Hope for Little Houses

Yesterday I spent four hours working as a volunteer at the Phinney Neighborhood Association Home and Garden Tour.

It's the second year I have volunteered for this, and it was really crowded this time!

Here's where I was stationed: 

I spent the first 90 minutes sitting in the hot sun, outside the house, taking tickets.  Hundreds showed up!  The 4 house volunteers rotated, so I also was in the kitchen and in the upstairs dormer.

  

What I love about this remodel is the fact it wasn't a teeny place, torn down to make a McMansion.  This is a nice family of four who live near their little daughters' elementary school.  

They didn't want to move, just make some changes.   And, they say it all started with a desire to re-do the porch and a couple of stairways.   They ended up completely gutting and rebuilding the place, in almost the exact same footprint.

BIG changes as you can see!  The kitchen remodel is unbelievable.  Here's the architect's photo:

I took a photo from a similar angle:

The entire house has these bright, inviting colors.  Everyone commented on the bright colors, and I'd say at least 90% were favorable.

They also loved the stove!   More people talked about that GE stove than anything.  Yeah, I'd love to have it too!

The upstairs dormers were the most significant difference to the outside of the house.  They added one at the front with a little deck, which you see here:

I think this combination door/window is very neat!  In the position in the photo, you can see how it can be propped open from the top for ventilation.  It's a great idea because it really let a nice breeze flow in, and kept the upstairs cool.

The identical dormer at the back of the house is now an upstairs bathroom, painted hot pink.  The little girls love it, I'm sure.  And it really makes the place "pop".

Other colors in the house are more neutral, but still very pretty.  

At the very end of the day, one of the remodel workmen took a tour with his wife.  He was talking to her about how he did all the work on the upstairs staircase and dormers.  After a while, we got to talking, and he told me his construction company specializes in repairing the mis-designed upstairs decks on skinny homes, exactly like mine!

I asked if they do small jobs, without entire remodels, and he said "yes".  I got the card of the company's owner, so maybe I FINALLY may have found someone to repair my deck.  

Keep your fingers crossed.

It was a fun afternoon of volunteering.