A tour of the house

Here’s a quick tour of the house:

Looking down the road and the oaks

Looking down the road and the oaks

March in the field

The house straight ahead, the field on the left soon to be planted with cab

It’s at the end of a dead-end road, next to a 320-acre ranch with a seasonal creek.  The house is 3 miles from downtown Healdsburg.  Let’s go on a quick tour:

Looking right from our driveway at the stream

Looking right from our driveway at the stream

Once around the back to the garage, here is a quick tour:

Half bath

Half bath other side

After the laundry room, you enter into the open concept den / dining room / kitchen.

A few of the dining room

Amazing what a little paint and hardware can do

From the dining room back to the kitchen

From the dining room - kitchen on the right, comfortable den with full speakers that both control inside and outside music

Outside you see a great deck with a saline pool and hot tub.

Picture from the deck looking back at the house and pool/hot tub

Down the hallway, on the left you find the front door and living room, complete with 7.1 surround sound and 55″ big screen TV. XBox and DVD all easy to operate with one remote.

If you enter through the garage, you go into the laundry room with the half bath on the right

A view looking out to the pool at night.

As you go down the hall, you’ll find 2 bedrooms, one bath and the master bedroom and bath.

Bedroom 1 - each bedroom has fully-built out Container Store closets

2nd bedroom (pics from my friend Matt from Africa)

View of closets (same in each room)

Master with king bed

Master bath has jacuzzi tub and double-headed shower

Master bath

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You can’t miss a visit to Jimtown Store in Alexander Valley

If you’re adventurous, a bike ride in the Alexander Valley is a fantastic trip.  And regardless of bike or car, you have to stop at Jimtown Store for lunch.

There’s something for everyone there — from amazing gourmet sandwiches to pulled pork and salads to die for! Plus, while you wait, it’s filled with amazing local cookbooks and toys and goodies.

Jimtown Store

The yummy Jimtown Store (photo from their site)

 

 

 

Jimtown Store
6706 State Highway 128
Healdsburg  Ca  95448
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It’s never going to stop raining in Healdsburg

We need the rain, but boy, is it raining. And windy. And green. And lush. Wow.

March in the field

The rain is making everything green! Ready for the vines to go in! Waiting for some dry weather to plant.

Looking down the road and the oaks

What a pretty view down our driveway

Looking right from our driveway at the stream

Looking right from our driveway at the stream

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Robert Young Winery has amazing Cabernet

A trip to Healdsburg has to include the Alexander Valley. Our favorite winery? Robert Young … A little off the beaten path, but probably the best place we’ve found in Sonoma County for Cabernet.  They are 100+ year farmers – and growers for many great wines. (Plus in the tasting room you can see vintage aspects of the family including their great grandmother’s shoes!)

The Scion cabernets vary by vintage but are fantastic across the board.  Their chardonnays are oakey and traditional California-style.

There’s a lovely place for a picnic just to the right of the tasting room!

Robert Young

Robert Young estate next door

Robert Young Winery

The beautiful Robert Young tasting room

Robert Young Estate Winery 4960 Red Winery Road,  Geyserville, CA 95441

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Looking for a Great Tour of Napa Valley Wines?

Larkmead Vineyards

Larkmead Vineyards

If you like Cabs and Meritages, Anderson’s Conn Valley and Larkmead are both outstanding and they are our favorite wineries in Napa Valley.  Appointments are required at both.

We’ve also heard good things about Frank Family, Hall, Round Pond, Etude, and Chappellet in the Napa Valley.

etude winery

Etude

 

 

 

 

For a historical perspective on Napa, a visit to Robert Mondavi is worthwhile, and their reserve cabs are outstanding although pricey.

Seavey winery

Seavey winery

On the smaller side, we had a really nice visit at Seavey which again is an exceptional place for cabs.  For a truly small winery experience, you might make an appointment with Trespass.  Basically it’s 5 acres with no buildings on it in a residential neighborhood in St. Helena, producing some of the best Cabs, Bordeaux blends, and Cab Francs you can find.

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Barndiva

 

Farmer, Barndiva, sculpture

The Farmer Wall Sculpture

 

Barndiva
We’ve heard about Barndiva from many friends and have gone twice in December 2010. Highly recommended. Just off of the Healdsburg square. Yum!

The food is great and the drinks are hand-made and fantastic. Don’t miss the goat cheese croquettes and the beet salad.
More details from Yelp here.
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Inman Family Winery Rocks the Chardonnay

Inman winery, barn doors

Beautiful barn doors

Tasting room is open Thursday through Sunday

Wines: Rose of Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir, and yummy Chardonnay

3900 Piner Rd
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
(707) 293-9576

www.inmanfamilywines.com

[Located at the junction of Olivet and Piner Road]

The Inman Family winery is a beautiful building on the Sebastapol/Santa Rosa line.  The wine maker is Kathleen Inman, who is very focused on green/sustainability.  She has built massive her bio-wastewater treatment for all the water that’s used, used recycled materials in the building, and has used solar to power the building.

The tasting room is charming and friendly and Kathleen was there when we visited.  Her wines are very natural; we don’t normally like chardonnays and hers is very yummy and not incredibly oaky. Their location of the corner of Olivet puts them near some other equally fantastic producers.

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Color Transforms the Half Bath/Laundry Room

The oak cabinets continue, although with our new washer and dryer I don’t notice them as much.

Laundry after

Basic run of the mill laundry room

appliances: LG Washer and Dryer

The bigger change was to the half bath. You get a peek of it above. It was your basic, ordinary sink and toilet. I thought it needed some color!

It’s hard to get a great angle in such a small bath.

paint: Behr Ultra Carmine Red

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Heaven is an Open Kitchen / Dining Room / Den

One of the things we liked most about the layout was the open kitchen to the dining room and den. We love to cook and have everyone close by.

Both rooms: painted the walls the same grey as the kitchen.

Dining room: installed window coverings, replaced the ceiling fan, replaced the can lights, changed the flooring to match the kitchen and hallway.

Den: changed the hanging light to a track light, installed the TV on a swing arm, put up window coverings, art

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Paint and Hardware Make Oak Cabinets Come to Life

Don't you love contractor oak?

The kitchen as we moved in

We lucked out with a great stove but other than that, started from a pretty horrible beginning.  The contractor-standard oak cabinets were spruced up with many coats of paint, the new appliances went in, and we still have the lighting to fix.  The walls went from basic beige to a beautiful grey.

 

 

It’s amazing what a little (or a lot) of paint and hardware can do to transform basic oak cabinetry into a nice kitchen.  We also replaced the tile with the same wood from the hallway to unify the rooms.

Amazing what a little paint and hardware can do

Kitchen after

 

Redoing the inside of the cabinet with wallpaper!

Inside of the second cabinet

 

 

 

Wallpaper from Modcloth (here)

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