A Brief History…

Here are a few photos of the new house, which is currently being “demolded.” It is located about 100 yards from Lake Arrowhead on the north side of the lake just across the road from the UCLA Conference Center. These photos are not very good but will show the state of things when I bought the house.

The house is on what passes for a “busy street” here as it is the main route during the day for trucks and cars headed for Blue Jay, an adjacent village. At night I expect it will be quiet and the noise is not intrusive anyway. The house is on a large lot (1/3 acre) and the entire lot is level and street level, not common up here. It does have a long, rather narrow driveway and I plan to widen that, depending on the lot survey I will have done as soon as escrow closes.

The plan is a modified “A frame” which I’m not enthusiastic about in general, but the location, lot and setting sold me. The “Great Room” includes the kitchen, the living and the dining. It has been overfurnished by the seller and that makes it look cluttered to me. The living room furniture will go to a good home ( I bought it furnished but will replace most of it.) and I have a few pieces which will replace it. The floor is part tile and part carpet. I will remove the carpet and tile that area with matching tile. I have a large and beautiful Persian rug which will replace the carpet over the tile.

Here is another view showing the furniture which will go. The master bedroom is atop the stairway in the background. Winston has never dealt with stairs so he will have a challenge. Young bassetts are not recommended to climb and descend stairs as they can get tendinitis or even osteitis from the strain on their short legs. Winston did have tendinitis when he was about 6 months old from jumping down a wall I had that was about 2 feet high. Now he will jump off a wall four feet high although I discourage him from doing that.

The kitchen is part of the “Great Room” but is big enough and has good appliances. The layout will be nice for family holidays and my daughter-in-law is already planning for Thanksgiving. The dining room set doesn’t show well in these photos but it quite nice and there is plenty of room for it. My family heirloom dining room set will remain in storage until one of the kids takes it. It would not fit well here.

I bought the house for this room and the yard. This room is the size of the house floor plan and is a perfect place for kids to have fun without driving their parents nuts. It is also a great room for watching football games and imbibing in a few adult beverages. There is a wall to the right that hides a large storage area which I will convert to an office. I was there measuring with Joe today. I think I can get as large and functional an office as the one I left in MIssion Viejo.

This shows a small part of the yard which extends about 75 feet to an access road behind the house. Access roads up here are similar to alleys in cities as they provide access to some homes and to some garages. This house does not have a garage but I plan to build one at the rear of the lot and opening onto the access road. I have talked to a company that builds them and their work is great. They have a show room in Ontario, about a half hour away, and I have looked their garages. The garage will be 20 x 24 feet, and will have a workshop area that is 4 x 20 feet. It will be wired for the power tools I have, will be insulated and heated for winter.

In the center of the photo is a small bridge that crosses a seasonal stream that runs across the lot to a larger stream along the lot line on the east side. The stream even has a small water wheel which is all silted up but I will see if it can be refurbished before next spring. It runs from snow melt to about July 1.

Here is the yard from the bridge. The distance to that far corner is about 120 feet. There is a nice access road running along the back fence and I will put the garage in that corner. It will be 20 feet deep and 24 feet wide. That will not take that much of the yard and the access road is a safer exit than the relatively busy street in front of the house where the driveway exits. The grass is very long now and Winston would be lost in that grass. I will take the weed whacker to it this weekend.

Here is another view from the jacuzzi and across the fence toward the other back corner. There is a larger creek there which runs all year and which goes under the access road through a culvert. I will have to figure out a way to keep Winston from wading out under the road. Also, the coyotes from coming in after a nice fat bassett hound.

The grass is so long that the two foot high stone wall that separates the higher yard from the lower yard is mostly hidden.

There are two large decks across the back of the house. The upper will be a good summer casual dining area. The lower is off the family room and I will add a dog door there for Winston. The photo shows the side of the house and the end of the lower deck where steps come down from the driveway.

I have to replace the roof soon after escrow closes as it is wood shakes and they become illegal in California in two years. No insurance company will now insure a home up here with a wood shake roof. That will also give me the opportunity to insulate the roof to reduce heat loss in winter and add two opening skylights to help cool in summer. I will also wire it for some ceiling fans, which work to help heat these tall A frame rooms in winter ( by pushing warm air down) and to cool them in summer (by pulling warm air to the top of the room and out the skylights). The house is not air conditioned and I don’t intend to add it.

That is my project for my next year. Soon I will bring my small sailboat up and will work on finding dry storage near a launch ramp for next summer. I also have to fence the yard. It is fenced with wood split rail but that will not keep the dog in so a chain link fence will be added inside the wood fence.

Just a short distance from the house is Tavern Bay Beach Club. This is a beach area reserved for members of the lake association. It has parking, a snack bar and play areas for kids. My grandchildren will love it. We had a preview yesterday.

That is my older grand daughter at the club. It was a cell phone camera so, of course, it cut most of her off.

This shows the play areas and snack bar.

Now, if we could only get the deal closed !

It finally closed on 8/6/10 and Winston and I are now in residence.