The Great Project

We bought this house while staying with George Zoolakis during Natalie & Noel's wedding.  Suzanne had house guests or we would have stayed with her.  Tom had his inheritance from his Mom&Dad and was looking to invest that money.  He tried to talk me into going to CA to look for houses, but it was too hectic with the wedding to drive to CA, look for houses and drive back!  While at George's house he suggested we look up in the 5 acres.  Found this house.  Nice views.  We were naive and thought it would be easy enough to renovate.  So in Dec of 2005 we bought this house for 450K.  It was originally listed for 699, the price was dropped to 599, so we offered 400 even at the risk of 'offending' the owner, but he was anxious to sell.  Final price including the full 10 acres and the house was 450.

This renovation started out even while we were finishing up our mission in Rome.  We initially wanted to do the inside, then save up some money and do the outside.  We came home in August, and the demolition of the inside was finished but we were far from getting progress of the rebuild!  Our first completion date was October, but in the end it didn't finish until Aug of the following year.  Part of the delay was our own fault.  After we had Mike Johnston, the structural engineer come up for a look(in January) he convinced us that the outside had to be done in conjunction with the inside.  We could see that it would waste a lot of money to finish the inside and then do the outside later.  So the inside/outside became one project.

The house was in desperate need of windows on the VIEW side of the house.  Note there were two small windows.  

We added as many windows as we possibly could.  At one point we wondered if we had added too many windows, but it turned out great.  We enlarged the windows that were there, added a slider, and 3 completely new windows.  I should add here that all new windows in the house was high on the priority list.  We put in 33 new windows, 3 new sliders.  It cost 40,000 for all the windows and half of that cost was the prow.

The deck.  We debated about removing the tree that was there.  Had to do it because the roots were getting into the foundation.  

New deck is 1000 square feet with a fire pit.  The size is almost double what we initially intended.  The builder wanted the foundation beams to be on solid ground, not 'fill dirt' and besides it would only be a 'few thousand' more.  Turned out to be more than double in cost.  We agonized over what material to use, what railing to use, etc.

Garage doors.  Even what arrangement for the stucco and the cedar (which also was a challenging choice/decision).  

Tom wanted simple windows at the top.  Glad he 'won' on this decision.  I had originally thought of other designs but I like this pattern/design the best.

We had to get all new soffit and fascia.  Tom and Jed removed most of the rock.  The window was removed inside we enlarged the front hall closet.

The two porch beams were taken down and a support beam across the ceiling was put in.  Still waiting for the porch membrane....trim on door to be painted, beam to be painted, on more metal trim to be installed.  We poured new sidewalk and front porch, as well as a sidewalk on the side of the garage to the studio.  

Probably one of the biggest decisions came from David Fenn.  He kept looking at the front of the house.  Something was wrong, but what?  Then he realized it was all off balance because of the chimney.  The prow wasn't symmetrical.  I remember him saying, "Now that you know this, you can't leave it."

Indeed, it made all the difference.  Chimney removed and placed in the center of the living room.  The prow gets symmetrical windows.  Changed the whole look.  It should be mentioned here that David also discovered that the foundation on the prow and sunroom was made of cinderblock, with the holes upright!  We had to prop up the house and replace the foundation.  Glad they saw it.

One thing Tom saw from the very beginning was the potential to connect the house to the garage &studio.  The breezeway was a wind tunnel and was full of ice and snow all winter.  We imagined all kinds of scenarios for the roof....and it was Mike Johnston who designed the roof and connection.

Now the house is all one structure and it's brilliant.  The breezeway is now an outside storage space, a connecting hallway, a closet, a bathroom, and a cold mudroom.

Our family room was originally a back patio that had been enclosed.  The renters obviously used it as a workroom and storage.  Mike Johnston wondered why the whole structure hadn't fallen down because they took out a load bearing beam!  So that one beam was holding up 8,000 pounds.  The next day we had Todd reinstall the missing beam!  Also when they took down the metal ceiling, wheelbarrows full of popcorn fell out of the ceiling....we assume it had all been stored by mice.  

We put in new closets, new drywall, new raised ceilings (which we have dubbed the Todd Mahal because it was such a difficult task), carpeted over the rock, and put in a new fireplace.

The mudroom and laundry room.  The rock floors were removed by some Polonesians we hired.  They also removed a closet to help make the room bigger.  When they finished their job they wanted cash because they didn't want to 'claim' it.  

We replaced the floors with laminate.  Turns out the cubbyholes are truly useful for shoes and boots.  The 1,000 bench that Steve Palmer put in is even great for sitting on!

The bathrooms were disgusting.  This is only one example of how old everything was.  

We picked out our tile from Arizona Tile.  Alex and family were the tile people and they did a great job.  

This kitchen is actually the renovated kitchen that Steve Palmer installed.  We debated about how much to replace.  The countertops?  The cabinetry?  Do we keep the wood floors?  The backsplash?  Everything was replaced except we just painted the cabinets.

This angle shows the removal of the french doors and wall into the dining room.  Also the decision to paint the island to match the fireplace.  We also walled in the door to the bathroom from the kitchen so that it is accessed only by the bedroom.

Old appliances, the horrible yellow paint and heavy stucco application on the walls.  The table had to be in this area because there was no dining room.  Even the window above the sink was replaced.

Updated kitchen....and with a dining room now, no need for a table in this room.

This house was on overdose of rock.  Not only was it on the outside, but it covered many walls on the inside as well!  As we said to ourselves many, many, many times: "What were they thinking???"  They must have been on drugs or just plain out of their minds.  The crew that took down this rock would not even consider accepting the job to take down the outside rock....horrible job that Tom and Jed got stuck with!  Also remember that the fireplace was moved from the prow to the inside of the house.

The new open prow with symmetrical windows.  Incredible difference.

This is the master bedroom.  The window in the corner was covered, and 2 new windows were installed.  This part of the house used to be two rooms.

New windows, and no more weird hallways, or skylights, or closets.  Just straight lines, and square closets, and one bathroom.  

This is now our dining room.  Check out the beam in the upper right corner of this photos and compare that same beam in the following photo.  We had to take out bookcases from lots of rooms, not just his one.  We enlarged the window, put in a slider, tore down the wall, and added new wood flooring.  Mind you, this is the VIEW side, and the original builder didn't even consider that!

The dining room has become one of our favorites.  The view never gets old.  With the wall down, and new windows the room is inviting and open.

We left the design of the staircase....just new carpet.

Love the new bannister, the first wood step....They did a great job.

Hard decisions about the bannister, the ceiling, the wood floors...

We are vey pleased with the new bannister, the beams painted white on the ceiling, the color of the wood floor.  The fireplace in the center of the living room gives a great focus.

The wall between the living room and now dining room was one huge wall with no character.  

The fireplace is now the focal point and very beautiful.  I found a similar fireplace on pintrest and we used it as a 'model' for our fireplace.  It really helps to have a photo to mimic otherwise you have an image in your mind with no way to convey it to the builder.  Originally Mike had drawn an idea that he had....it would have been awful!  Also with the opened entrances to the dining room, the whole area flows well and is open to the views.

The state of the demolition when we first got off of our mission.  The staircase was torn down so they could throw the debris to the downstairs.  The fireplace still there, the rock had been torn from the walls.  

The bannister was also changed at the last minute from a full wood bannister to the mix with iron.  Also several people questioned painting the beams white, but I knew it was the best particularly because the beams were made of ugly wood!  Notice also that at the end of the beams over the stairs there was not a connecting beam...they were just sort of hanging there.

The breezeway.  I remember when they wanted to pour the cement they wheeled the wheelbarrows full of cement through the studio (where we were living at the time) That is David Fenn's head hanging out as he tries to smooth the cement.  

A portion of the finished breezeway, the cold mudroom.  At first we were going to leave the floor in cement, but I'm happy we decided to tile the room.  Gives it a more finished look.  They initially forgot to put in light switches!  We had to have them go in after the fact and tear up some new drywall to install the light switches.  Oh brother.

This family came to take away the mirrors from the studio.  Jed had advertised on KSL and this family answered and came with their kids to take the mirrors.  It's the only photo I have of the original studio.  That room really served us well.  It stored our furniture for years while we were in Belgium.  It was our home for several months during the renovations, and now it's a casita for guests!

When we connected the breezeway this area became part of the house.  We added a slider, a side entrance, and an entrance from the garage.  We added walls for a bedroom (but we couldn't put in a closet and call it a bedroom or we would have had to enlarge the septic tank)  We had originally called for a kitchenette, washer/dryer, and a closet in the bedroom but that all changed when we ran into issues with the county.  Fine.  Just put in an 'office'....and left the rest open.  We still have an added bathroom and closet.  Good enough for government work.

We were blessed.  We had no idea what we were doing.  With thousands of decisions and no architect or designer it was clearly inspiration and direction and help from God, no doubt!  We are very very grateful.  So 1685 E 1950 N, Heber City UT, 84032 is officially our home.  For how long we don't know.  It's awfully big for two people, rather isolated, and very cold in the winter.  But for now it's home.