Happy Happenstance: Los Gatos Home Tour

The weekend before last, we headed over to an area of the world where new companies are born in rapid fire sequence. The tech minded congregate and come together to create new tech babies which in turn creates money that seems to overflow into the water system and floods up through the pipes of old houses making them new again. Tim and I stumbled upon just this sort of phenomenon when we were visiting old college friends in a town called Los Gatos. We had a bit of time to wander around town and fell upon a home tour that was just getting started around 10:00 Sunday morning. We were exploring  the local Farmer's Market before heading out of town and started a conversation with a shop owner who asked if we were going on the tour....and I said "what tour?" and they said "The Museums of Los Gatos 20th Anniversary Historic Homes Tour". Tim looked at me to make sure I was not getting that glassy look in my eyes...but it was too late.....I was hooked. Luckily, said shop owner then went on to describe one of the houses that had a vintage car collection in the three barns on the back acre of the property. I looked at Tim....glassy eyes. It did not take long for us to figure out where to go.....

The first house we came to was a Craftsman Bungalow that had been recently restored and won a gold award for Residential Historical Renovation/Restoration at the NARI Meta competition. This(1000 sq. ft.) house packs a punch for all of its small stature. The owners cleverly used period materials when modernizing the spaces to how they live today. They used Motawi Tile around the Living Room fireplace adding lots of Craftsman charm. They kept the original fir floors that had been hidden under linoleum, and much of the original moldings.

The original Jack and Jill bath had two doors doors, one of which was closed off to help create a Master Bedroom closet. They used period tile and such a pretty wall mounted faucet....

The Kitchen was reconfigured to include a La CornueFe range....so handsome! Honed black marble and white carrara marble counters play off of the black range and stools and the white cabinetry.

Schoolhouse lighting and a new take on a Hoosier Cabinet also played up the vintage look....

One of my favorite spaces was the Dining Area with its built-in banquette and storage above. No space was left unused! Great details: the paneling of the banquette back tying in with the window trim, drawers under the seat, open shelf with cupboards above.....

In the backyard, there was a guest house with just as much attention to detail. I loved the lantern pendents hanging from the post and from the eaves under the guest house roof. And the rafter tails under the eaves also added so much character.....

The owners were able to squeeze in a full kitchen in this very small space...

....and they hid the washer and dryer behind a barn door adjacent to a little desk area....clever....

The bedroom was like a little ship's cabin with its built-in storage and walls sconces and cubbies above the bed....

And another simple but charming bathroom for the lucky guests....

The backyard also had a perfect little spot to warm up on cool evenings....

Nicely done!

Next, we drove over to the next house,but I had to take little photo of the house next door. The gate with the climbing roses was too pretty to pass by....

But then we came to the next home on the tour: The 1883 Queen Anne Victorian home of Charles Beedle. The home has been restored using much of the original hardware and decorative moldings...

We were asked not to take photos inside, but I did have to sneak a photo of my favorite accessory.....

This is where Tim cashed in. Teh barns on the back of teh property were filled with the owner's private vintage car collection. First up, a 1954 Nash Healy with Farina body, one of only 90 made.....

The oner slowly and with great care is restoring it to its former glory....

This next car is a 1941 Lincoln Continental Cabriolet which just happened to win First in Class at the 1972 Concourse d'Elegance in Pebble Beach....nice.....

Next up....and my favorite!....was a 1952 custom racing care with a Ford engine....one of only 14 made.....

Next we hopped on over to a three story Queen Anne built in 1891. Round about 1941, a former owner had turned it into a duplex. But the current owners bought it in 1963 and retuned it to its original single family home state.

A couple of films were made here that you may know....Orsen Welles 1970 film, The Witching (I think I could not live here after seeing this movie..), and the 1994 film starring Kirk Douglas, The Lies Boys Tell, later renamed Take Me Home. 

Again, no photos, but the house was amazing! Some of the notable features included an authentic old time theater in the basement, and hand cut limestone panels curved to fit the walls above the tub in the upstairs turret bathroom.....

the last beauty was the 1891 Victorian in the Free Classic style built by architect Francis W. Reid. Again...no photos, but equally as fun to see!

Not a bad adventure to cap off a fun filled Big Chill weekend with friends we have known since college....which was in the 1980's....not the 1880's...just so we're clear.

Thanks Los Gatos for such a delightfully wonderful tour!