We did it! Finished bathroom and kitchen!

We finally did it! The bathroom and kitchen are finished and construction is done at the new house. Hoooooraaaaaay! The bathroom was actually finished a while ago, but I haven't gotten around to posting about it. Here are the pics:

Bathroom Before: 

Bathroom After! 

For both the kitchen and bath, I wanted to make upgrades that would add value to the house for resale, that I could enjoy immediately. I wanted to make things modern but in keeping with the vintage feel of the house.

In the bathroom, we took out all the fixtures and put in a new tub, toilet, vanity, and medicine cabinet. We used a carerra marble hexagonal tile and white ceramic subway tile. We also enlarged the window and added a recessed cubby for toiletries. The new tub is great for soaking and we have a super shower head. The vanity has lots of a storage and a beautiful marble top, and the medicine cabinet is mirrored on the inside which adds even more opportunity to preen. I love it!

Kitchen Before: Nothing totally horrible or non-functioning, just kind of sad and blah.

Kitchen After!

We replaced the lower cabinets with Ikea kitchen cabinets (another post about that ordeal to follow later) but kept the upper cabinets which were original to the house. I was worried about the contrast, but I think it works. I chose caesarstone countertops in Frosty Carrina, and it looks like marble but is more durable. I shelled out a few extra bucks for drawer pulls from Restoration Hardware, and got the RH knobs from my contractor from another job. The biggest splurge was the range - a Thermador dual fuel range. Since most of my time at home is spent in the kitchen, I thought it was worth it.  Plus they threw i a free dishwasher (a deal from Absolute Appliances). I also got a KitchenAid fridge, a new hood, and an Ikea farmhouse sink.

And the tile behind the sink? That is a cement tile that I picked out despite not wanting to add more gray to the house. But I just fell in love with it. Over the counters we used white subway tile since there wasn't enough room for the cement tiles. I worried the space would feel disjointed, but I think the matching cabinets by the stove and the fridge tie it all together. I also got a bonus custom-made wine rack thrown in.

There's still plenty of work to do on the house, but the two most important areas are done. I'm going to pick out some new light fixtures and do some accessorizing, but construction is finished. Two months later, I've unpacked all my kitchen boxes and can start cooking up a storm. Get ready for some more food posts!

Of course, Mimi didn't "Do it herself" this time. My contractor, Todd Segal, did a great job both with installation and design advice, with budget friendly solutions. I found him through an article in the LA Times, he was local to Highland Park, and he's a fellow New Englander. Now that my job is finished, I can share him with the world. Thanks Todd! 

And thanks to my "DH" (dear housemate), who put up with construction, was a great help, and put up with my crankiness. Thanks friend!

Highland Park Hideaway

I've been in the house 1 week now and am loving it. Despite the stress of my poor sick Puppy, it's been a great week in the new house. I get lots of natural light in the morning and wake up to the sounds of birds chirping. It's cute but a little annoying at 5:30AM, but better than the helicopter and highway traffic which I used to hear. The house is in shambles because of the construction and there's dust everywhere, so I haven't even unpacked. But I still love my little house, vegging in front of the tv with Puppy, and exploring the neighborhood.

Highland Park is AWESOME. When I decided to move here, I had no idea where or what it was. It is a very cool, funky neighborhood which has become a benchmark in LA for rapid gentrification (which I guess includes me now). There was a lot of plaid. It was featured on NPR's Marketplace last year when they set up a storefront in the neighborhood to track the progress of gentrification. Economics and politics aside, I love it! It feels like a community where people know each other, it's ethnically diverse (11% Asians!), it's close to downtown and Pasadena, and it has less of the urban sprawl feel that most of LA has. It's a little gritty, but it has character, much like the neighborhoods I've lived in before (which all skyrocketed in real estate price after I left. You're welcome).

And most importantly, HP has great food. Already I've found my favorite huarache and burrito place, a great pizza place, and a boozey cocktail bar with a great patio. All within strolling distance. What more could a girl need? A Korean restaurant or ramen shop would be nice, but hey, I can't get too spoiled. Not when I have these tacos right next door...

 And a fun little fact about Highland Park: fashion megastore Forever 21 started right here. It actually started as "Fashion 21" and you can still visit the original location on Figueroa Street.

While I don't support their labor practices, or skimpy clothing, it's funny to see their origins right here.

Home Sweet Home

Well, I did it! I finally moved into my new house! Moving itself was pretty uneventful. My apartment was pretty small and I got rid of my most excess junk when I moved west. But it's still amazing how much stuff I accumulated in just one year. My first night in the house alone was a little scary, but when I woke up this morning to the sound of birds chirping and sunlight streaming in the windows, I was just happy. Plain happy.

Fortunately, the contractor got the bathroom sink and toilet installed in time for moving day. But I am still without a shower or kitchen. Hopefully they will get wrapped up quickly. In the meantime, I've set up my bed, couch, and tv, which is really all a girl needs. Plus, I've set up several napping corners for Puppy. Poor little guy had heart failure on moving day, and was in the animal hospital all weekend. It was very scary, but he is on the mend and back home.

I'm going to be slow to settle in and unpack. Partially because I am basically living in a construction site and there's dust everywhere. But also because I may still decide to paint, fix windows, etc., etc. Now that I've spent about 24 hours here, I have a better idea already of what I want and where. Before it was all kind of theoretical, but luckily I don't think anything we've picked remotely will result in a hot mess. So far, the bathroom is looking great! The floor tile is done, the bathroom tile needs to be grouted, and the medicine cabinet and shower fixtures need to be installed. And then it's on to the kitchen.

Not much else to report. Stay tuned for more renovation stories, likely including my co-workers ostracizing me for being unshowered and stinky. I guess it's a good excuse to get a membership at the Korean spa!

Decisions, Decisions

I've been a busy woman this past month+ since I last posted. After much document signing, I finally closed on my little California cottage in Highland Park. I can't wait to move in, but I still have a few more weeks left on my current apartment lease and we're busy working on the bathroom and kitchen upgrades. They say you should wait and live in the space for a while before you renovate, but the bathroom and kitchen were so grungy, I just wanted to tear it out. Which we did on Thursday!

I hope the bathroom will be done by the end of the month when I have to move. I figure I can live without a kitchen for a few weeks - there are lots of great restaurants and taco trucks within walking distance of the house. Walking distance. In LA!

However, the bathroom needs to get done quickly. It has been a whirlwind of decisions for such a small space. What kind of sink, what kind of tub, what kind of tile, what kind of faucet, what kind of finish, etc., etc. I've developed a whole new vocabulary related to bathroom fixtures. And while I had some idea of what I wanted it to look like, when it got down to actually picking and buying the stuff, I panicked a little. The vanity and sink alone almost made me give up. But then I reminded myself - it's just a bathroom. Yes, it's my first real home and I want it to be functional and beautiful and an oasis to relax in. But it's a bathroom. And it will be much nicer than any bathroom I've ever had regardless. Because it's mine! (and because the vanity I picked has a lovely marble countertop and we have this cute tile and I finally picked a showerhead with multiple settings and...).

I wish I could slow things down and plan a little more thoughtfully, but at a certain point, you have to stop Googling and just make a decision. Otherwise, you fall down a rabbit hole of specs and consumer reviews, and it's 2AM and you've spent 4 hours comparing drain covers. So I'm not going to obsess and I'm just going to enjoy the process of being on my own personal HGTV show, without the cameras or free designers.

Speaking of which, here is Puppy making sure the cable works in the new house watching Property Brothers. Of course the first thing I bought was a little rug for him to snuggle on! Don't worry. It won't be on the floor forever. I have my eye on a very cute mid-century modern credenza from the shop down the street. That will be an easy decision to make!

What to Inspect When You're Expecting (to buy a house)

Today I had a 3-hour inspection for my house - which I now feel comfortable calling mine because I know I definitely want it. I was worried that the inspection would tell us that the house was a disaster and I'd have to back out of the sale. But it went very well and I learned a lot about my house, the history of California building codes, etc.

Inspections are daunting because it is the job of the inspector to tell you exactly what is wrong with your house, from the outside in. When I purchased my last condo in Cambridge, I knew what I was getting into because I bought it from my brother. And even then the inspection was terrifying! You leave with a laundry list of things to fix, repair, or just hope they won't explode while you sleep. Walking into this situation I know nothing about the house's history (although I think I can get some juicy gossip out of my neighbor who has lived next door for 40 years). But luckily, there was nothing unexpected or of major concern. And with a good inspector, they will be honest about what is urgent, what is good to address down the line, and what would be good for living in comfort. My inspector was all of these!

There are a lot of cool historical details about my house. There are built-ins in the kitchen and bedroom closets, beautiful glass door knobs, cool architectural details on the ends of the roof (I forget what she called those). The house has redwood siding, which sounds very fancy to me as an East Coaster. There are some areas which need work, but for a 90 year old house, she said it's doing great. I have copper plumbing, my electrical was done properly, and the roof was well constructed and doesn't need to be replaced. Those were my major concerns and there's nothing to be concerned about.

One problem I was glad to hear about was the foundation under the bathroom needs some repair. Which means...bathroom renovation!! I was going to hold off on this until Phase 2 of my home repair, since it wasn't urgent. But all structural repairs get put in Phase 1 so yay! Here's my inspiration:

I love the dramatic color of the clawfoot tub, the hexagonal tile on the floor, and the subway tile on the walls. What a way to start the day showering in this room? Time to start pricing projects out...Closing day seems so far away!

Status Change...Pending

Hello Interwebs,

I apologize for my absence. It's been almost a month since my last post. I've been crunched at work by day and house hunting on nights and weekends, obsessively checking RedFin and visiting open houses. I didn't make it through the Whole 30 - I did about a Half 30. But I continue to eat about 85% paleo, with a few exceptions like my birthday dumpling crawl of the San Gabriel Valley! We hit up 3 tasty places and I will say that by far my favorites were the giant meat pies at Beijing Pie House in Monterey Park. They were almost like British or Aussie meat pies, but when you bite into them they are filled with delicious savory broth. Yummmmm.

But enough about food! and on to an update on house hunting. The market in LA has been crazy. I started looking in mid-February, after coming back from Boston and realizing that the Game of Thrones prophecy, "Winter Is Coming", was not a metaphor but a real life disaster in my hometown. I was never going back. My first 2 weekends house hunting I saw a few really cute places, but I still wasn't sure about exactly what I wanted. Then as the weeks progressed, fewer and fewer houses came on the market, and they became smaller yet more expensive. Every house seemed to end up at least $50K over the list price. My realtor told me that the common strategy is to list low to get more people in the door and start these crazy bidding wars. (I know this is a good strategy because that's how I sold my Cambridge condo. Karma is a bitch). So I had to adjust my thinking - either go with a smaller place without all the "must haves" that I wanted, or go way out of my budget and eat dog food for the next 10 years. And not the fancy organic kind Puppy gets. I made a few offers but got quickly outbid, and in one case was beat by some Mr./Ms. Moneybags with bags full of cash.

I started to give up hope. Maybe it wasn't my time. Maybe it was a sign I shouldn't put down roots in LA. There are earthquakes! drought! Kardashians! Going through RedFin listings was starting to feel like reading OKCupid dating profiles - taking the fun out of a major life choice and making it kind of sad and creepy. Every day my RedFin updates read "Status Change - Sold" or "Pending", and had very few new properties. Finally, I thought, "If I don't see something this weekend, I give up. I'll rent for a few more years till I get my own bags full of cash."

Ah, me of little faith. Last week, I found a listing that looked potentially promising, or potentially disappointing. The pictures were terrible, there was no staging, and it was a 2BR with a "bonus room off the master bedroom." I had already seen a few places where the "bonus room" was in fact the 2nd bedroom, and would have been barely big enough for a hobbit. But it was in a great location and it had a red door - and I'm a sucker for colorful front doors!

I went to the open house, and the listing agent never showed up. But my brilliant agent encouraged me to go back and we went to take a look the next day. I walked in skeptically, not wanting to be disappointed. But after just a minute, I knew. This was The House. This was The One. It had a good amount of space, great location, built-ins in every closet, a detached garage to convert someday, and character! So many of the houses I saw were cookie cutter flips which looked slick but sterile, often with terrible fixture or decor choices. The kitchen and bath weren't great, but they weren't unlivable, and I knew it could make it my own.

Actually, I know I can make it my own. Because the day after we saw it and put a bid in, my offer was accepted! On my birthday! It was the best present I could get. And it was well within my budget with room to spare for renovations. So you know what that means? This blog is about to Blow. Up. With some home renovations. Who's ready to do a little light demo?

Although I shouldn't get ahead of myself. The home inspection could reveal major problems that aren't worth dealing with. So it's not in the bag. But if I do want it, flaws and all, it's mine.

And the best part of my week was seeing my RedFin notification today featuring My house - Pending!

Mucho thanks to Heather D, my fabulous agent!!! We still have a ways to go, but she has been an amazing guide through this process. Check her out at her blog, The Good Life LA. She's also got a great post about where to find the best pastrami sandwiches in LA!

Roasted Romanesco and Salmon and Paleo Aeoli

I've now completed 2 weeks of the Whole 30. It's been pretty good, except anytime I have to eat out. I had Korean food a few times and pretty sure I had some soy sauce, but I'm not going to beat myself over that. I haven't been posting all my meals, but this week I did make Nom Nom Paleo's kalua pork, paleo mayo, and a few thrown together dishes like this one...

Roasted Romanesco & Salmon with Paleo Aeoli

I love romanesco! It's like a broccoli and a cauliflower married and had an alien baby. It looks weird but is so tasty. You can eat it raw or steamed. Or roasted - which works for pretty much any vegetable you don't recognize.

1 head romanesco, chopped into pieces
1 tbsp avocado oil
1 salmon filet
lemon slices
a few sprigs of dill
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450. Toss the romanesco in oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Clean the salmon and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place dill and lemon slices on top of the fish. Roast in the oven for 10-15 miutes. Easy and done!

Paleo Aeoli
While my fish and veggies were roasting, I thought I'd try Nom Nom's paleo mayo. I've tried to make aeoli in the past but could never get it to work because I didn't have a food processor. Little did I know I could just use my immersion blender. This was so easy and tasty. It was a good substitute for the usual yogurt dill sauce I use when I make salmon. I must admit - the one thing I'm really missingg these days is dairy.

1 tbsp lemon juice
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper
couple sprigs of dill

Throw it all in the immersion blender cup and blend. Simple!