It might look like a cathedral but in reality, it is our new dining room and living room, seen from our new elevated kitchen vantage point. One of our goals in our remodel, was to integrate more of our home with our garden. Essentially we pushed out our old living room to the south, doubling the size. This great room is close to ground level, yet surprisingly has enough elevation to easily see into our  garden, vineyard, and the ocean horizon.

The single wood door on the left hand side, in the above photo is our front door. There are massive French doors on either side of this room for light and views. A stucco fireplace at the very end of the room serves as a focal point, and an exclamation point. The area near the fireplace will be our new living room.

On the west side of this great room will be a long low outside deck running the entire length of the room. Our house was designed to hug our massive and beautiful Italian Stone Pine tree, embracing its beauty. From our intended dining room spot in the foreground, we will be able to dine looking westward to the vineyard, and enjoy the gnarly impressive trunk of this great tree that oversees our property.

Our ceiling is custom tongue and groove crafted lumber, with massive support beams. It is stained a warm gray color, called Drift Gray by Behr. The floor will be  an 8' x 8' Spanish tile, made out of durable concrete by Arto Brick, Artillo style, in Spanish Coto. It is a lovely blend of warm honey terra cotta and slightly darker hues.

We are about half-way through our remodel now, five months into it. Our home and barn is in place, and the last five months will be the finish work. Our decisions we need to make now come fast and furious.

Our syrah vineyard is pruned, weeded, and chartreuse buds are bursting with new shoots. I feel like it is a race to harvest. Will our home be done in time. I think so.

Please share your remodel experience.  Did it happen within your anticipated time frame? As it emerged in reality, was it your same vision as on paper?

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What once was basically unusable space in our home is emerging as "the heart of our home" and our new kitchen, thanks to our remodel. Custom-made shaker style cabinets in a warm, livable gray color echo the simple and rustic kitchen. A 30" white farmhouse sink, made by Whitehaus, waits to be installed. We are planning on white counters, and white top for the kitchen island, material to be determined.

I found our farmhouse sink and faucet at Vintage Tub and Bath. Vintage Tub and Bath is a mail order company back east, with a wonderful selection of new, but vintage-looking pieces for your kitchen and bath. Prices are reasonable, and there are no sales tax or shipping charges.

Our kitchen has two wall sides and two open sides. The north side, you can see in the above photo, is cabinets and kitchen sink.The east and adjoining side will be the appliance wall where our refrigerator, ovens, microwave, and pantry will be located. A large kitchen island 5' x 8', will be strategically situated across from our farmhouse sink, and where our cook top will be situated.

Our two opens sides of our kitchen face south and west. Our kitchen is on an elevated level above, by a height of 5 steps, and overlooks a huge great room facing south. This is where our dining and living room will be situated. Looking west from the kitchen, will be an adjoining cozy breakfast nook, and views of our garden and vineyard beyond.

For those that are in the throes of remodeling now, too, a great website to have at your fingertips is Remodelista. It is full of inspiring ideas, incredible resources, and overall "over the top" tips to get your through your remodel.

Please share if you are remodeling your home or kitchen now. Please share what prompted you to remodel.

My husband, John, wanted two things out of our remodel, a garage and a wine-making room. Just kidding. Part of our remodel involves a stand alone barn which will house a two-car garage, wine-making room, and a guest apartment upstairs. Our architect, Bill Bocken, was very clever to cloak all of this into a barn. Our trees and landscaping soften the barn, and immediately give the barn a presence as if it has been on our property for a long time.

The two large openings you see in the above photo will be actual sliding barn doors, which will look west to our garden, vineyard, and the ocean horizon. Our barn will be multi-use and functional for a variety of activities. It will be a working barn.

On a recent trip back to the Chicago area, traveling south and west into the farm heartland, I was captured by the beauty of the many working family farms and open land of rich earth. Trees were carefully planted around the family home and center of the farm for protection. You could often see the original barn of the farm homestead abandoned for safety reasons, but sometimes still standing and making an aesthetic impression on the landscape.

There is a great green movement to recycle precious floors, beams, and materials from these abandoned barns and buildings, rather than have them lost to landfill and further decay. Theses materials can live on, be re-purposed and enjoyed for anther 100 years.

Some barns, like this white barn in the photo below, still function and thrive today. This former dairy barn is part of an 1830's farmstead in Woodstock, Illinois, majestically morphed into an ideal setting for a garden antique business, Kimball & Bean.

It is nearly impossible to photograph with true justice this incredible barn. I wasn't able to capture and show you the massive length of this barn, or that it is two stories high. Hopefully, I was able to show you its charm and enduring presence.

If you are ever near the community of Woodstock, Illinois, take the time to visit their picturesque town square and Kimball & Bean Garden Antiques, a few miles outside of town. My husband and I hope to recreate some of the charm and enduring presence with our own barn, that we saw in the barns in the Midwest farm heartland.

Did you visit or have a barn growing up? Please share, if you know of a barn now that has been saved and reinvented for something wonderful? Please comment on why you think barns are so wonderful.

Autumn is one of my favorite seasons of the year. Normally, I would be sharing so many tips, photos, and ideas with you this season. However, we have embarked on a home remodel this past month which has been many years in the planning, and has already to proved to be an adventure. Since this project is expected to take a year, I thought I would share with you some of the highlights of this remodel as we go along. Don't worry, my roots for this blog are still in the garden.

Our remodel vision was to create a home which was more comfortable, more energy efficient, an enhancement of our views, and to integrate our home and garden more fully. It's a little bit scary. It's a little bit fun. It's a little bit unknown. Please follow along with us, my husband and me, on our journey as our Domaine de Manion remodel unfolds. Yes, our "Hollywood girls" and "French girls", aka our beloved hens, are fine and are enjoying all the new freshly turned dirt and excitement.

Our spanish style home was originally built in 1930, and was one of only three homes back then in the area, all the way to the Pacific Ocean a mile away. Our home sits a top a gentle rising coastal ridge about 300 feet above sea level. A massive mature Italian Stone Pine and Torrey Pine tree dominate our home and property, and act as subtle protectors. We're saving our charming home and pushing out on its west side and south side. We're building a stand alone "barn" which among other uses, will have a wine-making room.

I keep saying to myself, to embrace the journey as much as the destination.

Have you gone through a home remodel? Do you have any tips to share? Please comment on your remodel experience.