a-frame // sarah sherman samuel21Hi Hi and happy friday, I am here with what will eventually be known as the “before tour” of our new A-frame. Ok guys, prepare yourselves, the inside of this place is a doozy…

living-room2livingroom-3living-roomliving-room23Here we are in the living room. The bones are obviously what sold us on the place. The decor… not so much.

main-roomdining-nookand don’t you worry, I’m pretty sure the tour gets worse, each room darker and with more issues the deeper we go. This is the dining room/nook.

kitchenand the kitchen!!! Yep, this here photo above… is the entire kitchen! Once inside you can get a better peek at the red tiled beaut…

I still haven’t figured out why the lightswitch is duct taped but probably needless to say the entire place is in desperate need of all new electrical. There are a lot of problems, like that, which you can’t see in the photos and I think we may be the only ones crazy enough to take it all on. Unfortunately there is a lot of work to be done before we get to the fun stuff.

kitchen-3 kitchen-2Major kitchen envy, I know. Try to contain yourselves.

bedroom-2 Now onto the master bedroom, I particularly like the faux fireplace with an air conditioning unit inside.

bedroomOh, and this wonderful room off to the side of the bedroom with a cloud mural painted on the ceiling. Move over Sistine Chapel.

backroom-2back-roomBehind that beaded curtain is a laundry room that I dared not go into.

a-frame-bathroomIn other news… the bathroom lights don’t work, and there’s no natural light aside from what peeks through the small doorway, so this is the best I could do, and it was TERRIFYING! It is definitely more dungeon than bathroom. It has black tile, a black toilet, and mirrors on every wall, maybe to try and trick you into thinking it’s bigger? Either way it is like a scary fun house.

bedroom-4And finally the spare bedroom. I mean, what else is there to say? I know you want to move right in.

So there you have it! Our work is definitely cut out for us with this one, but it is going to be good. I promise. Can’t wait to get things rolling.

See our last cabin renovation here. 

  • Can’t wait to see what you guys do with this place. I LOVE what you did at the Michigan spot

  • ahh!! I love it – all the wood and the all that awesome stone! I am not worried, I know you will do amazing things with it. The worse it is, the more satisfying it will be to makeover (especially when you just get to sit back and watch it happen from the interwebz 🙂

    I can’t wait to follow along – have fun and Happy Holidays!

  • Bridget

    dying to see what you do with this place because I loveddd seeing the cabin reno progress 🙂

  • s.montgomery

    I am positively giddy to see this renovation! Your work on your last cabin was so inspiring and it made me think I was ready to tackle my own house renovation (but my husband disagrees!) So I’ll just follow along on yours!

  • I love it. I love weird houses (which explains the one we just bought) and wood, glass, and stone are pretty much the best.

  • Amy

    I love all of it!! I’m so excited to follow you through another project. You are so talented and this is going to be amazing. P.S. Archer is so cute!!

  • Lily

    Am I crazy that I love that four-poster bed? In a black gloss it would look incredible!

    • sarah

      haha not crazy! I thought that was the best thing in there. (um by a million times) a bit large for such a small room but in the right space it could be amazing!

  • shannon karas

    sarah, i wish i could unsee these images, eeeep!:)
    cant wait for the reveal!now go work some magic.

  • Kait

    This is going to be an AMAZING before and after. Can’t wait to see it progress!!

  • Hi Sarah: Did all the furniture come with the house??? Can’t wait to see how you transform it!

  • Julia

    My goodness, in the best possible way, it’s hideous! When you renovate it it will be amazing! I can’t wait to follow along!

  • Lynn

    Awesome! Really rough but SO much potential for a really cool transformation. I can’t wait to see you tackle this! Also, that picture in the scary dark bathroom–hilarious. Archer’s face just sums it all up! He knows what you’re getting into. 🙂

    • Lynn

      Also, just got my copy of Sunset and saw you on the cover!! Congrats and so well deserved!

  • Beenish

    Hi Sarah,
    Congratulations on the Palm Springs purchase! I LOVED what you did with the cabin in Michigan, so I am beyond excited to follow along as you renovate this new place. I can already tell how amazing it is going to be. I would love if you could post an entry sometime on the process you went through with finding this place: how did you decide on Palm Springs, how many places did you look at, how did you find this place, tips and tricks for those that want to do the same, etc. Thank you!

  • Laverne

    SS —

    You have your work cut out for you! Like you said… Great bones. Curious how you’ll piece those little rooms into fresh, airy spaces? Can’t wait to watch you work wonders! Happy Holidays!

  • That faux fireplace has got me cracking up! What an awesome and fun house to renovate though! I can’t wait to see what you do with it!

  • blackbluebird

    Hi, looking forward to seeing what you’re going to do with this, based on your amazing work on your earlier cabin and abundant style. Friendly constructive criticism: your captions on the ‘before’ photos come across a little mean and snarky. It’s clear the taste of the prior resident isn’t yours, and isn’t conventional, but better to be kind–people have a right to make weird choices for their own homes, and visible effort at making a house a home is almost always to be cherished.

    • sarah

      Hi! so sorry if I came across mean! Not my intention at all, I was just chatting and making light fun as if I was sharing this with a girlfriend and You’re right, I didn’t have the previous owners in mind when I was talking about the space. I wasn’t trying to put them down. It’s hard to tell from the photos but the condition of the actual house is VERY bad. Mostly just because it is old and no time was put into keeping it up. In its’ day, it was most likely incredible and I just hope I do the place justice. I don’t think in any way that my way is the “right way” or that my style is superior but this isn’t me and now the place is ours! If the decor was my style, there are a lot of furniture pieces that are ill fitted and I’m pretty sure the cloud mural was done solely to disguise water damage, not a design choice, but there are definitely nicer ways of saying that. I am sorry if it hurt anyone’s feelings. And again, you’re right, everyone has the right to make their own choices which is why I love interior design and seeing the personalities of clients come out in thier homes, and now that this is my house I’m going to make my own crazy choice. 🙂

    • blackbluebird

      Thanks. Good luck with the house!

  • Martha

    I just found your blog and I’m so in love! I can’t wait to see what you do with this place!

  • Shavonda@SGStyle

    This is gonna be amazing in the end. Such great potential.

  • Anna

    I know I’m late to the party, but I can’t wait to see what comes next with this one! I loved the cabin you did.

  • […] And finally, in the bedroom, we painted away and switched out the flooring creating a new blank slate. (see the before’s here) […]

  • […] I’m moving through our a-frame cabin, designing one room at a time and next up is the laundry room! It is actually bigger than the one we have in our LA house and I’m excited to bring a little style to what was possibly the scariest room in the house (it was a close race between the laundry room and the bathroom, see the befores here). […]

  • […] And now for the interior… since it has been a while, if you want to catch up on how it looked before check this post. […]

  • […] To see all the A-frame renovation progress, check here. For the full before tour check here. […]

  • […] to warm things up, but if you want to see the power of that good ole white paint, check out the last photo in the before tour. Like the rest of the house, it too is on its’ way to somewhere […]

  • […] we first bought the place it was dark and very brown, from the carpet all the way up to the coffee-colored painted beams […]

  • Emily McNeil

    I am super late to this party but kind of glad because I love being able to look at the afters! i am always looking for real life inspiration for fixer-uppers and this one is fantastic! Great work!

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