New Fireplace and Mantle

Jeff and his dad finished the fireplace over the weekend. They did the tile and built the mantle. Beautiful!

We moved...

...to the East Bay. I thought, just maybe, we would be one of those families who could make it in the City, but suburbia seems to be a better fit for us. With the housing market as it is, we started looking to buy a home, outside San Francisco. I really dragged my feet leaving the City; it has been our home for the past 8 years and we have so many wonderful friends there, many conveniences, our jobs, etc. After looking in several towns/cities, we found this townhouse in Danville. When we first looked at it, my initial reaction was, "not for us; too much work to do." But, my husband, a visionary man, saw it differently and convinced me otherwise. Fortunately, his dad is very handy and has done some amazing work on it already! After we closed, we had about 2 1/2 weeks before we moved in, so Jeff and his dad (and anyone else we could recruit) went to work. Here are some before photos:
Here are several after-a-lot-of-work photos:
They tore out all the tile and carpet downstairs and put in hardwood flooring, removed the fireplace and are in the process of building a new mantle, removed the popcorn ceiling from the entire place and textured and painted it, painted all the walls. Bill also removed the huge and heavy hutch in the living room for an office nook. They have done so much work and it looks great! We still have a lot to do, but it's a work in progress. The location is awesome! We can walk to the library and to downtown. The Iron Horse Trail is right next to our complex. Our back patio opens to a common grassy area, which the kids love. Everyone we have met is so friendly and welcoming. We are really happy to be here!