House exterior - before and after

This is our house today...see below to see the before photos.  We live in a beach community where the homes were built in the late 1960's early 70's.  It was hard to make sense of the house as it was...but there are times when I think we could have gone a little less drastic with change.  The good thing about the development being built in the late 1960's is that open space was considered and therefore we have walking paths and greenbelts through the entire neighborhood which consists of just under 1,000 homes.  There's a community center, a pool, tennis courts, park and the best part...beach parking and beach access with a bluff top park looking over the most beautiful stretch of beach. 

The window in the center was where the third car garage once was.  The garage still has the space of a three car, but this area of the garage is now used a a hang out spot for Patrick and his friends.  The house came with flat screen televisions in every room.  It was hideous on the outside, but was used  a second home for a family from LA...who apparently watched a lot of television.  Perfect...we now have a large flat screen in the garage, a ping pong table and stacks of beach towels.

The front entrance of the house was actually pushed out so the entry way inside is larger, but the walkway still has plenty of space.  When we first started the plans we were going to use stone...then we changed to brick.  I wanted to use exposed brick painted white inside the house and it only made sense to use it outside as well.   It's timeless and we love the herringbone pattern.

The outside lighting is from Bevolo.  Being this close to the ocean, only real copper will stand the test of time.

I would have loved to move that heater for this shot....but it does come in handy on most nights in California...even in the middle of summer I keep a stack of Pashmina shawls when we dine outside.

We kept the back doors, all three sets.  They were relatively new...What I didn't like about them were the sidelights.  It was easy enough to cover those and we saved quite a bit of $$.  It also allowed us to add a built in bench in the kitchen eating nook.

Before...this was October 2010.

Could not wait to change these doors!

The only thing I regret about any changes back here...losing all the rose bushes. 

The blank area above to the right was pushed out and now is a walk in closet on one side and an office on the right. The family room is larger on the first floor and it provides flow into the living room.