Sunday – back home!

Well, we are back home after our weekend up in LA at the Dwell conference.  Drive up had it’s usual challenges but it was not horrible.  Saturday was spent listening to some speakers on topics such as living walls/roofs (very applicable), green kitchens, and healthy houses.  We also heard the horror story of a green home that they are trying to build in Topanga and all of the hoops that they have been through.  Let me tell you – our hoops were NOTHING by comparison.  Their permitting has taken years.  We also looked at some of the vendors to get some ideas.  Once we felt “done” we went to our hotel which was on Sunset (closer to where we needed to be on Sunday). 

We stayed at the Luxe on Sunset and we got a fantastic rate through a website I stumbled upon.  It worked so well I am actually going to post a link to it – I would use it again.  We used the last minute rates function and got about $100 off of our room. 

http://www.tablethotels.com/

The hotel worked out very well for the price.  Dinner was amusing with a new server (we ended up having our salads for dessert) – but it was all handled with good humor.  All and all, I would stay there again.

Sunday was the big home tour day.  We picked up our maps in Santa Monica, had some breakfast nearby, and then started our journey.  And let me tell you, since it is LA – it is a journey.  The houses were amazing and all had something that we could use or learn from.  Here are a couple of pictures from the day.

View from one of the houses.  You can see downtown through the LA haze.  This house by far was the most architectural and stunning.

View down the stairs of the same house.  It shows me how I can mix light and dark woods to complement each other.

A house in Venice had a cool green wall and roof.  This picture also shows the trex decking that is similar to what we are looking at.

This house had zinc siding that I liked a lot.  But, probably not economical for us….

This house had planters that I liked and a channel around the concrete that appealed to me.  I just like the overall feel of it.

Our drive home was relatively uneventful.  Made it home by 5:30 and found two happy cats when we got here.  We loved seeing the houses but are not sure having to navigate LA (and the resulting use of profanity) was worth it!

As for our project, we have to use vision to determine where it will be in a year (hopefully looking similar to those we saw today!).  Here are the latest pictures.  Most importantly, the ugly rock was removed from the fireplace.  It will get a suitable transformation.

Notice Vince watering in the background – not sure if it is in vain.

You can see where they cut through the cement to make way for the new patio and firepit that will go in here.