California Cottage is a story about modernizing a 1926 bungalow.

The Cottage Occupants

I'm A. I live in the cottage with my husband M and an old rescue dog. We have a baby boy on the way. I'm a software engineer by trade. My favorite color is blue, and I think it should be your favorite color too.

Our Origin Story

Like many young families in the San Francisco Bay Area, we had to choose: continue renting a small apartment, buy a tiny fixer-upper, or leave.

We chose to stay and buy. California real estate is cutthroat. Competition is fierce, prices are high, and contracts lack contingencies. We spent six intense months searching for a home in a walkable neighborhood.

Right as we were about to give up hope, we stumbled across the little blue bungalow that became ours. We fell in love with the wood floors, original windows, and charm of an older house. The tricky bit is that it needed repairs to the roof, siding, foundation, floors...

We viewed this as an opportunity to bring beauty and our personal style to an old house, while retaining the old-home feeling that we like so much.