We approach the culinary summit of the year … in Mrs M’s dream kitchen. She had a thought. Could she get an old cutting board that I have (huh?) to use an electric knife on? WHAT?
I do give her credit that she learned her lesson and knows she cannot use an ELECTRIC SAW on her cutting board. But, she thought I had “old cutting boards” just laying around that she could destroy with her ELECTRIC SAW? No.
Well, she wondered out loud, could I just make her a board “out of scrap” so she could cube the bread for her renowned stuffing easily? So, a board out of scrap.
She doesn’t know me at all.
The board was made. It’s a 2-sided, no-foot light weight board to abuse as she wishes. I would have preferred more time and bread board ends on a cutting board this thin … but ’twas not to be. After all, this is just for her to destroy.
Black Walnut for the win. 15x21x.75″ A board good enough for her to destroy. After all, her stuffing is at stake.
Since I was in the shop and hungry, I re-surfaced & oiled her main board, sous chef board and the cheese slicer for good measure. Big doings in the Mowry kitchen this week. I am at her service: I don’t starve that way.
Mrs M’s Go To Cutting Board. 16″x21″x1-1/4″. Edge Grain. Goncalo Alves, Black Walnut, Honey Locust, Jatoba & Cherry. The board just got a rare tune-up … and will be 12 years old this Christmas.
The above board is the first cutting board I ever made. Hardwood for the win.
The companion sous chef board is smaller, lighter and had blown a foot. After the footectomy, I replaced all 4 feet. The small feet that I install (1/4″ thick) on small boards & serving pieces do fail – especially when pushed, not lifted. I’ve tried many sources; can’t find better feet. Let me know if you ever need a new set if you have had a failure.
Our cheese slicer also needed a quick resurfacing … and a footectomy. The slicer now has a smooth top and 4 new feet.
If you find your cutting board(s) need some love after your big doings this week, I am happy to resurface your board for free. It takes me about 10 minutes.
The Board Chronicles is an ongoing series of articles about the adventures of Mrs M’s Handmade as a vendor at community festivals & craft fairs. Mrs M’s subsidiary, Mr M’s Woodshop, has been approved to create this chronicle for the good of vendorkind.
This event is the only one we’ve done every year since we started in 2012. It’s the oldest and in some ways, still the biggest holiday boutique in Santa Clarita. It’s a PTSO scholarship fundraiser for Saugus High students. All of our kids graduated from here, and one even won one of these scholarships. So, it’s never a question of if we are going to do this event. We will, as long as we are making. And they’ll have us.
“Us” is a euphemism for the business, officially named Mrs M’s Handmade. Mrs M (remember her???) actually outsold me most years at this event, but I’ve had to bring my solo set up since covid cancelled SoCal events for more than a year … & Mrs M’s inventory expired. She is yet to replace it. I have high hopes that she will return to making & be there next year. Stay tuned.
High hopes.
But back to business. How was 2025?
First, it was stressful. I have not done an event since April … and I’ve emptied a house, moved, and remodeled the new house since them. Along the way, I have scattered tools, inventory and display pieces all over the place. The shop only became fully operational (though with no storage) last month, so getting ready for this show was … challenging. I did (finally) make new cutting boards & side tables, so it’s clear I haven’t lost all of my skill. But perhaps I have lost my marbles. Mrs M was certain of it.
What’s different this year (other than our address!)?
I decided to not use the cargo trailer, in spite of the double booth I was setting up. My inventory was light … and I just wasn’t feeling it. So, I shrank from my traditional 10 display tables to only 7 and enjoyed a booth that was easier to walk though.
I took a truck load, then Mrs M was convinced to follow on with a car load of inventory. This was basically how we did events 10 years ago. The more things change….
This event is always the first Saturday/Sunday in November, and this year it fell on the earliest possible dates, November 1 & 2. When they turned on the background music before the 10am opening … the traditional Christmas songs offended my ear. The songs were the classics. My ear, unfortunately, was still processing Hallowe’en, gone for less than 12 hours. It definitely seemed early for Christmas shopping (foreshadowing, that).
Biggest surprise: I arrived at 6:05am, and was so deep in line that I couldn’t get the truck into the Saugus High parking lot. First time that has ever happened. I was unloaded by 7:15am, though, so all was well. I was set up by the 10am opening.
Biggest sale: A lady bought a side table + several ramekins for her charcuterie presentations. That was the singular side table sold … and honestly, I sold several single items from across my inventory. 1 cheese slicer. 1 cutting board. 1 ampersand board. And so on. It was a good weekend, but it was not because of overwhelming sales. I was, in fact, never ‘whelmed.
Biggest pleasure: Oh, so many people come to visit me and assure me they are still using/enjoying the cutting boards, serving pieces & such that they have bought from me over the years. I truly love that. OH. And visits from 2 Cub Scout families were a treat, too. Apparently some of the silly songs I taught Pack 575 live on at family gatherings to this day, decades later.
I did apologize. Apparently the ditty about fast food brands (it is called “Pizza Hut.” Remember it?) is still a favorite.
Most vendors I talked to, with a broad array of products from jewelry to decor to personalized gifts to handmade stuff … all complained about how 2025 was not good for craft fairs/boutiques/etc. Sales have been down 25% for just about everyone. Now, vendors always complain, sales are almost always down, and the reasons cited range from the economy, the political landscape and the cost of electricity. I prefer the reason to be the phase of the moon. Who knows what is going on? But, sales were down this year, which is always a sad thing.
But, I am once again making. I am back in the vendoring game. And I have one more event to prepare for this year: Santa’s Art Shop in Ridgecrest, CA. Hope to see you there, December 6 & 7. Meanwhile, here’s what the booth looked like this year:
I really got waylaid on the way to 2025. Mrs M went bionic this year, and got 2x new knees. We bought our new forever home in February while she was still fresh from surgery # 1 … and sold the home where we raised our family in May, right before surgery # 2. We stayed in the Santa Clarita Valley, but we moved about 8 miles to the wilds of Castaic.
This was a big idea … before we could move we needed to process the 37 years of, uh, accumulation that didn’t have to go to Castaic, but could not stay in Valencia. In addition, we decided to do an extensive remodel to our new home … and I acted as project manager. And with the shop in Valencia closing as we moved, I stopped making until I could get the shop back up.
And, tic toc. What is only the second event I am doing this year is coming at me like a freight train. This event is the ONLY event that I have done every year since Mr M’s Woodshop began in 2012. I couldn’t miss supporting this neighborhood scholarship fundraiser, so it was time to get on with the making. Or else there would be a fairly empty booth at the Saugus High Boutique Fantastique, and that was just not OK.
Here then, are pictures of 13x cutting boards that are the first made with my new table saw in my new shop. See them – and more! – this weekend, Saturday & Sunday 10a – 4p in the Centurion gymnasium. You’ll find me at the end aisle booth I’m always at: #222.
All of these cutting boards are made from hardwoods, both domestic and exotic. Those exotic woods come from Central & South America as well as Africa, and include Purpleheart, Zebrawood, Iroko, Brazilian Cherry and more.
First up, eye candy for you. The big end grain boards. All are approximately 16×22″, give or take an inch. Thickness is 1-5/8″. All come with 3/4″ wide juice grooves, non-skid rubber feet, weight as much as 15 pounds and are made for robust use.
Next up are 2 smaller, simpler cutting boards. These edge grain boards, perfect for smaller kitchens are 13×17″ and 16×19″.
Finally, I have eight new “Juicy Boards” which are perfect small cutting boards, or perhaps the best way to serve that steak Mrs M is promising me. These are all 11-1/2″ square and 7/8″ thick. I make them in pairs, but you can buy just one! That’s good, because one of the “brown blend” boards, the 3rd picture, is already sold.
It is GREAT to be back in the shop. I will be making new stuff all through November, including special orders … so for everyone I have disappointed this year because I was not available, now is the time to tell me what you want!
If only I had any storage. But the shop, for the first time, is basically functional.
February 19: We bought the house.
May 16: I moved in with Walter the cat. Mrs M followed a couple of weeks later.
October 19: Dust collection & floor tools were all up & running.
Yup, it took 8 months. But I can turn on any tool in the shop, and it has dust collection connected. Here’s what it looks like:
The ceiling is where I started … with 6″ ducting running to the 3x major distribution points in the shop. From there, the detail work got … harder.
This wall mount joint serving suction to the miter saw and the router table was the first one I put up … and ironically, the last one to be fully functional. Part of that had to do with the death of the router lift mechanism, with meant I had to buy another tool. Thank God Mrs M got her dream kitchen, so I have leverage for at least a few more days.
This funky joint in the center will not survive long. It serves suction to the new table saw & the planer, and does OK … but I used 4″ pipe and adjustable 90* elbows to get around the garage door when it is open, and those adjustable elbows – Home Depot specials – have, uh, adjusted. When the table saw gets the custom outfeed table (build in progress, but on hold due to other projects), then that table will provide superior anchor points to support the pipe as it descends from the ceiling & works around the moving garage door.
The “outfeed table” is currently a folding table and 2 large pieces of plywood stacked onto smaller pieces of plywood to give me the illusion of having an outfeed system. It is still my only assembly table in the shop.
This funny looking bunch of flexible hose actually feeds 4x blast gates for 4x different tools: my CNC, a floor sweep, the drum sander, and a bench feed for my oscillating spindle sander (perfect for concave curve smoothing).
The CNC also required some special design to deliver suction to the machine while avoiding the garage doors. The hose feeding the moving CNC router head needs cantilevered support, provided by the red painted pieces of plywood which are now standard throughout the shop for support tasks.
Beside the CNC, and between those garage doors, is a custom battery charging center for all of my Milwaukee tools. One place to go for all of the batteries. Finally. Kudos to my electrician, Ben of Precision Electric, that suggested this location because he was installing my “center stack” of outlets just below:
Tucked behind the CNC, and between the 2x garage doors, are individual circuits for each of the tools in the middle of the shop and in the tool line between the garage doors. 3x of these circuits are 220v, for the saw, planer & CNC router. 3x other circuits are regular 110v, for the drum sander, CNC computer and the, uh, refrigerator/freezer that Mrs M will not let me get rid of yet. Maybe someday it will leave the shop and give me more room for … well, my stuff in my shop.
I am an optimist, you see.
The biggest problem with the shop NOW is that I have virtually no storage … my old workbench has 4x drawers. Other than that, I have floor space, wall space and corners I can’t get into because of all of the stuff that is laying around waiting on me to build custom shop cabinets to hold everything.
The truck needed gas, so I did what you do. I looked at the marquee for a local Shell Oil that was on my way … and it said the price for Cash/Debit was $4.19/gallon (I live in California. I am used to paying the highest gasoline prices in America.)
But I digress.
I took out my debit card, waved the RFID chip at the reader, and was approved directly. Off we go. As I got the nozzle into the tank and started the fill-up, I looked back at the pump … and now it said $4.29.
What the hell?
OK, I was in a mood. I can be that guy. As Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday said in Tombstone, “I’ll be your huckleberry.”
I had been reading accounts of businesses putting in ghost charges without warning. Restaurants charging “mandatory” “tip” fees. Stuff like that. But on this day, I’m not playing.
The marquee was crystal clear: debit cards = cash price. I used a debit card but was charged the “credit” price.
I finished the fill-up and walked into the gas station’s store. Waited in line. Walked up to the register and told the young lady I needed to talk to the manager. She said OK and walked over to get him.
I explained the situation … and the manager seemed to have heard it before. He did immediately agree to refund the $2.10 I was overcharged, as he explained that this was a pump setting that he did not control.
I suggested the owner must control it … but no, he said it was Shell corporate, who charges the credit price automatically for “tap & pay” transactions. If only I had inserted the card into the pump reader, THEN I would have been charged the debit price (he said). But since I did the tap & pay thing, the higher rate applied.
Not that this was disclosed. Not that this was how they marketed their rates to the unsuspecting public. And speaking as a retailer selling handmade serving pieces & such in Mr M’s Woodshop … I know I am charged the exact same credit card fees when my customer uses tap & pay, inserts their card into the chip reader, or when they swipe their card in the reader. The fee is the same for me … but mighty Shell is trying to game the system to add a 10 cent/gallon ghost charge for their unsuspecting customers.
Caveat emptor: let the buyer beware.
I HATE when retailers lie to their customers. I’m rather obsessed with this idea – always have been. Sellers either believe their customers are smart or stupid … and they treat them accordingly. I am in favor of sellers that respect me … and will not do business with those that don’t.
The transaction was 12:28pm on 8/20/2025 at the Shell Oil station, 31786 The Old Road, Castaic, CA 91384. Yes, I have the receipt.
The centerpiece of the kitchen is the large island Mrs M wanted. How big is it?
As big as it could be.
We wanted the island to be surrounded by a 42″ aisle on all sides. And we didn’t want a seam in the island counter top … we wanted it to be one piece of stone. We found a quartzite slab from Brazil that we liked, and it delivered an island that is 10′-6″ x 5′. That is 52-1/2 square feet, and the google machine tells me that a quartzite slab that size that is 2 centimeters thick would weigh over 1,000 pounds.
The all-knowing google also says “professional installation required.” You got that right.
A crew of 8 showed up to move the vertical slab from the truck, across the driveway, up 3 steps, through the living room … and then transform it into a horizontal showpiece on top of Mrs M’s island.
It was the best show in town last week.
This is about to get real.2 tubes of caulk dispensed in about 30 seconds.Note the long stiffening rods held on with suction cups. No bending allowed.Everybody ready?Slowly … Then it went fast.Watch your fingers!Tweaking…It’s done.And then tension released.Drilling, plumbing … all to come.
This is the master vanity. Also, the dish washing area. Mirrors will get hung on the wall. Paint & electric … finishing work to come.
When I last wrote you, I eagerly anticipated getting the master bath (AKA primary bath. Discussed below) together in the next week. (cue laugh track) Here we are, after 18 days and we just got the functional vanity in the our bathroom.
If you have remodeled your house, you know where I’m going with this. The process is impossibly long. It is unexpectedly painful. And, eventually, the couple begins to divide the marital assets.
Our Master Bathroom Vanity was installed. It had sinks. It had water. It had drains. It had drawers. So, Mrs M claimed a sink. And she claimed a drawer beneath that sink. Apparently.
I recognized this as the opening of negotiations that would have life-long import. Time to recognize our new status and claim what is mine.
He said: “I see that you have claimed a sink.”
She said: … (editor’s note: Thus began a 2 minute speech on the value of the sink she chose, why she chose it and why she began putting stuff in the drawer below. She included other supposedly relevant information. The speech was 2 minutes. I have no idea what she said.)
He said: “So you want the sink on the right.”
She said: “Yes.” (editor’s note: Ah, clarity. That elusive muse that haunts my every waking minute)
He said: “I want a drawer.”
She said: “Why do you need a drawer? You don’t need a drawer.”
He said: “I need a place to put my stuff without having to search for it and fight to open the drawer because of all of your stuff. I want a drawer.”
She said: “You don’t need a drawer. You don’t have that much stuff.”
He said: “I want a drawer beneath my sink. I can store my stuff there.”
She said: “So you’ll keep all of your deodorant, shampoo & hair spray there?” (editor’s note: this is the end of the list of my toiletries. 3 items, with back ups.)
He said: “Yes, I’ll keep my stuff in my drawer.”
She said: “I have researched containers to help us organize things in the drawers. But you don’t need a drawer. You don’t have that much stuff.”
He said: “I would be OK if you put shared items, like Q-Tips, in my drawer. But nothing else.
She said: “We’ll see.”
He said: “I want a drawer for my stuff.”
She … changed the subject. No confirmation.
I want a drawer.
Mrs M’s drawer. Before her new, mythical organization tools. Apparently.
This is my drawer, if you believe possession is the same as ownership. The glaring asymmetry of the drawer cut-out is because the drain pipe had to avoid the earthquake sheer wall, so the drain has a longer diagonal run under the left sink than the more direct run under the right sink, which was claimed by Mrs M because it had more storage space. Her ultimate evil plan, I expect.
The lower drawers are not affected by the plumbing. Storage galore.
LeftRight
The Master Controversy
Early on in our house hunt, I (again) learned that I was not with it. Not current. Out of fashion. Old. All of that.
“Master Suite,” “Master Bedroom,” “Master Bathroom” … are all hopelessly out of date. Today’s society has no Masters. Only Primaries. Apparently.
News to me.
And since I am old and resistant to change, I will forever say we have a Master Bedroom. Not a Primary Bedroom. Deal with it.
We bought a perfectly lovely home and then tore it up.
Flooring. Cabinetry. Bathrooms. It all had to go. Remodeling is not for the faint of heart.
Truly.
Perhaps nothing was harder to face than the master bathroom. Learned much, I did.
The 22-year old bathroom had a small shower, an old Jacuzzi tub and a 2-sink counter with a make-up mirror & bench in the middle. It all had to go. We decided we wanted a soaker tub, a larger walk-in shower with a bench, and no make-up station.
This remodel would get intense.
First, we had a plan. To scale. It answered a lot of questions … but not all of them, we found.
This almost-to-scale graph paper sketch drove our design, start to finish. It may not be state of the art … but it’s MY state of the art. And, it was good enough. Almost.
A couple of issues came up almost immediately … this plan moved the shower head to a different wall and the shower drain next to the wall. This plan also moved the bathtub drain and and plumbing fixtures. I had no idea what this would mean.
No idea.
Here is the Post Tension Slab warning, stamped in the concrete in a front corner of the garage. That message is now covered up with epoxy. Ooopsie.
We bought a house with a post tension slab. A notice to that effect was stamped in the concrete in the corner of the garage. Unusual, I thought. Well, not really. Just outside of my experience. Thankfully, the plumber & the contractor/groomsman knew what they were doing. We would need to hire a radar guy.
Huh?
A post tension slab is often used on hillsides (we are) to create a more stable slab of concrete to build on (just about all Southern California homes are slab construction). Posts are set on the edges of the concrete, and then a cable is stretched between posts to form a grid pattern. Yes, rebar is often put in concrete, and that’s not what this is. This is … cables. Under tension. In a grid pattern throughout the slab.
OK, but here’s the important part. One must not cut a cable. Ever. Cut a cable UNDER TENSION and bad things will happen. The cable can whip out of the concrete and cut whatever is in its path. People die. Walls crack.
You know, bad things.
So, you want to move drains? You want to move plumbing? You have to scan the post tension slab to locate where the cables are as one MUST NOT cut a cable. And have no fear, the contractor knew a guy.
This guy showed up with a tablet and what looked like a really big mouse, about the size of 2 fists … and preceded to move the mouse over the floor to magically find the cables and how deep they were. You could tell the size & depth of the things in the slab easily. This information was then painted onto the concrete so we would know what we were dealing with.
Our bathroom.
Then the concrete got cut and the plumbers dug *around & under* the cables to see what’s what. That resulted in our bathroom beginning to look like a … construction zone with piles of dirt in the room and a fog of concrete dust wafting throughout the house. For days. Oh, the dust. My spiffy new table saw, still not assembled, was stored in the empty master bedroom (where would you keep it?), and the cardboard boxes got coated in an unbelievable layer of dust.
And that’s where it got weird. Post tension cables are laid out in a grid, but we had one forming what looked like a triangle at the corner of the house. Odd, that. The plumbers kept digging … and they came to a frayed end of the cable. In the middle of my bathroom.
Bad things happen when you cut a cable. But they didn’t cut it. They swear. They found the END of a cable that was loose in the concrete. That frayed end was rusted, actually, so visually it was clear this was not a freshly severed end.
OK, decision time. What do you do?
After consulting with the groomsman and the plumber … we just kept swimming. We didn’t cut the cable. Nothing bad happened. Keep moving forward. The plumbers kept digging. But it felt like we broke our house.
To make sure the drain & tub filler plumbing would fit around the post tension cables, I CNC’d a rough tub template so everyone could see the fit. The manufacturer was no help, so I became a woodworker again.
Then we find that my plumbing purchase … my extensive plumbing purchase … did not include the necessary rough out kit for the tub filler. What is that, exactly? No clue. But it is what gets buried in the concrete to mount the tub filler assembly to. OK, great. We need one. Where is it? Oh, and we need it NOW.
I talked to our main plumbing fixture source, and he located a rough out kit that was only 30 miles away. I hopped in the truck, got it, delivered it, and got on with my day. That’s important, because that day, of all days, was my set up day for the KHTS Home & Garden Show in Santa Clarita, one of my key annual events which is sponsored by “your hometown radio station” that happens to be in our hometown. I was setting up a rare triple booth, all in, and I had to drop everything to go get this missing rough out kit. I did it, then returned to the event to set up my booth. It was a long day.
It was Friday, April 25.
So, here we are at the end of June and we have not progressed much, it seems. We still don’t have a shower. We haven’t used the tub, though it is functional at this point. Stone is not done. Walls are not painted. Plumbing, cabinetry, stone … those 3 trades may get finished next week. Here’s where we are, 4 months after we bought our forever home.
I’ll let you know if we have a good week. Maybe a lot will get done … like stone work, cabinetry & plumbing. Maybe.
We do have a functional toilet in the master … that is actually a bidet. That’s a French word for an appliance designed in Japan and manufactured in Viet Nam. Pretty fancy for a small town boy that remembers running water being put in the house. We only had an outhouse at home until I was 13.
Back to our computer-driven automatic toilet thingy. It knows when you approach and opens the lid. Do your business, and it will clean you up, flush when you arise and close the lid as you run away. Or maybe that’s just me.
Mrs M wanted to go fancy and who am I to say no? She has actually used the bidet. Me? Nope. I’m still too scared.
If you are interested in bidets, here is a review of the one we bought. As far as I’m concerned, watching it to see all of the, uh, creative language used to describe the process is worth your time. I think it’s laugh out loud funny.
So, we bought it. We had our Unicorn. Now, what to do with it?
It was clear that we needed some transformation to make our forever home. I started making lists. Lots of lists.
What did we want?
New kitchen with island.
Custom cabinets throughout the house.
Creation of a new walk-in pantry between the kitchen & the hallway. Kudos to Kim, our superstar real estate agent, that saw the opportunity to build this pantry by converting a space that had a built-in television. We added found space on the other side of the back wall, that had some cabinetry in the hallway … delivering a space that is 4’x6′. Perfect for a pantry.
New appliances for the new dream kitchen.
New plumbing fixtures for the new bathrooms.
Recessed lighting + ceiling fans in all rooms.
Smart controls for appliances, lighting, thermostat, sprinklers … and more.
Finally, the home’s 3 car garage would become a 1 car garage for Mrs M, and a 2-car garage shop for me.
A new table saw. And, at long last, a miter saw to easily break down lumber.
So then I started making spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets.
We met with our first contractor before we had the keys. That didn’t work out. He was in a transition – building his new shop/retail location, we were still developing the plan, we didn’t have possession yet … no. Strike 1.
Lots of planning went into every room … or in this case, shop. I get a purpose-built space that has the tools & space for the work I actually do. I can break down a 4’x8′ sheet of plywood, or cut a 12′ long board without breaking a sweat. In the shop. Without moving tools. Without using the driveway.
We met our 2nd contractor on February 28, the day we took possession. This was a big idea guy that had a particular way he wanted to do a big job like ours. Big job. Very professional presentation from the jump. I met all of the sub contractors he would recommend to us, and then the wheels started to come off. The cabinet guy was on vacation and could not meet with us for a week. And we lost a week before we even got started.
OK, that happens. But then this cabinet maker came back to meet with us, and couldn’t commit to a time he could begin construction. After several days, we got his quote (he accidentally sent it to us directly. Oopsie.) Then we got the entire consolidated quote from the general contractor a few days later.
The quote was over our projected budget, but more importantly, there was no promise of timing AT ALL. No projected date to begin. Just … approve this budget and we will talk about it.
Uh, no. I was in sales my whole life, and as we saw with Williams Homes, when sales techniques annoy me, I run for the hills. Strike 2.
I started to look for tradesmen myself. Then, I finally listened to our son-in-law. He knew a guy.
This guy, whom I met when Little Girl married son-in-law, was a childhood friend that grew up to be a contractor. And a groomsman, for that matter.
It happens. And life-long friends can be a wonderful thing.
Contractor #3 promised to introduce me to the right people. He would help & advise, but I would be left to supervise the process that we were oh, so invested in.
I began to stitch together a team. Some vendors were recommended to me, some we found on our own. All were available to begin work … soon. Very soon.
I created floorplans. Worklists. Ideas to be incorporated into each room.
We hired crews for garage door opener installation, epoxy floor installation, kitchen demo, plumbing, stone work, electrical, cabinetry, HVAC, roofing, chimney service, paint, carpet, and a keymaster. We bought appliances, plumbing fixtures, tile and stone slabs. We chose colors. We bought carpet.
It was the Fall of ’24, and we were distraught by the difficulty of buying a new house. We made up a priority list:
A single story home. We talked about going smaller, but we decided to stick with a 4+3: 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. Converting 2 bedrooms would make an office for me and an office today or a hobby room for Mrs M in her retirement, and still leave a guest room for our visitors.
Mrs M’s perfect kitchen: Room to cook. An island. A conversation area. The center of the home.
A shop space for me. A place to create. A place to escape from Mrs M.
A nice, quiet location in Castaic or nearby Santa Clarita.
Surprise! That’s almost impossible to find.
Come to find out, single story homes are relatively rare in the Santa Clarita Valley, where larger 2-story homes are built on the standard lots to increase builder profits. In some newer developments now selling in Santa Clarita, all 1-story homes are designated as 55+ senior communities. If you want to live in an all ages neighborhood … that pretty much means you are in a 2-story house.
Unless you go searching for perfection, it seems. When we started I had no idea that a single story home with a great kitchen & some nice shop space would be unusual. Or hard to find.
Oopsie. We were looking for a unicorn.
Kim to the rescue! Our real estate agent automated some email searches for us, and we began getting emails of 1-story homes for sale in our area. We also got emails of all homes for sale in our immediate neighborhood. We supplemented those emails based on the MLS real estate listings with our own searches on Zillow … all of which helped us understand what we were up against.
We went to see some homes.
A 6 acre property up Hasley Canyon … nice in a rural setting. EXCELLENT shop. But this older home’s kitchen didn’t pass muster, and we decided we really didn’t want a large property to take care of.
A lovely, updated home in old Newhall in the style of a Spanish hacienda. Nice 4-car garage I could convert to a shop. But, this older home had additions built on a time or 3, so the layout was just a bit odd. Lovely kitchen, but dark. And, yikes, it was expensive. In the end, it just wasn’t … right. Like Harry Potter trying to use the wrong magic wand. We kept looking.
There was horse property up Placerita Canyon that was interesting. Room to build a shop. But, there were steps to enter and steps to get to the dining room. This became a hard no for that reason … Mrs M has seen houses just not work for her elderly patients because of a step or 2 in the living space. Since this wants to be our forever home, we didn’t want to buy a problem in the making.
Another home in the Placerita Canyon neighborhood popped up, and it was a lovely property. Large lawn + a swimming pool in the back yard. 6 car garage/outbuilding with an RV garage door. But, the living room was actually a converted garage with a 7′ ceiling. Bedrooms were oddly laid out … we thought about it. I worked the numbers. And the house had multiple offers above the asking price immediately, so we just moved on. No 6 car garage for me.
Lovely homes up Hasley Canyon Road (just like the Williams Homes development), but none that were on sale checked off our boxes … those not for sale did not matter, no matter how lovely they appeared to be while on our drive-bys of the neighborhoods we were interested in.
An older home on The Old Road (fitting, that) in Castaic came up, and it had nice parking space for my trailer and little else, actually. There was a bit of property … but it was hillside. It was landscaped, sprinkled … and a fire risk. Hard no.
We visited one of the new developments near us, Tesoro. Single story & 55+ only. Postage stamp yards. I mean, tiny even by LA standards. The driveways in front of the garages were not big enough to park on, it seemed, without covering the sidewalk. The homes were truly lovely … but no.
We drove through the new developments behind Magic Mountain. Several developments are growing here, but none seemed like they were our unicorn. We kept driving.
Time passed. Suddenly, it was January 2025, and we were seemingly no closer to any decisions. Unicorns are rare, after all.
And Mrs M’s knees were not good. She went bionic on January 10 with a TKR: Total Knee Replacement. So, naturally, a nice looking house was found on January 11. I went to see it with Kim, and I was very interested. Mrs M, meanwhile, could barely walk.
So we gave it 48 hours, and her first outing after surgery was to go see what was our unicorn. We put an offer in, endured a very small bidding war with another buyer, and our offer to buy the house was accepted in a week. We closed after a short escrow, and got the keys on February 28.
We developed plans. Big plans. The house was very nice, but needed Velda’s perfect kitchen and updated bathrooms. The shop part of the 3 car garage needed extensive electrical work. Suddenly, we owned 2 houses and a new hobby: making our forever home.
Our new house is fully landscaped, which is a nice relief versus buying new construction. The exterior will be untouched, for now. The interior … we’re going all in.
And just to prove that God has a sense of humor, while we were in escrow, Williams Homes reached out to Kim to say that they were (finally) ready to allow us to buy Lot 76, that Model #9 with a 3-car garage. Sorry, Buttercup. I was a very good prospect for Williams Homes, but now I’m … just not interested in doing business with you.
