eichlerversary two
Two years ago, we awoke in our Eichler for the first time. As I explained this time last year, we hadn’t been inside (or even to Sacramento) before getting the keys, so this was surreal. Until then, we’d just obsessed over videos and pictures, shot by our superstar realtor, Thomas Westfall.
Naturally, our ‘Eichlerversary’ is a time to reflect, and remind ourselves (and you) how far we’ve come. I snapped all the ‘afters’ today, starting up-front. The lawn is way worse, clearly, but we’re happy with the rest. Still can’t believe we painted the entire exterior.
This gold number and letter plate didn’t quite fit, so we took great pleasure in removing them. We’d optimistically bought our Eichler number way before closing, so couldn’t wait to get this up. We sourced the stainless steel letter plate from England –’cheap as chips’, as we say.
Our entrance courtyard had plenty going on. We swapped brown/orange for gray/lime, as we’d always planned. We re-housed the bird of paradise and umbrella plants (no idea what they’re actually called), removed everything else, and put down rock. No firm plans here, but neat enough for now.
Inside, seemingly every surface had been spray-painted white, save for the orange accent door and a few matching walls. Oh, and the siding wall had been stained glossy ebony. We painted the door, siding, beams and trim, removed the bookcase, and restored the mahogany paneling.
An early kitchen view from the hall. The orange wall was too much for us, so we painted it white, and the door (to our garage) gray. The beams also went from brown to gray, though they don’t look vastly different here. Oh, and we uncovered/restored wood paneling behind the bookcase.
Here’s the opposite view, showing our tiled kitchen, in all its glory. We removed those (with some difficulty) and added laminate tops. We also replaced the painted(!) sink and faucet. We painted all the cabinets and walls, plus the walls/door in the distance. We’ll upgrade appliances down the line.
More orange in our ‘all-purpose room’ –actually, this wall was an even deeper, reddish shade. It’s also the first wall we restored to wood. You’ll notice the external siding is now gray. We also repainted the cinder-block, beams, trim and ceiling, and added a window blind for privacy to the street.
We’ve done plenty more in here, but it’s not finished yet, so I wouldn’t be doing it justice. One room that is done, our office. This is the largest bedroom after our master, so made most sense to work in. We installed shelving and a desktop, and lots of other stuff. Looks a little better, I hope you’ll agree.
I don’t have a great ‘before’ for our master, but this should give you an idea –all cream, with beige carpet. We restored a wood wall, added lighting, and painted. We also installed VCT, though we’ll be redoing everything throughout…soon. Oh, and we lost the outdoor(!) curtains, in favor of a solar shade.
Perhaps the saddest ‘before’, featuring a neglected sofa –thankfully gone when we arrived. We made that spot our dining area, adding a wall-mounted globe light. We painted the siding, beams and cinder-block, and installed a rain chain, greenery, and furniture.
I could share many more before and after pics, and mention much more we’ve done, but you get the idea. Conspicuous by their absence, our main living area, and (much-neglected) back yard –those are two areas in-progress right now, so I’m saving the ‘before’ pics. I’ll catch you up on all that over the coming weeks.
John
Wow! wore me out, looks great. The inside warm paneling contrasts with the other colors to make each stand out more.
fogmodern
Thanks John! We love the contrast. Amazing to think every wall was originally wood (unlike later part-sheetrock Eichlers). Though I’ve seen some beautiful all-paneling Eichlers, this would be too heavy for us.
tony
I agree with John – it just wears you out imagining all the work you have done in such a short time, and it all looks great. When you have some spare time, we know a house you can work on !!!
fogmodern
Thanks Tony! It feels like a LONG time, and we have plenty still to do! When we’re ‘finished’ (not sure we’ll ever be truly finished!) we’ll let you know!
Ashley
Andy & Karen, my husband and I have been in the process of renovating our mid-century home in the heartland for just over a year. We are so inspired by your blog and love to follow your progress here and on FB and Instagram. Finding updated blogs to read to satisfy our obsession for MCM eye candy is tough, so I wanted to say thanks for your posts and keep up the amazing work! Your Eichler is a dream!
fogmodern
Hey Ashley! Thanks for your kind words and so pleased you’ve gained some inspiration from what we’ve done. Loving your transformation too, and it looks like you have a very handy man in “CT”! Oh, and I have pool envy! I’m now following you on Instagram and I’ve added your blog to my feeds. Look forward to sharing your journey! –Andy
Lisa and Kyle
These are excellent comparison pictures…what a dream house!
fogmodern
Aww thanks Lisa! Glad you like our house!
Lisa and Kyle
We have the same clocks…why wouldn’t we like your home?! I just can’t get over the beautifully restored wood paneling inside, the colors and how you opened up the house inside and outside, to show the super amazing architecture…perhaps this is what Eichler envisioned? To showcase architecture, through minimalism. I keep looking at these, and just feel “ah”…! Perhaps I’m a frustrated architect. 🙂
fogmodern
Cool we have the same clocks! Thanks for your kind words. We thought hard about making changes, but feel confident they were the right ones. Eichlers of our era (1955) were far from perfect, in our opinion. Not sure we’d change anything layout-wise with most 1960> models.