Marco Place Renovation

Plants

It's been quite a while since we've made an update here about the house. That's not to say that we haven't been plugging away at details, more so that we've been waiting to be.... wait for it.... finished. But now we realize, that day will never come.

This morning, Luka and I met up with landscape designer Stephen Gabor at FK Nursery in Santa Monica to select plants for our garden. 

Luka and Stephen.

Here are some of my favorite plants, narrowed down from 80 pictures.

French lavender to go alongside the deck.

Grevellia, a native Australian tree, to go along the right side fence as you enter the gate from the walk street.

  

Stephen is very knowledgable about plants and told me that this plant attracts butterflies because it has a toxin that the caterpillars use to protect themselves from predators. 

Olive tree.

Visualizing these 2 plants together. One looks like Sideshow Bob's hair! 

This tree has very pretty, whispy branches.

A pretty fern.

Finishing Details

 

 
 The mantle piece was designed by Gavin. The cabinets are made of old floor joists from the original house. They have been cleaned up and assembled together. The stained glass doors have been refurbished because the glass was bowing. The man who reassembled them estimates that they are between 70-80 years old. Gavin found the doors at a salvage yard, had them dipped, then refurbished, then stained and lacquered. The tile was hand made in California. The top piece of wood, the mantle, is a beautiful piece of walnut. 

 
 

Gavin also designed the built in bookcase to custom fit the turntable, records, books and to repurpose the original hutch doors, which have been stripped, stained and lacquered.

The old stove that we love got a new look, with a new Ventahood and tile background.

The medicine cabinet and below the sink cabinet have been stained, lacquered and installed.  

  

The hardwood floors are in

After weeks of waiting and trying different things to lower the humidity levels of the sub-floor, we were able to install the hardwood flooring. Insulation was added beneath the house, and Gavin & Kent crawled into the 18" crawl space under the house to cover the soil with black plastic to also keep the humidity levels down. Now all that is left is the baseboards, painting, installing the appliances, tiling the fireplace and adding the doors to the built-ins around the fireplace and bookcase. Oh yeah, and decks and landscaping. And of course moving back in. But those are just finishing touches.

 

   

Bobcat - rubbish & soil removal

The word Bobcat always reminds me of Owen Wilson's character in 'Royal Tenenbaums', but in this context it means cleaning up the yard! There were 3 truckloads of rubbish removed by this beauty. Also, soil and plants (that darn Morninglory that strangled everything). Soil had to be removed out of the backyard to get water to flow away from the house and towards the alley. Over time, the house had sunk a bit, and the soil had been built up.

 



    

Smooth stucco & awnings are complete

  

Door & Window stain

  




 

Kitchen faucet, tile and lighting

  

The kitchen countertops and sink are in

 

The bathroom gets hot mopped then mudded

 
 

Bathroom tile work & windows