A Sweet Bungalow Gets a Full Renovation

Welcome to the 340th Metamorphosis Monday!

This morning as I was filling the birdfeeders, I could hear laughing and shouting coming from the street in front of my home. After I finished with the feeders, I went back inside and peered out the front window to see what all the excitement was about. Parents and children were gathered on the sidewalk, eagerly awaiting the arrival of a big, yellow bus.

Today is the first day of school here. It always gets to me every year when I see all the parents walking their little ones to the bus stop, taking pictures of this, their first day of school. It all goes by way, way too fast and before you know it your babies are all grown and have flown the nest. Has school started back where you live, yet?

For this week’s Met Monday, I’m sharing a delightful Spanish Bungalow renovation. Designer Alexandra Becket, along with her husband, Greg, like to renovate neglected or rundown bungalows they find in the Los Angeles area of California.

A while back they came across a 1,480 square foot Spanish style home that fortunately hadn’t been tampered with too much over the years. The original owner had lived there for forty years and when they passed, the home was left to their caretaker who lived there for another forty years.

It’s not often you come across homes that old with only two owners. Often when I see cute cottages for sale, there have been many unfortunate renovations and changes made over the years that have sadly stripped the home of its original character. But not so for this adorable cottage!

I couldn’t find a picture of the exterior before the renovation but this is how it looked afterwards. Cute, cute house! I love the little courtyard and the gumdrop shaped window.

A Cottage Makeover in CA

 

Alexandra and Greg’s goal when they buy a bungalow to renovate, is to “modernize the house while preserving its details and style.” In the living room, someone had done a faux finish on the overhead beams at some point.

Spanish Bungalow Living Room Before Makeover

 

Fortunately that was able to be corrected. The front door, the built in bookshelves, the gumdrop picture window and the ceiling beams were all restored.

Spanish Bungalow Living Room After Makeover

 

A close up of the faux finish prior to the restoration…

Wood Beams with Faux Finish Before Restoration

 

Here’s how the beautiful Douglas Fir beams looked after the faux finish was removed. Sooo much prettier!

Douglas Fir Wood Ceiling Beams After Restoration

 

I love the fireplace! Some of the original furniture was left behind and Alexandra had it recovered. The wingback near the fireplace was a piece she redid. You can see how it looked before its makeover in the earlier photo of the living room.

California Spanish Bungalow Renovation

 

The kitchen was definitely calling out for an update.

Kitchen Before Makeover

 

The dining room and kitchen were closed off with just a small doorway leading between the two.

Dining Room Before Makeover

 

After the renovation, the kitchen and dining room are now open to each other. It definitely feels a lot bigger, doesn’t it?

Dining Room Opened Up To Kitchen in Renovation

 

Another view of the beautifully renovated kitchen. The cabinets feel true to the home. I think an all white kitchen would have felt out of place in this home.

Kitchen After Renovation

 

There’s a cute little breakfast room right off of the kitchen.

Spanish Bungalow Kitchen After Renovation

 

It looked like this before its makeover.

Breakfast Room Before Renovation

 

So glad they were able to remove the burglar bars. Kind of felt like jail with all those bars on the window, didn’t it? Love the fun light fixture. I wonder how it looks lit up at night.

CA Bungalow Breakfast Room After Makeover

 

This bed was left behind and Alexandra refinished it.

Bedroom Before Makeover

 

Amazing what paint can do to brighten up a space.

Bedroom After Makeover with 1920's Bed

 

This was the master bedroom before the renovation. I love, love, love the old windows in this house!

Master Bedroom Before Makeover

 

Master Bedroom After:

Amazing how they were able to get all the paint off the windows to reveal the pretty wood underneath.

Cottage Bedroom After Makeover

 

Remember the chandelier we saw in the breakfast room?

Breakfast Room Before Renovation

 

It looks like they painted it to use here in the Master bedroom.

Red Tole Chandelier for Cottage Bedroom

 

A third bedroom was made over to become…

Office Before Makeover

 

…a home office.

Office After Makeover

 

The two bathrooms got a makeover, too.

Bath Before Renovation

 

Much better!

Bath After Renovation

 

The master bath was renovated with beautiful Granada floor tile and the sink/vanity counter is Caesarstone quartz.

Master Bath After Renovation

 

It must feel so good to bring these sweet cottage homes back to life!

You can see additional photos of this renovation where these pictures were found here: Spanish Bungalow Renovation

Looking forward to all the fabulous Before and Afters for this Met Monday!

Metamorphosis MondayMet Monday

 

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Comments

  1. Oh Susan – this house !
    What charm – the windows – the beams ! What a gorgeous reno – loved seeing it – thanks so much for sharing ♥
    And many thanks for the party too – hope you have a wonderful week!

  2. Oh and I forgot to mention ( because that house hypnotized me lol ) that I can’t believe how early school starts back in some areas – it’s only aft Labor day here in Montreal !

    • I know, it used to start back about a week before Labor Day which to me, made no sense. Now it starts even earlier! I would think after Labor Day would be the perfect time.

  3. What an amazing transformation!…I love the wood beams and each and every room was so carefully and meticulously restored and decorated. Thanks for sharing this beautiful home!….Thanks for hosting Susan and have a great day!

  4. Utterly charming! I love that they repurposed and reused so many original furnishings! Thanks for this great party every week Susan~

  5. They did a fabulous job with this home. We are only the third owners of our home, which was built in the 20’s. The original owners kept it until the 80’s, sold it to a lady who kept it until the 2002 when we bought it…and no one had renovated in all that time! We’ve updated, but kept the integrity of the original home. After all, that’s what we fell in love with!!Thanks for sharing and for the party! 🙂

  6. Thanks so much for hosting!!

    Hugs,
    Deb

  7. Oh my goodness I can’t imagine school starting so soon! Seems like they’re cutting the kid’s summertime awfully short. School starts back here the day after Labor Day. Our kids don’t get done until around the 6th or 7th of June though so perhaps yours get out earlier. The bungalow is definitely a charmer! I always liked the looks of those when I’d see them in movies or pictures. They did a very nice job on the renovation and decorating!

  8. What an absolutely tasteful update!!! So true that a white kitchen would have looked “out of place!” The architecture of the home just “requires” a certain aesthetic, in my opinion. What fun they must have had doing this bungalow. franki

  9. Oooh…love that house, Susan! Thanks for sharing! Hugs…Debbie

  10. Lots to see this morning! Thanks for hosting each week!

  11. What a great renovation, and I agree, the kitchen looks true to home with its finish. Love the bathrooms and the beams now.
    School here starts on the 10th for public schools, the 17th for parochial. Why the difference, idk, other than to be different.
    Thanks for hosting yet another Met Monday, have a great week, and isn’t that trip fast approaching?? Betcha can’t wait!
    Rita

  12. Wow! I love the beautiful ceiling and windows! Rustic charm at its best. Thanks for hosting, Susan! Have a great week!
    Lynda @ Gates of Crystal

  13. Wow!! What a difference!!

  14. I love bungalows and I love Spanish style, so this was a double treat.

  15. Dawn Smith says

    I especially like the bath renovation! We have an entire neighborhood of homes exactly like this one is the “Wood Streets” area of Riverside, CA.

  16. Always love this time of year….kids going back to school just at the time boredom from the long summer sets in….and parents getting their once again refreshment about them! Enjoy your quiet neighborhood today…that is until bout 3pm!!!
    Loved the L.A. Makeover!
    Thanks for sharing and wishing
    you a Super Good Day!

  17. Marlene Stephenson says

    My grandkids start next week, i can’t believe so much time has passed. I love the house,they did a great job on it.

  18. I had never heard of a gum drop window, it is so sweet. The whole house is sweet and I liked the way they played off the lamp with the chair in vibrant colours.
    Also, the lovely glass door handle in the bedroom.
    Loved the courtyard too.
    Susan, our children do not return to school (except for my daughter who is a teacher), until early September, but they do not break up until the end of June.

    • Megan, I just called it that because it’s shaped like a gumdrop. Not sure what an architect would call it. 🙂 This seems really early to me for them to be going back.

  19. What a great example of how to do it right. Good one, thanks.

  20. Also, the year-round elementary school in my neighborhood starts this week, after a brief summer break.

    • I always wished our county would go year around with all the breaks happening throughout the year. Then everyone wouldn’t try to go vacation at the same time during the summer. Maybe Disney World wouldn’t have been quite so crowded. 🙂

  21. Great house and such a makeover! I think school starts this week here. Gumdrop window, I have never heard of that before Susan!

  22. What a gorgeous renvation! It is not easy to take these old homes and bring them into today and keep the flavor and beauty. We are doing ours right now. It is slow going but going to be great!

  23. What a transformation! I love how light everything is now! Those light fixtures and wood beams are fantastic. And the mastere bath is gorgeous. Lots of work and all worth it!

  24. I’ll bet those windows are new, custom made to match the old ones. The old windows look like they were in too bad of shape to look that good again!

  25. Charlotte says

    I knew it was a bungalow in So. Calif somewhere! (Having lived there for a good 61 yrs.)I love them. Dripping with charm. The walls are thicker too, so cooler in the summer. A very quaint home! (School used to start a week AFTER Labor Day when I was a youngster in Altadena. I can’t kmagine going to school in the heat of summer. There’s still so many days left for R & R before the grind starts again. Ugh!)

  26. I’m happy to be sharing my screened porch today Susan, which was a must for our new home because of YOU and your amazing porch!
    Thanks for hosting dear lady,
    Patti

  27. What a sweet renovation and I’m in love with that bathroom floor! So unique and pretty. When I was teaching school, it was hard to get the kids to go outside for recess in August because it was just too hot!

  28. That bungalow is gorgeous. I was wondering what did they do with that cute little chandeliar in the breakfast room. And then I scrolled up to happily see that they reused it. It is gorgeous. Thanks so much for the party.

  29. What a beautiful bungalow! Love how they did the renovation and how they brought back the original details in the windows and those ceiling beams. Ah…I die!

    As always, I appreciate you hosting Met Monday. Hope you have a great week.

  30. Lovely bungalow renovation. Reminds me of the 1920’s house in old northwest Pasadena I lived in. We had similar casement windows with the original glass that we stripped to bare wood and then reset all the glass. Our fireplace was like a bee hive with a niche midway up the front and the kitchen still had it’s original California cooler, a pantry cabinet with slatted shelves and screened vents at the bottom and top for air to flow from the cool air under the house and then up to and out through the attic. Sad to say but the new owners tore out the windows and put in lovely vinyl clad junk.

  31. I grew up in Los Angeles and my grandfather purchased the family home for like $60K. He lived there for over 40 years. When he sold it to a family friend he sold it for $500K, who then sold it for $750K. 2 bedroom 1 1/4 bath. Lovely tree lined street. There are so many homes there that can be renovated but even when they aren’t they are still like $250K for 2 bed/1bth.

    This house is so pretty and seems to stay true to the era which I love about renovations. Especially when it was a home where they took it from nothing and brought it back to like. Like Nicole Curtis does on HGTV.

  32. Thank you for highlighting a home with Spanish architecture. We in California adore these homes and fight over them when one comes up for sale no matter the condition. They are so romantic and dreamy, from the smallest to the largest mansion. No one anywhere will highlight them, so this is much appreciated.

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