to the stop sign at the intersection catty corner to our house. I didn’t really pay much attention at first but soon heard a commotion coming from inside the vehicle. Suddenly, a fairly average looking man jumped out of the car and roughly pulled a woman out behind him. This instantly caught my attention. I was halted dead in my tracks by the words the man was yelling.

“I’m the pimp! You’re the ho! Give me my money bitch or I’m going to hurt you.”

The fight continued along these lines for several more minutes. Then there was something that I didn’t quite understand about being from East Los Angeles verses West Los Angeles. This man, the pimp, was apparently from West Los Angeles and because of this fact the woman was lucky. If he had been from East LA she would be dead, but, because he is from West LA, he is more compassionate. The woman did not appear to be intimidated by this information. On the contrary, she seemed angry and defiant. She mentioned seeking employment opportunities with a pimp who “hadn’t lost his mother (insert the mother of all expletives here)-ing mind.”

A neighbor’s sprinkler was watering his lawn, I could hear the sound of children’s voices playing in a yard up the street and in the distance I faintly heard an ice cream truck rattling it’s bell and playing “Pop Goes The Weasel.” In the middle of our tranquil summer setting was this absurd exchange straight out of a really bad made-for-tv movie. I stood in the yard, transfixed, mouth agape.

The pimp saw me standing in the middle of my yard staring at them. He pushed the woman back into the car, drove around the corner, parked and pulled the woman back out of the car to yell at her again. By this time David walked up to me and asked what was going on. After I told him he ran inside and dialed 911.

David waited on hold for 10 minutes before he reached an operator. The 911 operator said they couldn’t do anything since we didn’t have the car’s license plate number. She instructed us to get a license plate number the next time this occurred. David requested that a squad car be sent to our location anyway. By the time David hung up the phone with the police the pimp and ho had resolved their dispute and driven away. They were long gone by the time the police drove through our area 45 minutes later.

The discussion in the Comments refers to the continuation of this article: More Tales From the Hood

These are the very first photos of us working on the house. They were taken the week before we moved in. We were trying to get the house clean enough to live in. I have this goofy “I can’t believe I’m a home owner” grin on my face!

David stripping the fireplace

Our restoration SWAT team included Jeannie, a long time family friend, who flew in from Indiana for a week. She was amazing. She cooked meals, spackled like a pro, painted, sanded, spent more time with me at Home Depot than either of us probably care to remember and she even helped peel up old linoleum from the bathroom floor!

Living Room

David’s brother Chris flew in from Utah for the weekend to help us paint and whatever else we asked him to do. He said it it was “fun” but he has’t come back to visit since. We think he is waiting until the house is finished.

Looking into the den from the living room

Our friend Jeff also dropped by for a few hours to help paint. I think he went on a McDonalds run or two for us. We lived on McDonalds the first 3 weeks we had the house – especially after Jeannie left.

Looking into the den from the living room

Extra large register vent in the floor between the living room and dining room

Dining room’s built-in china cabinet

Dining room, box beam ceiling

Den

Den floor

Kitchen

Kitchen counter was built right up to the pantry cabinet door. Obviously, the door to the cabinet can’t be opened.

We found a phone jack every 3-5 feet, running all around the upstairs bedrooms. Wonder what all those phones were used for?

We are frequently asked lots of questions about what we’re doing, how we are doing it, why we are doing it, and if we would do things differently. Here are the answers!

1. What did you use to strip your woodwork?
This is the question we are most frequently asked and here is the answer folks: Master Strip, Formula A Remover sold in 5 gallon drums from the McBride Company (Los Angeles, CA 818.507.8900) is our weapon of choice. Be sure to wear a respirator and to have good ventilation because this stuff is toxic.

Read more about the paint stripping process. There are lots of other approaches out there (and we’ve probably tried a lot of them) but this is what works best for us.

2. Can you recommend a contractor?
I’d be happy to! We have a long standing relationship with Juan Reyes, owner of J & C Home Repair. Juan is a true craftsman. He has done a lot of work on our house and we are extremely happy with the results. Juan does plastering, interior and exterior painting, drywall, carpentry, and wood conditioning and refinishing. ph: 626.793.7091

For full disclosure, we have heard back from one person who had a negative experience with Juan. I have given his number out to tons of people over the years and have only heard one complaint. Several people were so happy that they emailed me photos of the work Juan did at their houses. We have known Juan for years and never had a bad experience. I feel comfortable leaving him in my house when I am not home. I think that says a lot.

Feel free to mention our names. Please know we do not get any type of discount or kickback for recommending him. We would never do that.

Note: It is always a wise idea to interview and get bids from at least 3 contractors for any job.

3. How much have you spent on the restoration so far?
My own friends and family don’t even ask me that! Although my gut reaction is “none of your business” inquiring minds must want to know because we are asked this often. Giving the benefit of the doubt, I’ll assume people want to know for planning purposes when they tackle their own restoration. Short answer: It ain’t cheap!

Our motto: Projects cost 3 times more than you think they will and take 2 times longer to complete.
I wish our motto was more inspiring. I need to work on that!

• New roof: $5600
• Cedar shingles on the dormers: $1800
• Asbestos abatement: $1500
• Rebuilding front porch (including taking down the brick columns and having them rebuilt): $3000
• Refinishing wood floors: $1200
• Refinishing rooms: I estimate we spent between $5000 – $8000 per room (this includes materials, electrical work, replastering, labor, any unexpected problems we run into, etc.). This doesn’t factor in the cost of eating out or picking up take out because everything in the house is covered in plaster dust, but all that adds up.
• Bathroom: $14,000 this includes all new fixtures, tile, electric, plumbing, structural changes and labor
• Tools: estimate between $1500-$2000

In order for the house sale to go through the previous owner paid for a new foundation and to hook the sewer line up to the main city line.

• New foundation: $18,000, The work was done by White Castle Construction
• Connect to the city sewer line: $10,000

4. Do you regret buying an older house that needs so much work? Should we buy one?
Original Answer: No, not at all. I appreciate all the charm and quirks of our older home. If anything, I wish we didn’t have to live in the house while we are restoring it. On the plus side, we are pushed to get projects completed.

Heh, I was so optimistic when I wrote that! My opinion has changed through the years. Don’t get me wrong, I love our house. I just had no idea what a restoration as extensive as ours would require. I would never want to do this with kids. I know people do, I am just saying I couldn’t or wouldn’t want to.

My tips for buying a fixer.

5. Hey, where do I find that?
Our Favorite DIY Resources
Bungalow Bathroom Remodel
Living Room
Dining Room
Favorite Home Improvement Books

6. What did you use to remove the paint from your fireplace?
We used a chemical stripper called Master Strip (see question 1 for more info) to remove the paint. We used vinegar to remove that final film of paint/paint haze. If your bricks fade, here is a tip to darken your brick.

7. What has been the most difficult or challenging thing you have faced during the restoration?
Every project has had difficulties and challenges for a variety of reasons. I will say living in a house that is in a constant state of construction and half finished projects can be a big challenge. It eventually wears you down. I believe people are influenced by the environment they live in, and lets face it, this environment is depressing.

8. Aren’t you scared living in the hood?
For those of you who don’t know, West Adams is located in South Central LA (we call it South LA now). Yes, this is one of the areas where the 1992 Los Angeles riots happened.

Does this affect our everyday lives? No. Are we afraid? No. Our area is urban, but many young families and couples are moving into the area. Our neighbors have been nothing but wonderful and welcoming to us.

Update: The street prostitution that has invaded our neighborhood does not make me afraid, but it does make me angry. I would like to see more of a response from our elected officials.

David says you know you live in the hood when you hear your neighborhood get a “shout out” in a rap song! People in LA often brag about being Beverly Hills adjacent. I like to say our neighborhood is ghetto-adjacent. The other day someone called our area hood-storic (instead of historic) which I thought was clever.

If you don’t see your question here, please don’t hesitate to ask. Others are probably wondering the same thing. Contact me at: heather [at] 1912bungalow [dot] com.

Sometimes people ask, “How do you do it? How do you stay married while living in the house during the restoration?”

Well, sometimes we do it better than others. I’ve read interviews featuring other couples who have traveled down this road and when they say how they had no problems and this experience has brought them closer together in their marriage, I think who are they kidding?

Living without a fully functional kitchen for over a year like we have tends to make meal times difficult and we end up eating out more than we should.

The worst thing we face is what we term the “bathroom situation”. We have no shower. The upstairs main bath has been stripped down except for a bath tub. I feel sorry for David when I see him rinsing his hair by pouring water over his head from a cup. We have a working toilet and sink in a closet-sized half bath downstairs on the back porch, not very convenient in the middle of the night.

Plus, just the problems of an older house – bad electric, bad roof, furnace problems, mix in two busy careers equals one frazzled couple.

I will admit living with the state of our kitchen and bath has gotten easier as time goes on, a year and 3 months to be exact. It was a huge adjustment at first but now it seems almost normal. We don’t even notice it any more except on the rare occasions we get away and realize how much quicker and easier it is to take a shower, brush your teeth and style your hair all in the same room. You don’t realize how complicated a simple act like getting ready to go out for an evening really is when your bathroom is torn apart because it begins to seem normal.

We have no experience with restoration and are figuring things out as time and money allow. This leads to conflicts because, in truth, neither of us really knows what we are doing. Our approaches to projects are usually polar opposites and as different as our upbringings.

David’s father, who researched and developed different medical drugs in a lab, has more than a healthy respect for germs, almost verging on a germ phobia. I grew up on a farm, a germ’s paradise. We didn’t bother with shoes in the summer, spent lots of time climbing through years of dirt (or worse) in old barn rafters and hay lofts, playing with lots of different animals, hopefully taking a dip in the swimming pool to clean up, and if I was lucky remembering to wash my hands before eating. When you grow up on a farm you are going to get dirty. I don’t remember safety or germs being a big focus or even a focus in my house.

For Christmas David received a first aid kit from his father. My dad gave me a pry bar, a built-in saw wrench and bottle opener (I guess that comes in handy when the state of your house drives you to drink) and a rechargeable saw, drill and flashlight kit. We’ve used both the first aid kit and the tools, not necessarily in that order.

David: Wait, what are you doing with that sledgehammer?

Heather: I’m going to whack out the cement covering the front porch.

D: Wait. You don’t know what’s under there.

H: Yes, I do. I crawled under the front porch and I think the original wood floor is still intact.

D: You crawled under the front porch?

H: Yeah. I just took off some of those asbestos shingles and crawled under there.

D: Asbestos! Did you wear your respirator?

H: It’s fine.

D: It’s not fine. Wait, I think we need to make a plan.

H: I have a plan. I’m going to whack the cement floor with a sledgehammer, spray water from the garden hose on high power in the cracks to loosen up the cement and then pry up the cement with a crowbar.

D: A garden hose! What?

H: (Frustrated sigh…and a rolling of the eyes for good measure) It’s fine.

D: Put on some safety glasses! Wait, YOU ARE NOT EVEN WEARING SHOES!

These are the days of our lives…The only real piece of advice I can offer is this (the secret of our so-called success):

1) Put one person in charge of a project and let them do it in their own way without offering “help” or suggestions.

2) When you need the other person’s help with a project, let them approach it in their own way.

An example of this, again, has to do with our front porch floor. After days of backbreaking work removing cement that was 4 inches thick, rusty old chicken wire, nails, staples, and each of us getting tentus shots, we discovered linoleum glued to the top of the original wood floor. I can’t explain how upsetting this discovery was after all the work we’d done to get down to the original porch floor.

David was in charge of removing the linoleum. He tried pry bars, scrapers, heating the linoleum with the Silent Paint Remover and none of these options worked very well. After the 3rd night of working on this until 2 in the morning, I suggested that maybe we should just replace the wood floor or put down a sea grass rug but was met with, “Are you kidding! After all this I’m getting that damn linoleum up.” Man verses the linoleum. Man losing. Man finally allows his wife to help him.

D: What are you doing with that steak knife?

H: The blade is thin enough that I can get it underneath the linoleum to pry it up.

D: How did you even think of that? What leads you to think, “Gee, I think a steak knife will do the trick?”

H: It’s working!

D: We use that to eat with. I don’t want you to use it on the floor!

H: We’re not eating with it now…I just broke the blade. I’m going to go get another knife. I never really liked these knives anyway.

D: Okay, you’ve just broken the blades of 3 steak knives. How are we supposed to eat?

H: It’s fine! My technique is working. Do you want this linoleum up or not?

D: Some technique…grumble, grumble

H: What did you just say? You’re just upset that my way is working.

Finally…
3) Praise all the work your partner does even if you are less than thrilled with the outcome.

Our house has it’s own quiet language. The rooms flow into each other; the spaces are intimate yet provide views into other rooms so they don’t feel enclosed. The arch of the living room fireplace is repeated in the curve of the dining room china cabinet. Seeing these repeated elements provide consistency and a sense of security to the house – nothing is jarring, nothing seems out of place. When making a decision, I consider if an alteration is in tune with the house.

We recently had to decide between adding a wall to separate the back hallway from the sleeping porch or leaving the space wide open to form one big room. I am planning on using that space as a studio so having a big, open area is appealing.

Pros For One Big Room
1. We feel comfortable with the idea of leaving the wall out because the sleeping porch is a 1918 addition, granted that’s an early one, to the original structure.

2. This room is on the second story in a private area verses the public rooms downstairs.

3. The room feels larger and lets in more light without the wall. Being a product of my time, I understand the desire to tear down walls and open up living spaces.

Cons For One Big Room
1. The space will be out of character with the rest of our house.

2. If we decide to use the room in a different way, for instance as a guest room, the space will have limited privacy.

3. Noise from downstairs could be an issue because the space is open to the stairwell.

4. We won’t use the beautiful antique doors I found on eBay. This reason is not as practical but it’s still a major consideration. I’m also aware that doors this nice would have been used in a public area of the house, not in the private area of our humble bungalow. So, even this choice is not historically accurate.

Continuity and those beautiful antique doors won out. We decided to have the wall rebuilt.

Pablo and crew framed in the wall and added drywall.

We get to use the beveled glass doors.

Related Topic: Historical Accuracy: Where Do You Draw The Line?

During our 6 year journey trying to figure out what in the world to do with our kitchen, we stumbled across Hansen Living’s freestanding kitchen cabinets and storage solutions. It was something we both (gasp) liked. The cabinets were designed by Danish architect Knud Knapper after studying the way professional chefs use a kitchen.

The clean lines, solid wood construction, craftsmanship and attention to detail are right at home with Arts & Crafts philosophy. My taste in kitchens leans a little more modern than what is typically found in a bungalow. These cabinets are a good compromise.

I met with Susan Serra, kitchen designer and the US rep for Hansen Living, last summer in New York City. We hit it off immediately. She offered suggestions and I loved all of them.

The cabinets are even more beautiful in person and so finely crafted that they resemble a piece of furniture. I left the meeting with Susan Serra super excited and ready to start planning our new kitchen in the fall.

Then the economy turned and we decided to wait. David was laid off from his job. Our kitchen fund is now our pay the mortgage and buy groceries fund.

But, I am still so in love with Hansen Living. This white kitchen in a historic Copenhagen apartment is what started it all. As soon as I saw these pictures I was smitten.

The pieces are freestanding, so theoretically, you can pack your kitchen up and take it with you when you move.

I hope we will be able to remodel our kitchen sooner rather than later. In the mean time, I will continue to dream…

When we were selecting the wall color for the dining room last spring, we went through 6 different colors starting with burnt red and ending with a golden yellow. This time we were able to choose a wall color in two tries. We are certainly improving. Actually, there is not much of a “we”, David usually goes along with whatever color I select. Then he loves the color even when it’s blatantly wrong.

Opps! Looks like we missed a spot or two.

My first choice was a soft gold color by Sherwin Williams that looked too green next to our dining room walls. We ended up going with Wilmington Tan from Benjamin Moore’s historical collection. It is a shade darker than the Shelburne Buff from the same collection that we used on the dining room walls. The ceiling is painted Compatible Cream from Sherwin Williams.

The new vent cover from Rejuvenation is installed.

We are almost done with the living room. There is some touch up work that needs to be done with paint and stain. Our brick fireplace got a little faded from the paint stripper so we are looking into staining it. There is some hardware to install in the room and we need to hang the antique light fixture once it arrives. I’ll post more photos once we get all the final pieces installed in the room.

A backward glance, our living room before restoration and the worst days during the restoration.

Now we are starting work on the den!

520 signatures were signed in agreement. J. L. Welsh, the man who built our home, was one of 20 who personally appeared before the notary public as the document was signed and notarized. The Declarations of Restrictions was to be in effect until January 1, 2023.

In its heyday, between 1900 and around 1920, West Adams was a center of fine living for Los Angeles and became a district of architect-designed mansions and charming bungalows. Residents included an oil magnate, a millionaire wine maker, and socialites as well as lawyers, doctors, and businessmen who filled in the smaller streets. Architects Charles and Henry Greene, Frank M. Tyler, and Alfred and Arthur Heineman built homes for clients living in West Adams. In 1948 racial covenants were outlawed and by the 1960′s West Adams was primarily made up of people who were “other than of Caucasian or white race.”

The idea that my husband who is Asian American could not have owned our home is very troubling to me. David is less bothered by the racial covenant. I asked him why and he said because it was a different time.

Their original building permit was applied for by Henry Gatz, who is also listed as contractor, on November 23, 1911. The house was completed in 1912. The entire cost of the building is listed as $1950, about what we pay for our mortgage every month. The home was built for John L. Welsh. He lived on our street at 2938 Hobart Blvd at the time this house was being built. I wonder if the 2938 Hobart house was an earlier home that John Welsh had built or if the family was renting?

In 1916, a sleeping porch was added by extending the present dormer on the rear of the house. That work was done by H. V. Wright of 3933 S. Hill St. John L. Welsh applied for a permit to build a private garage with a dirt floor and a paper roof in April of 1919. He is listed as the contractor and architect. The garage is no longer standing so we can’t see his handiwork.

Those are the facts but they don’t shed much light on the personalities of our house’s original family. I can get a sense of their preferences or at least the prevailing tastes of their day by peeling through layers of old paint and wallpaper to the home’s original color palette. They chose fairly dark, masculine colors: a dark orange-brown color that looks like the spice cinnamon for the living and dining room walls with a dark, dark brown-black mission stain on the douglas fir woodwork. The den was a medium orange, terra cotta color with a similarly colored wallpaper ceiling that has hand painted silver designs on it. It’s still intact but badly damaged and more than likely unsalvageable. The kitchen, in 1912 a woman’s domain, was a more feminine salmon-pink color – at least on the ceiling.

I get the feeling of a strong male presence having lived and left his mark in this house. Maybe because John L. Welsh’s name was the only one listed on the paperwork we received when we purchased the house, that’s who captured my imagination? I wonder if he would have approved of the choices we are making?

According to the 1920 Federal Census John L. Welsh was the head of the household, a white male aged 53. He was born in Pennsylvania (I guess around 1867). His parents were also born in Pennsylvania. He was a furniture salesman. By the 1930 Census, he had begun selling carpets. I wonder what beautiful furniture and rugs our house was decorated with? I would love to see a few photos of what our house looked like in its heyday or to be able to put faces with the names. Ida K. Welsh was listed as John’s wife. She was a white female aged 44 in 1920. Her place of birth as well as her parent’s was Pennsylvania. There was no occupation listed for her.

Magdalen Catudal was listed as what appears to be wife’s daughter or perhaps it is wife/daughter, white female aged 22. Her place of birth was Pennsylvania. Her occupation was listed as music teacher with own students. There is a beautiful piano window in our den which I can imagine an upright piano sitting under. Dan (or Don) F. Catudal was listed as son-in-law, white male aged 23 with a birth place of Nebraska. His father was from Canada (English) and it looks like his mother may have been from California or perhaps Canada? It’s very hard to make out since all the records are hand written. Dan was a shipping clerk in the automobile industry.

By the 1930 census Magdalen and Dan had 2 five year old boys, Ray L. and Roy F. This might explain all the marbles I find as I open up long ago sealed walls, remove layers of linoleum from the floors and once while digging in the yard. The house has only two bedrooms. I wonder how a family of 6 managed to live within its 1800 square feet? Maybe the downstairs den was converted into a bedroom? Or maybe the boys slept on the sleeping porch? The boys would have been born in 1925 and they could still be alive at almost 80 years old. Catudal is a fairly uncommon last name so maybe I.ll be able to get in touch with either Ray or Roy to find out what happened to the family who built our home?

I’m sure there are other realtors working in West Adams but here are the two we know personally. They also both live in West Adams. I think it is an advantage to work with a realtor who personally knows the area you wish to buy in.

Jim Weber (The realtor who we used to purchase our home)
Jim Weber is a great guy. He has lived in West Adams for many years in a beautiful old home which he and his family have restored. He is very knowledgeable and excited about older homes.

He gave David and I a tour of the area before we were sure this was an area we wanted to live in. We worked with him for over a year before finding our house. Did I mention that he is also a patient man? I’m sure I drove him crazy on many occasions but he was always very kind to us while we searched for just the right home. He did send us a Christmas card so maybe (hopefully) that means we are forgiven?

Because he has restored his own home and is involved in the restoration community, Jim has a lot of resources that he has shared with us from who to call for redoing your floors to title changes, and everything in between. That is the benefit of working with a realtor who lives and works in your area.

Jim Weber Realty Group
P.O. Box 15971
Los angeles, CA 90015
phone: 323.735.0700
email: jweber@victorianhomes.com
website: http://www.craftsmanhomes.com

Adam Janeiro
Adam Janeiro lives in the West Adams area in a bungalow that he and his wife have spent the past several years restoring. Adam has firsthand knowledge of the joys and challenges inherent in restoring an older home. When we first moved into the area they referred us to contractors, salvage yards and introduced us to some of our neighbors.

Adam works for City Living Realty (a brokerage with over twenty years experience in the neighborhood) and writes a blog about architecture, neighborhoods, urban issues, and real estate market conditions. The url is www.recenteringelpueblo.com. That’s right: Recentering El Pueblo.

Adam Janeiro
City Living Realty
323-401-3952
adam@thethinkery.com
www.recenteringelpueblo.com

Tonight I came home and discovered a thin layer of saw dust on EVERYTHING. The contractors were working on sanding the stripped wood in the living room and the dust has settled on everything on the first floor.

Another joy of living in a construction zone.

Living without doors.

Stripping paint is not a fun process. Stripping paint from woodwork that was originally painted is agony. I thought I knew all about paint stripping, but what I learned is that there is hell and then there is real H-E-L-L, all caps, please stop sticking bamboo shoots underneath my fingernails hell.

The paint has soaked into the grain of the wood and filled every tiny crevice.

If you desire hours of wretched torture and are crazy enough to attempt this at home, the Silent Paint Remover and/or a heat gun are the way to go. Chemical strippers, of which I am actually a big fan, took so much product to get down to the wood that it wasn’t cost effective.

All the different colors the upstairs bathroom was painted.

All of the woodwork upstairs was painted from day one with the exception of the window frames and trim. I have not seen the combination of painted wood and varnished wood in the same room before. The original paint color on the wood trim was a muted gold. I often see this color referred to as “wheat” in modern paint samples.

Getting down to the wood…finally.

The little back hallway should be hours of fun.

We replaced the mirror from the back of the built-in bench in our living room. We discovered an old newspaper placed behind the original mirror. The first thing I did was look at the year – 1912. Then I looked at the date. January 13, 1912. A little chill ran up my spine. Was this some kind-of sign from the house or just a strange coincidence that we discovered a newspaper 92 years later with today’s date printed on it?

The dual headlines read ‘All Californians for One California, Battle Cry of State Boosters’ and ‘North and South Grip Hands in Pledge to Share Future Prosperity’. The North and South the headline refers to are Northern and Southern California.

Also on the front page is First Lady Taft’s chicken salad recipe which, according to the article, had gained vogue with Washington’s smart set. This salad was made under Mrs. Taft’s personal direction:
Equal parts of white meat of chicken and hard boiled eggs cut in dices, sprinkling of celery and white nuts, the whole being covered with mayonnaise.

Listed right next to Mrs. Taft’s chicken salad is the headline “German Socialists Win Great Victory”.

Inside, the paper offers an interesting advertisement on hair health. “Scalp and hair troubles generally caused by carelessness. Dandruff is a contagious disease caused by a microbe which also produces baldness.” The cure was Rexall 93 Hair Tonic.

Boy, times have changed! “Los Angeles No.1 in List of Moral Cities, Speaker says this is cleanest municipality of Nation, San Francisco worst.”

An article that was of particular interest to David, who is half Chinese and half Filipino, “Chinese Soon Begin Observance of New Customs”. The article discusses how Chinese citizens living in Los Angeles will adopt a Roman calendar and set aside observance of the Chinese new year. The article went on to say, “Chinese new year, the great religious and commercial fete known to the followers of Confucius – a revolution of little less importance than that recently ended in the orient will be in progress, but it will be a revolution among the revolutionists, a transformation of spiritual, social and commercial ideas and customs, formally launching Christianity and it’s manifold advantages into the land of the rising sun.”

Another article discusses how a woman’s reply of “yes” to a written proposal was lost in the mail and finally delivered six years later. In the mean time, the would be groom decided that the answer must have been “no” when he did not receive an answer, so he married someone else. When the would be bride learned of his marriage she decided that he must have changed his mind. She also married someone else. It could not be determined where the letter was during those six years.

Years before Imelda Marcos, “Woman Buys 58 Pairs of Shoes At One Time”.

Written by David:
I remember the first time I saw Lulu. It was about 8 years ago at the pet store. Heather had seen her there previously and thought she was the wierdest looking puppy she had ever seen with short legs, big paws, big ears and a missing tail.

I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to get a dog but after driving around and talking about possbile pet names we decided to go back to the pet store to see her again. I asked one of the pet store employees if they could take her out of the cage and they handed her to me. She was so tiny and her fur was so soft. You could just tell that she had a great little personality. Lulu won me over and we took her home that day. She became a part of our family.

Lulu was the sweetest dog with such a great personality and calm demeanor. I used to take her to work with me everyday and she would just hang out in the office and contently lay by my chair as I worked. She was much loved by everyone who came in contact with her because she was so quiet and well behaved.

She loved to go on walks at the beach and at Runyon Canyon. She would always go on ahead a little bit then stop and look back making sure we were following her. She would also herd us together nipping at our heels making sure we stayed together as a pack. Lulu’s been a big part of our life. She was there through the wedding planning and she was at the door and happy to see us when we returned from our 2-week honeymoon in Tahiti.

Lulu was with us when we moved from our apartment to our house. She’s been through all the restoration process living with us in the sawdust and giving cheer to all our various contractors. Lulu also got to travel with us over two different holidays – one year going to visit my parents in snowy Utah, and another time she got to visit the farm in Indiana.

She was always so sweet, happy and healthy. That’s why it was such a shock to us to find out Thursday night in the animal critical care center that she had a tumor that had burst and was bleeding into her abdomin. Lulu was even just at the vet a few days earlier because we thought she might have back problems and there was no indication then that there was anything else wrong with her.

Thursday night Lulu went into shock because of the tumor and the doctor said that her vital signs were so low they were worried that they might not be able to keep her stabilized through the night for emergency surgery the next day. So we were faced with a decision that we didn’t want to make: either try to put her through surgery and see if they could remove the cancer cells and to see if the cancer had spread, or to put her to sleep.

Surgery is no guarantee which we have found out in the past putting one of our cats through two major surgeries trying to remove a cancerous tumor – which turned out to be unsuccessful. We didn’t want to put Lulu through all that pain and suffering. She was such a sweet dog. So Thursday night we made the hardest decision to say our final goodbyes as she gently fell asleep and through the tears I whispered in her ear “We love you baby girl.”

We miss her so much. The house isn’t the same without her.

Lulu, we love you.

Finding the right shade of white paint can be a very difficult process. After trying numerous whites that were too blue, too green or too just not right, I hand mixed my own color. It is a pretty, soft white with a gray undertone. The bright white trim makes the wall color stand out.

We still have lots of little touches to finish up, but the tub, toilet and sink are installed. Oh, happy day!

We have been asked why we didn’t use refurbished antique or vintage plumbing fixtures. I think they are lovely and worth every penny if you can afford it. But, this is a bathroom remodel on a budget where every penny counts. It was more important for us to put our money towards desperately needed storage space.

Truth be told, after living with our old bathroom for 7 years, I just wanted everything to be brand new and to feel clean. No matter how much we cleaned the old bathroom, it never really felt clean.

Whether you decide to go with antique plumbing fixtures, modern fixtures in a vintage style or something completely modern, get something that you love and that makes you feel happy whenever you walk into the room.

See more: Our Bathroom Fixtures, Inspiration Room

The dormer is too small to provide any real, usable space in the room. I decided to utilize the space by having our contractor build a window seat underneath the window.

The window seat has a hinged lid to provide much needed storage space. In our little bungalow every inch counts. The proportions of the window seat were based off of the gentleman caller’s bench in the living room.