SLO LIFE Winter 2010

“We have a car, but don’t drive it much,” began our conversation
with Donald and Eldra Avery, owners of a thoughtfully remodeled
1939-vintage home on Fixlini Street. When the couple decided to
move from Los Osos to San Luis Obispo in 1998, their first priority
was proximity to work. “My commute from our kitchen counter to my
classroom chalkboard is exactly one half of a mile, which I walk back
and forth each day,” explains Eldra, an English teacher at SLO High
School. Donald, an architect, works from an office constructed within
the home.
The couple “camped out” in the home for seven years before doing
any significant remodeling, but the list of problems grew longer and
more difficult to ignore over time. “We started with one room and
our contractor, Mark Alfirevic, would ask, ‘Should we go ahead and
remove the plaster from this other room, too?’ and the project just kept
growing over time, so much so that we had to move into a motor home
at one point. We traveled around to different RV parks in Morro Bay for
a year,” says Donald.
The remodel became so consuming, in fact, that only three things
remain from the original structure: the hardwood floors; the coved
ceiling in the living room; and an interior window upstairs. Despite the
massive overhaul, the couple wanted to maintain the character of the
home they had grown to love. According to Donald, “We wanted it to
be the house that it was, but put back together in the way it should
be, to make it what it should have been.” With a few small exceptions
- most notably the much-used breakfast nook - the footprint of the
building, the floor plan, and the window and door openings remain the
same.
Attention to detail throughout the remodel is obvious, but really stands
out in the ornate stonework completed by local artisan, Jim Shimmer.
Nowhere is this more apparent than with the back patio where the
couple is fond of hosting parties that invariably gather around the
brick oven there. The two other areas where considerable expense
was encountered were in converting the space above the garage into a
separate, legal apartment, which, according to the couple, cost a “small
fortune” in city permits and fees. Additionally, the initial cost to install
solar panels and a solar thermal water heating system was significant,
but “well worth it now” as the couple pays an average of just $45 per
month for electricity and $23 per month for gas, which includes utilities
for the rental property.
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Our afternoon visit with the Averys concluded with a stop in Eldra’s
“Mary Poppins” hobby room upstairs, a small space where the ceiling
matches the pitch of the roof. Two built-in twin beds are situated
across the room from one another - complete with matching clocks and
reading lamps - for visiting grandchildren. Asked if the remodel was
worth the years of effort and the thousands of dollars of expense, Eldra,
who was busy clearing the latest sewing project off the table to make
room for us, left little doubt where she stood on the subject: “I think
it’s important to invest in something that nurtures your creativity, your
soul, your spirit.”
SLO LIFE
above BeFORe & aFTeR clearly the change is dramatic, but the
character of the original structure has been preserved. The garage,
which includes an upstairs apartment, is detached and sits at the back
of the property.
bottom left NaTURe’S BOUNTy many of the vegetables and herbs in the
garden end up in dishes cooked with the outdoor brick oven. The couple
is currently building a chicken coop with their next door neighbor.
bottom right PaRTy TiMe most gatherings end up right here on the
patio. Small overhead lights add to the ambiance, as does the fragrance
of the wide assortment of vines and potted plants lining the ornate
stonework.
continued on page 36
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