Justin and I bought this huge fixer in North Hollywood, CA after we had been dating a couple years. What a way to test a relationship!
This house was probate sale and a total cosmetic disaster with a ton of deferred maintenance. Everything from a mirrored duck hunting mural in the living room, faux wood paneling, drop ceiling, acoustic tiles glued to the ceiling, a funky short room and door, dry rot and roof issues. It needed complete kitchen and bath remodels. Pro’s-A great detached garage that could be converted to a guest unit, huge lot and a magical backyard filled with old world flare. Mature fig trees, oranges, lemons, tangerines, mulberries and a grape arbor. We were hooked!
After the conversion of the garage was complete. We successfully Airbnb’ed the guest house to supplement our mortgage. This became our home for many years after we married and where we had our son. When we moved to SLO, we kept the house as a rental for several years before eventually selling it and rolling the proceeds into the Los Osos house.
Click on the photos to view the before and after slideshow. Enjoy!
Before 
After 
Before 
After 
Before 
We are about to take down the overhang! 
After overhang removed 
Scary Gazebo 
Happy Gazebo 
After 
Before-Duck hunting mural-Living Room 
Living Room 
After-Living room 
Before-Kitchen 
Kitchen in progress 
After 
After 
One pass of the huge sander makes a world of difference! 
floors refinished 
Before-Bathroom 
After 
Office-patching office walls 
Before-Office floor removal-short room 
After-Office 
Before-Garage 
After-Garage granny unit 
Before-Garage rafters need a cleaning! 
After-It’s stunning! 
After-our granny unit 
After-Garage bathroom 
Under construction 
After 
I can’t wait to take out this wall, sweaty pits and all LOL 
It’s coming down! 
After 
Hideous! 
Living room, It’s gotta go! 
Looking from living room through kitchen to office 
Anna & I demo day 
Living room-prepping for ceiling to be scrapped 
popcorn ceiling scraping 
refinishing ceiling 
refinishing ceiling 
Look at this masterpiece! 
Justin & I painting 
Before-replacing the living room window 
After-living room 
Office-What is under here 
Office-seriously, what is under here 
Office-It’s a concrete step! 
Office-jackhammering out the concrete step in office 
Office-Short door 
Office-installing hardwood floors in office 
Kitchen After demolition 
Kitchen ceiling after tiles removed! 
The kitchen sink was once here! 
After 
Bathroom-removing floor 
Justin’s beautiful tile job. Check it out! (and imagine the sink in the place of that grocery bag) 
After 
Before-Looking towards the backyard 
Before-Looking towards garage 
Inside garage 
Garage workshop 
Look at that roof! 
Roof is coming off 
pulling out nails (about 50 per 60 seconds, by the way!). We think there were about 15 nails per square foot left over from the wood shingles on this bad boy! 
stupid wood shingles 
Having fun with Billy 
I need a break! 
Garage stripped down! 
cutting a door for the future bathroom 
Garage/Guest house bathroom door 
Hanging out with Billy! 
Painting plywood for roof 
J & I painting plywood f 
Before-Prepping for concrete staining 
Staining Garage floor 
Garage Floor staining 
Digging deeper footings 
under the bathroom addition 
I hate insulation! 
After! Garage/Guest unit 
After-Garage bathroom 
Magical yard 
Magical yard 
Magical orchard 
Magical orchard 
After 
Hard work 
Feeling proud 
We are all still friends after demoing the kitchen
