Our California Round House

As Katie mentioned in our last post, we have arrived in California. More specifically we made it to Scotts Valley where our friend Becky lives and works. After having dinner and hanging out a bit with Becky, it was time to venture up the hill to our place of residence for the next two weeks. 

This place is pretty sweet! Simply put, the house we are staying at is round; inside and out. But that is not the only interesting aspect of our place. It has a very open layout. The main living space has giant two story windows looking out to the deck and beautiful hillside below. The two bedrooms up in the loft overlook the living room space on the main floor. And a big kitchen rounds out the front side of the house. I've never been in a place quite like it.

A very round house indeed.

The two-story windows and deck on the back of the house

A wide view of the living space.

The kitchen

The winding staircase that goes up the center of the house.
There's also a window looking into the kitchen

Top of the staircase.

It does come with some quirks though. The completely open space means there is very little privacy in the house, especially noise wise. Luckily no one else is staying here so it's not really a problem for us. There are a million light switches and remotes which we still haven't figured out all their uses for. And it's a little under-furnished since the last tenants just moved out. But we knew that going into staying here. Our landlord-of-sorts did bring in a couch and an air mattress for us to use. But since we're the types that that don't need much, it's good fit for us. And considering what we're paying, it's a great deal.

Our bedroom complete with an air mattress and Ikea storage

The other bedroom.
You can see how the inner walls don't quite go up to the ceiling and the one side just opens up past the railing to the living space.

A view of the tall ceilings and loft space where the bedrooms are. This place could use a trampoline and a climbing wall!

Overall, it is a very cool place to stay. Sadly I mean "cool" as both figurative and literal since the only heat source for this place is a wood fire stove. This is the last quirk I'll talk about.

Our sole source of heat for the round house.

You may be thinking that we're in California, and it should be nice and warm. Well it certainly isn't the same cold temperatures we'd be getting in Michigan or the mountains of Colorado. But it does drop down to the 40's or below. And when it rains, the dampness and cold can still chill you to your bones. So it gets cold enough that heating a house is still necessary. 

Now if you know me, you know I love a good fireplace. They're cozy and wonderful. They're great for taking naps near by. But I've never stayed in a place of this size where the fireplace is the only source of heat for the building. As it turns out it is a lot of work to keep the fire going well enough to heat a large space. And the first night was the most difficult. It was dark when we got to the house. The temperatures had already dropped. The place had probably been unused for a couple of days. So it was cold, and we had to figure out how to work the stove/get the fire going. It took some trial and error but between the three of us we got a fire going. Sadly the paper we used to help start the fire was very smoky, so we had to go around the house and open some of the windows despite wanting to keep things shut to warm everything up.

Eventually though we were able to close things up a bit more and turn in for the night. And each day it keeps getting better and easier. I think part of it is that we're just getting used to it, but I'm sure the house is a bit warmer too now that we've been keeping the fire going for a few days and are figuring out the tricks to operating a wood-fire stove. We're still not experts. It is still a struggle to not get too much smoke in the house or to get the fire going just right so it lasts through most the night. I'm sure we'll eventually figure it out, but if any of you have any tips, feel free to send them our way. 

So quirks and coldness aside, we are very fortunate to be able to stay in such a unique and interesting home. It will be a great two weeks here!

Our view out to the California landscape and beyond.

Our one addition to the house since this space is perfect for hammocks.