Domaine de Manion Remodel
Autumn is one of my favorite seasons of the year. Normally, I would be sharing so many tips, photos, and ideas with you this season. However, we have embarked on a home remodel this past month which has been many years in the planning, and has already to proved to be an adventure. Since this project is expected to take a year, I thought I would share with you some of the highlights of this remodel as we go along. Don’t worry, my roots for this blog are still in the garden.
Our remodel vision was to create a home which was more comfortable, more energy efficient, an enhancement of our views, and to integrate our home and garden more fully. It’s a little bit scary. It’s a little bit fun. It’s a little bit unknown. Please follow along with us, my husband and me, on our journey as our Domaine de Manion remodel unfolds. Yes, our “Hollywood girls” and “French girls”, aka our beloved hens, are fine and are enjoying all the new freshly turned dirt and excitement.
Our spanish style home was originally built in 1930, and was one of only three homes back then in the area, all the way to the Pacific Ocean a mile away. Our home sits a top a gentle rising coastal ridge about 300 feet above sea level. A massive mature Italian Stone Pine and Torrey Pine tree dominate our home and property, and act as subtle protectors. We’re saving our charming home and pushing out on its west side and south side. We’re building a stand alone “barn” which among other uses, will have a wine-making room.
I keep saying to myself, to embrace the journey as much as the destination.
Have you gone through a home remodel? Do you have any tips to share? Please comment on your remodel experience.
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Oh how exciting! I can’t wait to see what you do. New to your blog, but loving it already.
Stay tuned….thanks for you wonderful comment…VintageGardenGal
This is a beautiful, exciting, and monumental endeavour. We had to rebuild and remodel our home in Miami after Hurricane Andrew completely destroyed it. Even owning a Real Estate company and having Architectural and Construction experience, we had a horrible experience and said we would “never” build or remodel again. We certainly changed our mind when we bought 3.5 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains and decided we wanted a log type home. We interviewed builders and closely worked on plans and our final experience was extrodinarily good. Our property is on the down side of a mountain and we never experienced anything like this. The contractor was extremely accomodating stuck to our requirements to the letter and worked with us on everything. It took a little over a year to build and we only visited the site every three months. He opened a web site for us and took pictures and posted them to the site at each major change in construction. This was a wonderful idea, much better then when we were in the same city and had to fight with the contractor to do to the job . The experience of changing your home to accomodate yourselves, your needs and to still keep the aesthitics of the original structure is a very rewarding experience and I wish you the best of luck. And, I look forward to hearing about your experiences. Thanks for the advice about our chicks.
Susan, your mountain hide-a-way sounds wonderful. I think it really pays to plan well, get multiple bids, and interview your contractors thoroughly. Sounds like you had a great one. Thanks for your great comment….VintageGardenGal
Enjoy reading your adventures in the garden and all your other projects around your (farm??) Will keep in touch with your mother to see how you are coming along. I live straight across the lake from her. she is a joy. We belong to the same garden club.
Rowena, thanks for your kind words….VintageGardenGal
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