David’s experience:
On Thursday of last week, the crew for the new DIY network show, “Restoration Realities” rolled into our house at 9am bringing cases of cameras, lighting equipment, audio equipment and power tools.

Our garage was transformed into a mini workshop, the back porch became the equipment staging area and our kitchen became the craft-service/break area. People whirled about setting up lights and cameras while the hosts planned out the projects and constructed the pieces needed.

We never knew how much work went into producing a show like this. Not only did they have to get the shots for the show, but off camera, they also had to do construction work. It was non-stop action that lasted till 11pm the first day, where at that point Heather and I were left with “homework” to complete for the next day.

Our job was to stain our newly constructed screen door. We stayed up till 1am completing the job and fell into bed knowing that at 7am it would all start again.

The second day proved to be even more hectic with the pressure to finish both projects (weather stripping the windows, the door and installing the new screen door) plus get all the rest of the shots done for the show.

In the end, it all came together. Although we did not get the security door we wanted, we did end up with a beautiful screen door that fits the period of the house, plus weather stripping. Everyone on the crew was really nice and we had some good times. We can’t wait to see the show!

Our metal security door. The bolts had to be cut off with saws.

Heather’s experience:
When I was a child, I was once in a television commercial for the Carson Perrie Scott department store based out of Chicago. The tv spot was an ad for Father’s Day. The fact that the father in the commercial had red hair and that my Mom was the Art Director made me a shoe-in for the part.

I don’t remember much about the experience except for the fact that the ad ran right after the television show “Gunsmoke.” What 7 year old, growing up in a small town in Indiana, wouldn’t be thrilled to be ON TV right after “Gunsmoke”?

When I was a little older I was on the local public television station’s morning show along with my dad and uncle. We were there to talk about the practice of raising and farming ducks, something that my family knows a thing or two about since that’s what they do for a living. I’m sure that was one riveting episode!

Yet, this impressive background in television didn’t begin to prepare me for being on a home improvement show, albeit a restoration minded one. First of all there is a whole crew of people that descend on your home. There are people in charge of lighting, sound, the cameras, a director, several producers, a production assistant, a lighting assistant, a carpenter and the show’s host. Most of these people come with equipment, large boxes of it.

Then there are the lights. These large, hot lights that are on tripod frames and ceiling height. A lot of time is spent adjusting the lighting and getting the correct angles. But, oh, the first time I saw our house on the monitors used to show what is being filmed, I was taken in by how the lighting made all the colors come alive and appear more vibrant, richer. All the wood trim seemed to almost glow. I wish our house always looked that lovely.

Bungalows are comfortable houses but rarely spacious and they feel much smaller once filled with a film crew, their equipment and all the towering lights. For someone who tends to feel claustrophobic in small spaces and shy around groups of people that I don’t know well, it was a bit overwhelming.

Some of the crew setting up a shot on Day 1.

I discovered the best thing hands down was something called “craft services” which consisted of every type soda pop, Doritos, Pringle, M & M, Kit Kat bar, crackers, nuts, and coffee imaginable. Our kitchen was converted into the craft services area and we were greeted with fresh out of the oven cinnamon rolls for breakfast, warm chocolate chip cookies and milk for a snack, and our lunches and dinners were picked up from local fast food restaurants.

Restorations Realities shot three episodes in Los Angeles. Our house was the second location. We felt a little sad when all the treats and sodas were packed up and moved on to the third house. It was easy to get used to such a great spread and someone to take our food order at meal times.

Even though the show is for the Do It Yourself network our screen door was pre-built and shipped in pieces to Los Angeles due the tight two day shooting schedule. If all we had to do was build a door that would be have been entirely do-able within the two day shoot. But, that doesn’t take into account the whole process of filming, and it is a process.

There is an outline or rough script that they follow as far as what needs to be said and shown on camera. The first day someone would tell us where to stand, give us an idea of what they would like us to say and how they would like us to move. Things like you’ll start at Point A and walk to Point B, positioning your body in a certain way so that you aren’t turning your back to the camera.

Each “scene” would need to be filmed several times to make sure the correct shots were captured with one of two cameras used. The scene would need to be reshot if someone flubbed a line or the lighting wasn’t just right. Or maybe you didn’t have enough “energy” after you had done a scene a few times so they shot it again to get a better reaction.

A big problem we ran into was noise from the city. We experienced all types of disruptions from planes flying overhead, to obnoxious horns that toot to a tune, lawn mowers or people in the neighborhood stopping by to ask what we were filming. Each of these disruptions required that we stop filming a scene and then start the scene over again after the noise had cleared.

I was most surprised by how much time and work it took to set up the scenes. The cameras had to be set up for the shots and the scene correctly lit. It sometimes took up to an hour to set up a scene and do the run through of where we were to stand and what we were supposed to say.

David and I were split up into teams. I worked on weather stripping with Bill the show’s host, while David worked with Chris the carpenter on the show to put together the screen door. Everything went well except for when I accidentally sanded Bill’s thumb with a power sander. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt and possibly even benefited from the high-powered manicure.

Weather stripping the front door on Day 2.

The first day I had a wonderful time. The crew was very nice and joked around a lot off camera. The mood of the day was light hearted and playful. The first time I saw our screen door I was thrilled to see that it was finely crafted out of thick fir wood and beautiful. The quality of the craftsmanship was very high.

But, the second day just didn’t seem to go as well. I was too keyed up to sleep much after our first day of filming so I was tired. There was also some tension between people on the show which kind-of made the second day less fun. Things felt rushed and there was a lot less time spent explaining to us what was going to happen or what was being done to our house.

The way a door is to be hung or a threshold installed probably didn’t seem like a big deal to people working on the show but to someone who has spent the last two years of her life painstakingly restoring her house, those seemingly minor details were HUGE details to me. It just didn’t seem like there was enough time to explain what was going to happen and that caused me to feel very anxious.

About half way through the second day I really had doubts about why we decided to do the show and truthfully, I wanted everyone and their equipment out of our house. It is difficult to really describe what it is like to have people that you don’t know very well in and out of your house, moving around in frantic activity to adjust huge lights and cameras while projects are being done to your house. Projects that you are a part of but more in a secondary role because the projects have been planned out and are mainly being carried out by someone else.

The homeowners agree to the overall project idea upfront but in our experience, they have little say so as to what shape that project takes or how it is carried out. It is a strange feeling to be relegated to the role of sidekick after being the driving force in the restoration of your home.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like the film crew because that couldn’t be further from the truth. They bent over backwards to be nice to us. They are wonderful people who I genuinely enjoyed meeting and getting to know.

Having all this activity in the house was such a drastic change from my quite days spent with the dogs working from home. I started feeling very overwhelmed by the experience and upset because I didn’t understand how the projects were going to progress and come together in the end. Most importantly, I didn’t know what we would be left with after the film crew packed up and moved on to the next house.

Halfway through Day 2. If you know me well you can tell by the look on my face I’m stressed out but trying to play it off. This is my “just smile” only half a day left to go look. David is having a great time and going with the flow!

It was at this tense, meltdown moment that I had to film my personal interview. This is where they film you individually and ask you questions about your house, your hobbies and other get to know you better type of questions. It didn’t go well. If you watch the show I will be the woman with no hobby.

You mean that people who have full time jobs and restore their houses full time also have time for hobbies? Huh, how does that work? Watching television and sleeping didn’t seem to qualify. David, on the other hand, apparently sky dives in his free time! They say the wife is always the last know.

This is from a man who won’t tackle any home improvement project unless he’s clad head to toe in a hazmat suit, yet he wants America to believe he is jumping out of airplanes on the weekends. The David that does home improvement projects on tv is a very adventurous guy. In addition to sky diving he also engages in rock climbing. He might think this is really funny until he gets sky diving lessons for his birthday. That’s right, my husband thought it was fun to make up his hobbies, recounted bitterly by the woman who has NO hobby.

After my meltdown moment which I tried to play off, it is never a good idea to completely freak out in front of people you barely just met who are there for the purpose of capturing your likeness, house and spouse on film, I pulled myself together. It was 9 p.m. or later by the time we wrapped up the final shots which made for a long day for everyone. The crew had arrived at 7 a.m.

Filming the final shots on Day 2.

After having a week to reflect on the experience of being on a home improvement television show, I feel overall doing the show was a lot of fun. There were some tense, not so fun moments or hours, but in the end we were left with a beautiful screen door that we both love and a front entrance that is weather proofed. The show left our house in a better state than it us in when they arrived, were super nice to us and our dogs, plus they fed us tasty treats. Really, what more could any homeowner ask for?

I’m not sure how the screen door is going to work out for us long term from a security standpoint? We have considered putting a double cylinder deadbolt on the screen door but couldn’t bring ourselves to put a hole in our new door. A deadbolt also kind-of takes away from the welcoming aspect of a screen door.

The television show is called “Restoration Realities” on the DIY network. This is a brand new show and the first episode airs around March 6th. We don’t know when the episode we are on will air, they said it might not be until 2006, but we’ll keep you posted!

Our front entrance with the new screen door.

See more pics of from filming the show.

Read about how we were selected to be on the show.

Simon and Lulu photographed through the new screen door. So far they have been pretty good about not scratching it. They spent most of the two days we filmed upstairs and out of the way. Although, they were not very happy to miss out on getting attention from complete strangers – one of their great thrills in life!

Look who decided to walk across the still wet cement floor, leaving tiny paw prints in his wake. The Project Supervisor, otherwise known as Jack and more recently other names that I won’t post here, decided that he needed to look out the bathroom window now, right now.

The bathroom door is being stripped in the backyard, so I put up a barricade to keep Jack out. It is going to take more than my feeble attempts to stop him. Now that he is successfully inside the bathroom he refuses to budge. I am reduced to opening cans of cat food outside the bathroom door, but he is having none of that.

He is lying underneath the window on the still wet cement, safely out of reach, and I swear he is laughing at me.

Adam Janeiro is a Los Angeles real estate agent who specializes in older homes. He was kind enough to indulge my curiosity about buying and selling older homes, and the impact of the economy on the real estate market in Los Angeles’ historic neighborhoods.

1. 1912 Bungalow: You seem to have a passion for older homes. Where did that start?

Adam Janeiro: I grew up in Oakland California. My parents were teachers and we would often summer elsewhere. I was energized by Manhattan and bored by Montana. I was powerfully drawn to cities. On weekends, I would take BART to San Francisco, exit a station and begin walking, without plan or destination. Later, I realized I was most often drawn to those sections of the city wherein the buildings were oldest.

2. 1912 Bungalow: You work in a niche market, representing buyers and sellers of older homes. Are there any differences within this market compared to the traditional real estate market?

Adam Janeiro: The neighborhoods (wherein older homes are found) often feature a more complex web of uses, which create greater differences over smaller areas. This requires navigation and an understanding that often transcends the immediate visual experience. Also, value is often vested—or realized differently.

A thorough knowledge of the styles are essential too, because the thing that is the most unusual frequently holds the most value. An agent has to be able to identify and quantify those elements to which the most value is attached. Certain alterations, celebrated elsewhere, might have grave re-sale implications in historic districts.

3. 1912 Bungalow: You run a wonderful blog, Recentering El Pueblo. First of all, what does Recentering El Plueblo mean? What prompted you to start your blog?

Adam Janeiro: Los Angeles, and certainly the Los Angeles real estate industry, tends to be very West-centric; yet, the historic center of the city (of the Pueblo) lies elsewhere. It began not as a marketing tool—nicely it’s become a bit of one—but as an intellectual regimen, a discipline.

4. 1912 Bungalow: What is the biggest misconception about the real estate market right now?

Adam Janeiro: The biggest misconception concerns inventory. Inventory while abundant in some markets is sorely lacking in quality. Real estate reporting is frequently focused on quantity, rather than quality.

5. 1912 Bungalow: Are people putting off buying a home because they are waiting for home prices to drop further? Are people afraid to buy?

Adam Janeiro: Some are delaying, some are afraid, others are licking their chops. Some homeowners are also putting off selling too.

6. 1912 Bungalow: What advice do you have for home owners looking to sell in today’s market?

Adam Janeiro: I give different advice to each and every client, based on their singular life situation, including not to sell or not to buy—or to buy at once and sell now.

However, if one is truly interested in buying pre war housing stock (particularly pre WWI), one needs to look in all market climates and let opportunity be the driver. Because the number of available fully realized houses, with a high degree of original fabric, and sensitive, system updates, is often quite limited. I’ve represented many a buyer and seller on properties with three or four title changes in 100 years. I’ve a listing upcoming for a property owned continuously by one family since it was constructed in 1912. The inventory doesn’t always cooperate with whim, demand or macro economics.

7. 1912 Bungalow: In your experience, what are the things that most buyers desire or look for when shopping for an older home?

Adam Janeiro: Integrity, that is, a high degree of originality; and, a sympathetic context. Some degree of conformity, some basis for district status.

8. 1912 Bungalow: What are the biggest mistakes homeowners make when upgrading older homes? (Changes that decrease the resale value of their home)

Adam Janeiro: One—stucco over wood siding. Two—window replacement.

9. 1912 Bungalow: Lets say you just bought an older home and it needs some work, or maybe a lot of work. Where should you spend the money?

Adam Janeiro: Water is the destroyer of homes, and its occurrence must be managed; be it, a good roof, grading or gutters or French drains, supply lines and drains.

10. 1912 Bungalow: You have been restoring your own bungalow. What are some of the projects that you have tackled? Do you have any house projects going on right now?

Adam Janeiro: The list is too numerous. In December I’ll install a copper drip edge and continue some weather proofing projects using rigid insulation. I often experiment with products, if only to discuss applications with clients. In fact, I’m hoping to acquire a preservation worthy property—a project house in 2009, to continue my mission and my education.

Thanks Adam!

It has finally sunk in that we don’t have the stamina to have house projects going all the time, one after another, lets hurry up and get everything done so our house is restored all ready. Our what seemed realistic at the time plan, the one where we complete all the work on our house within five years? It’s now the 10 year plan or the hopefully we get the house done before we die plan. Considering this is our fourth year in the house and we are barely halfway done, I think the new plan is a good call.

We have decided that completing one project a year is a more realistic pace for us. Although, it would have been nice to have restored the kitchen and our main bathroom before we hit upon the one-project-a-year-for-a-more-balanced-life approach. I think it is going to be a while before I have the ever changing kitchen of my dreams.

January
My dad came to visit and finished some plumbing work he had started the year before. This culminated with hooking up the sink in our downstairs half bath. It only took us 3 years to actually have water running out of a faucet in one of our bathrooms. Yeah!

February

The episode of “Restoration Realities” featuring us aired on the DIY television network. Along with the show’s host and carpenter we built a period appropriate screen door and weather stripped our windows and front door.

Heather + Dave on Restoration Realities Part 1
Restoration Realities Part 2
Restoration Realities Part 3
Restoration Realities Part 4

March
Did absolutely NO work on the house.

April
Did absolutely NO work on the house, but may have scared a very nice sounding family away from the idea of restoring a rundown Craftsman home of their own.

May
Did absolutely NO work on the house. Starting to see a theme here?

June
Did absolutely NO work on the house.

July
Did absolutely NO work on the house, but I finally resolved the ownership issue of the oil and mineral rights to our property.

August
Finally, some work on the house! Stripped the woodwork and doors of the stairwell, landing and upstairs back hallway. I purchased leaded glass French doors from the early 1900′s off of eBay for the upstairs back hallway.

September
I publicly confess that I have resentful feelings towards the house for the first time. I think I used the word “hate.” And, in certain moments I do hate the house. There, I said it again. We are at an odd point in our restoration experience. The honeymoon period with the house is definitely over.

Maybe this is normal? Maybe around year 4 of an extensive restoration project everyone starts hating their house a little bit, or at least all the time, money and energy that goes into it? After all the work on our house year, after year, after year, we are barely at the halfway point of having our home fully restored.

It’s not like I hate the house all the time. It comes and goes. There are moments when I also love our house. Most of those loving moments are spent in the completed portion of the house.

October
We discovered that the upstairs sleeping porch, a 1918 addition, was inadequately framed. I’m not sure if inadequate is a strong enough word to describe opening up a wall and discovering two 2×2′s as the sole support for a load bearing wall. Shocking comes to mind, so does what the hell were they thinking, quickly followed by I wonder how poorly the rest of the sleeping porch is built?

Pablo rebuilt the wall and installed the leaded glass French doors.

November
Ah, November…November was a month chock full of resentful, or maybe even hateful feelings. There was a lot to hate.

Getting right to it, we both hated the color I selected to paint the stairwell and hallway. I was going for silvery sage but ended up with baby nursery mint green. We received alot of wonderful paint color suggestions, but in the end decided to go with a blue green color that matches the original 1912 wall color of our bedroom.

This leads us to the most mysterious occurrence that has happened during our entire restoration process. Two weeks after the woodwork was stained and sealed with several coats of varnish the woodwork faded. Drastically. Overnight. We have no idea how or why this happened. It’s so unbelievable. I didn’t even know that such a thing was possible? We are hoping that someone out there might be able to provide an answer.

December
Our stairwell and back hallway project is completed. One more down, seven major projects left to go…

Lulu and Winston underneath the Christmas tree

David and I spent a quiet Christmas in our little bungalow, just the two of us.

Looking forward to 2007!

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.

We recently received an email from a couple considering buying a house that sounds like it would need a good amount of work. I wanted to be supportive and encourage them, but I also felt that I needed to be honest about our experience. I’m left wondering if I just ended up scaring them away?

I question if someone had told me upfront what I was in for if I would have wanted to go forward with the house? Who am I kidding? Of course, I would have still wanted our house. I would have assumed our house would somehow be different, our experience would somehow be easier. Kind-of like when David tells me that the screaming child having a fit at the mall because he wants a cookie is an anomaly, that if we ever had children they would never act that way.

Fellow house restorers, what would you have said? Do you have any advice, caution or encouragement for someone considering undertaking a fairly extensive restoration with 3 young children?

Email:
Subject: Should we do this crazy thing?

Hi Heather!

We came across your site when doing research into a 1912 bungalow located in Southern California that we are considering buying. It has always been our dream to buy a Craftsman home, and we found this one and can’t believe how beautiful it is. We have three small children who would have to live through a major “cleaning up” of the house, and we have spent the last week stressing about all of the pros and cons of buying it.

Your site has only added to our problem with this big decision. It looks like a LOT of work, but you sure do look happy doing it! The house we are looking at needs tons of work and is WAY overpriced. I guess the days of buying a fixer upper at a fixer upper price are long gone. Our question is, would you guys do this over again if you had the choice? Do you think your type of remodel would be doable with kids in the house?

Thanks so much.

My Response
Hi!

Thanks so much for contacting us. First of all, I have to say that I am glad that we got the house. After 3.5 years I feel like I have some perspective. There is nothing like bringing a house back to life and these old homes are so special. When we get our house done I am sure I will think it is all worth it.

That said, this process is much more difficult than I had imagined when we first purchased the house. The main thing I didn’t realize is the amount of time it would take. I don’t just mean the amount of time it takes to complete the projects, I also mean the amount of time it takes away from your “normal” life. The first year we were in the house we didn’t go out to dinner, movies, see friends, watch tv (ok, we watched less tv) or all those little things people do without giving it much thought. Yes, we could have still done those things but it is so hard to enjoy time away from the house when you know there is so much to be done just to make your house livable. In the beginning it isn’t so bad because everything seems like an adventure and is still fun.

I also didn’t factor in the amount of dust and dirt these projects generate. We had 2 shop vacs going around the clock and plastic partitions up to try to contain the mess but it doesn’t really help all that much. Be prepared to have a layer of dust covering everything you own no matter what you do.

Then there is the money. In our case we grossly under estimated how much the work on the house would actually cost. A little bit of money spent here and there really adds up quickly. In our experience, you can start out doing a little project and as you get into it, you discover a structural problem or a plumbing problem. You delve into that problem and find something even more expensive behind that. The whole one step forward two steps back has led me to tears many times.

The best way I can explain it is to think of the house as a child. A very demanding child with special needs. Because that is the kind of focus and dedication the house will end up requiring. The house does add strain and takes the focus off your primary relationships. Because you are so busy working on the house you aren’t able to give your other relationships the same amount of time and energy as before the house. There is a constant level of strain. There have been times when I am washing the dishes in the bath tub, taking a shower at the gym or going to the Laundromat for months because of a plumbing issue when maybe I would rather come home, kick my shoes off and relax. But, I can’t kick my shoes off because everything in my house is covered in dust. It’s that kind-of thing for months or even years on end that just gets to you.

Then you get to where we are now. We have the house basically livable. But, we still have lots left to do and I can’t get geared up to go through all that again. I just want to live in the house and enjoy a semi-normal life. I don’t want to deal with the dirt, dust, energy and cost that I know will come with more work on the house. We’ll get to the point where we will work on the house again but we haven’t worked on the house for over a year and it’s very hard to get back into it once you stop.

I hope I haven’t scared you completely away from the idea but I am trying to be as honest as I can be. Personally, I would not go through a restoration as extensive as this one again unless we had the money to bring in a team to do the work and complete the project in 6 months – before we moved in. At the time we bought this house, I think we would have been better off finding a Craftsman house that was in better condition and spending more for it. We ended up putting that money into fixing this house up anyway.

But, it has been rewarding and we are now at a place where we can enjoy the house. I just wish that the house was completely done but we still have lots left to do. Even though we have done all this work, we are only half way there.

You have to go with your heart. There is nothing that anyone could have said that would have stopped me from buying this house. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. It hasn’t been easy and I do think it would be even harder with young children unless there is a way you could bring in help to get the work done quicker.

I hope this was helpful. I wish you and your family all the best!
heather

It started a several months ago with an email from our realtor asking if we wanted to be on the DIY network? I wrote back telling him maybe, depending on what we would have to do.

This led to discussions with the show’s producer and an in-home visit. Last Friday we learned that our house has been selected to be on a new show for the DIY network called Restoration Realities. We’ll also be on the show doing a project on our house.

I found this description from a “Do It Yourself Network Fact Sheet” posted online:

Restoration Realities
Follow homeowners as they face the step-by-step challenges of restoration and share the beauty and history that make restoring old homes so rewarding.

Restoration Realities travels across the country in search of restore-minded homeowners and their great old homes. One home is featured in each half-hour episode.

I have to confess that we don’t get the DIY network so I’ve never seen the show. Has anyone out there seen it?

Now, if I was going to do a show called Restoration Realities it would be a little different:
1. Show the homeowner leaving to go shower at the gym because that easy do-it-yourself plumbing project wasn’t so easy after all.

2. See the crazy homeowner breakdown sobbing on the phone to a plumber, begging them to come after showering at the gym four days in a row because every plumber called was either too busy or never showed for their scheduled appointment.

3. Watch as your befuddled homeowner realizes that her 92 year old front door lock is broken and that no amount of key turning or praying is going to open that door. Watch her almost have a heart attack and cry out “Absolutely NOT!” when a locksmith pulls out a hammer and chisel to use on the 92 year old door handle.

Capture the stress on the homeowner’s face when she realizes that she is going to have to make a decision of ‘Sophie’s Choice’ like proportions. Should she enter from the back door and ruin the still wet finish put down on the wood floor only two hours earlier, after days of sanding and prep work, or should she sacrifice the front door or at least it’s original hardware?

Stay tuned because after the commercial break your crafty homeowner and her locksmith sidekick will break into the house through a window causing much dog barking and an ear shatteringly loud house alarm to go off. To make it even more special, make sure it happens to be the homeowner’s birthday.

4. Have an animal trainer on set to direct the cat to run up the stairs the second after the homeowner finishes shellacking them. Allow the homeowner to think the cat is quarantined and that her spouse is watching him to make certain the little escape artist doesn’t make a run for it.

Zoom in on the homeowner with paint brush in hand, standing there with her mouth agape trying to form the words…hear her scream (insert spouse name here, for our purposes lets just use Dave), “Dave! I THOUGHT you were watching him!”

Edit out the ensuing swear words for primetime viewing.

5. Have your home owner start a “little project” and watch how quickly that “little project” grows into a HUGE project resulting in taking a room down to the studs, ripping out a floor and basically rebuilding that room from the ground up.

6. How about a restoration fashion show? Have your homeowners sashay down the catwalk modeling the latest in tool belts, hammers in hand, clad in paint splotched tee-shirts and sooty, ground in dirt and grease stained jeans. The voice over can proudly say that no amount of washing, bleaching or use of stain removers will ever get these clothes clean again!

7. Feature the best fast food restaurants in a 30 mile radius around the homestead. Your homeowners aren’t going to be cooking any time soon because, chances are, on any given day they won’t have running water, electricity in the kitchen or everything in the house, including their dishes, will be covered in dust. Sealing rooms off with plastic helps but dust won’t be contained. It’s “The Invasion of the Dust Mites…”

8. Set up hidden cameras to capture the expression on the homeowner’s face when she looks in the mirror after an important business meeting and realizes she just gave a presentation to a room full of people with green latex paint in her hair.

9. Today on Restoration Realities watch as our homeowners come to grips with the Golden 3x Rule: Projects cost 3 times more than you had estimated and take 3 times longer to finish.

See our homeowner pick her spouse (insert spouse name here, for our purposes lets just use Dave) Dave up off the floor after he adds up exactly how much money they have spent on the house. Listen in while they try to figure out line item by line item how this project got SO FAR off budget. This episode is a fun one!

10. Ok folks, get ready for Restoration Survivors. Our new spin-off pits young couples against the most challenging circumstances, the most perplexing restoration problems, and the most annoying tasks. Will they be able to work together to overcome the stress, day after day, week after week while they are hit with unforeseen and unexpected difficulties?

Who will run out of money? Who will decide to sell? Who’s marriage will survive, who will split up? Who will be the last couple standing? Who has the strength and cunning to be our next Restoration Survivor?

All winners will receive a 30 year mortgage, plus their home’s resale value.

That would be us!

You know, the people with their appliances sitting out in the yard?
That would be us!

We currently have a bathroom sink and console, washer, dryer and several doors sitting in the back yard and driveway.

Even Lulu has decided to get into the act of our backward slide into “those trashy people” by throwing her food all over the floor with gleeful abandon.

Yes, I realize that the smart thing to have done would have been to rent a dumpster. But, in our defense, Los Angeles has many people who make their living hauling trash and debris for people who don’t have a truck or the means to take the trash to the dump themselves. During past projects we have hired someone from the Home Depot parking lot or often people will see our trash and stop to ask if they can haul it for us.

I didn’t realize that we would end up with so much debris from this project – the trash pile kept growing…and growing…and growing. The trash pile has taken over the “good wood that I want to keep” pile. Everything is now mixed together in one colossal pile that will have to be sorted before it can be hauled away.

The downstairs bathroom is now gutted.

The bathroom floor will need to be built up so that it is level the rest of the floor. The bathroom floor was replaced before we bought the house due to water damage and a termite infestation. This floor is 6″ lower than the rest of the floor.

We are getting serious about starting the exterior restoration. I am going to call Kevin from Fresh Air Environmental Services to schedule the removal of the asbestos siding. We aren’t sure what condition the wood is in underneath the siding. Like most projects we start I am hoping for the best but preparing myself for the worst.

Our big debate, aside from what color to paint the house, is if we should remove the burglar/security bars covering the windows?

We have spoken with several members of the preservation society who encouraged us to remove the bars because they are a fire hazard and to rely on our security system.

Our neighbors, on the other hand, feel the neighborhood has gotten worse with drug dealers and prostitutes on the street corner a block from our house! I wonder how this is happening and I didn’t even realize it? I am often outside working in the yard and I had no idea. Our neighbors strongly advise us to keep the bars on for our protection.

At times I feel like there are two different worlds in our neighborhood. There is the world where people are buying these old homes and restoring them – the world without bars on the windows. And then there is the other world behind bars where most of my neighbors live; avoiding drug transactions and prostitutes while homeless people push shopping carts full of their worldly possessions down the street. The world where homes are allowed to decline because there is not enough money available for upkeep and home maintenance.

Sometimes I catch a glimpse of a homeless person walking down the street and feel guilty that we have the money to live in our house and to fix it up. I am not sure how to reconcile these two overlapping worlds?

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.

We are officially halfway done restoring the house. We have unofficially been on a break from working on the house for the past 3 years. The kitchen and main bathroom haven’t been upgraded since we bought the house. They are still awful!

List of projects and rooms left to be restored:
drum roll please…

Kitchen
Bathroom
2 Upstairs Bedrooms
Sleeping Porch
Back steps and stone patio
Put in a back yard and landscaping
Garage
New Fence

Hopefully, we will get either the bathroom or kitchen started and finished in 2009. Get ready for lots of inspirational kitchen and bathroom photos in the mean time. Planning is the fun part!

I just read an interesting article in the New York Times: “Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Solvent“. A couple purchased a 1913 Tudor brick house for $65,000 12 years ago in Akron, Ohio. The home is amazing (before and after photos included in the article) with 6 fireplaces, solarium, billiards room and servant call buttons. The couple offered the owner 45K less than the already reduced asking price. The offer was accepted because the house was about to be condemned.

They tackled the majority of the restoration work themselves, saving a considerable amount of money in the process. The couple has no debt except for a 55K mortgage. It is an interesting comparison to people who purchased more house than they could afford and are now feeling the pinch.

The restoration, still ongoing, is not without personal sacrifice. One of the things that I have struggled with during our ongoing house restoration is the loss of personal time, family time and trying to strike a balance between working on the house and “having a life.”

When asked how long projects like re-caulking 733 window panes takes, the home owner replied:

“Years,” Mr. Giffels says. “This is where I’m glad I wrote the book 10 years later, it gave me a perspective of all the time it cost: All my vacation time, all my possible spare time, a number of years of my children’s growing up I gave to my children’s house. And once you get in it, you can’t get out, you can’t sell a house in that condition. When all of a sudden you realize what it is costing you in your life, it’s too late.”

Boy, I can sure relate to that sentiment. How about you?

Although, after reflection, the couple says they wouldn’t do anything differently. And, I understand that feeling, too.

A book, “All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House,” recounting the couple’s experience comes out next month.

Over the last three days we have been frantically looking for antique brick that will match the original bricks on the porch. While I was doing some searching on the internet yesterday I remembered that the recent LA Magazine had mentioned a stone store which sells high quality stones for construction projects – Bourget Brothers.

I gave them a call to see if they carried bricks. They do. They also happen to be conveniently located in Santa Monica so I visited them this morning and I think I’ve found a match. Heather and I will be returning to the store this afternoon to take a closer look and purchase the 100 bricks we need to continue our porch restoration.

The only thing left to do is sand and refinish the little back hallway floor. I’ll start on that after the holidays.

Photo taken from the dining room. We selected a blue green color from Benjamin Moore’s Historical collection called Wythe Blue HC-143. It’s a darker version of our first paint color attempt. Our bedroom plaster was originally tinted a similiar color to Wythe Blue and served as inspiration.

Top of the stairwell. Light fixture is from Rejuvenation.

Taken at the top of the stairway landing, looking down.

Taken at the top of the stairway landing, looking towards the sleeping porch.

Photo of the antique leaded glass doors, taken from the upstairs bathroom. It is difficult to adequately photograph these beautiful doors due to the narrowness of the back hallway.

Photo of the back hallway taken from our bedroom.

This project somehow doesn’t seem as exciting as some of our past projects but it was just as much work!

David and I have been having the House Cleaning War. We aren’t very traditional when it comes to gender roles and usually share the cleaning responsibilities equally. But, lately David has been very busy with work and freelance projects. I have been less busy with work, so David felt I should be picking up more of the cleaning duties.

On the surface, this sounds perfectly reasonable. What I found objectionable was his approach, the way he expected me to clean. I don’t like being bossed around and decided not to not clean…at all…for the past 3 weeks. My decision has not been well recieved.

David would do a little cleaning here and there, getting angrier and angrier every step of the way. This made me want to clean even less, although, there really isn’t much less than nothing at all.

This impass may have continued indefinately except for a business card with “Please call regarding possible filming for TV show” written on the back, left on our front door by a location scout yesterday afternoon. I called the number on the card and set up a time for the production crew to do a walk through of our house today. Of course, I cleaned the house before they came. But, and here is the important thing, I did NOT clean because David ordered me to.

The production crew felt the scale of our house is wrong for their scene and they are looking for bedrooms on the ground floor. They took several pictures of our front door and may want to use it for a different scene. I felt a little sad that our house wasn’t picked. They are going to be filming in two houses on our street.

All minor power struggles in my marriage aside, thank God this TV thing came along. The mess was really starting to get to me.

After two and a half years of nonstop restoration we have decided to take a break. Not that it was an official decision that we discussed, it was more of an unofficial decision where we just stopped working on the house. So, the the back porch waits with bathroom sink sitting on the floor, holes in the drywall where we moved the wiring and plumbing, and the floor needs to be sanded down one more time and sealed. Not big projects to be sure but we have lost our momentum.

In the past week the only project we have tackled is taking the new screen door latch apart and spraying the inside with cooking oil (because who wants to go to Home Depot to pick up WD-40 anyway?) so that it works smoother. We thought about documenting it for the web site but then decided, “Oh, what’s the point?”

We are taking a break for a couple of weeks or a couple of months, I’m not really sure, until the mood strikes us and working on the house starts to sound fun again. Don’t worry about us though, we’ll be going out to dinner, watching movies IN THE THEATER, meeting up with friends and doing all the things we put on hold because we were working on the house.