The Project That Would Not End

Our home renovation is almost finished! Here are some quick photos we shot with the iPad, they'll have to do until we take some better ones.

Here's the view from the street. The second floor windows are the new master bedroom, which was formerly a smaller bedroom with an attached nursery/sun room.

The front wall, gates, and driveway gate are all new - we were the only people on the street without such protection, and having a minor tourist attraction at the end of the street, we needed it. Here's a shot that shows how the new gates echo the front door.

These circular arches are common in San Diego architecture - this gate to the backyard is original, and we built one to match next to the garage. (This article about our neighborhood shows some houses nearby with similar features. The green house with the brick pillars is across the street from us.)

Here's how the former two rooms in the master bedroom tie together.

This is the new family room we added to the first floor behind the kitchen and dining room.

  

 

Another view of the family room, looking past the new powder room and laundry room to the back yard.

At the other end of the family room, we had planned a simple closet, but the architect got the proportions wrong, and we ended up with a closet (right) and a wine cellar (left). Damn!

On top of the family room, we built a new patio with an outdoor room we call "the tower." This is the view of the tower from my home office.

This is looking back to the house from the tower. To the right of the window is the top of the stairs that lead down to the back yard.

Inside the tower is a nice place to hide from the sun.

Here's a view up from the bottom of the stairs. The French doors open into the new family room.

From the top of the stairs, you can see the firepit in the center of a table. We want to grow bougainvillea on the trellis, and there'll be cushions on the cement benches.

This is a view of the tower from the back yard.

At the other end of the yard from the firepit area is the in-ground jacuzzi - this is what I'm trying to talk the city into letting us finish! The arches on the wall will have water trickling down, and behind the wall is a shed that houses the pool equipment and garden tools, etc. In between the fire pit and spa are some planters where we can grow vegetables.