Sunday, June 28, 2009

My Old Home

Welcome to another Met Monday hosted by Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch. Today's transformation is rather bitter sweet for me. It revolves around our old home in California. We sold this home in the Summer of 06'. We had only been in it about two years. We had been in on the building of this home from the ground up. When Mr Whimsy got the opportunity to move across country to North Carolina we jumped at the chance. Me being a southern girl at heart (and gene pool) couldn't wait to get to the south. So we placed our home on the market and held our breath. The recession had already hit in California and homes were at a stand still. Low and behold our home sold in a mere four weeks and we were quickly on our way to North Carolina to search for a home. It was hard to leave my beautiful home. I had chosen everything for it and designed so many elements of it I just didn't want to leave it. I knew this was a good move for us so I kept my mouth shut and my eyes looking towards our future. A couple weeks back some old friends and neighbors of ours told us our old home had fallen into foreclosure. GASP! I cringed. I felt sick. You see because my design business was going strong at the time I built my home I had been fortunate enough to use my vendors for much of the finish work. I was able to put $65K worth of flooring in for $26K and the deals did not stop there. If anyone has ever seen a home in California you don't get anything but the drywall and the foundation LOL! No molding, no gorgeous wood floors. So to bring my home to life I had gone the distance and had all the bells and whistles put in by my finish carpenters. Lovely hickory floors, tumbled stone flooring in the baths used brick flooring and walls and molding galore. I will not go into the gory details but the home sold for $400 thousand dollars LESS than we sold it for in 06'. Someone is very lucky! I was able to find it online and see the changes the person who bought it from us had made to it. So here is a metamorphism from 04' during construction until currently. This is the dining room right after they had finished putting down the hickory flooring. This dining room had 20' ceilings.


Here is a picture of it as it was when we lived there. I had split the upper wall from the lower so I could use red in the dining room. It is one way of dealing with the open concept floor plans that are common issue in California homes. I had plantation shutters installed on almost every window in the home except for the family room and kitchen. There I had woven blinds put in.

The owner had taken the walls to the solid tan color. On one wall she did picture frame molding. I like the idea of this especially if the scale had been done larger to suit the space.


Here is a picture of one of the openings in the family room. This area was just a large opening with a little pony wall. Very unfinished looking. I had my carpenter encase the entire opening in molding closing in the pony wall.




Here is how it looked as we were living in it. She kept this area the same but for some reason I could not get the current picture of this space to upload. I had all the openings in this home cased out with molding like this.



Here is the kitchen getting the finishing touches. I had just had the woven blinds in this room installed that day and the faucet. Look how WHITE everything was!



This is how the kitchen looked when we lived in the home. I had the kitchen painted a lovely Nantucket blue and pendant lights installed over the island.



Here is the kitchen as the new owners left it. Tan. In fact she painted almost every space in this home tan except for the master bath and one kids room. I don't know why the back splash was left white??? I am wondering if there is actually something else there besides wall now?


This is the banister and stairway when we left. I had hired a contractor to refinish the banister in a dark stain but had put him on hold since we were moving. When she bought the home I passed on his info and well it looks like she had it done.


What an improvement that dark banister is! That is one thing the builder would not change for me when we were building it.



Those are all the pictures I am going to post. I am sad. I keep telling myself that it is good the home was not trashed like so many homes that fall into foreclosure are. None the less as I said before it is so bitter sweet! To visit more incredible transformations visit Between Naps on the Porch by clicking here.









24 comments:

  1. So sorry about your former dream home. It is hard enough to see some weird things new owners do but to see it go into foreclosure must be hard. We sold our last home we did so much work on and moved next door. It is hard to visit there and see some of the changes they did. But life would be boring if we all did the same things wouldn't it?
    I hope you are happy in NC- I live in NC also and it is nice. And we have neighbors who moved from California and love it here also.

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  2. What a gorgeous home. I know it is sad to leave such a lovely place. We downsized when we retired and I really miss our old home also. We built that home too and it had everything the way I wanted. Way too big for just 2, but I really loved it. I hope you have a beautiful new home now. At least there is someone out there that will absolutely love your gorgeous home in Calif. Hugs, Marty

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  3. What a beautiful home. I just amazed at what the color and moldings can do - just lovely. I bet this was fun to decorate !
    Hugs ~Kammy

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  4. You're right it is bittersweet. The same thing happened to me. We built our home in central Minnesota, had to move to a new city, the new owners ruined my beautiful yard and gardens, and then foreclosed on the home. ~ Robyn

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  5. I'm so sad it's been so hard on you to leave your beautiful home! And it is so beautiful! I've never built a home but it must feel like you've left a little piece of yourself in California!
    Be a sweetie,
    shelia :)

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  6. Your precious home was beautiful indeed and I think you still have some heartstrings attached!! Of course!! You put a lot of time, energy & love into this home.

    I know someday we will move into another home. It will be a horrendous, emotional experiece for me since my first baby learned to crawl on these floors. But it is inevitable. I do NOT want to know what the buyers do with my home!! It is their choice, but it doesn't mean I want to know about it!!!

    Much love to you!!

    Jane

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  7. Oh, I know this was so hard to hear and see! Your house was beautiful, and I loved the kitchen way better painted that pretty Nantucket blue! You did a beautiful job creating that home. I'm sure you are loving NC now though!
    Blessings,
    Traci

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  8. That was a gorgeous home you had in California! My husband and I had an opportunity recently to drive by our first home we built together in the early 80's. Well, we won't do that again...not pretty:)

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  9. Love the dining room transformation!

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  10. We stayed friends with the person that bought our home after we downsized... He is doing all the things to the home that I would have eventually done and I love seeing how the garden and citrus trees have grown... I even get to come over and pick lemons! Stop by my blog for my 100th post giveaway if you get a chance!
    Have a great week!
    ~Really Rainey~

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  11. Lovely home! You're a wonderful decorator! I hope you love NC.

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  12. Wow!!!!!!
    what a fantastic post! great ideas ! I am also interested in latest news, sometimes i posted on
    Refinishing Wood Floors
    Thanks.

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  13. What a lovely home! It is so sad to go back and visit a home you have lived in before. We did that once only to find they had made the formal dining room into a play room for the kids and one of my daughters bedrooms, upstairs no less, was a "seed" room. She was actually starting her blooms in this once beautiful bedroom. It is truly heart breaking!

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  14. Such a nice home! We have downsized since the kids are now gone. I think it's harder for women to let go of a home than it is for the guys because we have memories of our families being raised there. Not to mention all the sweat equity we've put into them! Hope you enjoy NC! A new chapter is opened to the book of life for you! Luanne

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  15. Beautiful home and I know it is sad, but you are making a new home now and putting your personal stamp on it. You will always miss your old home, because it was part of you. I'd like to invite you to stop by my blog and enter my giveaway to celebrate my blogging timeline to date.

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  16. I love how you colored your dining room - I have 18 ft ceilings in the family room, and I've thought of doing something similar for quite some time. Glad to see it actually done, and how nice it looked!

    What a neat thing for you to be able to get an inside view of your beloved house after someone else purchased it. I often wonder about past houses that we've owned.

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  17. This is a transformation in reverse... It must have been disheartening to see that the house fell into foreclosure and that some of the things that you did to make it livable for you had been changed.
    But, tastes are different for everyone, and money can often play a large role in why people do what they do.... Look ahead to what you are doing now, making this house your home and a haven for you and your family. :-) Sue

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  18. I see why you're sad about this. We women put our heart and soul in our homes. And to see someone "mangle" it is very unfortunate. Who knows what people are thinking? Too much money and not enough sense? This economy thing has everything topsy-turvy. If I were you, I'd refrain from checking up on it. Too hard for you.
    Brenda

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  19. I understand your sadness. That must be hard. While it's sometimes interesting to see what other people have done with something that we treasured so much, maybe it's better that we don't know? Hope you are happy in your new home!

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  20. Wow- you surely had it looking beautiful. You've got to wonder why someone would change that?!
    We are still in the house we built 30 years ago. Feels like a part of you, doesn't it?! Linda

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  21. I'm so sorry you're feeling sad about your old home. It really was lovely........and what an illustration for color! Beige? Hmmmm....not so good....the kitchen was so much prettier in Nantucket Blue...as was the rest of the home with more color. I hope you're feeling settled in your new home and state now!

    Blessings,
    Spencer

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  22. That has to be difficult. I am sure there will be new owners who bring happiness and joy back into your house. We just sold our house We moved over 800 miles. I have repeatedly told people not to to tell me what changes are made to the garden. It wouldn't surprise me if the new owner takes out everything, and I would rather not know.

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  23. It is so funny how we take to heart so much of what we put into our homes, much like our hubbies take personal their jobs... it;s our job to make our house a home and when you have a home with so much character it is hard to see someone come in and paint it all so plain and then find out they lost it. I'm sure they were heart broken-the economy has been so hard on so many people.
    I have a give away starting tomorrow.
    Cheri
    www.itssoverycheri.blogspot.com

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  24. It is so hard to see part of you changed up (I always feel like the homes we have owned are part of me) and it would be especially hard to know that the family that lived there suffered through the pain of foreclosure. BTW, I liked what YOU had done with it!!!

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