Oops! Accidents Happen.

Often, exhaustion can lead to grave error. Accidents happen. Luckily, no one was injured or hurt. Here's the story. Moving too fast, exhaustion from this grand move, Allah knows best.

The Uhaul truck was loaded and ready to roll. I got in my Honda CRV attempting to back out of the drive way and avoid hitting Rohan's car. Kareem parked under the tree, very close to my car. He never parks his brand new white Volvo under the tree. I backed out and slammed right into the back of his car. So sorry Kareem!

Ouch! Oops. So, needless to say, it is an expensive fix. Needless to say, I am totally embarrassed and won't be able to live this one down. But, no one got hurt. My car suffered some damage, but I bought a car ready made with dents because I knew it would be impossible for me not to dent it. 

So, it's a call to the AAA insurance company, an inconvenience for Kareem and something we don't really need right now. But, Allah always has a plan and a reason. Masha Allah!

Mā šhāʾ Allāh (ما شاء الله) is an Arabic phrase that expresses appreciation, joy, praise or thankfulness for an event or person that was just mentioned. Towards this, it is used as an expression of respect, while at the same time serving as a reminder that all accomplishments are so achieved by the will of God.

Learning How to Wait!

"Those who patiently pursue - HERE! The faster you want something to work, the more you will have to wait."

- True words spoken by Rasheed Ali

Computer generated 3-D rendering of kitchen with cabinets.

From drawing to 3-D rendering to boxes to my kitchen.

IT'S NOT HGTV! The thing to remember about a simple remodel, is that there is nothing simple about it.  The other thing to remember is that it will take longer than you think. The third thing is you will learn a lot along the way and hopefully meet really cool people.

Bruce, our granite man at M&G.

Take Bruce and Aaron from M&G Stone. Although we only intended to pick up the granite for the kitchen, we ended up with an entire set of beautiful boxes. Inside the boxes are cabinets, lots of cabinets. They took our designer's drawing and generated a 3-D color model.

Aaron, our cabinet man at M&G.

Hope the instructions are better than Ikea's.
Won't worry too much because MacArthur will come to my rescue, as he has done so many times before.

Endless Possibilities!

From the original MLS listing

Our West Loma Alta mountain cottage is described as a 


"Spacious traditional 3 bedroom, 2 bath home in Altadena. Property includes vaulted beam ceilings, light and bright kitchen with breakfast area, laminate and carpet flooring, and a large backyard with endless possibilities. This is an adorable home waiting for its new owners."




To us, it was a familiar place; a spot where once the beat of the drum was alive and flowing from room to room. It is only natural that this would be the spot.

Backyard is very functional

This is a musician's house. Drummer, Steve Gutierrez says that Santana rehearsed in the garage before the drywall went up and this was the refuge for many a musician back in the day.


The house feels creative. There is an energy and calm about it. It is so quiet there you can hear yourself think.


This house was built in 1963 and has a contemporary feel. We have a lot of work to do to restore the wood beam ceilings. Already the kitchen has turned out to be a pleasant challenge. 

Open 60's Design. Great windows!

Original MLS listing picture of kitchen

I can see myself doing a photo shoot in the living room.

How We Got Here!

Barbara King

When I looked at the house today, I realized that the journey to here was about 2 years in the making. Barbara DuMetz-Maupin suggested that we meet Barbara King. By the time we met Barbara King (Coldwell Banker), we  were already frustrated with the search.  She suggested that we go through the Pasadena Neighborhood Housing Program to better get prepared for home ownership. Luckily the class was just starting up.


We had champagne desires and apple cider money. Barbara never discouraged our dreams of home ownership, but had the ultimate faith that she would help us find what we needed. She entertained all of our crazy request to write offers below asking price and she followed through with all of them, until she handed us keys. Thank you Barbara King.

Wilda Black was our instructor with an attitude. She had an iron fist, but the information she imparted was valuable. Thank you Wilda Black.

Every Monday for six-weeks we attended class and learned about financial responsibility, credit, grants in Los Angeles. Wilda helped us understand how to work with credit in today's volatile market and the classes were very important in learning how to understand the real estate market in today's economy. We worked on our getting our credit over 700 so we could get the best rate and re-routed our finances to make them more healthy. The class was great.  I suggest that others who want to buy a home take any class you can like this one.

Robin Goudeau-Williams

Then Barbara King introduced us to Robin Goudeau-Williams of Synergy Capital (Division of American Capital Corporation).  Robin is the most patient and honest mortgage engineer I have ever met. I call her an engineer because she worked with us and put together a winning package. She is a numbers genius and very knowledgeable about real estate sales. We always felt comfortable, always felt that she had our best interest in mind. She picked up and delivered our paperwork in a timely fashion and we never felt that we could not do this. Most important, her advice about what we would need after we secured the loan, was equally as important. Thank you Robin Goudeau-Williams.

So if you want the impossible to happen, then you should talk with these fabulous ladies.

Here is the information:

Barbara King, Coldwell Banker

barbara@barbara-king.com

388 South Lake

Pasadena, CA 91101

Cellular: 626-319-0315 --------------------------------------------- Robin Goudeau-Williams (626) 376-3835 Cellular (626) 795-0514 Fax rlwilliams15@gmail.com Synergy Capital Division of American Capital Corporation

Kareem and the Tree

Kareem is terribly bothered by the tree in the backyard. When we saw the house, the first thing we said was, that is the "tree that grows in Brooklyn."


It did't bother me at all.  Rather is was rather a familiar sight and we have a tree like that where we currently live.

But the tree really bothers Kareem and he has had a battle with it from day one. Matter of fact, he is on a mission to get rid of it and has a multitude of reasons why he should cut it down.


The only problem is, the tree's roots, trunk and most of the branches reside on the other side of the neighbor's side of the fence. So, it is not our tree. He can only cut the branches on our side.





The tree is several stories high and is very prolific. I have heard every reason to cut it down--from it is a killer tree to it is a nuisance. I am convinced, but it doesn't bother me that much.

If you care to read about it (from Wikipedia)

Ailanthus altissima (pronounced /eɪˈlænθəs ælˈtɪsɨmə/^[1]), commonly known as tree of heaven, ailanthus, or in Standard Mandarin as chouchun (Chinese: 臭椿;pinyin: chòuchūn), is a deciduous tree in the Simaroubaceae family. It is native to both northeast and central China and Taiwan. Unlike other members of the genusAilanthus, it is found in temperate climates rather than the tropics. 

The tree grows rapidly and is capable of reaching heights of 15 metres (49 ft) in 25 years. However, the species is also short lived and rarely lives more than 50 years. It has become an invasive species due to its ability to quickly colonise disturbed areas and suppress competition with allelopathic chemicals. It is considered a noxious weed in Australia, the United States, New Zealand and several countries in southern and eastern Europe. The tree also resprouts vigorously when cut, making its eradication difficult and time consuming. In many urban areas, it has acquired the derisive nicknames of "ghetto palm" and "stink tree".

More Demo, Post Up, Cabinets Decisions, Oh My!

Rasheed with the drill, Kareem and Rohan want in.

The demo continues and finally all of the cabinets are dismantled to make room for the tile.  Mac and Kareem have laid the backer board, but the post need to be put in. This is the last section of cabinets that we are taking down.

Kareem has fallen in love with power tools! Who can blame him. I think I will order a set for him, that way I can get a couple of projects made. Demo is always fun, but I am anxious to get these cabinets in.

Best place to get quality cabinets & granite.

Found a cool place to get the cabinets. Thanks to Fernando, the granite fabricator who Bo Adams referred us to (yeah Leigh Adams son is a general contractor now). We found M&G in South El Monte. They are Chinese, but we made a connection with Bruce and he helped us so much.

They have a dozen selections of very reasonably priced granite. It is a bit crazy, but if you are patient, you will get exactly what you want. Fun place, fun people and limited English. Bring your A-game.

Mac working on leveling the beam and Ms. Debra.

We got the post up. Mac had to fabricate the brace for the top beam, but he did it. Brilliant! This post is an important element in moving forward.

The backer board is down and the tiles are ready to go down.

Sarah came by to show us the kitchen design. I thank her for figuring that out for us. I will post the plan soon. It will be curious to see if we can execute her plan.

The most beautiful interior designer, Sarah Abdus-Samad.

Finding the Post

One of the suggestions the inspector made before we bought the house was that we secure the house by removing the 4x4 beam and replace it with a 12x4 beam. With an open design and the rafters showing, securing the beam was absolutely necessary. We could hear the shifting of the house.

Tim at the lumber yard.

We looked for the 12x4 post the day after Thanksgiving. We thought that the lumber yards would be open, but much to our surprise they were all closed. We found out that Home Depot didn't have the 10 foot tall post and HD Restore & Remodel was too far to go with Leigh's truck. We were hoping to keep it local.

As we were walking away and declaring defeat, Tim emerged from behind the Lincoln Ave Lumber gate and asked if he could help me.
He told me that he had post and beams and whatever we wanted, but his uncle was not there and but would be back soon.

Doors, lumber and everything in between.

We waited and MacArthur searched around the yard looking at what they had. It was a hodgepodge of building materials, doors, nails, drywall, roofing materials and more. Tim said his uncle dismantled houses.

We were patient and Mac did find the post and continued to search for the correct brackets to attach to the ceiling joints.














Tim  made a quick call to Uncle Alfred and there he was. Alfred is from Mississippi and he made an instant connection with MacArthur. MacArthur is also from Mississippi. They talked about the South, construction, post and beams. Arthur was extremely helpful in his southern way, the kind of wisdom that comes with white hair.  He humbled us and we welcomed his wisdom. He even let us borrow his jack!

Alfred, behind Lincoln Ave. Lumber.

The Kitchen Demo

We started by planning and more planning on what to do with the kitchen/dining room space. It is an odd space 27'ish x 9'ish (note my accuracy). Sarah helped us plan the kitchen area around a dining room set that  Rasheed really likes and wants to see in the dining room space. We tend to eat as a family and spend a lot of time at the table. I doubt that will change in this house.

Rasheed Ali, the proud homeowner.

A few backerboards before laying down the tile.

Our immediate goals are to tile the floors by Tuesday and get the 12x4 beam post in place. We expect delivery of the refrigerator from the Sears Outlet. It's a French door style frig with the freezer on the bottom. Shortly after that the additional appliances, stove and dishwasher from Sears in Covina should arrive by December 7th.

Why does this look so easy on HGTV?

Still have not ordered the cabinets or the granite!

We own this house!

Yesterday escrow officially closed. Although we had keys on Saturday, after our loan closed, it was a great feeling to have the selling agent's assistant, Chris from ReMax Glendale, come over to remove the for sale sign and the big blue lockbox.

We talked to our realtor, Barbara King, Coldwell Banker and got the official word.

Yesterday, we started to put our footprint on our house. There is so much to do!

We had 9 people come by.

1- Lisa Jover from the AAA insurance came by to inspect.
2-Gas Company to tell me that the furnace was touching the roof and had to be corrected before they would turn on the gas.
3-The termite company to tell us that they did not mess up the furnace pipes.
4-Kemp Senebandith, our HVAC specialist to fix the furnace.
5-So Cal Edison to turn on the electricity.
6-Our contractor, MacArthur, to start renovation on the kitchen.
7-Sarah Abdus-Samad, our interior decorator, to help us remodel our kitchen.
8-Paul Senebandith, the electrician to fix the hanging outlets under the sink.
9-Rivas Roofers to give us an estimate on the garage roof.

It was a day full of people coming and going.

MacArthur-General Contractor, Handyman, Do it All

Paul Senebandith, Licensed Electrician

Tiles from HD in North Hollywood

Then we went to HD Restore and Renovation in North Hollywood and bought 20 boxes of tiles, backer board and grout.

Lifted and unlifted.