Top Ten Lessons Learned During Remodel

10. You might save money using an unlicensed designer to develop permit-ready plans rather than an architect, but you lose a lot of time, and potentially negotiating power with the City and your sanity as well.

9. Expect the unexpected. We encountered, among other things: a 35 year old tract home which encroached on a City drainage easement, a foundation excavation that looked like a swimming pool was being installed, and a furnace and HVAC ducting that needed to be replaced completely.

8. It always costs more than you'd like ... and possibly more than you have.

7. Meticulous planning pays off. We lived in the house for over five years and really knew what we wanted to do with it. We also were almost entirely in agreement between ourselves as to what it was going to look like and how it would function.

6. Change order is a four-letter word.

5. Moving out during construction would have been a good, but expensive, idea.

4. All we are is dust in the wind. Dust. No way to avoid it. It was everywhere, all the time. We're still cleaning up.

3. You can get some great hotel deals on Priceline. Best buys: 4 Points Sheraton in Pleasanton ($40/night) and a one-time score of the Walnut Creek Embassy Suites ($55/night).

2. It takes longer to move back in than it did to move out, but it's a great opportunity to declutter.

1. A great contractor is the key to the project's success. Thanks, Dennis, we couldn't have done it without you.

Happy New Year!

Veni, vidi, vino

Never content to rest on my laurels, or even really rest, I decided to convert the ridiculously narrow hall closet (complete with towels folded "Livorna Estates style" in order to fit) into a wine closet as a Christmas gift for my husband. Our wine collection had previously been stored in the hall coat closet, which was reduced by 50% during the remodel to give us more space in the Master Bathroom and thus no longer was large enough to hold the wine, and other assorted closets and cubbies. We really needed the space in our closets for clothing, towels, and the other sundries for which they were designed.

I realized that if we moved the doors out a couple of inches, the wine bottles would fit. So, our contractor came back over and we cooked up a plan. We put in bi-fold doors and added shelves and cleats. It's an imperfect design, but one that'll work well for us. I'm still working on getting labels made so it can all tie together with my husband's already organized inventory system.

Sante!