this old house.

William Wessell was a builder in Santa Cruz from 1920 until he retired in the 50s. He built our house in 1921, and lived in it with his wife for the rest of their lives. In hunting around for information to get it listed on the historic registry, we found the Wessell's niece in southern California. She just sent us these original photographs, which were amazing (and just a little spooky) to see. Remember, when I bought the house the entire yard, with the exception of the lemon tree, was Bermuda grass. Lawns are fine in parts of the country with regular rain, but for places like California, with dry summers, and even drier climates (Arizona, I'm lookin' at you), green lawns should be illegal (unless they're managed entirely with gray water). Bermuda grass is a draught-tolerant variety, but it's also unattractive, uncomfortable and scratchy, and unbelievably, viciously invasive. Turning the yard into a garden, full of natives and raised vegetable beds, felt like the right thing to do. And now I know why:

Caption: "My grandmother, Tante and Uncle Bill in his vegetable garden. She had flowers all around the perimeter of his raised vegetable beds." See the tiny little tree behind the women?

That's the prolific Meyer lemon, taking over two-thirds of the top of this frame. Here's another picture of their overgrown mass of a garden, followed by a shot of the raised beds from last summer:

It's so great to feel like the yard is restored; I think the Wessells would be really happy with it. And the house itself hasn't been changed in all that time. Here's a shot she sent from Thanksgiving, 1951 (check out the classic 50s hottie sitting behind the little kid - mrowr!) :

As you can see from the photo in the header above, the woodwork is all exactly the same. The stove in the kitchen has moved - that stovepipe in the background is no longer there, and the overhead light has changed, but not much else.

The most important aspect of the remodel we're starting is that the house fully retain the Craftsman characteristics that William Wessell incorporated. I don't want it to feel like a remodel. I know how hard that is - the wood looks the way it does because it's been touched and bumped and knocked around for almost 90 years. The glass is rippled because it's sagging. But we'll do the best we can. I want the result to be something William and Loretta would be proud of - a place they'd still like to call home.