Woodworkers Dream-Come-True-Wood-Shop! For Sale!
Woodworkers Dream-Come-True-Wood-Shop! Master woodworker, retired sales genius, avid reader and all around smart and talented guy – My Dad! I am honored to be working with my dad and step-mother (Bob & Carine) to market and help them sell their beloved home of 36 years.
I was 10 when my Dad brought me and my 2 sisters to the “new” house on the hill, 66 Grove Hill Avenue South, San Anselmo, CA 94960. Since my parents split, when I was 5, my dad went through women and houses at a rapid rate. His houses were all in Marin and all hip and cool in some way. There was the tiny cottage wedged into the hillside in Mill Valley, down about a 100 steps. and perched on twigs. The house on Highway 1 where we would sit and count the passing cars from the dangling deck and the house on E.Blithedale with 100’s of bright orange marigolds and always full of fun, happy friends. The women were always pretty, mostly young but not always fun and cool like the houses.
This new house, however, at first glance – horrific! Dirty, dilapidated, walls covered in stickers, decks disintegrating and as a 10 year old would say – GROSS!
We scraped and painted and cleaned but it didn’t really make a difference. Dad, really? What were you thinking? However, with each visit we discovered the properties wonders. A hillside filled with 1900’s stone work pathways leading to a forest. A chicken coop and duck pond provided a morning ritual of collecting fresh eggs. A pond filled with goldfish and minnows, a dream come true for a tomboy (me). I would sit for hours crouched with a cup catching my new pets. Heaven!
My dad starting the transformation (later joined by Carine) that would take place over the next 36 years. They slowing and lovingly turned a broken, ghost of a property into the charming, cozy, hill top haven it is today. They eventually added a 1250 sq.ft. work shop for Bob’s furniture making. In that shop he designed and created endless pieces of meticulous and stunning art pieces, furniture for his home, his kids, his wife. Pieces that he built, sanded and finished to perfection.
Along with collecting houses and women in those days, my dad also collected hobbies. One day a weaving class, the next stained glass, a long stint with photography and the next jewelry making. Never tackling anything half-assed he had to have the state of the art equipment for each new endeavor. Woodworking was the only one he stuck with for the next 50 years. Studying with the late Art Espinet Carpenter (named one of California’s 25 national treasures), he learned innovative techniques and true wood working skills he would hone and use for years. Every house he lived in had some form of a work shop but never did he have one as glorious and expansive as the one he built at 66 Grove Hill South.
The shop is truly a woodworkers dream come true! My vision for the sale and transfer of this home is to find another furniture making rock star to enjoy what my dad must leave behind.
The shop works it’s way into every room in the home, and touches the homes of family and friends with gifted pieces. A built in cabinet in the Living Room. Customized shelves and storage in the office. A Japanese Tansu chest adorns a corner of the entry and a mid century modern piece, I have my eye on, sits in the basement, a relic from my childhood home, still stunning, still functional. A cherry mission style bed with matching nightstands I climb into every night.
While the work shop is a hub and breeding ground for functional artwork the rest of the house, with each finished product, became a gallery of my dads masterpieces and eventually Carine’s artwork. A talented pair.
Through every project, remodel, addition and improvement, my dad and later his wife, could have covered up the Vintage Charm of this 100 year old home and cloaked it in modern layers so as not to see the imperfections but instead they chose to retain the original beauty, insert the perfect farm table in the dining room, a gourmet country kitchen, a hidden office where the egg cartons and chicken feed once lived.
Today, after 36 years of living, family holidays, many layers of paint, endless remodels and upgrades, Bob & Carine are putting the finishing touches on the Vintage beauty, un-cluttering closets and bookshelves and planning their escapes during showings so I can open up their home to agents and potential home buyers and share the wonder of 66 Grove Hill South.
This old house has been good to us but it’s time for someone else to enjoy the magic! All you wood workers, artists, cabinet makers out there – this is a once in a lifetime opportunity!