Here is an interview video from my friend Lee Mench. Take a look about how we work at Studio Plank on medical projects.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

A mixture of emotions- but mostly joy.

Today I sold another painting!!! Happy happy joy joy. Each time it happens I feel a mixture of emotions. I am elated to have someone interested in purchasing an art piece but a little sad to see the piece leave. Each art piece is marking a time and place in thought and process of where I was. My artwork on bicycles simply take me back to each joyful bike ride we took as a kids with no particular place to be. When we just enjoyed being able to travel and explore. You know the rides with the wind in your hair, as your riding down the road in a skirt and sunshine on your face. Watching the wheels go round and round taking you on an adventure.

Today's bike painting is called "Blue Bike 3- Racing Delight". It is a acrylic painting of a whimsical blue road bike with a orange ballon attached to its seat. This painting was sold to a fellow San Diego artist, Nancy Plank.

This woman, Nancy, paints in the same art building that I do in San Diego art department. She happened to be passing by my work one day as I was painting away. And little did she know my head was filled with doubtful about what I was doing and why I was painting bikes. She walks offer and simply said to me. "I really love your work." And even her letter she wrote that my paintings were magnificent and that I am gifted artist...... who doesn't like to hear such great things. Knowing that the artwork will be so appreciated and loved by someone else and to see the new owner's enthusiasm is absolutely contagious and immediately the sadness disappears and excitement takes way.  

Blue Bike 3- Racing Delight by Vanessa Hofmann

It is actually very good that this painting was sold. Since it gives me more room to hang other work in our recently remodeled home. In a future post- I will take about hanging artwork and our latest steps in designing our interiors.

Pick your artwork before you buy that sofa....

Sofa- red, yellow, tan, black or white? Leather, corduroy, linen, wool.... Sofas come in so many choices in colors and fabrics.

As I am creating an art piece for our living room, which is composed of three separate canvases, I am surrounded by all our belongings.  Some of which are still in boxes in the house and in the garage. This home has recently been combined- all of my stuff and my husband's for the first time. We have many duplicates of several items. So as we pick through what items will remain to reflect a new combined style for us. Each piece brings elements of our own personality and combining them in the interior design is establishing a uniquely different look for us and honestly still a little ecletic. But I have the ability to create artwork that can combine the elements in the room together- it is like a super power in some way. Saving our room from disorder. Ok, I am just getting silly now. As I began this process, I began thinking about non-artists and how if you pick the art piece last it could be daunting to find the art piece to match your current selection of decor. So I began to think, why not pick the art piece first for a room? 

I am not saying it is impossible by any means, just requires a little more legwork when you are trying to buy an art piece. Sofas are abundant; they are everywhere. You watch tv there is an advertisement for sofas stores. They are in magazines and online. Now good artwork and good artists that fit your budget, and style needs are lot more difficult to find. Once you do find some artists really examine their work. How does it make you feel? Do you just love it? What does the piece say to you? Do you want to continue to look at or do you need to look away? Where is your eye drawn to in the piece?

Also keep in mind, you can request for an artist to create something custom for your home. But make sure you find similar looking styles and colors with in their body of work that has already been created. Don't expect the artist to create drastic changes from their existing body of work. They might try something drastic and they you might not love it either. 

Here is Phase 1 of this piece. I haven't created a series pieces or anything this large before. I have always seriously worked small. Even as a child in school, I would write in this teeny tiny print. So I am amazed that this is not intimidating but really fun. 

I am working with a light shade of lavender on the walls of this room. For color- think light gray and light purple blended together. I had actually started painting this in the art studio and was pleasantly surprised to see the colors matched the room. Once I am done I will share the finished piece with you. 

Feel free to share your sofa shopping stories, or combining household tips. 

Art- as the accent piece.

After only having moved all our belongings in this weekend, I am contemplating decorating of the interior space. The walls and ceiling are freshly painted in the living room, among many other changes throughout the house. The furniture is being arranged and rearranged, but the walls remain bare. We are taking this time to learn to live in our new home. Right now, I am focusing on getting the living room working. My theory is, some order is needed when you are surrounded by confused and unorganized state (of stacks of cardboard boxes filled with your possessions that you just got back from storage after almost a year) you should have one place that is ordered, even it is small space within a space. So we are focusing on one room- the living room. Now you might be wondering why I am not selecting another room like say the bedroom? Well, the bedroom floors aren't quite 100% yet so all the furniture is about a foot from the wall. It is livable at the moment but not ideal and that is an entirely different story.

Here is the before view of this room and the entrance to the house in this short video clip. As I watch this video again and again I keep noticing different things. The accent wall I want to add art to is a bold red wall in the before photos.

Here is 'in progress' shot of the living room's accent wall with its primed walls and a sample of the lavender painted on it. The plastic draping the wall is for protection when they were removing the popcorn ceiling. 

Here is an 'after' shot- showing the very light lavender color and brown toned wood floors. The wall I  will start with is what you see immediately when you enter the home. I want to do an eye catching art piece here, something really large but I not have any really large canvases at the moment and heck they are cumbersome if I want to take it to art class, nor do I have the free space in my garage while it is in progress.  So I am planning to do 2 or 3 24x48 size canvases and hang them all together. I haven't painted anything this large and never had to match it to a room, before so it feels a little daunting.

Today I found inspiration in the photo below, from a blog I read. This photo has a colorful mix of furniture, and motley of style of decorative elements along with the art piece it is a pleasing combination. The silver/ pewter mirror balances the some of the color found in the art piece and creating a harmonious room. My intent is to find a balance similar to this that will compliment our existing stained wood furniture and our existing decorative pieces.  

So besides blog- I find inspiration in this great group of women I paint with every thursday. One of the artists, Ann Golumbuk, I paint with has always painted art work for house. She says this way she gets a chance to enjoy it before it sells. And I absolutely love her work, and her joyful way of living- she is inspiring. She is one of the many people who inspire me. Here is a look at some of her pieces and a link to her website.

I am going to take a photo of her more recent work that isn't found on her website yet- it is really quite fun. She actually took first place in a local art show. Here is her website: http://anngolumbuk.com/


Another artist, I paint with is, Jan Lord. She is this wonderful, kind hearted Canadian who is very talented. Her work that I am currently interested in has these warm and wonderful beiges and with this sketchy images from arrows to fish in them. The sketchy images remind me of drawings found in caves. Here is one of her recent pieces that took 2nd place in the same local art show. http://janlord.net/  Jan is also on pinterist as well. http://pinterest.com/janlord/artsy/

I will keep you posted on the art piece that is created for this wall. I might even do a video on its creation. I just have to let the painting take me where it wants to go.

Colors choices- getting down to the finally selections

So we have paint selected for the walls and we are doing stained concrete in the bedrooms for modern look. We just want to pick one color of stain for the floors. Here is the palette of floors colors we are choosing from today.

Patrick is traveling in Canada on business, so I am emailing him images of the floor samples and paint samples on the walls to make a decision for the final combination. It is definitely different working with a partner to select finishes. This is new for both of us. 

Our floor has gotten filthy, this week, with the sheetrock from removing the popcorn ceiling and adding some mud to the ceiling to create a smoother texture. Now our concrete floors look more white than gray. We have 5 shades of color to choose from. These stains are translucent so you will see some of the marks through the stain. Marks that will be seen are patching from the nails holes, swirly pattern of glue, cracks and what have you. 

So tomorrow the concrete guys come back and sand down the concrete floors a bit to clean the surface and prep for staining. Things are really going to get messy. The shade of color I think we want to go with is the dark brown above, it is the darkest shade. It has a slightly purple undertone to it. A few of the other colors had too much of a yellow tone to them. Which are fine but were not going to work with the more blue green color we have selected for the middle bedroom- we are going to dilute the intensity of this color for this room. And the light blue shade is for our master bedroom which will also have the brown concrete stained floors. The plastic bag in the photos is masking our ceiling fan since the ceilings were being redone. By monday we should have the walls painted!!!

This weekend we get to have a little demolition party on a brick wall and some landscaping outside back bedroom. It was the one with the train shelf in it. We are installing a new sliding door to the patio in it. The doors arrive next week, so in preparation we need to prepare by removing an ugly brick planter. I have never demolished a brick wall before so this should prove interesting. I am frankly not sure we have the right tools for the job. Can a sledge hammer and crow bar work? Or do we need concrete saws, jack hammer and heavy equipment to get the job done? We shall see on Saturday morning. Aren't you just looking forward to the weekend? 

We are making a little progress.....

Here are some photos from the second bathroom in the house.
The first shot is the in progress shot (below), wall are primed waiting for paint.

The next shot is from today. We have the walls painted a nice shade of yellow. We picked this shade to tone down the green tile in the bath tub.

More photos will be posted tomorrow, I need to go meet the concrete stain floor guy in a few minutes to see what that is going to look like in the bedrooms. I think we are just getting anxiously to finally move into our home. Which we are planning on doing this coming Wednesday- so we have lots of little things to finish up prior to that date. 

ok, here are some not so pretty photos

Here is a brief video of one of the bedrooms in the home. It shows the nasty, smelly carpet and all the 'accents' that came with the home when we purchased it.

Here are photos for those of you who can't view the video. These photos are from one of our three bedrooms. It is the back bedroom that borders the backyard. Eventually it will be a master bedroom for us. 

Anyway, what you will see is really dated, worn, goldfish colored carpet. It was so worn when we removed the padding, the padding was seriously adhered to the concrete floor. 

Working our way from ceiling to floor, it is a popcorn ceiling and then you start by seeing this 'lovely' blue border. It was 1/4" particle board with blue wall paper that was attached to the wall to add a scene to the brown shelf just below it where a train ran around the room. 

Yes, I know what you are thinking. Oh how cute for a little boys room. No, this was the office and not a child's room in the house. What you will also notice is a few other things. 1. Lots of random cables and wires running every which way. 2. Two strange pieces of balsa wood attached to the door (covered up a hole by previous owner- this was their 'fix'). 3. Access doors to plumbing- it is the little door on the left hand side. 

Here is the other wall- which got even better. I know your thinking- really it gets better?!

The photo above is contains an eclectic color palate with pink curtains, velvet green wall paper, the blue scenery, mirrored wall, with groovy green lights. 

 Here is a photo from two days ago- trying to remove the wall paper. It looks a ton brighter in this room with out the brown train shelf. And the carpet and security bars on the windows are gone. Removing the security bars turned out to be quite the hassle. They are installed with one way screws. So you need a special tool to remove them. We didn't like the look and frankly I would have died in a fire if I had to get out a window with these devices. There is a safety release but could never get it to work for me. We are thinking about doing stained concrete but can't decide on the finished look. Let me know if you anyone has any advice on stained concrete.

Next week I will show more in progress photos......... To Be Continued!

We got keys today on our house!

Projects are starting tomorrow. Oh, and as a little advice. Prior to starting any projects on your house, highly advise not to get yourself injured. I took a little spill on my bike while riding with a group last weekend. I think in the doctor's visit- I was asked, "are you trying to get out of moving and our construction project?" As if it was that easy......

We decided to work on the space we will use the most- the inside. Our plan is to remove the window and door bars from the outside. Scrap up the smelly old carpets, have a cleaning crew disinfect the place as it stinks like dog.

Then in about a week, repaint. Repaint the inside something calm and soothing. We are looking at gray tones with blues mixed in. The current colors are dark green and reds- it is simply too much for the size of the space. It has a dark cavernous feeling, so we hope to change that by adding some more light and using brighter lighter shades of subdued color.


Love the light blue color in this room, but our floors are darker. Eventually they will be a stained concrete.



This is the color of the floor in our living and kitchen space- imagine the walls a light blue gray shade.

Keeping your chi

Interesting article I found. It makes you think about design in a different way especially if you are ever designing for an asian client. 


I worked on this project in the middle east, while leaving in New York. The project was a new college called the American University in Afghanistan. And it turns out that toilets and urinals can not face toward mecca. So this caused us to redesign the floor plans. Our next question was which direction is mecca?


So designing to cultural sensitivities is important to keep in mind. 


Excerpted from the ocregister.com:

Ms. Feng Shui walks into a model home in Irvine and glances around the room.

“You want the front door to be solid, not glass,” she says, eyeing the position and color of the door, examining the stairs, checking out the bathroom and inspecting the picture frames.

A window in the front door, “it’s like a hole in your mouth,” she says.

Front doors should be blue (for water) or black (representing career).  And it should never be in alignment with the back door because “all the energy goes out the back.”

Stairs should turn sideways to the front, also to keep the home’s energy from rushing outside. A home’s energy, or chi, should linger.

“A home should be a place where you recharge,” she says. “It should be restful.”

Ms. Feng Shui — a.k.a., Hyun Jung “Jessie” Kim of Lake Forest – doesn’t just advise homeowners. Lately, she’s been hired by KB Home to advise its designers on two upcoming developments, Sage at Portola Springs and Garden Hill at Portola Springs.

Many of feng shui’s values are common sense.

For example, both Wong and Kim noted that it’s bad feng shui to place homes at the top of a T intersection, with car lights flooding into a home’s front windows. But that’s just plain bad from any standpoint.  Red front doors reflect bad energy for homes at the end of a road or alley that form a T intersection.

Other things are not so obvious.

Kim explained that the sink and the stove top in the kitchen can’t be aligned because water and fire shouldn’t be together.

Also, you don’t want family pictures framed in metal in the family area of the home because metal cuts wood.  “That’s considered the destructive cycle,” she explained.

Ceiling fans above beds are bad because they deflect energy away from you, she said.

Feng shui devotees like the number eight in an address – or numbers that add up to eight – because the word for eight sounds like “wealth” in Chinese and is good for money.

If a home has an unlucky address, the address can be “changed” by adding a hidden number or painting an invisible number on the wall using clear paint or the same color paint.

If an address can’t be changed, Wong advises builders to put a less popular model on that lot, saving the most popular models for lots with favorable addresses. It’s likely the lot with the unpopular address will sell to a non-Asian buyer “who doesn’t know it’s a bad number,” she said.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/feng-354925-shui-home.html

While I love texture, this just isn't working.

 The first image was from our house hunting trips a few weeks ago now. This house had a dark brown clay tiled roof, 2x2 white wall tile on the eaves and 12x12 white tile around the baseboard of the house. It had too much variety with the texture and lines all working in many ways against each other. So there is too much of good thing for sure going on.

This next photo was from an entirely different house. We had labeled this the adult party house- with its pool room, full bar, oddly arranged kitchen and rooms with multiple doors. There were a number of things wrong with this house. (Earlier that day we had visited the college student party house so this was the adult version.) But for whatever reason I took this photo of the river rock detailing. A person could successfully use river rock but your design should be cohesive but also not excessive like what we saw with the too much texture post below. The river rock cabin feel could have been brought in with some rough sawn timbers used in the ceiling or some detail wood working here and there. What a strikes you? Leave comments below.

How MUCH? & fugly

This was a conversation that we have been having as we realize our house project is going to need some work. We are closing on our home in less than 30 days from today so the clock has started ticking. 

So now we need to figure out what tools we want to use, get finalized estimates for work, and get all that work scheduled that needs to be done before we move into our new home which is less than 45 days from today. We have 14 days of a window for some of the construction work to get done.

I think we are anxious to get started but also need a little distraction from the house for a bit. So I decided to do a google search on google for 'bad architecture.' Here are a few of the eye sores I found. Which one is your favorite of the worst?

Option 1: three tall, colorful men

Option 2: concrete monster

Option 3:  deviled egg

(Option 1)

The Mr. Fu, Mr. Lu, and Mr. Shou Hotel…is about 40 min east of Beijing, close enough to be considered the suburbs. It is situated in the rear of a concrete housing development, which are situated beside two active nuclear turbines. The building itself is constructed of concrete and colored tile. It is a hotel, and you can rent the room that looks like the jack-o-lantern!”  (direct quote from http://www.christopherdgray.co.uk/2004/09/badjianzhu-bad-architecture-beijing/)

(Option 2)The concrete monster initially looks to be a jail or some sort of institution. Well, it turns out to be the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center on 4718 W. Washington Blvd....... some things are not what you expect them to be. 

(Option 3) The Indian Pavilion and Saudi Arabia Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo 2010

I heard a new term today for bad architecture: fugly. My vote is for option 3 is the best of the worst. Now I can only guess as to much money was spent on these projects. Unfortunately this was a bad investment in my mind. 

Things we see and things we don't see

Thanks for everyone's previous posts on what to do. It was really fun to see people voting on what they suggest for us to change, thanks again for the feedback. I will keep the poll open for another few weeks. While I begin developing a plan. 

Here is our update, we are in escrow with our house and the inspection was done this week. We had forgotten what the house looked like on the inside. We weren't necessary excited about the house's outside appearance but what I had kept telling myself is that the inside didn't need much work. I know we can fix the outside but I just hadn't been prepared for all the work the inside needed as well. 

Read the sign above the realtor's sign

So when we saw the property again, there were some surprises. On the day of the showing of this home, the first time we saw it, we had seen 9 other properties. So some of the details of the various houses blended together and others details were forgotten. As we walked through the home during the inspection we became reacquainted with it.

We are closing on the home in about a month so in the meantime we are busy collecting pricing for things to fix that were found in the inspection and for our own desired upgrades. 

Plastic window fire wall, is a bad idea. 

One of the items was replacing and filling the plastic window in the photo above for safety purposes. Most fires start in the garage and since more flammable liquids (gas, paints, ect...) are stored there that fire can grow quickly. You want to make sure your home has a properly sealed fire barrier between you and your garage. These means solid wood or metal doors, no exposed wood in the framed wall; which you essentially want is a gypsum board (sheetrock) wall that is continuous from the floor to the ceiling. It could easily save your life by buying you extra time to get out of your home safely.

The inspection report had a lot of the typical items, but also had more critical items. These items are safety issues: fire walls, haphazard and exposed wiring, and ill-conceived projects and of course the plastic window as noted above. 

What do we do we really see the TV or fireplace?

What I have been realizing is we don't often see everything that is there. When we saw the home we have an offer in on it was filled with the home owner's possessions and the home owner was home. These two components can be awkward because you are trying to truly see the home around all the stuff and not relay to the home owner your interpretation of the their home's aesthetics. Because let's face it home's are personal; they are a personal reflection of how we live, what is important to us, and where we spend our energy. In the photo above, my husband was appalled by this home owner's taste in the location of the TV, while to me it just made me smile.

This is a really cool item for a TV, the glass is transparent when not in use and simply goes away. This is designed by Michael Friebe which combines LCD with TOLED display. 

Reasons to hire an architect: We found a home!

Reasons to hire an architect: We found a home!: Here is the home we selected to purchase and finally a seller agreed to accept our offer. The home is 3 bedroom and 2 bathroom home with a...

We found a home!

Here is the home we selected to purchase and finally a seller agreed to accept our offer. The home is 3 bedroom and 2 bathroom home with a 2 car garage. It is a simple ranch style built on concrete slab in the 1960s. At first glance this house is not very charming. What the house does have is a huge lot and  a good layout that we can work with.

The outside is lacking in appeal; I think this is the reason my husband and I aren't necessary very excited as we look at the pictures of our new home. But what we do have is the ability to transform this ranch style home into something else. I can't wait to take possession to start the transformation. Now we are faced with the question and a need for a plan. Hmmmmm, where do we start? Where do you think we should start?

Leave a comment below on where you think we should start on the house.

1. Paint?- what color?
2. New Garage door or clad it?
3. Shutters, remove, paint?
4. Fascia  (it is the undulating trim board hanging from the roof edge) Remove?
5. Remove the two tone rockscaping?
6. Roof- new color, different type of roofing?
7. Bars- Remove?

landscaping and porch?

modern ranch or....

vintage ranch style? 

What no windows?

While biking around on earth day while house hunting we rode past this home. It is modern style home with board and batten which was badly in need of some paint. But something else struck too. I had to stop literally in the middle of the road to take a photo. It was a busy road so I apologize that the photo is not better. 

Anyway, what had struck me about this modern looking home was the simple fact that there was not a single window on its street facing side: NO WINDOWS? Yes this house has many issues but simply adding windows which dramatically improve how it feels from the outside and and what it is like from the inside. 

There could be a few reasons why they didn't use windows on this side:
1- simple cost cutting measures
2- concerns from sound from the road
3- south facing windows

The cost of a window installed would range $500 (done by yourself) $1200-1500 (depending on quality, size, and labor costs). If this room doesn't have another window or if that other window is small you might have a very dark room, one in which you might need to have the lights on.  You might save enough alone on electricity to pay for the window. Trust me adding a window would have this house look more appealing and the interior of that room feel more connected with the outside.

If traffic noise was the reason behind omitting the window originally, you can buy windows that have  high quality sound rating it is called an STC. Look for windows with a rating of at least 40 and you won't hear much of anything outside that window.

If it is because the window is facing south or even worse west facing, there measures to be taken to reduce your house overheating from unwanted sun. Windows now have a rating for that it is called the Solar Heat Gain Coefficient which is expressed in range between 0 to 1. This rating can relate to the glass with in the window or the whole window assembly. You can also create an overhang that will block unwanted angle of the sun but still provide light into the room. There is a myriad of screening options but it is preferential to use these screens on the outside of the building rather than inside with reflective blinds. Because you want to keep the heat on the outside of the structure if you are trying to block it and prevent it from moving into the building. I write another time on passive solar heating, and its relation to the type of windows you might use.

Here is a cool chart to help you select the correct windows for your area.

http://www.efficientwindows.org/selection.cfm

Links on SHGC: http://www.efficientwindows.org/shgc.cfm

Garage batman style

In many places garages are a commodity and frankly in every house I have ever owned I have never had one. Now that it is my husband and I, I am dreaming of a garage. Don't tell the environmentalists I know- I will lose my green credintials.......shhhhhh! So as I gaze at each listing of possible homes for us. I dream of the garage we might have. 

I dream. Will it be for two cars and be able to hold our surf boards, bikes, skis and other recreational needs? Can it all be neatly organized and allow for me create art work, work tables and tools organized on the wall, everything is neatly organized. 

Am I really asking too much? I see a garage in the listings for the houses for sale. I check that it actually exists on google satellite. But then I get to see inside the garage and realize it has been converted. Which I will now call the most depressing work environment ever. I just couldn't imagine working in a dark space with no windows, no fresh air, and awful light from the fluorescent above. Work spaces should be inspiring and light filled. It also doesn't help this one is crammed full of stuff and it has cubicle walls? I just feel sad for the people who choose this to be their work space. 

If I can't have my garage in the garage, maybe I could get a batman style garage. I can only imagine the look on the neighbors face when you have your car emerge from this. What a cool border between you and your neighbor this is even better than a garage. 

Is this your house's best side?

Take a look at the first impression this homeowner is giving guests, future buyers and even their neighbors. Ugly eye sores (RVs/ trailer/ snowmobiles/ anything up on blocks) should be stored somewhere out of sight. As beautiful as you think your recreational toys are, it might be very likely that your neighbors do not have the same taste. 

In terms, of making a first impression what really counts? There are many schools of thought on this. You should first decide who your audience is. Is it for you, is it for a future buyer, or is it competition to outdo your neighbor? 

For all conditions- a fresh painted look, new roof, and well planned and maintained landscaping are the keys to a good first impression. 

The safest route is to pick neutral (beiges, grays, soft yellows) colors inside and out in terms of resale value; stay away from soft shades of red and orange (pink/ peaches). If you want to push things a little more and still remain safe you can add the combination of black and white to your house along with the neutral color. Here is am example. 

The addition of black to the color palette makes the house have a little more pop to it. Now if you want to be really wild and crazy; you can go bold like reds, greens, or black but take time to really make sure you love the color because it is going to be bold. 

Here is piece I found on the psychology of exterior colors: "The Psychology of Exterior Colors

When choosing exterior colors, take the sales price of your home into account. Certain colors, especially muted, complex shades, attract wealthy or highly-educated buyers, whereas buyers with less income or less education generally prefer simpler colors. A complex color contains tints of gray or brown, and usually requires more than one word to describe, such as "sage green," as opposed to "green."

On the other hand, simple colors are straightforward and pure. Generally, houses in the lower price range sell faster and for higher prices when painted in simple colors like yellow or tan, accented by white, blue, or green trim."  Source for more information- http://ezinearticles.com/?Using-Color-Psychology-to-Sell-Your-Home&id=4263

Are you armed with the right tools?

Turns out the market is heating up a bit. We didn't get the house we had put an offer on. The offer that won the property was cash only and higher than ours and could close in 10 days rather than the standard 30 days of closing. I guess we are California 'poor' since we don't have 100's of thousands of dollars in cash in hand. I jokingly mentioned to my husband we should take a loan out of 401k's for the home. He simply said while he enjoyed my design creativity he simply was not into my money creativity, which made me smile.

One thing that surprised me about buying a home in 2012, was that the experience and rules of buying a home have changed. We thought we were doing well with having high credit scores and plenty of money to put down on a property. All of this turns out to be not enough. So I would advise new buyers to be even more prepared. It really starts with finding a qualified real estate agent to assist you in the process and to arm yourself with some new tools.

Our agents have done a great job of arming us with comparable information and have been patient with us to find the right home. Select an agent who has at least 9-12 years of experience in the particular area you are property hunting. Ask friends and family for referrals is your best bet and have short interview them them to find someone who is easy to work with and knowledgable. Great agents will steer you clear of areas and properties that are a waste of time.

Two new tools that exist are zillow and redfin; keep in mind these don't replace agents. They are free apps you can install on your phone,  tablet and computer to see local properties for sale and get the information you might see on a typical property listing (in the M.L.S.- stands for Multiple Listing Service). Plus these apps track information that can be hard to track down. Information might include: selling history, gas/ elec,  comparative market analysis, and so on.

Another thing to consider, is if you are having trouble seeing the vision of remodel on certain properties hire an architect to consult with you to walk through your favorite properties. They can help you see the remodeled properties potential and give you ballpark numbers on construction cost which will provide you with more accurate information when making offers on properies. An architect can provide this service for simple hourly rate (rates range from $70- 150/hr) and get the level of detail you need to make an informed decision. If you need more information the architect can put together rough sketches of floor plans and elevations and/ or 3D model. They can provide you with the right tools to make the property into something that suits your needs.

My husband and I starting looking at homes that could be remodeled because we realized that the house flippers in the area were not doing us a convenience. (House flippers by homes that need work and do the minimum and put a little flash on them and then resell them hoping to make a profit). If anything we saw little value in what they did, and saw ourselves having to pay a premuim for their services. In the end we would have done the changes in more design sensible manners. Some of the house flippers bad examples were they added on rooms just large enough to considered a bedroom, added bathrooms or other rooms in layout that disrupt the flow of the home, choose really ugly landscaping and on and on....

Buyers are not properly prepared most often to see homes for their true value. Instead buyers often see 'finishes' and are attracted to 'granite countertops.' It is like judging a book by its cover in the end. You might have a fancy looking book. But does it function? Does it have flow? This is also where an architect can help you see the true house. A quickly drawn floor plan can be help client's walk through the home to see its incompetencies and assets.

Arm yourself with the right team, including real estate agent and architect, and the right tools will make the property buying experience much more pleasant.  Oh and more importantly as much cash as possible......!

http://www.zillow.com/
http://www.redfin.com/home

10 Tips to decide if you are ready to buy a home to remodel

A Little about our story:
I think the hardest thing is waiting and trying to not get to excited about any one particular property. The market has changed and we have found ourselves not being able to make offers on certain homes because the other buyers were buying with 100% cash........ no financing. No financing means no risk to the sellers so those buyers can be in a better position to purchase. We have also found ourselves competing with house flippers.

One of the current homes we made an offer on today I had initially disregarded. I was new to the area we are living in California so I didn't feel comfortable in a particular neighborhood that was on its upward sweep to being a really great neighborhood. I also jumped to conclusions about surrounding properties. Only later after looking more seriously at the neighborhood did I see the trend in house prices increasing with watching several houses be flipped and resold during our time looking for homes.

We have settled currently on a house that needs some work. We realized it would cost us less to buy something that needs a little work than to buy one in really good condition and then add on work spaces for either myself or my husband. We both work from home so we need spaces that you can't always find in typical real estate. So now we are paying a lower price and have money to refinish a home to make it our own and more importantly fit our needs. I am very excited about this but trying to not get to excited while we wait to hear back from the seller.

We did hear that the seller was more interested in our offer because we want to live in the home. The other 12 offers and I do mean 12; want to remodel and sell it again. Some are cash offers as well but with this seller they are more interested in people wanting to live in the home. We find out on thursday what happens.

If we get this house I show you the before and after photos and the remodeling projects as they unfold. But before we put the offer in we had to ask ourselves 10 serious questions.
1. How much money do we have to remodel the home?
2. What will need to be done before we can live there?
3. Does our offer allow enough time to have these things done before we move in?
4. Gut check- are you sure you want to do this? Check your list- if it gets too extensive this might not be the right house or project for you!!
5. Are there particular items that can be back ordered or need to be ordered ahead of time? (i.e. kitchen cabinets usually are a few weeks out)
6. Do I have a list of contractors that we can solicit pricing from?
7. How much if any of a remodel can we live through?
8. How long of remodel are we willing to live in?
9. Do we have the time and energy to devote to select materials and making design decisions?
10. Do we have a good architect who can help create a master plan so that we don't have to redo projects and waste money?

If you want assistance on your project; I would be happy to help.
Best,
Vanessa
www.studioplank.com

How can I tell if this is the right house for us?

Here are 4 things to help you decide if the home is right for you.


It is easier to make the decision if you can leave your emotions out of the buying decision, which can be hard to do since we get attached to the 'idea' of home and life we would lead there. 


When purchasing a home, I would agree in having a realtor provide a lengthy list of comparable homes that have sold recently in the area. Use a seasoned realtor, and get referrals or recommendations on any realtor that you are considering using. It is even more ideal to have a realtor who is really well connected who might know of houses going on the market before they even do. (This is especially helpful in a hot buying market).

As an architect, and a fellow home buyer (currently) I will share with you the criteria I use for buying my home. This is my second purchase but my first together with my husband. It was difficult at first trying to figure out how to judge the homes for us. But here is the list we used.








1. Does the house have a good arrangement of rooms that match my lifestyle? To me- the home's connection with the outdoors is really important.

2. If the home's room arrangement doesn't meet my immediate needs how much needs to change? (If I am rearranging several rooms this isn't the house for me- it isn't worth the money.)

3. Rate the home on the following on their importance (1-5) And Check out what the each home offers you terms of these.
daylight-
versatility-
entertaining-
walkability-
storage-

4. As a last item-we added personality. Does the home have personality? If so does it fit us? If it doesn't, is the home conducive to allow us to add some character and personality? 

Which is worse?

A. Airplanes landing
B. Airplanes taking off
C. Views of freeways
D. Sounds of freeway
E. No grass

Of all the places we have been looking at we have tried to rate the following on scale. Is it bearable? Or is this a deal breaker? I think for each home buyer and home owner there is a list of things that is personalized for that situation. I never before had to think about airplanes. I was usually too busy focusing on fun things like access to hiking and biking trails. But living in an urban area is very different. You have noisy neighbors, nosey neighbors, homeless people, RVs and other outdoor equipment, and parking issues. The list goes on and on.

We did learn a little a bit about airplanes and their noise. First of all, the constant sound of airplanes from 7am-11pm at night going off every 1minute or so, was enough to drive me completely crazy. The home we stayed in briefly that had planes taking off was new construction but it was not constructed with the right materials. Architects will create a list of performance criteria for project and this should include a STC rating of at least 40 or higher on the windows.  We did also learn this. They are quieter in landing than taking off by a significant difference. And the noise they make on clear day is quieter than the noise they make on a cloudy day. Also every city has a plan for dealing with the sound issues from the airport. So search the internet for your specific measures. Here is one example.  http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/planning/aeronaut/documents2/soundinsul.pdf

I am still hoping we find a home with some grass that has more sounds of birds than traffic or airplanes noise. Maybe we will be lucky enough to even get some hummingbirds.

hi i am ugly- tile close up, it did exist!

See some people didn't really believe me that this house had tile. Here is the photo of proof. :)

Well, when we got to see it, we realized it had two types of tile: brown and blue. Is this double your pleasure kind of thing? I love this. Someone clearly thought this was a good idea and it added to the look of the home.  Hey, everyone makes some bad decisions...... right?  If a designer had been involved they would have talked the clients out of making this mistake.


We also later learned there were two houses in this gated community and they looked exactly the same. The neighborhood around this place turned out to be little rough. So this house  might have a tough time finding new owners. Do you ever feel bad for the houses?

Hi, I am ugly.

While we have seen some really beautiful homes with character, personality, and fine details........ what sometimes really catches my eye is the really bad. Some of the houses we walk into, we immediately want to walk out of them. This is usually the case because of smells. Houses and structures need to have better ventilation for rooms with water sources (bathroom, laundry, kitchen). This is not something to save money. Properly specified and sized equipment and materials can be the difference between selling your project or gutting it (due to mold and mildew issues). Time to talk about, 'hi I am ugly.'

Now, let's focus on this ugly facade. Keep in mind, the facade is the most important aspect of the design because it creates a first impression. In this facade, we see elements from the mission style with its clay tile roof and curves and arches, but this is a stretch. They house has a simple, but very large gabled roof that First off I absolute hate seeing the garage on houses before you see the front door. This house truly lacks any area of focus. While it has lots of little details they are not adding value. As an example let's look at the extra roof and accent around the window to the left of the front door. It breaks up the grouping of windows but doesn't do much else.

Another thing you can't see is there is a lower band of itty bitty blue tile that line the base of 3/4 of this house. It is the kind of tile that you might put in a pool. And to make this even better this house is nearly surrounded by concrete. I only hope that concrete is sloped otherwise it must turn into a pool which might work with that blue tile on the house.

This house got me thinking. Not hiring a professional is like agreeing to wear a potato sack around rather than taking the time to buy clothes and have them tailored if needed to fit you.