Greetings from Villa Park, California, USA!
Photo taken on Saturday, March 22, 2008.
The photo of the week shows the house that has consumed a majority of my time lately. The neighborhood has an established look - the trees are mature and the houses have distinctly individual looks. Given the affluence in the area, you could easily think that each house was custom built in a by-gone era. But all the houses share a common design element – a 3-car garage – a clear indication that these houses were constructed in the recent past of 25-35 years ago as part of a tract housing development. In fact I spent time in this and another house in the neighborhood and they had near-identical floor plans.
These homes with ample lot size and individual personalities are a long-lost breed in crowded Los Angeles & Orange Counties. The photo shows the expanse of lawn in the front yard. The back yard is equally spacious. Some homeowners have tennis courts or swimming pools. This house has a basketball half-court, a gazebo and a covered patio stretching the entire length of the house. Nowadays each new generation of houses have smaller lot sizes, relative to home square-footage, and look cookie-cutter in conformity with the rules and regulations of homeowner associations.
This house had several overlapping home improvement projects. My roommate’s primary job was fixing the patio and gazebo from a one-two-three punch of general wear & tear, dry rot and termites. Other projects were adding a playroom and a cedar-lined storage closet. The owners also had the roof retiled, the ventilation rerouted and the exterior repainted but other contractors did all these. Nevertheless my roommate also took on two other projects - painting the interiors of houses about to go on sale. Several days included driving back and forth between homes. UGH!
In related news my parents are expanding their house’s guest bedroom into a second master bedroom on the first floor, in anticipation of the day when they are too old to walk up the stairs to the original master bedroom on the second floor. The project exceeds my roommate’s skills and knowledge as it involves knocking down an exterior wall. In fact this detail is slowing down obtaining the necessary building permit as the blueprints are carefully reviewed by the city planning department.
My parents’ contractor recently built a guesthouse for one of my cousins. He did a great job but I found a few flaws that everyone missed when we toured the nearly completed domicile. I noticed plenty of outlets for electricity but none for telephone or television. Everyone had a perplexed expression as I pointed that out. Despite my recent work experience, I am still like accident-prone Tim “the Toolman” Taylor on TV’s Home Improvement. By the way typing is much harder with bandage-wrapped fingers.
Angelo
Photo taken on Saturday, March 22, 2008.
The photo of the week shows the house that has consumed a majority of my time lately. The neighborhood has an established look - the trees are mature and the houses have distinctly individual looks. Given the affluence in the area, you could easily think that each house was custom built in a by-gone era. But all the houses share a common design element – a 3-car garage – a clear indication that these houses were constructed in the recent past of 25-35 years ago as part of a tract housing development. In fact I spent time in this and another house in the neighborhood and they had near-identical floor plans.
These homes with ample lot size and individual personalities are a long-lost breed in crowded Los Angeles & Orange Counties. The photo shows the expanse of lawn in the front yard. The back yard is equally spacious. Some homeowners have tennis courts or swimming pools. This house has a basketball half-court, a gazebo and a covered patio stretching the entire length of the house. Nowadays each new generation of houses have smaller lot sizes, relative to home square-footage, and look cookie-cutter in conformity with the rules and regulations of homeowner associations.
This house had several overlapping home improvement projects. My roommate’s primary job was fixing the patio and gazebo from a one-two-three punch of general wear & tear, dry rot and termites. Other projects were adding a playroom and a cedar-lined storage closet. The owners also had the roof retiled, the ventilation rerouted and the exterior repainted but other contractors did all these. Nevertheless my roommate also took on two other projects - painting the interiors of houses about to go on sale. Several days included driving back and forth between homes. UGH!
In related news my parents are expanding their house’s guest bedroom into a second master bedroom on the first floor, in anticipation of the day when they are too old to walk up the stairs to the original master bedroom on the second floor. The project exceeds my roommate’s skills and knowledge as it involves knocking down an exterior wall. In fact this detail is slowing down obtaining the necessary building permit as the blueprints are carefully reviewed by the city planning department.
My parents’ contractor recently built a guesthouse for one of my cousins. He did a great job but I found a few flaws that everyone missed when we toured the nearly completed domicile. I noticed plenty of outlets for electricity but none for telephone or television. Everyone had a perplexed expression as I pointed that out. Despite my recent work experience, I am still like accident-prone Tim “the Toolman” Taylor on TV’s Home Improvement. By the way typing is much harder with bandage-wrapped fingers.
Angelo
