Retaggr Widget

Another happy family! Mom, Dad, the cutest 2 year old, and their 13-pound poodle mix are moving from San Francisco to a fabulous house in Millbrae. There’s lots of room to run and play in that beautiful backyard.   Learn more at www.MaryAnnT.com             

The half bath has been the most difficult aspect of this project. It is small, so all the components have to work together well.I have found it difficult to imagine the end product with no existing components. So, I can’t decide what the mirror should look like without having the sink in place. A...

Our painting crew has been here for the past several days. They are working on prepping the walls and trim for paint. Of course, we have so much new trim work, and all of it fashioned to replicate the original, but there is plenty of old wood also. So, another round of dust, dust, dust as they sa...

Molding, Woodwork, Floor Tiles, Finishes and Door Knobs! They have been working on the wood trim for the past few days. Both Jimmy and I feel that that has had the largest visual impact in bringing everything together. We wanted to replicate the original woodwork of the house. That means that the...

Lions and tigers and drawer pulls, oh my! Okay, now I see why it's smart to hire a professional! Do these decisions about coordination ever end? I have been dreaming of un-lacquered brass drawer pulls. I love the old-timey look, I love that you don't see them that much, and I love that they will...

I am not certain how I am going to make the counters and the cabinets blend in color. I love the warmth of the cabinets, and I like the crisp timelessness of the marble, but I just don’t like them together. It’s important for the backsplash to unify them in some way. Jimmy wants Carrera subway ti...

Yippee! My house is beginning to take on an air of its eventual final self. Our fabricator, Fernando of F-I Granite, just installed our Carrera counters. We purchased two slabs at Pietra Fina in Hayward at the beginning of December. We visited several stone sources and examined stone slabs for co...

We are about two and a half months into our project. During our time off during the holidays, Jimmy and I (especially me) would “play house” in the kitchen. I like to imagine what it would be like to prepare a meal there, entertain friends and wash dishes. This is going to be a dramatic change fo...

So far, mudding has taken more time than anything else in the entire project. I’m still watching mud dry: Actually, the mud “cures” and you can feel slight warmth when you hold your hand up against it. Both Jimmy and I constantly have white mud on our shoulders and elbows. The mudders show up at ...

By Thanksgiving Day, our home had been stuffed (with insulation). As you can see from the photo below, it looked just like the inside of a Teddy Bear. Also, both Jimmy and I thought that it smelled like baked cookies. Finally, the house is beginning to look like a house! They completed about 2/3 ...