My friend, Stevie, and her husband Tom (who is also my friend!)  have great taste and they share the same taste and isn't that an awesome bonus?  

When they first moved to California from Chicago they bought a house in Mill Valley that was on a very steep hill.  As time went by they worked on revising and remodeling what had been a brand new house when they bought it so it wasn't really in need of anything except their personal preferences in style and layout. 

They took out a wall here and added a loft there and painted and decorated.  At some point they decided that the house was not going to work for a family with children as there was no place for kids to play outside.  So off they went on their house hunting adventure.

I'll never forget the day that Stevie called to tell me that they had found just the place!  She was screaming with excitement about the find.  Tom was screaming too but not out of glee.  Stevie saw the house one way and Tom saw the house quite another way.

The house was currently home to a band of derelicts, vagabonds, bums, and others of that ilk who were renting it.  There were so many of them that some of them slept outside in a tent.  Stevie and Tom were not able to see one of the bedrooms on their tour of the place because there were people sleeping (passed out?) in it.  

Prior to being the home for the sorriest lot of humanity the house had been owned by a sex therapist and was used for sex therapy sessions. 

The house was in such known disrepair that their real estate agent begged them not to buy it.  Stevie took that warning as the absolute reason they must buy the house!  Tom took the warning as sound advice.  

I was not privy to what took place that convinced or beat Tom down enough that he finally agreed to the purchase.  But buy the place they did.   And then, boy howdy, did the fun ever begin!

The first night that they were moved in Stevie and Tom went to bed in the room that they had claimed for themselves for the time being while they began the repairs and remodeling of other rooms.  While they were sleeping it began to rain hard.  The way that Stevie and Tom learned about how hard it was raining was from the skylight above their bed that was leaking like Niagara Falls.  Water was gushing through the skylight and onto the bed and down the wall behind the bed.  Well, no mention of a leaking skylight when they bought the place.  Huh.. You'd think that would have been part of the known disrepair, wouldn't ya'?

In the process of getting the skylight repaired the contractor happened to mention that due to heavy rains over the years and the subsequent accumulated water in a crevice next to the house, the foundation for that part of the house was eroded and any day at any time the house could be minus its foundation.  That's not good.  Add the price of a new foundation to the price of fixing a skylight.  Ka ching. 

As sometimes happens, as the skylight was being studied so was the roof on the house.  Roof was a goner.  Soon there would be leaks everywhere not just through the skylight.  Where was this noted on the inspection before the sale of the house?  It wasn't.  Ka ching.

Tom is very handy and he was undertaking repairs himself whenever that made sense.  He was working on the hall bathroom when he stepped on the ledge of the shower stall and the shower went through the floor of the bathroom!  Termites.  Any mention of termite damage on the inspection?  Of course not.  

There was a charming outdoor fireplace with a grill for outdoor cooking but alas and alack, the fireplace needed to be put into mothballs when it was learned that the fireplace was built on top of their gas main.  Oops.

I haven't begun to cover the disasters that befell Tom and Stevie as they became slaves to saving that house.  If the movie "Money Pit" hadn't been made, Tom and Stevie would have had to make it.  

Okay, I have told you about the house at the time Tom and Stevie bought it but I haven't told you the essence of the story.  That I will let Tom and Stevie tell you on this video about their historic house, The Brantwood Estate.  The place is absolutely phenomenal and all of the glory belongs to two people who rescued it from certain disaster.  Enjoy!

                                                            http://www.brantwoodestate.com/