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68 Kimberly Court The story of a tree house |
I had always wanted to build a house. Long before I sliced and diced my way through the CIA, before I discovered the culinary magic of Wolfgang Puck at Spago in West Hollywood, and before we opened Postrio in San Francisco, I was bitten by the building bug.
It all started with my first tree house; I engineered a three-level fortress with a balcony that cantilevered out over the lake - wired for sound of course. I built it over the tenth and eleventh summers of my life and spent many joyous days covered in sawdust. Later I was distracted by the nefarious pursuits of my teens: beer, dope and girls. Then, following my culinary education, there was the pesky business of starting a career, so the fascination with building slipped by the wayside for some time.
Eventually, the birth of Hawthorne Lane married my two passions on a grand scale. Through careful space planning and material selection, an empty warehouse finally turned into a warm and inviting San Francisco destination. Being part of the construction team was a thrilling accomplishment.
After guiding the restaurant through nearly ten years of being in business, I found 68 Kimberly Court in Napa. I needed a project. “Fix it up and sell it,” was the plan. But as I stood in this “Brady Bunch” house and imagined the possibilities, I found that I didn't want to part with my baby. I wanted to combine what I had learned about the theatre of food with the power of design to create the ultimate space for entertaining. So the design turned into the re-design and the 100K budget was out the window. I took the house down past the studs and really re-built the whole thing (alright, I did keep the roof and garage), and my six month project was transformed into the biggest challenge of my life.
Now, over a year later, the doors are open, the table is set, and I am looking forward to entertaining my guests in whole new way. The house's “new millennium” design incorporates 70’s style into an almost completely open floor plan, resulting in a large, comfortable space designed to facilitate an interactive style of entertaining, all in 1,500 square feet.
Below are links to an annotated photo-essay documenting the last year of my life and the process of taking a house apart and putting it back together again. You need to have macromedia flash version 8 or later installed to see the captions. If you don't have it on your computer, you will be directed to a web-site where you can download and install it free of charge.
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Chapter One - Original Condition
Chapter Three - Framing, Windows and Doors
Chapter Four - Electricity and Plumbing
Chapter Five - Insulation and Sheet rock
Chapter Eight - Final Stages of Construction