Warning: if you follow me for travel blogs but are not interested in a house remodel, feel free to move on. This is for the “Adventures in Real Estate” portion of my website, which hasn’t had any activity in a while. Somehow, I never did an entry about the 1912 Craftsman we lived in for 4 years – which was a beauty – but that opportunity has passed.
This post is about a remodel of our newest home, which we moved into on 11/19/2025. Moving in 2025 was not even on our bingo card, but a variety of things influenced that decision and we found ourselves speeding up a decision we had made a couple of years back: to end up in a 55+ community.
Specifically, Heritage Park. For the locals, this is in very North Natomas, butting up against Elkhorn Blvd for the most part. Folks who have known me for a long time may recall I lived not too far from here – about a mile east – in 2010-2012. I’d only lived “on the grid” for the last 10 years because I kept marrying these men who loved vintage homes. Never in a million years would I have picked that for myself. So, this has been very much like going home for me.
We entered escrow on this house on 9/17/25, after less than 2 weeks of looking. Ash was actually in Europe at the time. The night before he left, he sent me the link for this house while he was already on the road in San Francisco, flying to NYC the next day and to Europe that night. It was bigger than we’d been looking at – I was hoping to downsize but no dice. For the way we like to live – each needing their own workspace away from each other, and still have room for guests, we needed to go with a full 3-bedroom house instead of the “2 bedrooms with an office” we had been looking at, where the “office” was mostly just an alcove.
I made arrangements to see the house on Monday afternoon, 9/15, and he called me from Central Park while he was walking Zeus so he could see it through Facetime. We agreed to put an offer on it that afternoon and 2 days later we were in escrow.
The above photo was taken on 2/28/2026, when I started writing this entry. We are pretty settled in and I felt it was finally time to share the work we did. And there was some work. Will get to that in a moment.
While it’s a 2 story house – of which there are relatively few in the community – it is designed to be primarily lived in on the first floor. Of 2830 square feet, roughly 2000 of it is on the first floor. The 2nd floor has the guest bedroom and full bathroom, a sunroom that will eventually become Ash’s office, and an open loft area that we’re not quite sure what to do with.
Far left: We are on the corner so have a nice side front yard. Notice the park in the background on the right. The next two photos are of that park. There are a couple like it in our part of the community and a handful of others like it in the other areas. There are 3 distinct gated areas within the entire community, and we are in one of the smaller ones, which we like.
An interesting thing I’ve never experienced before is how friendly everyone is. Everyone says “hi” all the time whether you’ve met or not, and more than likely will stop and introduce if you haven’t met yet. Our street has a standing Friday afternoon gathering in that little park. Just a check-in if you will, that started during the pandemic, and they just decided to keep it going. So, we’d actually met most of our direct neighbors before we even moved in. Everyone had been watching the workers be here every day for long days and were curious about what we were doing to the house. Because, of course, they all knew the previous owners so had been in it before.
To satisfy their curiosity, they were the first group we hosted the Sunday after we moved in – just a little open house before the Friendsgiving we also hosted that afternoon. Fourteen of them showed up! We’ve enjoyed getting to know everyone and they all live great examples of active, healthy retirements, and are very encouraging of all of our travel: do it now, they always say. So, we do. (As if we needed that push, but it’s validating!)
I had returned to the house several times for various reasons such as inspections, etc. I’d met our next door neighbor on that inspection visit and that’s when I learned about the Friday thing.
But Ash didn’t seen the house in person until the day after we got back from Paris on 10/26/2025 – for our final walk through, the day before we were to sign all the paperwork. I knew within the first 60 seconds that he was not happy. I had known that it would need some work but hadn’t imagined we would put into what Ash imagined while he was thinking through what he would want to do to be happy with it.
In short, it was a pretty significant remodel: full interior paint job, mostly new flooring, taking out a wall, adding a wall. This post documents that process. I decided to go room by room. In most cases you’ll get before, during, and after. If you’ve been through a remodel, you know the “during” part is the most challenging because it can be hard to maintain the vision while things are in such disarray.
Ready? Let’s go.
A couple of random photos for fun before we get into the heavy work.
On the left: this is how much paint you need to repaint 2830 square feet.
On the right: a beautiful floral arrangement sat at the front door when we arrived with the movers on 11/19, from our dear friend Shelley.
Entry, Living Room, Staircase
The living room is a small-ish room just to the left of the entry. The tapestry on the wall there on the left the owner left behind; we’ve since moved it up to the loft. The next two photos represent what I said earlier: the entire house was painted, and we replaced all of the flooring except for the tile that was in the 3 bathrooms and the laundry room. The entry way and kitchen were the same tile, and everything else was carpet.
We got the keys around Noon on Thursday, 10/30, and by 1pm our contractor, Jeff, started the work. By Friday the wall we wanted removed was gone, painting prep started on Saturday, and by Monday most of the painting was done because he wanted that finished before he started on the floors.
All of the flooring was delivered at once from Home Depot, 3/4-inch maple hardwood. It had to sit in the house for 3 days to adjust to the climate. The first floor had to be moisture sealed since it is concrete slab and they would have to glue the wood down, where all of upstairs is nailed. Everything except the front hallway and office was done by the time we moved in on 11/19. Jeff and his crew worked their asses off.
The entry had the potential to be dramatic, and we wanted to exploit that. Ash says, “what about a marble medallion on the entry?” I had no idea what he was talking about. “Look it up on Amazon.”
It arrived in 4 boxes in carefully wrapped paint–by-numbers pieces. Jeff put it together in the garage initially.
To continue with the dramatic theme, we changed the light fixture to something that would inhabit the space more fully and was also more modern. The overall design idea came from a house in the neighborhood we’d seen which inspired this “rings” motif, so you’ll see that a couple of more times.
The stairs were carpet, also, and we changed that out for the hardwood maple. The darker banister was already there, and it would have been just too much work (and $$) to change it so we decided it would have to stay. We made it work. One of our decorating philosophies is “color goes with color” and that applies to different wood tones as well. It’s not necessary for everything to match.
The black on the floor is the sealant that had to go down first which I mentioned earlier.
On the left: the finished look. With a lot of help, actually. The prior owner had asked us if we wanted any of the furniture he wasn’t taking. We said: just leave whatever you don’t want and if we can’t use it, we’ll get rid of it. So that’s where the couch and the rug came from. The Chagall print in the center came from a neighbor across the street who was getting rid of things so he could prep the house for sale after his mother went into memory care. (It’s on the market now.) Although you can’t really see it in this photo, we had Jeff lay the wood perpendicular to the entry instead of the same flow. You can sort of see that in the next photo.
On the right: looking back sitting on the couch. Pretty happy with this look.
One of the things that we are very happy about – and that several visitors have already commented on – is how much better this house shows off our art than the other one did. In that period piece, the house WAS the art, and it sort of overwhelmed anything else we might add to it. Especially with all the dark wood. But this is like a blank canvas so we’re having fun taking advantage of that.
These pieces Ash had stored away in a cylinder and are two of many we’ve had framed since we moved in. We should’ve bought stock in Michael’s – all the framing staff there know us when they see us coming for sure. At any rate, these were on the left and right in the first photo before these and I wanted to point them out. Ash got these on one of his Egypt trips and they’re pretty cool. Papyrus both of them.
On the left: this was just a hole that looked into what was the den, now the dining room. We added the shelf and the lighting.
On the right: the finished stairs. The art we placed at the top helps bring together the darker banister.
And finally: my favorite before and after comparison of the entry. Enough said.
Dining Room
The thing to understand about the dining room is that is started out as two rooms.
On the left: Just past the entry on the right was a den with a large entry and no door. The owner left 1 bookcase and 2 cabinets behind; we’ve kept one of the cabinets and a friend took the other two items.
Center: this is the dining room. Definitely smaller than what we had. The owner left the China cabinet and we’ve made good use of it. The oddest thing to us about this room is that internal window on the left, with shutters.
On the right: It looked into the family room next door.
This whole setup was odd to us, so we knocked the wall out between the 2 rooms to make it one nice sized dining room. And walled up that window so we could add more art to both sides.
On the right: all the flooring that needed to go was gone the first day pretty much, that Thursday afternoon. By Friday, the wall between the den and the dining room was gone as well.
The next two photos: that’s Jeff, our contractor. This is when Ash was talking him through the design he wanted in the dining room so the floor would pop: an outline against the regular flow of the grain that would frame a diagonal cut. It was a lot of extra work – lots of cuts one piece of wood at a time – but Jeff was game.
Once the slats were laid, they would weight them down so the glue would seal properly.
The finished look shows off the design well. Notice how the wood in the back flows the same as the entry, and along the far wall as well. A LOT of work.
The China cabinet there in the corner of the 2nd photo is the one the owner left. And of course, new modern light fixtures. All of these new ones come with remote controls that change both the brightness and the tone of the light. We’ve mostly landed on the warmer options, especially in the dining room.
On the left: we host my team every year at Christmas and this year was no exception. I spent the weekend before getting some art up so that the house looked more finished! This was mid-December.
On the right: You see why we needed that internal window filled in! The Paris print on the left is new, another that Ash had stored away and was one of the first things we had framed. If you’ve been any place I’ve lived since 2010 you are very familiar with the tryptic which are the 3 pieces in the center. The piece on the far right I had never seen before moving into this house.
Close-ups of the art on the far left and right. Super happy with the way the Paris framing came out and how the colors work with the blue. red, and green of the tryptic. I also like the mixed media aspect of the Japanese art. You can’t really tell here but there are different fabrics there along with other materials. Ash got this piece on his second trip to Tokyo in 1996, at a Madame Butterfly opera. It had been in a box stored underneath the front porch of the other house. Here we have the room for all kinds of stuff to now see the light of day.
Family Room
This was the family room when we bought the house.
All we did here was replace the carpet with hardwood and wall up that internal window.
New fan and lighting with the rings of course.
Flooring done. When we walled up the internal window we left a ledge for art…
…and added shelves to the whole thing.
The display wall complete. Lots of new things there, including baby photos of us.
Close-up: this is on the left wall in the photo to the left. This is a self-portrait sketch of a friend of Ash’s from like the 80’s. Again, something I’d never seen that got a visit to Michael’s because it wasn’t mounted properly so it got a new frame as well.
On the left: the finished look. We mounted the TV and will eventually replace the stand underneath with a cabinet of some kind. The mantle will get more things at some point as well. The purple flowers on the far left I purchased in Mendocino around 2013.
On the right: the Liz Collins over the fireplace, a favorite artist of mine out of Grass Valley. A friend of mine bought this when we were art shopping together in like 1999; then she needed to get rid of it and shipped it to me around 2013. This also desperately needed to be reframed and was with the Paris print on the first trip to Michael’s. Super happy with this way this turned out, including the purple and orange matting – favorite colors of me and Ash respectively.
Kitchen
This is what the kitchen looked like when we bought the house. We didn’t do much except change the flooring and the light fixture over the nook area there on the right of the 2nd photo, which we are leaving open. And of course, paint – so that brown under the island is gone.
The photos I think speak for themselves. The only thing I’ll point out is we added a small fridge under what had been a desk. We’re using this area to duplicate the “drink station” we had at the other house, and that has gone well. And more rings in the new light fixture.
Master Bedroom
All we did in here was new flooring and paint in the bedroom. The bathroom got painted but we kept the tile floor. Eventually we will do more work in here, but it works for the moment.
A nice sized master closet. The owner left a safe which we did not need, so Jeff took it. We replaced the carpet that was in there with a remnant just to freshen it up. Originally, we were going to put the hardwood in there as well but decided that was too much.
The color is “mint parfait” thank you very much :) It was a lot at first, but I knew it would work in the end.
I love how the floor shined before we covered it all up with rugs (mostly due to Zeus).
See, that green’s not so bad! As soon as we moved in, we were surprised how much bigger this bedroom was than our previous. We didn’t notice it until we saw how much more furniture we could fit in it.
No way Zeus’s crate or the hope chest would have fit in the prior bedroom. Plus, there’s still all this walking space.
The art on the left is one of the newly framed items, whose previous home was a cylinder. The sunrise on the right was left behind by the owner. We love that we’ve incorporated a few of their things.
In the photo on the left, notice also the family room in the background on the right. So you walk out and you’re essentially in the kitchen and main living area. We are loving this. Ash even said the other day “I’m loving not having to use the 2nd floor for anything really.” It’s kinda the point in these communities: a place where it’s easier to age-in-place.
We added some shelving, shoe racks, and a dresser to the closet. Still some organizing to do but we are happy with the progress and that everything is in one place. (Especially the shoes!)
Backyard
There’s a built-in stucco patio cover that runs the length of the house. Most of this furniture was left for us, except for the black table and chairs in the left photo.
A stream-like fountain that has a lovely sound – sucks the stress out of me every time I walk outside. And koi! Also left for us. On the far right, the items we brought from our previous yard.
The photo below shows the whole thing. About 1/10 of the size of what we had but still lots of room to entertain. And easier to maintain.
Front hall and Office
You may have noticed from the living room photos that there’s a doorway immediately to the right of the entrance. This leads to this hallway, which results in another bedroom, which we are using as the (my!) office. There’s a bathroom there on the left of the hall as well.
There was a built-in desk in the hall that we ripped out. And of course, painted and new flooring. Two of the walls in the office I had painted yellow, the rest the same white we used everywhere else.
The first part of the hall is intended for guests to remove shoes, jackets, etc. The photos below show the length from both directions.
I’ve had an office in every place I’ve lived since 1992. This is my favorite. Those 3 windows are east facing so it gets lovely sun in the morning, but no direct heat later as it warms up. The south window in the 2nd photo is protected by the garage so even that heat is minimized. And the yellow on the 2 walls did exactly what I wanted it to.
The Upstairs
All we did up here was paint and replace the carpet with hardwood, so I’m not even bothering with the before shots. On the left is that loft area we are still figuring out. With the tapestry and one of the cabinets left behind by the prior owner.
Guest room in the middle. We had overnight guests our first weekend here!
The sunroom, game room, call it what you want – it will eventually be Ash’s office or whatever he wants to do with it. Can also serve as an extra guest room since that couch pulls out into a nice bed. Still, obviously, needs a lot of work.
And that, my friends, is all we did :)
Ash is still adjusting to the neighborhood after decades of very urban living but is loving the house as do I. Thanks for coming along and I hope you enjoyed reading about the process as much as we enjoyed living it.
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I think I remember that picture in your office – it was one you painted, right?
Very good! Yes it is. It has a sibling that hangs in my office at work.
What a fun and scary journey to remodel. It looks great , I love the picture of the rocking chair.
Enjoy the new chapters.
Thanks, Tammy. Look up Liz Collins – she has a whimsical style that I love.
http://www.lizcollinsart.com/
Thanks, Tammy. She had a fun, whimsical style. Look her up to see more of her stuff.
Great documentation but nothing like actually being there. Hoping the energy work affected the experience as well. I love you both. 🩵
It absolutely did. Not only the work that you did, but the energy that you yourself brought.
Steve & Ash, thank you for wonderful blog about your new house. We loved all the before, during and after shots. Your attention to detail and decorative taste is exquisite. Congrats again on your new home!
Thanks so much, guys! We will have to have you over soon! Ash just needs to stay home for a minute 😎
Congratulations on your beautiful new home! Wishing you much joy and happiness.
Thanks, Karen!