In 1999 we moved from the Salt Lake City area to Felton, California. Housing prices in California were already over the top and we found the only viable house was a "Brady Bunch Nightmare" with brown shag carpet. However, it had good bones and we invested a large amount of sweat equity into it.
We painted and landscaped the exterior, replaced and enlarged the decks, and added lots of exterior lightings.
The first room to be remodeled was the kitchen and although somewhat small is was both beautiful and efficient. The island was a slab of redwood with the sapwood edges retained.
However, the most impressive part of the house was the master bath that we added to the back side of the house. We extended the deck that joined it and the master bedroom so that you could actually walk from the shower to the deck and then back into the bedroom. This side of the house was on a slope and the large windows of the bathroom looked directly into the trees.
From the master bedroom you walked through the closet (which was the original small bathroom) and into the new space. The heated towel bars were on timers just below the controls for the heated floor. The entire slate floor including the shower was gently heated, coming on automatically in the morning. There was a double vanity of vessel sinks on the slate countertop.
Also as you walked into the room there was a urnial that was popular with all the guests. As you stood you could look over the half wall and out the large windows into the trees. On the other side of that wall was the toilet with the tank inside the wall and a large stone you pushed to flush it.
Continuing around the corner was the large double shower with slate all the way up to the cathedral ceiling with skylights. The right photo is from the deck looking through the slideing glass door.
While standing in the shower you also had a great view out into the redwood trees.
It is hard to describe the amount of labor that went into that bathroom as we created the jigsaw pattern on the floor and walls.
Overall it was an increbile space with inspired design.
Not sure exactly why we left that house except to say that it was a good move ecomonically.
In 2005 we moved to Scotts Valley