remodel research: trespassing and open houses

Come on. Admit it. Do you skulk around construction sites?

View from an "under construction" lot in a neighborhood near our home a few months back
Balboa Island, CA with Christmas lights

Much to my husband and son's horror, any construction fence ajar is simply seen as an invitation. And I brake for all open houses. Now that I am in full remodel planning mode, my sleuthing has gone into over-drive.

Idea #1 Patio Cover

We want to cover our interior open courtyard so we can more easily heat the space and create a usable entertainment area out of what is probably a good 14 foot square interior patio area. Plus it does rain in California (contrary to popular belief).  How to do it and not have the roof look like a dorky patio cover?

Construction site to the rescue. Look at the rooftop over this garage.

Okay, pretty spectacular detail over a garage, right? But ignore the opulence and focus on what a clever solution this would be for a mid-century modern elevated patio cover.

It lets light in and carries a traditional mid-century modern design element. The glass panel at the top of the walls is an element we also just happen to have in our living room. Glass on gable ends or tall walls is a very Eichler feature.

Idea #2 Kitchen Cabinets

I saw some very cool mid-century modern cabinets recently. I want to copy the horizontal grain for our kitchen and also the frameless design.

These cabinets have handles similar to the ones in our recent (okay a year ago) bathroom remodel. I hadn't thought about the idea for a kitchen, but I really like the look of frameless cabinets. Great inspirational pictures in this Houzz workbook "8 Elements of a Modern Kitchen."

Our bathroom cabinets

Idea #3 Interesting Shelving

A scurry around an open-house provided a couple of cool shots of shelves that I might like to use to highlight mid-century modern glass and what not. Do you find the phrase "what not" getting overused these days? The cool guys at work drop it in during presentations. E.g. "We will need more resources on this project and what not."

Idea #4 Bright Industrial Lighting

Our home has a flat roof. There isn't a ton of opportunities to put recessed lights everywhere. So we have to make do with track lights, lamps and an occasional bright lighting fixture. I really like this hanging light which I saw at an ongoing local open house. And it has that cool industrial look that is so popular right now. DAMN! Getting tricked by the latest trend. I will try to resist industrial.

I'll keep gathering up kitchen and patio remodel ideas. You don't mind if I use the blog, do you?