The fun part has finally started. We closed escrow on the beach house on Friday and work on the house began today. The "funky" ceiling in the downstairs family room is gone, as well as all of the cottage ceilings. The photos here show how dramatic the change in the ceiling is and you can see we gained about 6" of ceiling height! I have no idea why or how long this ceiling has been in the house. I am just so happy to see it gone!

Both bathrooms are gutted and the old kitchen will be torn out tomorrow. It's hard to believe that so much can happen in the first day.

Last week I hired a wonderful guy named Dave to help with most of the work. (And no this is not my husband Dave!) He is pulling all of the permits and keeping the remodel on schedule. He also ordered all of the new windows. We expect they will be here in two weeks.

Last week I ordered all of the kitchen cabinets which will be delivered on Friday, picked out the hardwood floors and ordered the hardware for the bathrooms, kitchen and new outside h/c shower. I also picked out tile for both bathrooms. There are so many things to pick out and order and I haven't even started furnishing the house yet. Holy smokes.

But I am so happy the work has finally begun!

Click on the photo for a description and Option #. Then please vote so I can make a selection. Thanks!

I am having a serious problem choosing light fixtures for the entry stairwell. It's kind of a pathetic issue since I only need to select five lights for the entire house (the rest will be recessed lighting). The lights over the current stairwell look like this:

There are a few projects for the house that are DIY'ers. Yep, they are do-it-yourself projects and it is time to pull out my sewing machine. There was a time when I was referred to as "Susie seamstress" because I use to sew everything! I sewed clothes, crafts, quilts, suits, halloween and school play costumes and even my wedding dress. But then when I started painting my "sewing time" became non-existent.
I have been pricing and shopping online for pillows and cushions and the prices are really high. So I have decided it is time to dust off the sewing machine. I am going to make all of the throw pillows and cushions (for the two trundle beds) plus some floor cushions. My best resource is shopping in downtown LA on Maple Street as the fabric is really inexpensive and they have great options. I can also find the cushion forms for about one half of what they would cost elsewhere.
Finally, I want to have some folding chairs available so I am going to try to transform my black, somewhat rusty, folding chairs. I saw a post on Pinterest (see photo above) and love how they came out.
I added the links to the "how to" pages on all three of the photos so click the photos if you want more information.

Pictured here are an actual "before" photo and the desired "after" photo for the downstairs family room. Now can you see my vision? Haha.

One of the most intimidating things about this remodel has been the question of "where can I find really good and reliable people to help me with the remodel?". Finding a plumber, electrician, hardwood floor guy, contractor, etc. is hard when you don't live in the immediate area. So I have been on a mission these past few weeks to find the best of the best.
My first resource was my realtor. That didn't work too well. Next I asked the guy who did the house inspection. He had a lot of great resources and it looks like his referrals are turning out to be the best. I also tried friends and "friends of friends" who had any ties to the Ventura area. That is working very well.
You might be wondering why all of my posts are about stuff I am buying and not the remodel itself. That is because we haven't officially closed on the house yet. We close escrow next week and we are at the point that there isn't anything that can stand in our way to getting the house. Whew. I can finally sleep again.
I put together what I am calling a "Scope of Work". It's a 10 page document that lists everything I would like to have done at the house and it has pictures (from Houzz and Pinterest) of what I would like the end result to look like. It includes things like mouldings, doors, windows, hardwood floors, tile, tongue and groove ceiling, etc. I have given the document to everyone I have interviewed so far. Let's hope it will help clarify my vision for the house. The two photos above are an example of my "scope of work document".

My experience with Craig's List has been nonexistent until this past month. My oldest son made me aware of  of Craig's List as it was crucial in finding his apartment in San Francisco. I had also heard from friends about the great deals that could be found on used furniture so I thought I would give it a try.
One of my big ticket items for the beach house is a large farmhouse style table and chairs. The "and chairs" part of the last sentence is crucial because the chairs are often more expensive than the table!
I searched Craig's List on-line for "Pottery Barn dining tables" in the Los Angeles area and came across some options that looked somewhat promising. Once I did some research I found may of the tables were too small (I needed one about 90" long). But fortunately I found the table pictured above with two leaves and six chairs.  Retail for the set at Pottery Barn is about $2000. I got the table and six chairs for about $500.00. 
I also found cruiser bikes for $100 and the seller was from Pasadena. So these four bikes were delivered to my house this weekend. Don't you love the colors? (I will take off the plastic once they arrive in Ventura.

For years we have rented a beach house in Newport Beach. For the past three years we have rented the same house. It's a dream house and it was decorated perfectly.
One of the things I love about the house are the framed Beach Boys album covers that are hung in the stairway. There is something about the vintage LP covers that just make me laugh. They fit perfectly in the house. I hope the owrners don't mind that I have borrowed their idea for our new beach house.
I started my hunt for Beach Boys LP covers at an antique store in Ventura a few weeks ago. The store was one of those large antique places with lots of stalls. Every other one had hundreds of old LP's. So I started searching for Beach Boys albums. Two hours later I had found two. Yep, only two! And the good news was they were about $6.00 each. I was going to type that the bad news was that it took me two hours to find them. But to be honest, it was fun. I really enjoyed re-discovering all of my favorite albums of the 1970's and 80's. Just seeing the covers brought back so many great memories. And of course I hadn't thought of them in decades. 
It saddened me to think our kids don't really have any visual association with the "albums" of today. Since everything is electronic there really isn't a graphic image that you will associate with a CD. (They won't see the Kenny Loggins album cover from "Celebrate Me Home" and be reminded of the night they drove all around Santa Barbara with their girlfriends trying to find the house that matched the photo on the back of the album cover. Oh gosh, please don't tell my children I actually did that.) Right?
When I got home from my trip down nostalgia lane I went on ebay and found six more Beach Boy LP's. Some were even cheaper than the ones I had found in the antique store. So I bought them. And I should probably mention that I only picked the album covers that fit in to my color palette ... at least somewhat ...
A few days later when the album covers arrived Dave said to me, "I thought we were going to put your art on the walls". I assured him that was the case. But a little touch of nostalgia is a good thing too. 
Does anybody know what I can do with eight Beach Boys albums?

There is a true art to shopping on-line. If you are smart about it you can save hundreds of dollars. I know this is a fact because I just did it!
Pottery Barn is having a huge sale on duvet covers and bed linens. I was a little bothered by the sale because the duvet cover and shams I ordered last week have already had a price decrease ... and they haven't arrived yet. Fortunately I called Pottery Barn and they instantly refunded the difference (and just so you know, as long as you call within 30 days of your order then you will get a refund).
I spent a lot of time on the PB website and found some amazing deals. The Pic-Stitch Quilt and Shams (which are pictured above) are on sale but the ones in the Sandalwood color are 50% lower than the sale price. I am not sure why but what a great bargain!
Once I had filled my shopping cart with four duvet covers, three quilts and a ton of pillow shams I opened up a new browser window, went to ebay and bought a 15% off coupon for $2.99. (All you need to do is make sure the coupon is valid on sale items.) Within a few minutes the code for the coupon was emailed to me and it reduced my ENTIRE ORDER by 15%. Amazing. 
The three items pictured above almost complete my bedding needs. I still need to purchase my favorite sheets in the entire world (and they are a deal too) and I need to figure out the bedding for the two twin sized trundels, which is four more beds. Ugh!

We spent all afternoon at the house today meeting with a contractor, electrician, plumber, etc. It's hard to coordinate meetings like this when you are still in escrow and there are two real estate agents and a homeowner that need to be involved in the coordination. Fortunately everyone showed up and we made a lot of progress.
We spent most of the afternoon talking about the changes and soliciting bids for everything we intend to do to the house. We are going to replace the interior doors with 5-panel doors as pictured above. Of course the moulding around the doors also has to be replaced and enhanced. We spent quite a bit of time talking about door knobs and what type won't rust considering our location at the beach. Rubbed oil (huh?) or stainless or ?? After we got home I discovered a whole box of glass antique knobs that I had saved from the remodel of our South Pasadena home. I am hoping glass knobs can survive the salt air better than most. I absolutely love these knobs and they are going to be in the beach house!
The linens pictured above are from Pottery Barn and will look great in either of the king bedded rooms. They can go in the master or guest bedroom, I think I will decide when my package arrives and I can see them up close. There are so many sales right now. A lot of the bedding on the Pottery Barn website is cheaper than the options listed on ebay. Too funny!
I also made my first ever purchase on Carig's List yesterday. But I need to take a photo of my "absolute steal" before I will post about it tomorow.

One of the really fun parts about doing this remodel is "the hunt" to find unique antique items to include in the beach house.  I am on a quest to find really cool vintage pieces (i.e. furniture, light fixtures or bath fixtures) for every room in the house. 

I purchased my first item for the beach house today at a really cool store called TINI. It actually stands for "This is Not Ikea" and their website is http://www.thisisnotikea.com.  I should probably mention that I was actually googling IKEA when their website appeared on my computer screen. I am guessing that is wht they came up with the name of their store ... haha. 

I was intrigued by the items featured in the photo and followed the link. For those of you who enjoy flea market and antique shopping, you know that there are very few antique stores that have photos of every item in their store on their website. TINI is one of those exceptions, so I was able to shop their entire store online and find this absolutely cool bathroom sink! I called the store and they gave me measurements and also discounted the price by almost 50%. I went to TINI today and bought it. The sink will end up in the upstairs bathroom in a whitewashed bathroom vanity. (And that's only dust on the sink, it's in perfect condition!). And if you recall, the sink is one of the colors in my color palette.
I also bought the mirror in the picture below. It will either end up in the upstairs hallway or end up as a headboard for one of the king sized beds. 

Did I mention this Sunday is the Rose Bowl Antique Swap Meet? I can't wait!

The photos at the bottom of this post are what I refer to as the "before pictures". I took them during the inspection during which I also had a chance to meet the owners. They were very gracious and wanted to hear about our remodel plans .  I hope they know we love their house but just want to make it eventually feel like "our house". And you must be sure to check out the ceiling in the downstairs family room. It's pretty funky. But easily removeable!

Before you see the "before shots", here a few of the "inspirational photos" I am using for the remodel.

And the "before" photos ...

I have been uploading a ton of photos on Pinterest and Houzz since we put the offer on the house. There are so many incredible ideas to be found on the internet. 
So what do you think so far?