We just drove by the house on Coronado and it really is a tiny worn out property. Interestingly, it looks like the house just west of it (the one with the house at the back of the lot) is going to be for sale soon - there’s a realtor’s sign from the same company, different agent and office. It’s not listed yet so I’m not sure what the sign is about. But there could be two two-story houses going up, or maybe someone wants to buy both properties?
Are the two properties contiguous?
^^yes
Yes, they are next door to each other but probably separate owners. Either it’s a coincidence they went up for sale at same time or smart planning to try to sell both lots. The second house is set way back on a skinny lot
PROGRESS UPDATE
It seems like nothing moved forward this week, but we made some progress despite the rains
Drywall complete in new addition. Drywall team finished the final sanding yesterday (Saturday)
Tile team came in and laid hardibacker on the laundry room and bathroom floors to get ready for tile installation
Oak floors patched and new kitchen floor laid. We have to wait until we paint the main floor and staircase and put in some door trim before we can lay the floors and do the final sanding/refinishing/coating. That is going to be a critical scheduling issue because we will have to stay off the main floor for at least a week and noone can walk through the house. The tile floors and bathtub tile have to be complete also. We’re going to schedule some basement and landscape and fencing work that week.
We had our 5th dumpster in the driveway this week and it was interesting trying to get it backed into the driveway because the scaffolding is taking up about 6ft of the driveway and there’s barely enough length for the guy to maneuver. Entire yard is now cleared of trash… it was a total mess again
Massive effort to get the roof tails, blocking, hurricane ties, etc. done to get ready for plywood roof to get installed today. Crossing our fingers the neighbors don’t call the police because of the noise but we have the compressor inside the house and all windows/doors closed. Just a hose running up to roof for the nail gun. At least the loud compressor noise should be contained
I have tile samples in the house for the laundry room floor, bathroom floors and bathtub surround. I think I’m going to go with a warmer tone than I normally do (as opposed to grey). It is a 12x24 that has a linen texture (very non slippery) and very forgiving coloring that will hide dirt well. I just need to select a nice contrasting or complimentary insert to give some interest to the bathtub surround. But I’m trying to focus on easy to clean, etc for this bathroom
Loaded some photos
I think they are all too contemporary-looking for this house, at least from the photos.
I’d like either of these with white subway tile (or some other white tile) on the walls:
I think it is nice to maintain some continuity of style in the bathrooms. I also think that there is no guarantee that this is going to be a “kid” bathroom.
I don’t see one tile as being easier to clean than another, depending on the grout.
I like the silver vein cb picked out, with the darker gray six-sided tiles as the insert.
Consolation, i love the blue tiles. They are perfect. But I’m always so scared if I can’t see the tile in person and lay it out in the rooms. May take a chance because I think it would look nice in powder room also
I strongly dislike the faux “worn” look of the blue patterned tile. It looks cheap to me. Love the idea of 12 x 24, with fewer grout lines. I would use the 12 x 24 and choose wall tile near the same color but different texture and/or finish, for an uninterrupted spa-like look. That’s what we’re seeing in higher end homes in our area. No contrast bands or borders, typically no pattern.
Are they older houses or new houses?
This is a vintage house that was built in a backward-looking, historical style in the first place. I think a contemporary spa look is discordant. A person who wants a sleek modern house is not going to want this one. A person who wants this house is, IMHO, going to be someone who loves the vintage charm combined with updated baths and kitchen, as well as a more contemporary approach to views.
I’ve read some reviews of the tile and buyers say the coloring is more grey than blue, which is a good thing for a more neutral tone. The tiles are 18x18 which are much larger than normal for that style of tile and less grout. I just wish I could see it in real life to make a good decision.
No comment on the tile, but I wanted to say how much respect I have for what you are doing! I spent a good chunk of my weekend fussing about painting my front door, and I am already exhausted… phew. It is not the painting, it is all the prep that got me. My hat is off to you. 
I know that the patterned tile is not for everyone. It really tends towards a specific style and is not ‘neutral’ per Flipping 101 objectives. However, I am purposely taking this house to a vintage style by everything else that has been done including the fireplace design, the windows and doors, the original door knobs, original oak flooring, etc. I am very hesitant to put 12x24 tile into the house because it has the straight contemporary lines, although I think we could get away with it on laundry room floors or something.
But, I’ve already gone down the vintage road with the hall bathroom. The other bathrooms do not have to be exactly the same, but probably similar styling. However, I’m not going to compromise on the master bathroom… I am in love with the inset muted pattern tile that I picked up (not the chevron but the more arabesque).
My issue is ordering tile online without being able to see even one sample. I’ve just spoken to the manufacturer and it looks like the amount of tile I need has to come via freight truck, rather than UPS or whatever. That means that I am 10 days away from even looking at the tile. Oh well, I ordered some. Crossing my fingers and I think it is worth waiting for. I can always return it if I hate it and run around and find something that is in stock. My only worry is that it will be an odd shade of blue… hoping it is more grey than blue. Going towards blue is the risky part because there are people that do not like blue and I will lose that portion of buyer population.
In the San Diego area there is a large interest in the newer vintage style / vintage beach house style/ spanish style. I’ve seen two friends do extremely expensive remodels with the blue/white scheme (not saying that it is popular with all buyers) with marble, patterned tile, bead board, shiplap, crisp whites, etc.
Unfortunately this is going to hold up finishing the tile on the main floor because I do not dare select a bathtub surround neutral without having the patterned tile in hand. I could go way wrong with the neutral white/cream color background of the pattern tile. AND… I may hate it when it shows up and we have to start all over again! It’s a little more expensive than I was planning to spend, but not much in the long run. Was hoping to stay around $2/sq ft for the flooring and this will be about $1 extra per sq ft. But I only need 140 sq ft so it’s not the end of the world
Bunsen Burner…good luck with the front door. I used to get into trying to do as much of the work myself as possible. I discovered I don’t have the patience for detailed paint prep. I sucked at it so I leave it to the professionals now. I spend most of my time double checking everything and making them sand/spackle/sand another time. We have some really old windows and doors that were probably not worth the trouble of saving (kind of like the front door lockset) but I insisted.
But the more important thing is I hope you are brave and painting your front door a really fun color that adds a pop to your curb appeal!!
It’s been a terrible couple of days and I feel like we are going really backward.
First, it’s freaking 95 degrees at the beach!! With hot Santa Ana winds coming from the desert. It is extremely unusual, but unbearable to work. The good part is that there definitely won’t be a drop of moisture left anywhere in this house.
We killed ourselves working until 7pm Saturday night to get ready to install roof sheeting. Of course I had purchased the wrong plywood. My inspector was kind enough to stop by last week and answer some questions and give advice. So…back to Home Depot to get 33 pcs of heavy radiant barrier plywood. It has a silver coating that faces downward in the attic. Geez, you’d think we have to withstand 22 degree temps here or something. You cannot believe how heavy those things are. Meanwhile I am the proud owner of 33 pcs of regular OSB plywood that I have to figure out how to load up and return.
So…we get everything ready. 3 guys spend an hour quietly loading all this plywood up to the top floor on Sunday morning. The only day my roofer can work on my project is Sunday. Long discussion with roofer on the risk we were taking and how to work as quietly as possible.
He did not start until 11am to be polite to neighbors. The compressor was never turned on. They were using saw about once every 15 min to cut plywood and a single nail by hammer in each corner. Of course a nasty neighbor came at 2:30 and marched through house and up the stairs. “You are making too much noise. I called the police”. My roofer asked him if he was going to call the other company that was right across the street putting in a retaining wall and cutting concrete all day??
It’s understandable, it really is not nice to work on Sundays. So we only have 1/3 of the roof done and I have no idea when we will ever finish.
The stucco guy came Saturday morning with the guy who is putting up the black paper and chicken wire. It’s called wrapping the house. He starts having a total fit claiming that we built a 3rd story after he gave his bid. Ummmm Noooo. You told me you came to the house 2 weekends ago and did a walk around to give me the 11k nbr. I think he may have just stood in front yard or never even came over and just remembers how it looked when he did the existing house.
Starts off claiming he needs a lot more money and then starts panicking that he has to set up a 3 story plastic shield on west side of the house so that nothing gets on neighbor’s house. I argued that it shouldn’t be a surprise because it doesn’t matter whether we are 2 story or 3 story for that issue.
Then his paper guy starts pointing out that he doesn’t like the way we did the flashing around windows and doors and all this other stuff. My carpenter was going to start a big argument and I just had to stop the whole thing. So carpenter and helper are spending the whole day today prepping for the house wrap.
Then the deck Waterproofing guy shows up and starts listing all kinds of issues with the way the deck was built. I explained that we built it exactly to the specs from engineer. “They don’t know what they are talking about when it comes to waterproofing the deck” main issue is deck has 3/4" osb particle plywood and it is supposed to be real plywood. Won’t go into all the other issues.
He wanted me to take out the patio doors and rip it all up. Impossible because that plywood is glued down and screwed down and already has metal flashing coming out under threshold. I called two contractor friends to come over who gave me easy solutions. The problem is these waterproofing companies want everything done overboard because they are liable. I have spent my day on phone trying to compromise with the guy. He has accepted my compromise but cannot start working on it until we pass general inspection which loops back to issue #1:)
Then I get a call that painter lead ended up in jail over the weekend and his helper guys are at project. They don’t speak a word of English so I have to pull my carpenter off his work to translate. I get to start all over again explaining ever door, every color for each door, walls, etc
Then I get into fight with drywall guys (well, polite perseverance). We have spent days pointing at the patch in bedroom ceiling where we cut open from water damage. They just keep nodding. Today was their last day on job doing final sanding. Finally they tell me the boss told them not to do it. I have to pay extra or something. No boss has ever called me and asked for extra money. First I have heard of it.
They tell me I have to call boss and start loading truck. I’m on the phone with boss in 15 seconds. He says they will come back another day…no mention of money. Makes no sense, you are right here right now. Do it!! Next thing i know truck comes back and guy comes back up with ladder and has it taped, mudded AND textured in 30 min.
And I could go on and on. Obviously I have already gone on too much. Sorry about the rant. Just part of the glamorous job. Everyone deals with these types of issues wherever you work.
It’s just hard when you have huge money on the line and you see the deadline slipping away.
Poor baby! It really is HOT! And for some reason the planes are landing from the west. So hope you have FAA approval LOL.
Virtual hug to you, cb! Hope tomorrow is a better day and that karma repays you with a fast sale when you get to that point. :x
Planes have to land heading into wind. They switch landings and take offs when we have Santa Ana winds. The guys on top floor just asked me about it…
Repeat after me: Tomorrow will be a better day. Tomorrow will be a better day. Tomorrow will be . . . .
Fast forward three months, when you go into contract for $1.75 million. Tomorrow will be a much better day.
I’m so sorry you are having all of those problems.
On the other hand, I’m glad you opted to try for that tile. I was actually looking for a gray and white arabesque-ish pattern when I saw that one and loved it, so I hope the blue is indeed grayish. I think it creates kind of an aesthetic bridge between the hall bath and the gray pattern you plan to use in the master bath. I really thing that the 12x24 contemporary tile would be a significant misstep in this house. Although I am not a California buyer, I am a lover of antique/vintage houses, FWIW.
I actually have a question regarding swimming: where do the people who live in your area who don’t have pools go swimming? Do they go to the beach? (If so, is there parking if it is too far to walk?) Do they belong to clubs? (If so, where are they?) I look at a house like this one and think that I would want to have a lap pool!