Welcome! You have found kindred souls here, and I'm sure you'll be at home very quickly.

Welcome oneblueonebrown. Very smart of you to live beneath your means. It will really take the stress out of your lives, and make it easier to save up for your projects. Have you checked out Ikea? They have so many ideas for small spaces. Also, check out RV dealers that have a store for a lot of ways to use space.

I'd love to see pictures of your home, especially the 50's bathroom. Have you seen that blog or maybe it was a website with 50's pink bathrooms, and maybe kitchens too.

Welcome! How refreshing, hearing a young couple choosing to live within their means. Sadly, many confuse the definition of 'wants' vs 'needs'. (More and bigger equates to better.) Down the road your basement can make your home live much larger. Planning and patience are your ally's. Nice to meet you........

Welcome. sounds like you have chosen a great place for you. I am sure if you have any specific questions we will give it our all to try to help you solve them. OH BOY Pink kitchen. If it were me I would go with the pink and just update what was needed. Think pink and gray for more contemporary. The 40's pink and green are still very in. We love pictures.

Chris

Welcome to small homes! But I want to assure you that when you are ready to renovate, the Kitchen Forum loves all kitchens, large or small, so don't feel that you are confined just to small homes.
Home Decorating is another forum that can help you with some of your decorating.
What is great about this forum is that you can get ideas to help you utilize your space from those of us who have faced the same challenges.
We do love pictures and you get the best advise when you post them.
Congrats on your new home and I am also glad to see that you invested wisely.

Thanks everyone! We are getting things done slowly but surely. I have checked out Save the Pink Bathrooms, I wish our tile was in better shape. We have been thinking of maybe having the tile and tub resurfaced (they also would repair the chips in the tile) but I'm not sure how good of an alternative that is. I got an estimate of about $1k to resurface the tub and the tile walls. We are going to live with it for at least the next year or 2 and decide from there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures of the house on closing day and a few in progress pics

Oneblue, I love your pink bath. But I know it can be different when you see it every day.

I have a friend who had one done in a very intense bright blue. She painted the upper part of the walls, used throw rugs to cover most of the floor and put a shower curtain in front of the glass doors. Her tile was still in good condition so she wanted to keep it. It made a lot of difference.
Welcome to the forum!

AW the pink bath is darling. Maybe just the chipped tiles can be replaced or touched up enough to blend the chips. think acrylic paints.Glass globs. Lets work on this. I see the stains in the tub. Too bad. Assuming the surface is worn off?? Close the sliding door and hide it.

Your house is darling and L REALLY love what you have done in your daughters room. Darling bright colors. That curvy armed chair in the reading room is fantastic.

The upside is your house is small so fixes are on the smaller cost side. I am so excited for you. Kitchen is darling too. Harvest gold. OH My. Been there done that.

Again Welcome.

chris

'I see the stains in the tub.'

I didn't see any... are you saying you have better eyes than I do? (most people do! lol!) well, try some bar keepers friend.

I had harvest gold - I loved it!

it's really a cute house! lots of potential. It's good to take a yr or so to live in it and see how / what does work for you and what doesn't before starting any major changes.

You can still do some things. maybe paint the paneling if that is something you don't like. It does brighten things up - my neighbor did it and it looks great. Change out some of the smaller things like the faucets, the globes in the bathroom lights and other light fixtures you don't like. I saw some globes online I really loved; combo of frosted and clear - beautiful! Lowe's has some really nice options too for less than 10.00 ea. I was looking for some for my new bathroom fixture that comes w/o the globes. I know that most of the light fixtures in my new place have got to go. About half in the near future, the others maybe next yr.

love the bathroom - reminds me of Good'n Plenty! yea! you could really doll that up. dh might not take to it much tho.

I've never heard of bar keeper's friend, I'll have to check that out.

So far in the living room we've ripped out the ugly (and gross!) carpet, painted the paneling, painted the brick bright white and we had to take out the woodstove. The old owners had the roof replaced about a year before we bought the house. When they put the new roof on they didn't vent the woodstove through the roof to prevent the elderly lady from using it. DH was adamant about not wanting to cut a hole in a brand new roof and the woodstove was in terrible shape so out it went. I was kind of bummed because it would have been cozy and helped with the heating oil bills. Oh well.

In the kitchen we took down the wallpaper border, painted the walls, got new (to us) appliances and ripped off the paneling. We were going to try to repair the walls and just add shoe molding but they were too damaged underneath. We ending up putting new paneling/beadbord up. DH still has to put up the chair rail and shoe molding. We started to cover the yellow lineoleum with black and white peel and stick tiles but that has turned into a disaster. They shift and don't stick well at all. We wanted to just spruce it up until we could afford something better but it looks like we will be ripping up the floor and tiling with a nice grey/slate look porcelain tile we found at HD. Hopefully we will get the ball rolling on that sometime soon.

In the bathroom we took down the wallpaper only to reveal bright pink paint underneath. We painted the walls white and took down the glass shower doors. I have a black and white shower curtain up there now. We are thinking of putting in a pedestal sink because the space is SO tiny. We don't really use the storage under the sink at all, so I think we may put a storage cabinet above the toilet.

Sorry this is so long! I will try to take pictures of some of the things we have done. They are far from finished but you can get an idea of where we are headed. Thanks for all the ideas!

Oneblue, we have the SAME bathtub... and the rooms look identical... to when I bought 9 years ago. My wall tile was gray and the floor lighter gray hexagons.

A friend tore out the room wall tile and replaced that in the shower with plain white from HD. I painted the patched walls. Floor tile needed to be pounded out. That I replaced with white and medium beige. New cabinets and shower curtain completed the job for under $1K. Labor was free... other than several homemade meals. Lucky lady here!

My white tub is still scratched and worn, but deep, and cast iron really holds the heat. The major down side of the room is open space. There is only 17" from front of toilet to edge of tub.

Welcome to the forum! Your house is wonderful and that little pink bathroom is very cute. Pink paint under pink paper...of course there was! LOL The white probably looks much better...and the shower curtain sounds like a nice choice, too.

My SIL had a pink tile bathroom (but no black tile) and painted the walls a soft green and found a really cute floral shower curtain with pink, green, blue, lavender, yellow, etc. It looked very nice and she used the other colors for all the accents, so that the pink was only in the tile. I thought it was a great bathroom, but my BIL was not as thrilled.

Stop by and have some tea, if you get the chance...and I look forward to seeing all the progress on your new home. Oh, and very cute room for your little girl, too! :)

Welcome, welcome!

Your house is great. I love what you've done with the playroom/nursery!

I grew up in a pink bathroom, only picture it with red and black carpet. It was something! As you can imagine, my mom was quick to rip out the carpet, which helped. The finally got around to renovating the bathroom just 2 years ago...then they moved after over 20 yrs in the house. haha! I'm sure you'll come up with something wonderful for your space!

At our current cottage, we had a similar tile situation, but it was yellow with white speckles and brown trim. Gotta love old bathrooms!

Congrats on your new place. I'm looking forward to watching as you make it your own.

So glad you're here!

How wise of you not to become house poor! DH and I live in a small 2 bedroom trailer, and while I look forward to living in a 'real' stick-built home in the near future, it's hard to beat living in a paid off home. Financial peace (and the bonus of togetherness) is so much better than empty living space!

Here is a link that might be useful: Perspective on the Pink Bathroom ;)

Sounds like you bought my house, which I named MoccasinLanding!!

It had the tiniest pink bathroom ever!!! I just played like it was a neutral color, and ignored that pink. It had a single open carport, which I turned into a 3 season room.
I added a tiny deck overlooking the bayou, made the windows turned toward the water bigger so I could SEE the garden.
I was very happy there for about 18 years, when I sold it and got married.

I think you will enjoy that house. It is able to deliver more happiness per square foot than a much larger home, and you will have no qualms about putting a nail here and there, or painting it on a regular basis.

Glad to have you with us on the forum and on GWeb in general. Since we are used to living in small spaces, we also tend to LIVE in our gardens--they are not just ornamental, they are LIVING SPACES.

Have fun with your new nest.

Your house is so cute and I love the changes you've made so far. I love your bathroom tile, but then I love tile from that era, especially the tiny and intricate floor tile.

Just wanted to share a few photos of the bathroom in progress...

and some DIY artwork I made for the wall

We are still planning on switching out the sink/vanity for a pedestal sink, replacing the mirror, replacing the wall sconces and adding a storage cabinet above the toilet. I think we will eventually replace the floor and have the tile walls and tub reglazed in white. Slowly but surely we will get there.

I Love what you have done. The shower curtain and window curtains are darling.

Sorry you do not like your floor tile. I adore it.but then I am old. You might try switching out the sconces before you change that beautiful double bevel mirror.I can not quite tell if the box part sticks out from the wall. If it does mirror it and it will give you a whole new modern look. It is so easy to do.

You have done a gorgeous job of updating with out going too far but if it is not what you like then keep moving forward with it.

Also if you just want to change out that wall tile check out habitat for humanity stores. They usually have great prices on wall tiles. It is not at all hard to do. etting the old tile out would be the hardest part.

I adore your "new" bathroom! That fabric is fabulous. I'm hoping the pink tile grows on you, but I can see why you'd want to replace the sconces. Cute artwork idea, too.

My upstairs bathroom is the same size. I used a eurolav similar to the one in this link. I got mine at HD or Lowe's. Nice size sink and small narrow vanity underneath. Storage and room.

Great house and wonderful bathroom. I just love every room.
Good luck and enjoy

Here is a link that might be useful: vanity

I love the basket weave tile but it is in pretty bad shape. There are cracks around the toilet and a few places where it is gouged. When we do replace it I think we are going to install basket weave again just in a white in black pattern instead of pink.

Jaysmom - we actually looked at a vanity similar to that. If we don't go with the pedestal that is the one we will probably end up with.

Oneblueonebrown ~ Welcome to the forum (I am a newer member myself) and congratulations on your new home!!

One blue, welcome to the world of homeowning, and congrats for not diving in over your head! I did not get to look at all of your pictures yet, but I did have to see your pink bathroom. I am partial to that 1950s tile. I think a white and black hex floor tile will look great with your pink.

I have been getting Facebook reminders about one brand of an over-the-tank bathroom sink for some time. I have always thought that it would be a great accessory for a small bath like yours. In our small houses folks are sometimes lined up at the door. With the toilet-tank sink, you can rise from the throne, tell the next person to enter, and be washing your hands at the tank sink while hubby starts shaving or brushing his teeth at the "real" sink. Check out the link below. I wish I could remember the make of the one that keeps sending me Facebook links, theirs look classier. I don't have my own computer right now, and don't remember my Facebook login.

I had the euro-look half-cab, with the big sink belly hanging over the front, in my last house. It was shaped a bit oblong, and that allowed for DH and I to share it when tooth brushing, since we could both stand right up to the bowl at either end of the oval. The recessed cab meant no toes getting smushed, but both of us having great access. I imagine the same is true of a pedestal, as well. I loved the cab underneath. It was not deep enough for anything to get lost down there! But it did well hiding the TP and a few other things.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sink Positive

Well we haven't made much progress on the inside of the house but we have been doing some work in the yard over the last few weeks. We had a weird slab of concrete in the back corner of our yard and we have no idea what it was previously used for (DH swears the elderly lady who owned the house before us had a Jesus statute on it or a bird bath, I'm not convinced). We decided to work with the eyesore and convert it into a fire pit. I'm super excited to try it out over the holiday weekend.

Before

After

The firepit fits there just right. Hope it works the way you want.

hey you can also put an oven grate on it and use it to barbecue!

That's awesome! DH & I have one of those portable fire pits that often go on sale at hardware & home improvement stores. We killed the grass the first time we used it. So, last time we put a large paver underneath. Still killed the grass. At least it's coming back faster this time! It's so fun to roast hot dogs and marshmallows in our own backyard when we don't have time to go camp in the mountains. Your yard looks so inviting with the chairs around the firepit. :)

That looks great!!!

We have used an old washing machine tub as a fire pit. It burned the grass too. LOL Guess we need to use these in gravel. I imagine the cement slab will keep the grass in good shape.

I think out side living areas are a good thing with small houses. The smallest house we had was about 800 SQ FT and it had 100 acres around it. And a mile of river running through it. We had lots of outside stuff to keep us busy. Too much.

Shades 100 acres with a river on your property sounds amazing! we are on a 7000 SF city lot, it's a nice neighborhood but no comparison to the country. We do spend a lot of time outside though!

We had a super productive week here in terms of house projects. We removed the banisters from the pass through between the kitchen and the living room and the space looks so much more open and bigger now. Best 15 minutes simple project ever.

We primed the brick backsplash and brick soffit in the kitchen and it looks so much better already. The old brick combined with the dark cabinets and only one window made the kitchen look like a dungeon. I am going to paint the bricks over the next few nights after the baby is in bed. Painting brick is a total pain in the behind.

The biggest project we started this weekend was ripping up the yellow linoleum in the kitchen. We found 2 other floors underneath the yellow. The flooring in the hallway was covering up the original hardwoods that all seamlessly transition with the hardwoods in the living room and bedrooms. That was an amazing surprise and it will save us a few hundred dollars in tile and supplies. DH and I pulled about hundreds of staples out of the floor and now have moved on to scraping up the adhesive backing from the lineoleum. Another extremely time consuming project.

DH and a few of his friends from work are going to lay the new tile in the kitchen in the next week or 2. I am so excited that things are starting to come together. I will post some progress pictures soon!

Quick shot of the kitchen before

In Progress

We replaced the appliances, removed the wallpaper border, painted, replaced the paneling and chair rail, replaced the light fixture and removed the banisters from the pass through. We have a new range hood too, we just had to remove it to paint the brick/cabinets.

We are in the process of painting the brick backsplash and replacing the linoleum floor with porcelain tile. I'm still trying to decide on a paint color for the cabinets and a countertop.

I also am debating adding a piece of molding where the brick meets the wall above the chair rail right near the stove. I'm going to touch up the blue paint there and then decide. Any ideas how to make the transition from brick to drywall look better? Any suggestions on paint color for the cabinets? I'm thinking a medium to dark grey. I included a link to the floor tile we are using.

Here is a link that might be useful: Floor Tile

You got a lot done and it already looks a lot better. What did you do with the fridge?

Have you considered white cabinets, with gray countertops? I'm biased, because I almost used that combinaton, but I think it would lighten the space up, while still tying in with your intended tile. The ceilings seem low (as they are in much of my home), and though I've liked some gray kitchens I've seen, I wonder if it would make yours seem cave-like (not saying it definitely would, but it's a risk to consider). Are you painting the countertops, or replacing them?

The countertops are going to be replaced. We got a quote to have them resurfaced and it was $850! We are going to do some in stock laminate from one of the big box stores, just haven't picked it out yet.

I originally wanted to do white cabinets but I'm afraid of it being overkill with the white paneling, trim and white bricks. The ceilings are pretty low though. I'm so undecided!

The fridge got moved to the opposite wall, it makes for much better flow without it sticking out in the middle of the kitchen. It is covering a window, but the window only looks out on to the enclosed sunporch and it didn't open anymore. We are going to remove the window and drywall in the hole. I'll try to get some pictures of the new setup.

I forgot to say that it's looking so much fresher already, and wow, have you ever been working hard!

Have you checked out the kitchen forum? It can be little intimidating sometimes with quite a few high-end remodels, but quite a few people have done kitchens in shades of white. White kitchens started as a sanitary thing (early 19th century I'm thinking?), so you could see what needed cleaning.
This is my kitchen-in-progress, so my biases are laid out on the table: ;)

Some people really like color and told me white trim, white backsplash and white cabinets was going to be too much white. In my eyes, though, it's harmonious and calming. YMMV.

If I'd gone with laminate, I was going to do Wilsonart Oiled Soapstone (before I decided black would be too stark since it opens into the living room) or Wilsonart Pearl Soapstone (a soft gray).

Here is a link that might be useful: jane_k's kitchen with DIY laminate in Oiled Soapstone

jessicaml, white cabinets with wood tops are my favorites. Where did you get your tops? Sorry for the thread hijack.

I love the look of the Oiled Soapstone. Did you get a price quote? Is this something that has to be special ordered? I haven't really done any research on countertops yet.

I like the look of your kitchen but with our lighter floor and the white brick and white paneling, it's too much white for my taste. Grey is such a hard color to get right. I guess deciding on the countertops will be a good starting point.

This forum would be so boring if we all liked the same looks in our homes! :) I saw a pretty light gray kitchen I liked the other day that made me think of you; I'll see if I can find it, because I know it mentioned a paint color.

I did get a quote, and believe it or not I still have it! (amazing, since I lose everything). My kitchen has 2 Ls and a narrow bar, which I believe added up to around 42 linear feet. I believe my quotes also had some sort of ''custom'' upcharge included because my cabinets are narrower than standard and because I didn't want the attached backsplash. A local company quoted me $1645 (I never got around to asking if installation was included or not). H.D. was having a countertop sale (10% off) and said if we had it installed by them, they didn't have to charge sales tax. Their installed quote was $1077. If I had done DIY laminate by ordering the sheet laminate in oiled soapstone, I remember thinking the materials would add up to around $250-300 (I *think* that even factored in a new Dremel Trio that seemed like it would be handy).

DH wasn't totally sold on laminate, so we also had H.D. price out the cheapest, on-sale solid-surface option, which ended up being $1389. It was an ugly pattern by Samsung Staron. For the same price, we could have also picked the Corian in basic white, but I had already painted the cabinets and knew that would be too much white. It did make me consider painting the lower cabinets gray or green, though. I like the gray and white combo, but it didn't seem right for our area or the colors in our other decor (and green seemed bad for re-sale).

My final decision was Ikea butcherblock on clearance, which caused a few headaches, but I think my final cost including the top-coat and the installation was under $450. I love the look. However, if I'd know what a hassle it would be to finish and that I'd end up needing to sell soon after rather than enjoying the kitchen, I would've had H.D. install the laminate last summer! Or maybe the Corian. Part of me really likes the idea of white counters. Maybe in a future home.

Oh, and I think last year the countertop sale was starting around June 22 - July? If it works with your timing and budget, you might want to see if there's something going on now; it could be an annual type thing.

Just throwing ideas out, here are a few pics of the two-toned look I considered:

I'm sorry if I seem waaay too interested in your kitchen project. There's an acronym used over in the kitchen forum a lot: TKO, for Totally Kitchen Obsessed. I think I miss the fun decisions of planning a room now that mine are all down to annoying finishing details.

Anyway, I remembered that you have a little one, which made me think of the family I've babysat for. They have a pretty stylish home in general, but their countertops are basic white laminate. The laminate is bullet-proof, so easy to clean up, and those kids have tested it hard! Sometimes I had to get out the bleach or soft scrub, but everything from wine (parents) and tomato sauce to crayons and markers has come off pretty easily (and it's easy to see if it's clean, too). White on the horizontal surface also helps give a light look to the room, and would tie with the white backsplash and contrast nicely with gray cabinets (but black would be classic, too!).

It's been awhile since I posted/updated. We had a crazy summer and are (STILL!) working on our kitchen project. On top of slow going renovations we are also expecting baby #2 in May. I am definitely going to need help with organization and storage ideas. We are thinking of turning the sunroom/3 season room into a playroom by updating the windows, replacing the carpet, insulating the ceiling and adding electric baseboard heaters. If that doesn't pan out (We are waiting to hear back from our neighbor who is a contractor) we are going to finish half of the basement. I'm hoping the sunroom idea will work since it will be a much smaller project time and money wise.

On the kitchen front all the cabinets and brick have been painted and we installed a new pergo floor. We still have to add base moldings, touch up all the paint and decide on countertops. I'm hoping to finish the kitchen in the next month or 2 but we'll see how it goes. I'll hopefully get some good pictures to share in the next week or two.

I don't have any updated kitchen pictures to share but I wanted to show off the changes we have made in our master bedroom. With baby #2 due in 3 short months the extreme lack of storage in our room was no longer working. DH built 2 large shelves on either side of our bed to hold all of our folded clothes instead of using dressers. We hung curtains in front of the shelves to conceal the clothes and DH installed a header that we painted the same color as the walls to make it look more built in.

"Master" Bedroom on the day we closed on the house

The embarrassing before

Other side of the room before

Shelves in progress

All finished. I love the way it turned out. The only thing I want to change is new window treatments. The long sheers behind the bed aren't doing it for me.

Welcome....you will find friends on this small house forum. I am so glad you stayed below your budget in buying your home....sadly, too many do not! Haven't you heard, PINK is one of the new colors for this year?...you will be right in style :-) You are making great progress...you will have it how you want it in no time~~

What a beautiful and functional transformation ~ I love it!! I would probably end up using at least one shelf for books ~ I love to read in bed! I look forward to seeing more of your progress!

I love the use of simple shelving and sheer curtains to solve your storage problem and the huge amount of hidden storage you achieved. No clutter needed in this room! I see that you have wooden flooring now, and I like blue in a bedroom. Yours is a more contemporary gray/blue, and is restful, with your peachy-pink bedspread warming up the room nicely! Congratulations. I am eager to see your kitchen, now. Have you gotten your counter tops? I can relate - my kitchen (which was only partially do-it-yourself) still does not have finished pictures available because of a missing door I have found and need to refinish, refinishing the stain and poly on the back of the island and the knee-hole of the desk, and some trim on the backside of the island. Our kitchen was "done" two years ago!

Welcome, belatedly! I've only just read through this post and have a thought:

"but the window only looks out on to the enclosed sunporch and it didn't open anymore. We are going to remove the window and drywall in the hole. I'll try to get some pictures of the new setup."

If you haven't removed that window, and if your little ones will be using the sunroom for play, you might want to leave the window in or at least leave (and finish off) the opening so you can keep an eye on them.

Also, that concrete square slab outdoors could be covering an old well. If so, it's better left there.

I really like the way the shelves beside the bed turned out. Did you raise the ceiling too? The shelves and window look different in the last photo.

The fridge is actually in front of the window now. It was really the only place in the kitchen it fit and didn't look like an eyesore. We are going to go ahead and remove the window and add drywall. Plans to turn the sunroom into a playroom didn't pan out so we won't have a need for a window looking out there. The door from the kitchen to the sunroom has a window which lets in some light.

As for the bedroom, we added a header in front of the shelves to make them look more built in. Then we just painted it the same color as the walls. We got the idea from Young House Love. I added the link to their version of the setup.

Here is a link that might be useful: Built in Shelving from Young House Love

Welcome! What a very lovely home you have! I love your changes and look forward to seeing more.