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There are a lot of different styles of cast stone surrounds that include hearths. Are you willing to remove existing hearth and wall pop out?
Are these wood or gas burning fireplaces? You could just replace the surrounds and the doors on the firebox. Some people spraypaint over the brass on these old style doors to update them. You can replace the surrounds with marble or granite remnants from a stone yard, or tile. If you want to keep it simple you don't need a mantel, but then you have to make sure the edges of the surround look finished and intentional. I assume these are listing pictures. Without knowing more about your decor I can't be more specific about what to use on the surround, but neutral is better since you don't want to do this project again for many years. Are these surrounds dark green marble? Just changing it to a dark gray or black would be an improvement.
Here quoins are made of foam attached after wall lath before stucco. If you are going to put a different material on your corners anyway than removing them will be fine since you'll be covering the damage. A sturdier lath than the chicken wire used for walls is needed for faux stone and aluminum trim might need to be shimmed level with stucco but either would look better IMO.
Spend your money on the door since the garage is the most prominent feature on the house.
Beverly beat me too it. I'd pant the square and your house white and get a really nice wood garage door.
Just thinking out loud….
I am not a professional and have never done this on a stucco house. My first thought is to get a thin molding to edge the door with, instead of stripping it and redoing the calk. Of course, the molding would need to be painted with exterior paint and calked also. Maybe a vinyl molding could be used. Hopefully that would give it a cleaner look.
I would paint the caulk the same gray as the house, maybe taping of the white trim first to get a clean edge. Nice house!
Here's a visual of my suggestions:
- A black metal awning (Home Depot)
- Dark brown stain for porch floor, flower boxes, handrail
- White wood railing
- Shutters (if you have the space to fit them)
- I suggest a more greyish tone for the blue door and shutters
- A larger sconce and large numbers
- Landscaping and path to front door
fabulous space and dramatic fireplace!
I would mount the TV on the wall to the right and include furniture rather than built in shelving, etc.
Thank you for all the suggestions. This space is in the basement, not the kitchen. I was able to get someone to come in and cut the stone. I will miss having the counter top on top but it was the only solution I could come up with at this time. I appreciate the helpful comments.
What color is the roof?
I believe the house would benefit from a different color, either darker or lighter, depending on the roof. I'd choose a trim color for the gutters and fascia, and probably around windows and doors.
The white windows stand out in a not so good way, so maybe a lighter body color would work best.
As for the porch, the deck there now looks more appropriate for a back yard on another style of house, and not for the main entrance.
I've tried to show how adding a column or wall on the left might look.
Tip: Pictures taken straight on do not show depth like ones taken at an angle.
Are you growing vegetables there? Against a wall in the summer can be brutal with the reflected heat. An organic mulch would make the area look better and help keep the soil cooler but hopefully its morning sun only exposure.
This is easy to make this a colorful and cute focal point. Chili peppers and succulents are good together in pots or in the ground. You need a little height and some taller pots could provide shade for plants around it.
Stack some bricks taller as a cute plant stand.
Amend and level out the soil.
Clean the rocks and arrange them in a curvy border partially on the turf.
Place your pots first and plant your vegetables around them.
Don't forget seasonal flowers..easy to change out.
You have the tract builder look, sorry to say, and I think that is what is bothering you!
The vanity is too small for two sinks, and especially the sink size you have. The mirror needs a frame, looks as a hunk of builder sheet glass. You've got 4" spread faucets...sort of a Home Depot look.
Easiest fix is get the mirror framed to match vanity and put a color on the walls, a tint of the flooring you do like. If you can swing it? Pick a new top and faucets with 8 inch spread, use smaller under mount sinks, with a new top
The kitchen is awfully dark, needs more lighting.
All the lowers are DOOR bases, so it reads again, as a bit of the budget level kitchen. Would I paint them? There isn't a good answer here. Maybe paint the uppers and the island in a color. I think it was just too dark a cabinet selection . But......it isn't going to keep you from making a meal. You can add two stools in a color.
Get moved in, and take your time. None of it is life threatening.
Strangers on the internet do not replace a licensed inspector/engineer/contractor.
However they can provide some personal experience with similar situations. If one has never seen the bowed wall of a masonry row house one might assume that by default the entire house is on the verge of collapse or should be condemned. If a stranger on the internet can say that it could possibly be a relatively common and not expensive problem to remediate, I don't see how that additional information is a negative. Particularly when it's not pretending to replace an inspection.
The foundation really doesn't bother me (and painted foundations frequently do!). I would work on general cleanup and emphasizing the entrance. Here's an edit of the closeup of the door with a few options: large house numbers, storm door painted black, widened paving, doormat, hefty planters (and larger light fixtures, but I know yours are new).
Can you try for a better photo of the whole front, with the sun on the house instead of on the camera lens?
By the way, what are the green tents(?) flanking the door?
I would have selected brass knobs and bath faucet.
Your vanity is plainjane, then slightly upscale for the faucet with the marble, and then full glam for the mirror. Kind of a mess.
You also might consider not painting the cabinets white. Use a contrasting color so that you don't need to worry about matching the whites. What about taupe, light green or blue?
A contrasting color will allow the counter top to stand out.
The mistake is not allowing the wood framing to overhang the foundation enough that siding could be attached to furring strips on the concrete. You might still be able to use an Azek cellular PVC water table and use thin brick/stone or stucco on the concrete or grind and fill the rough spots and paint it..
I know you want to talk about window treatments, but you've got a big problem in the living room. That TV cannot stay in front of the window. The layout for this room is wrong. I'd have a better chance to post a plan if I saw the rest of the room, but here's what I can post without seeing the balance of the room.
Now there might be a better location for the TV, but based on what you have presented, a location between the two windows seems best.
I'd find some drapery panels that match the colors in your upholstery and use those in this dining area. Change the ceiling fan to a linear chandelier.
Maybe you could ask the neighbors what kind of grass they have to find out what does well in your area? Hybrid bermuda looks better and is easier to control than common bermuda (IMO) but has to be sprig planted. It would be more work rototilling, removing existing grass and planting the sprigs but it makes a nice lawn.
@dchall_san_antonio thank you thank you thank you!! This is the step by step I need!! I do like the idea of taking out the stones - just need to consider my budget. As I asked in the other post, do you have experience with seed? It’s a little more budget friendly than sod.
Either way, I need to spray the weed killer, right?
My latest reply to your front yard post should cover you for front and back. If you had unlimited funds, then I would say "Yes", to the weed killer; however, if you want to skip the weed killer for this year, you can get going on the St Augustine pieces planted in the shade and let them start to grow. Weeds may not be pretty, but they are green. In the interest of your budget, for the price of the weed killer you could buy 2 more pieces of St Augustine and get that started spreading.
St Augustine will spread once it takes hold. Due to the coarse texture of the blades, it provides a canopy of shade over top of the soil. A dense canopy of tall St Augustine will choke out most of the grasses it encounters. It cannot compete with broadleaf weeds like clover, dichondra, or horse herb. The horse herb can be pulled easily if you catch it early (it's a pathetic weed), but clover and dichondra reseeds faster than you can keep up. If you get those in the mix, then that herbicide is the best way to get rid of those, permanently. If the St Augustine makes it through the season without the broadleaf weeds, then you can rethink the herbicide for next April (2025).
Some visual with Grecian Ivory SW
That looks a lot like our RTA Conestoga Wakefield, our color and species is different of course.
I think ShowPlace has a door like that.. Santa Fe
The doors are not the same, even in KM and Shiloh. The specs are different. As are the build specs, and customer service. You pay for things in different ways. Often the better buying experience is not the cheap one where you have problems. Shiloh is not what KM is. And vice versa.
I don't see any issue with removing the pediments. Cleaner lines IMO.
Thanks. Note that the siding is not yet painted. That’s just primed Hardie board. And yes, the floor is staying concrete.
In a previous house when reroofing over the front porch we used pine boards with two coats of Danish oil and it looked good for the 10+ years we were there.
We have a revere pewter vanity with a quartz faux marble top and they look great together. Its a warm gray with a green hue to it that plays well with other colors.
Looks like a good combination to me.
Once read a colorist saying that Revere Pewter goes with almost any color. I have it throughout our open concept small condo and love it, in north and south facing rooms and a dark hallway, 10 years now and still love it. It shows a tiny bit of greenish clay color only in certain places and only at certain times, and doesn't offend me at all. Usually it is a soft warm clay grey color, like Beverly's sample above. Is wonderful also with our colorful art. Not answering your question I know, but if you do decide on it, hope you are as happy as we are with it.
Set the tv on top of the unit below ( you can buy a stand ), have a contractor cut it up the top portion. Down the elevator it goes.
No....I am not kidding and you won't miss it, along with the fact nobody else will want it for anything but a bonfire: )
Not everything is DIY -including getting the flat screen directly on a wall. The brackets give you room to adjust for studs,.
If you can consider Jan Moyer's suggestion about the TV unit it's excellent and would really update the room.
As for the wall paint colour, I strongly recommend you choose all the fabrics before painting the walls and also do a test on a large foam board (with 2 coats of paint) that you can carry around the room to see how the colour looks in different areas. And yes, as mentioned by Latifolia, Chantilly Lace is a very bright white, I recommend you look into warm whites such as the following:
A few ideas mixing grey, navy, white & aqua...
Cambria Ironsbridge did give me the best look when comparing sample. But I am scared of the pattern I see on larger slab because my counter have many corners I don’t know if those waves can connect with each other smoothly.
Give the wood time to fade a bit and you may get the colour you wanted in the first place. I feel the colour suites the house very well. You can distract from the house by doing some strip flower beds along the driveway in some cooler colours. Also some softer plantings in the front will also help. Do other things to distract from the boxiness instead of changing something that for now can't be changed.
Looking at the state of the wall behind and the moss on the path I really don't think painting the bricks is a practical idea. They'd need repainting constantly. IMO the solution would be to plant successionally in the bed so it's always obvious it's a garden. What I would also do is have all the bricks either on edge or flat, not a mix.
I believe we used Warm Gray on these Brazilian Cherry floors. The stairs were Red Oak so we stained these Ebony. We looked at Warm Gray, Jacobean and Heritage Brown...each stain colors with a bit of green. I'm not 100% sure of what stain we settled on so you'll want to put some samples down on your own floor.
I had seen these photos online. Less minty. That photo above is a little scary! Sorry about the screenshots.
End the backsplash at the end of the upper cabinets. It looks silly to have it end with the lowers and have that square hanging out
Be sure to consider the all important undertone and test the narrowed down colors. Also suggest painting the door and shutters. FYI: BM consultants are very knowledgeable and their paint is excellent - worth the price. Think big picture and how you want the house to feel and with a softer shade, the garage door can be the same color and it will blend/not stand.
Remove the gigantic street lamp and random boulders. Paint the door, white trim, shutters a color that isn't such high contrast with the bricks. You have enviable tiered garden space in front of your home. Hire a landscape designer to create a garden that takes into consideration how much upkeep you want to be responsible for and something that has year round greenery plus spring, summer, and fall interest.
I wouldn’t do anything. After two years, I finally bought a house. I always was disappointed when I liked the house well enough but the kitchen or baths were updated for resale. Sigh. The question was always should I live with it or tear it out - which seemed like a huge waste.
Hi Jan. Thanks you so much for your help and encouragement to go for a darker green. We did just that and have started to move the room to the layout you suggested, and the room already feels miles better. There's still a long long way to go but we're getting there slowly!
Take a look at BM Edgecomb gray, its light but not white and should look good with your new vanity top and add a little contrast to white trim and cabinets.
Are you wed to the brown and gold mirror frame? It seems like the odd piece out here. The gold on the frame doesn't match the brass of your hardware. And the ornate look is certainly at odds with your gold bubble shade fixture.
Your grey cabinet color is lovely and looks great with the brass handles. I'd try to find a light in brass that is more similar in shape and feel to the Kohler light. I'd reconsider the frame.
If the handles are that gold-brass color, the lighting should be as well. Keep the mirror frame simple, not as ornate as the small sample seems to be.
You have the drain hookup installed. When you raise the floor make it a pan keeping the drain functional. Valuable safety feature.
Because of the strong angular shape of the sculpture, I don't think it lends itself well to flowers or perennials. My first thought was to pave it, at least around the center and add gravel or rocks. I did find this pic with the kind of dried grass that undulates like waves in the wind, which might be a nice contrast to the metal.
Some other ideas:
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