Although Aaron Raymond bought his 1942 home in the Windsor Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles as a bachelor, it was thoughts of future and family that guided his more than $160,000 remodel and addition.
"If I got married, my mother or mother-in-law could live here," said Raymond, 37, of the new downstairs guest suite. Or if he and his future wife were to have children, the suite would be great for kids when they got older.
In the upstairs addition, the new master bedroom suite has views of the Los Angeles skyline. There's a massive travertine-lined shower, a deep tub and a 100-square-foot walk-in closet that many a woman would swoon over.
When Raymond, a commercial credit underwriter, bought the French Normandy-style house in 2002 for $245,000, it had three bedrooms and 1 1/2 bathrooms in 1,500 square feet. The home was one story, but Raymond wanted a two-story house, both for extra living and family space on the ground floor and for privacy on the second floor.
After living in the house for several years, he had enough money -- $80,000 in savings and $80,000 in an equity line of credit -- to finance the remodel, which added 1,500 square feet of space. The home now has four bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms.
Knowing he wanted to add a large family room and guest bathroom downstairs, and master and guest suites upstairs, Raymond started by sketching his ideas and then hired an architectural design firm to draw up the plans.
At first, Raymond thought he would hire a general contractor to orchestrate the remodel. But after he got a few bids, he decided that, based on his experience helping his sister and others fix up their houses, he could coordinate the subcontractors and do some work himself. Plus, he could enlist the help of his father, a former electrician.
With the money he saved on labor costs and the contractor's fee, he would be able to upgrade the quality of the doors, windows, stairway railing and other materials. And there was another reason he wanted to supervise the work himself: "I am a control freak," he said.
Raymond moved out, and demolition began in August 2005, with the goal of retaining as much as possible of the home's original vintage style. The home's exterior was defined by steep rooflines and two bay windows. To accommodate this, the second-story addition would be stepped back from the front, and the two would have matching rooflines.
