Monday, October 18, 2010

Trip to Southern California


This is an out of control post :-) We wanted to document that which we saw so that we won't forget all the little details that we loved so much.

We left Wednesday night to Saint George and then on to California early Thursday morning to go see Shay's sister, Keely, at the USC hospital. Keely, was born with a heart problem and had already undergone 3 major heart surgeries and was now undergone her fourth. We were so grateful to Shay's two sisters, Tiffany and Summer, who found a home close to the hospital that all of the family members were able to use while visiting. When we reached the hospital Thursday we were told the house was off of Crenshaw Blvd. Since Winnie had grown up in Southern California and had not heard very many flattering things about Crenshaw....she was quite nervous. Shay's sister Misty said it was a fabulous house and that the neighborhood, in which it was located, was also very nice. That made Winnie feel a lot better. That night when we arrived at the home our mouths dropped. WOW!  We have since looked up the property on the internet to find out it is actually for sale. Too bad there is no way we could afford the $1,200,000 price tag. OH, but we wish we could.
Here is a picture of the home from the street.


This is the vegetation on the sidewalk:

This is a picture of us walking towards the front door.
Looking back to where we just were:


Here is the view of the front door and porch when coming from the sidwalk.

Looking up from the above spot:

To the left side of the front yard:

Looking at the left side of the house:
Proceeding to the front door.  We think it is absolutely amazing that this house was built in 1909. This door is original (We personally would not have chosen the bear, but that is our personal choice):

The handle:

It was crazy to see the how old this door handle was.

This is the inside of the door:
 Before we show you the inside we're going to show you the view of the house from the driveway.




It has this carport and then a garage out back.


Walking up the stairs from the driveway:


Finally back to the front door.


Unfortunately, we don't have a camera that could take a picture that would truly capture the true entrance of this home. It was amazing.

Close up of the amazing stair case:


The beautiful old light fixture:




Looking slightly to the right of the staircase:


The next few picture is of the front room as you turn to the right. The fireplace has original Tiffany stain glass:
 

 



The wall next to the front door. It is an old pharmaceutical cabinet:


A picture of the ceiling in the front room, entryway, and library/music room:


Looking back towards the front door from the front room:


Looking at the corner of the front room where we took the above photo:


Now looking back at the front door and heading to the other side of the room.
 

This is the left side of the front area of the house. It has a little bay window, and was originally (we believe, based on an old intercom system) library. It currently still has the beautiful library shelves (which you will be able to see farther down) and also an amazing grand piano. We had never seen a piano like it. It was breathtaking!












 
Here you can see where the dinning room connects to the library area. 

Looking at the dinning room entrance that is located just to the left of the grand staircase:


Here is what you see when entering the dinning room:




Our not so favorite piece of art below a beautiful Tiffany window:


Had beautiful, old, built-ins:
 

Another original Tiffany stain glass piece above the fireplace:


To the left of the fireplace, and on the very side of the house is a fun sun room:




Fun light in the sun room:


To the right of the dinning room fireplace is an entrance to the butlers pantry:

 



Looking into the kitchen from the butler's pantry:
 

Looking back towards the butler's pantry:

   


A small pantry door in the kitchen. Winnie actually came to love the paint in this room.
 

On the back right side of the house, right off the kitchen was a bright happy eating area:
 

This is a picture of the doors from the outside.

This is the back porch--WE LOVED the back porch!
 

Now we are going to start at the stairs and go to the right.
To the right was a quaint little room. Not too sure what it was meant for. It has doors that exit to the carport. It has a card table it in and a really pretty piece of art.  We couldn't believe the beautiful wood work and windows throughout this house!

  

Going towards the back of the house from the above room one runs into this room:

(ABOVE: The owner was so sweet to move a bed from upstairs to here for Keely).
  

A cool picture on found in this room:


Going back to the grand stair case:



The landing had the most amazing window:


Proceeding up the staircase:
 


 
Upon closer look at the wall seen below we noticed they had an old service system as seen in the picture beside it:
 

The old phone is still hanging on the wall:

If you look to the left of the window, in the below picture, you can barely see a door that steps out onto an AMAZING balcony area. we wished we had a week to sit out there just to read!

Door leading out to the balcony:





This is to the left of the arm chair seen above:

Looking back towards the house from the balcony:


Little details around the home:


One of the bathrooms:
 
Master bedroom paintings:

A cute built-in in one of the rooms:

Really liked this piece:

Pictures in the office:
 
Pieces someone was working on:




Another bathroom:
 

Cool old light fixture against a BRIGHT blue ceiling:

We both had to say this was quite weird.....a medicine cabinet and sink in a closet:




From the second floor there is a back staircase that lead up to the third floor, where we slept:

This is looking down towards the first floor. It exits by the kitchen behind the grand staircase:

The steps were small:
The landing at the top of the stairs (third floor):


It was a large loft area with two bedrooms and future bathroom:

It had another amazing balcony off the loft area through these old doors:

The latch was so old and cool:
The balcony:
 The view:


These palm trees lined the roads of this particular subdivision.


Looking back at the house:


To the right of the doors was a very odd old closet:


This was the room we slept in:

The owner really likes color:
 

Behind the grand staircase was doors to the cellar:
 

This was Shay's favorite. He liked looking through the old items down there. He found a newspaper from 1950 that had articles about the Korean War.

We both have spent time researching the home because of how amazing it was. We both agreed that it had a wonderful feeling within the home and that it was such a fun experience to be able to have experience that type of history while visiting California.

On the way out we saw this house and wished we could have toured it as well. The picture does not due it justice at all, but it is something to help me remember:


Thank you Tiffany and Summer!