Stacie Puma was renting in Los Gatos when she took a drive with her boyfriend down a shady street lined with charming old cottages. “What neighborhood is this?” she asked him. “It’s gorgeous.”

Ten years later, she’s living on that very street, in a Spanish bungalow she has made her own with French and Tuscan touches. And just as she loved walking to the charming downtown streets of Los Gatos, she can now walk to Willow Glen’s Lincoln Avenue. She opened her house for the 2009 Willow Glen Home tour in early May.

Stacie always loved old houses, and this one still maintained its vintage charm. Built in 1926, this 1,600 square-foot home still has its original yellow tile in the kitchen and bath. The windows and living room mantel are also original details she loves. When she needed extra room for the refrigerator in the kitchen, a little wall was knocked out, revealing a brick chimney coming up from the basement. She asked the crew to keep the brick exposed. It adds a rustic feel, next to a vintage Wedgewood stove she purchased from a San Francisco couple.

“It’s almost like French Provincial meets Tuscany kind of feel,” she said. “I added a lot of iron to have some masculinity to offset the feminine look.”

She added rich colors of reds, golds and olives to complete the look inside.

Outside, with the help of her neighbor, Matt Guarascio of “The Scape Artist,” she added fountains and pathways. They preserved the old fireplace at the rear of the yard for evening gatherings.

“My backyard is my sanctuary,” she said, adding that she opened her master bedroom to the yard with French doors.

Stacie also designed an iron gate, which was fabricated by Garcia’s Ornamental Iron Works. For the tour, flowers were beautifully arranged by Flowers by Pat Conroy.

Stacie knows that after all these years, she has found home.

“I have met the most amazing people in this neighborhood,” she said. “It’s a whole new family for me.”

You might also enjoy these stories:

A Decorator’s Daughter Loves Small House Style
Gentle Remodel on Spanish Bungalow
Colonial Revival Home Renovation – Whitney Wright Mansion
Before and After – Rustic Kitchen Remodel
Small House Remodel Maintains Charm
Downsizing and Restyling: From French Country to Modern Neutral
Renovating and Decorating to Inspire Home and Business
Mid-Century Modern from California Ranch: A Town and Country Life

Here’s the complete slideshow:

This entry was posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 at 6:45 pm and is filed under Bathroom, Bedroom, Bungalow, Decorating, Dining Room, Garden, Historic, Home and Garden, House Tours, Interior Design, Julia, Kitchen, Landscape, Peek of the Week, San Jose, Willow Glen, Yard. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.