Well, if you’re here it means you have probably heard me talk (at nauseam) about our new adventure! Welcome to The Pilsbury Project, my little outlet to talk about my dream project of fixing up what I hope becomes a pretty amazing forever home for our family.
For anyone who doesn’t already know, here is the story of how we landed ourselves in this position.
After moving to San Francisco, California in 2013 (much to dismay of both of our loving mothers), Billy and I fell in love with the mountains and the Truckee area. We were weekend warriors making it up to snowboard every chance we got, but knowing there was so much more to love. We began looking at houses here and realized it was just a pipe dream while we were both working in San Francisco full time. Then BAM! A global pandemic changed everything and like a lot of people we realized it was now or never. After a quick sale of the SF condo, we found ourselves masking up for every open house we could go to.
Now, house hunting in Truckee can be a bit of an experience. There is a seemingly endless supply of yellow stained wood and tile counter tops from the 90’s. Neither of which I could learn to live with. So after what felt like an eternity, Billy reluctantly agreed to dig into a fixer upper and let me try my hand and home renovation and interior design. Two things I am super passionate about and fairly confident in my abilities, however unwarranted that confidence may be.
So, that is how we ended up with the Pilsbury Project, a total sh*&hole with one hell of a view. The compound consists of a 4,000 sq. ft., three-story main house, a 1,500 sq. ft., two-story guest house and a fairly sketchy shed that may or may not house a family of animals and will definitely fall right on over in a stiff breeze, all which sit on an acre-plus lot in the Truckee neighborhood of Glenshire. Our beloved garbage can of a home was previously a rental property for the better part of two decades with a rotating tenant list who, one can only assume, were shockingly comfortable with very questionable living conditions. Throughout the house we were graced with exposed outlets and wires, filthy walls, missing door frames and baseboards, dirty laundry, broken furniture… ok that list gets really long, moving on… but, the real treats were the gaping holes in the ceiling and rotting drywall where the water had leaked for months from broken dishwashers and bathtubs (Super fun and not gross at all!).
Needless to say we had, and still have, our work cut out for us. That said, we are stoked to take this on and have a solid ten-year plan of both big and small renovations to turn this place into our dream home. I wanted to kick this off with some before pictures to remind ourselves just how nuts we had to be to not only take this on, but actually be super excited about it. Enjoy!
The Pilsbury Project in all her glory. On the left is the main house, the middle is the guest house and on the right is that lovely little shed I mentioned.
The back yard (if you can call it that) boasting a mini basketball court, lots of trash and some broken landscaping water “features.” Monkey bars not pictured.
Common room of the frat house. Can’t miss: dreamcatcher light pull, trapeze over the broken fireplace and insane amounts of random things stuck into the walls and ceiling.
The kitchen is a surprising “bright spot” since it flooded and had to be redone in 2018. Make sure you check out the rotting drywall in the ceiling and sexy pot rack!
Game room off the kitchen (some might call it a dining room, but why be ordinary). Spoiler alert: I had a ton of fun filling in all of the holes in the wall around the dart board. I’m confident in saying no one was getting hustled here.
Award winning 90’s bathroom featuring purple and green sponge paint and stained glass light fixture. Though the real treat is the flowers etched into the mirror.
Super sexy hall bathroom. There was a interesting smell that came with this one too!
Future artist studio for me! Ya know, once I fix the hole in the ceiling from the leaking tub.
Aaaaaannnd, ending on a high note, the reason we bought the place! That view!