looking back: 2016
What a tough year. Many people (us included) can’t wait for 2016 to end, but we’re reflecting on some positives in FM land. We worked so hard this year, and we’re proud of what we achieved. Here are some highlights, starting with January’s living room flooring install…
We continued up the corridor, and into our master vanity area, while adding some storage…
In February, we restored four early ’50s Eames shell chairs, bought (super-cheap) from Craigslist…
March saw the completion of our master bedroom…for now, at least…
And a new (to us) vintage dining table –another Craigslist steal, needing restoration…
In April, we toured the gasp-worthy ‘super-Eichler’ neighborhood of Burlingame…
We became locally famous (sorta) when Sacramento Magazine published a rare pic of us…
And we were adopted by “Fog”, who our Instagram followers will be very familiar with…
In May, we trailed the upcoming MCM home tour, which was driving our accelerated project schedule…
Including our side-yard landscaping project, which we shared in June…
Along with our courtyard entrance, where we later swapped these grasses for cactus…
We also added a new chair/ottoman and rug to our all-purpose room…
And shared another Eichler neighborhood –San Francisco’s Diamond Heights…
Then, finally, tour time –our focal point for the year. Such a fun day, but we were exhausted.
The next weekend, we painted our front door –yep, just a lighter shade of green…
July’s only project was building a ‘redneck’ paddling pool, which ended up looking not so redneck…
In August, we celebrated our third ‘Eichlerversary’, with our original listing video (excuse the awful music)…
September saw us begin our long-overdue secondary front door project, by building a fence…
In October, we toured the shiny and new Golden One Center, home to the Sacramento Kings…
Then we revealed our guest bath remodel (come nightmare), endured a few months earlier…
Meanwhile, our fabulous friends at Lumens asked us some questions about our restoration…
And we finally completed our ‘front front door’ project, to create a secluded entrance courtyard…
In November, we added some Halloween lights, as a preview/trial run for the holidays…
We also restored our fourth (so far) wall of wood paneling, in our soon to be music room…
And re-purposed our removed ‘flying coffin’ cabinet, for vinyl storage…
In December, more music room additions –furniture, lighting, and (naturally) musical instruments…
We also shared details of a rare, and long-overdue, trip to our native England (via SFO)…
And finally, we showed you our 2016 Eichler holiday decor…
Ultimately, this was a good year for restoration progress, and we love how our place is looking…
Hope you enjoyed our little look back. We really do appreciate you following our journey this year. Though it may seem we’re approaching ‘finished’, we have plenty of projects ahead, and some surprises too. Happy new year! See you in 2017…
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tony
Hi Andy. Good to look back at all you have achieved in 2016. Hope 2016 was not too bad for you and may 2017 be a great year. By the way – I loved the “awful” music on the video. Oh well… Enjoyed looking back. Happy New Year.
Andy
Hi Tony! Yes, it’s satisfying to look back, and good motivation for moving forward. Glad you liked the music! We must’ve watched that video a thousand times before we bought the house –the music loses it’s charm after a while. Happy new year to you too!
David Eichler
Nice job on the (ongoing) restoration. I remember those sorts of furnishings well, since I lived with it as a kid, as you might expect.
Andy
Thank you, David, glad you like it. Yeah, I guess it all looks very familiar to you, with a few tweaks. Thanks for checking-in!
Amanda
Love the floors! Can you comment on the upkeep after having lived with them a while? We are considering something similar in our kitchen and dining room, but with a two year old boy, I’m curious if I will cry every day if we go too light…do scuffs, etc. show easily? Any info is greatly appreciated 🙂
Andy
Glad you like the floors, Amanda! Upkeep isn’t bad at all –we try to vacuum and mop once per week, and that keeps them looking good. After install, the floors are sealed, then coated with polish. These layers protect the floors, so they don’t scuff easily and are pretty durable. Some black-soled shoes may leave marks, but those typically wipe off quickly. You can order free samples from Armstrong, to get a feel for the color in your space. Let us know if you have further questions.
Amanda
Thanks so much!
Andy
You are welcome, Amanda!