The Best View in Morro Bay
498 Orcas Street is a one-of-a-kind coastal property in Morro Bay — panoramic ocean views, a half-mile walk to the beach, and a view of Morro Rock while cooking dinner. It's the kind of home you work your whole life to call your own!
As of late 2025, it needed work. It was abandoned, demolished, and wasting away. We saw the legacy that could be lovingly restored with enough vision and hard work. This blog follows our journey. Join us!
A big week at 498 Orcas.
The cabinetry is in. The custom Sligh cabinets have been installed: light natural wood, slab fronts, nothing fussy. The kitchen finally looks like a kitchen.
The flooring is halfway there. Custom white oak now runs across the living room toward the fireplace wall, and you can already feel how the room will open up to those windows.
We’re saying goodbye to the purple doors! At some point the doors were painted a very dated purple. They’re going white, and I’m doing some of that spraying myself. (Yes, that’s me in the mask.)
Landscaping has begun. Tiered timber planters by the front steps are filling in with coastal grasses and flowering plants.
Next up: stucco and scaffold removal. That’s when you’ll really see a difference. Orlando Santini designed this 1995 quad-level with sharp, angular lines, and once the scaffold comes down, those lines get to speak for themselves.
More next week.
The interior paint is finished. Every room got primer and two coats, and for the first time the whole house reads as one clean, bright space.
With the walls done, the work moved down to the floor. Flooring has begun, and after weeks of bare plywood, the rooms are starting to feel finished underfoot.
In the bathrooms, tile has started in the showers. The backer board we showed last time is now getting covered, one row at a time.
More to come.
Last week the outside got its paint. This week the work moved indoors.
The interior is being painted now, and the rooms are already changing. White walls, skylights overhead, and the light is doing what we hoped it would.
The showers are going in too. In this one, the backer board is up and ready for tile. That’s the layer nobody sees once it’s finished, so here’s a thumbs up for it.
The tile crew works during the day, so the finishing work happens in the evenings. More to come.
Quick update from 498 Orcas: we passed the drywall screw inspection.
With the drywall hung and signed off, the crew can move on to taping, mudding, and finishing. That’s when the rooms finally start to look like rooms again.
More soon. Thanks for following along!
The walls are closed and the outside is finally starting to look like a finished house. Here’s where things stand at 498 Orcas.
The drywall is hung, and it passed the screw inspection on Monday, October 5.
This is the part the neighbors will notice. For a long time the outside of this house has been scaffolding, plywood, and house wrap. Now it gets a real skin.
The siding crew got to work this week. Before siding could go on, Logan finished the fascia boards around the top of the house. That was the last of the carpentry.
Half the house is getting siding. The other half gets stucco, which starts next.
Inside, mud and tape start right away, alongside the siding. So for the first time we have two crews going: one inside finishing the walls, one outside closing up the exterior.
Once the siding is mostly done, the stucco goes on. Inside, after mud and tape, come paint, flooring, cabinets, bathrooms, and tile.
Thanks for following along!
It’s been a while since my last update. Here’s where things stand at 498 Orcas.
We passed our mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and insulation inspections. These aren’t the pretty milestones, but they’re the ones you can’t skip. Everything behind the walls gets checked and signed off before the walls close up.
The drywall screw inspection is next. Once the drywall is hung, the inspector checks the fastening before taping and finishing can begin.
We’ll keep you posted as the drywall goes up. Thanks for following along!
