It's all about the details at the moment. Since the house is long since framed and drywalled we have a lot more time and energy to dedicate to minor details like the precise distance between the slats on our roof and garage door, or exactly how the stair rods should go into the stair treads. These are the details we had never thought about before. We may now be at risk of over thinking them. The point at which Ash started debating between a gap of 1-1/2" versus 1-7/16" gap between the slats I had to call time.  Honestly, now the roof is done, I'm not sure any of these would have been the wrong choice. Or if we'd even notice if the carpenter used a different measurement altogether. But it felt like an important decision at the time. The debate about how to insert the stair rods into the treads was easier. We want them to look as slick and seamless as possible. The slickest and most seamless option will cost an extra $10 per stair rod, as it involves hand machining ...

 You win some, you lose some. We are winning a lovely new wall, to replace the chain link fence - which replaced the DIY wooden fence that used to be there. The old fence (backdrop to the 2020 Easter egg hunt). Unfortunately it turns out the former owner had sneaked his way onto city land, and his boundary fence was situated several feet outside his actual property boundary. Our builder, honest as the day is long, is bringing us back in line with our legal limits. The chainlink is where the yard used to end. The blocks are where it will now end. I know we didn't really ever own that land but I do feel like we lost something. But the City of Hermosa gained back something that was rightfully theirs, that extra foot of land around the path down to Clark Field. I suppose they're welcome to it. The former owner was no stranger to encroaching on city land. About a decade ago he planted what our neighbours describe as a 4' high stick in that same patch of dirt, by the path down to...

 More long ago tile choices being justified... And oooh, we're feeling pretty good about the way this roof deck is shaping up. The ADU kitchen doesn't quite look like the Pinterest vision but we're starting to see how it might, some day soon.

The skin is going on the house, outside and in. We're doing cement-board and stucco on the exterior, which will be black, white and grey because that's what you do when you build a house in 2021/22. Exterior elevations are in this old post . It's really nice to finally see those windows set in proper walls, and the waterproof wrap hidden with something that looks almost house-like. The Tyvek wrap look wasn't a keeper Where the siding meets the stucco Even more rewarding is the progress within. The drywall is up, and has been plastered and painted, so the rooms are starting to look a bit cleaner and neater. Some of my favourite features are already starting to shine. These six things in particular are giving me joy: 1. This archway, the entry to our closet, which matches the arch of our mirror. Makes me so happy. 2. This curve that hides a bunch of ugly necessities in the entrance to the guest room. Didn't want it, but now I love it. 3. Penelope's loft. I mean. 4...

At last, plans are in and the clock is ticking! We have submitted our plans to Hermosa Beach City Hall for 'approval in principle'. The package included: Floor plans and exterior elevations - to demonstrate that we plan to observe the planning code and build an actual house, which is set back from the plot borders as required, and is no taller than it should be, and has doors and windows and a roof and walls. Civil Sheets - the wretched 'c-sheets' which took forever and are the reason we didn't get plans in at the end of last year. These show that we will capture and filter all the water that lands on the property as well as that leaves the house before releasing it to the city's drains (and therefore directly into the sea).  We're all about keeping the Santa Monica Bay clean, obvs. A large cheque. Not the largest one we'll write to the city by a long way. Still, a significant chunk. The City now has 20 days to respond - although because they a...

So said a neighbour passing by, a couple of weeks ago. If the question had come within a few days of us moving in, I might have blushed, demurred, deflected, or all three. I might have been embarrassed to admit that yes, we are tearing down this characterful beach cottage. Perhaps because of the blue clogs, and the fact it'd been in the same family for so long, Casa Del Sol is a bit of a local landmark. People dislike change. And if you've lived in Hermosa Beach for decades, you see the influx of new, larger homes as part of a worrying trend of newbies and incomers who don't respect beach culture and as a result are destroying the charm of this little surf town. I have some sympathy for the anti-gentrification in that it would be a shame if the entire town was made up of soulless new builds. It's nice to see older homes being preserved and updated, and many are worth that treatment. But here's the thing. I've lived in this house for long enough now to kno...

We finally stopped tinkering with the floor plans, adding and subtracting stories, and dithering about roof decks. We consider these to be floor plans to be pretty much final. That is to say, they represent the house we want to build. My  previous post  shows how it will look from the outside. Here's where we landed on the floor plans (if you click the image will expand in a pop-up): Below ground Ground floor First floor (if you're British anyway) Roof And yes, I do still consider it a two story house despite the rooftop lounge and the wine room. I think we should probably celebrate. Getting to final floor plans is a major milestone: we've reached basecamp in the mountain of building a house. Or maybe we've just got our maps out and decided on a route. Either way, it's the end of a phase and a cheque has been written to the architect to prove it. Getting here only took us about a month longer than I thought it would, which isn't bad cons...

I guess we just got carried away. And we had a lot of fun doing it. We loved the floor plans and we loved the elevations (eventually) and so I suppose we loved the whole house. We were so happy we were about to submit the plans to the city and the Coastal Commission and get moving on the approval process. But something niggled. When I described the house to friends, it sounded a little excessive. As in, after I described the living space and the bedrooms I had to say 'wait, there's more'. There was an additional story with a couple of rooms that seemed a little superfluous. More of a want than a need. Then again, as we soothed ourselves, 'we're only going to do this once in our lives, we should make sure we do get everything we can'. Then there was a offhand comment the architect made about the build costs having crept up - to 25% over our original budget. We did some calculations and thought weeeeellll maybe we could make that work. But, as I pointed ou...

Over the past couple of months this house grew. The idea of a modest, 4 bed+ house around a spacious courtyard spawned the floorplans for a 6+ bedroom colossus, around an ever-decreasing courtyard. Some things (my office, the deck off the master) got smaller or deleted altogether. But then we started throwing on things like the o-furo, an outdoor workout space, a mudroom, a wine room with space to actually sit down, and more balconies and decks. And then I got the fear. I was afraid we were creating a monster with many empty leaf-strewn balconies.  Since then we've ditched the o-furo and the outdoor workout space, plus several hundred square foot of balcony. I think we're in a saner place now. It is now a 5 bedroom house with 2 living rooms (okay 3 if you count the library nook), 2 modest offices and a wine room. It's no Versailles, and although it does still look like quite a large house I'm confident we'll use every room. No redundant 'formal' dining ...

We're in! We squeezed our 2300 sq ft home's worth of possessions into Casa Del Sol's cockroach infested* 1500 sq ft. The former owner left us the clogs and the Casa Del Sol sign, you will be pleased to hear. He also bequeathed several electrical outlets that don't work, a side yard full of broken plant pots and random street furniture, and the ugliest blinds I've ever seen. It feels a bit makeshift - the old IKEA Expedit and some plastic drawers have been pressed back into service and half our possessions are in boxes in the garage - but it works. And life on Loma is good! Here's why. Being 1/4 mile closer to the beach makes a dramatic difference to how beachy life feels. Moving to a quieter street helps too. I love seeing all the beach-goers walking by our house: the Junior Guards walking by in their swimsuits and hoodies, barefoot surfers, kids in red wagons. It's friendlier here too. All the dog walkers pass by on their way to Clark Field and natural...

We got floor plans! And they were almost perfect! But not quite. Fortunately, one of the reasons we chose Lane is that while he's a talented designer,  he seems pretty low-ego. These are not expressions of his architectural splendor. These are homes for people. He's very pragmatic, and invited lots of feedback. Basically his vibe was 'tell me what you want and I'll make it work'. Here's the ground floor: I want a bigger courtyard and we don't need such a big family room, so that was an immediately obvious fix. My office can be much smaller. The elevator is only for the mother-in-law unit, so that can move. And most of all we like friendly front entrances. Not some tucked away secret front door, or a cavernous driveway tucked under a big overhanging bulky house. We want an old fashioned door onto the street - especially on what we think and hope is a friendly street. So we suggested these changes: The second floor was pretty spot on except we do...

We've closed on the purchase and we've selected an architect (Lane Design Build) so now the fun can start. It's time to start imagining what our new house might look like. It's time to stop Pinteresting and day dreaming and start discussing actual floor plans. Here's our wish list: FIRST FLOOR Two car garage with storage Living room/dining room/kitchen open to courtyard Wine room Family room Large courtyard Side yard to include outdoor shower & ofuro Powder room/ 1/2 bath SECOND FLOOR Master suite with master bathroom Two bedrooms with shared bathroom Laundry room THIRD FLOOR Ash's bar (lounge) open to roof top deck Katie's office (small bedroom) Powder room/ 1/2 bath 2nd/ 3rd FLOOR Casita: bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette, small dining area, living room (600sf) It looks like a l...

We are deep into inspections here. Our house was inspected last week and found to be in need of termite treatment (find me a house in LA that isn’t). Also a dozen ‘safety issues’ aka   minor building code infractions. The silliest one being that our front steps lack a handrail. Overall, a pretty clean inspection and stuff we’ll either fix, or ignore, or give the buyers a credit to fix. At Casa Del Sol the picture is less rosy. The inspection noted 36 safety issues including items like ‘Dozens of exposed electrical wiring connections and open electrical boxes as well as exposed stand wiring that present shock & fire hazards’. The inspector wasn’t really into our seller’s DIY approach to roofing either: ‘a shower enclosure glass door/panel were noted being used as an over-head awning at the guest house entry stoop that is not suited for this application, presents a shatter hazard and requires removal.’ Apparently ‘the guest house window is too small to meet the ‘natural l...

Encounters between sellers and buyers are discouraged. Much better to leave all the conversations and negotiations to the agents.  But when you walk past a property a dozen times a week (obsessed!) you’re bound to bump into the owner. And so it was that, a few days after we had our offer accepted, my husband started shooting the breeze with the owner. He described our plans, including our intent to have his mother move in with us in the long run. The owner – who two weeks earlier didn’t even want to entertain our not-all-cash offer – was so pleased about all of this he decided to give us his golf cart. That's right, we're getting a golf cart along with the house. Our realtor tells us this is not common.  My husband is pleased as punch, but is now banned from any further interactions. This one ended well, but who knows what would happen next time.

From what I remember, the home buying process in the UK is fraught with unknowns and uncertainties. It’s really not a process at all. More like a gamble, on a series of blindly optimistic decisions. You make a verbal offer, and hope the seller lets you know what they think at some point. Once you've agreed a price you start doing your due diligence, spending money on surveys and hoping you don’t find out the property isn’t scheduled to be knocked down to make room for a new stadium anytime soon. You have an ‘inspection’ and hope the inspector will spot any major structural faults – which is a bit of a punt given they can’t really get into the nooks and crannies since you don’t own the house yet. All of this time you are hoping no-one comes along with a better offer and ‘gazumps’ you. Eventually you exchange contracts, and complete the sale, and pick up the keys hoping the place still looks like it did when you last saw it. It might not. They might have removed all the window lo...

The Open House is another feature of the real estate market here that needs a little translation for us Brits. When a home is up for sale, it is opened up to any old nosey parker who wants to snoop around it, on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, until it sells. The Open House isn’t just a matter of tidying up a bit. This is a lifestyle we’re selling here, and to people who may have no imagination, too. We’ve hidden all our clutter, put fresh flowers in every room, and put away all our family photos in order to depersonalize it. Though the smiley face I drew on the back of our bathroom door is hard to depersonalize. I set up a little tray with drinks and a coffee table book outside on the deck, just in case people didn’t realize this was a place you might sit and have a drink and read a book. My husband even did a special double-fold trick with the towels, which our realtor thought was a nice touch. And it worked! We had a couple more viewings after the Open House and ended up with...

Actually our house was built in 1984. It was extensively remodeled in 2011,   we redecorated in 2015 and have added some new appliances and repainted the outside of it since then too. By British standards I think it would be considered rather modern, if not exactly brand new. By Hermosa Beach standards it's ancient. Around here the only new houses are the ones that were just built, and have never been occupied, smelling of fresh paint and with the odd smudge of builder's dust still visible on the front path. We learned this when we looked at a 1980s house and a new build on the same day. The 1980s house was in pretty good nick, had been expensively (if badly) decorated, was significantly bigger and on a much much nicer street. The new build around the corner was still priced higher. I don't get it. I understand the appeal of 'turnkey' versus a tear down. And I can see how homes that were decorated in the ‘60s and have popcorn ceilings and 2 prong el...

I’m sentimental about those old beach cottages. Often the owner has lived there for decades, and I imagine the decision to sell must be a hard one. Casa Del Sol is in a part of Hermosa that is zoned for up to three units on each lot, meaning you could build townhomes or condos*. When we submitted our offer on Casa Del Sol we stressed our plan to live in it as three generations of one family. No cold hearted developers us, we noted that we’d happily eschew the opportunity to build multiple units. We outlined all of this in our covering letter, a feature of the local real estate market that requires some explanation. You see, when you make an offer on a property here you write a covering letter extolling your virtues as a buyer – not just the terms of your offer, but what lovely people you are and what good care you’ll take of the home. We talked about the fact we loved the neighbourhood and had trick-or-treated along that block in recent years.   It turns out the seller cou...