More Progress ('Hovel' Thread Continued)

15 years ago

I finally convinced DH to cut down the trim on the refrigerator box in the kitchen, so we were able to squeeze the refrigerator into its proper place, which convinced me to get rid of the baby poo brown paint in the kitchen. We still need to replace appliances and hook up the water/ice for the fridge, but it's looking much better:

Prep:

In case you think DH did anything other than remove the light plates:

Fridge in place and gray walls done:

View of the pantry wall:

Backyard slider wall (shows the color more accurately):

Gratuitous photo of my helper monkey:

The color is BM Pigeon Gray done in BM Aura. We used a color-matched BM primer underneath. Ceiling color is Dunn Edwards Swiss Coffee

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (17)

User
15 years ago
It looks great! I really like the gray (my kitchen is gray too - lol). How do you feel about it now? Love your helper too.
kitchendetective
15 years ago
WOW! WOW! WOW! Y'all are zooming right along. So glad you posted gratuitous picture of utterly irresistible helper monkey, too. It looks great. BTW, I requested and got 4x4 white tiles for the counters and backsplash of my (honestly) beloved utility room. Not all of us hate them. I am a bit annoyed by DH's hobbies, which have left me with the work of trying to get weird substances off of some grout, and may, therefore, ultimately replace one surface he uses frequently with something metal. But the looks do not bug me at all.
Related Discussions
New batch of rare Jades 2013 - progress thread!
Q
Comments (25)
Wweidele and Laura..You guys are way too funny...All you have to do is fight your way past my cat..lol Thanks\.... Sam, the next time I stop by my work, I will take a pic of the mother jade for you..It's doing real nice! I can't believe you still have that cutting..Post a pic some day will you? Josh, if it were not for you and Nancy, I would not of even been interested in growing Jades or Hoya.. Thanks to both of you.. Hong..NO problem...I hope it helps you. Nancy....Thank you so much..you have the nicest way of expressing your self and of course growing a few beauties of your own..You know you will end up with something unique one day as well..:) Hey Rob! How are you? Orchiata? Orchiata is a sustainable orchid growing substrate produced from the finest quality, 100% pure New Zealand Pinus radiata bark. New ZealandPinus radiata is a hard and stable bark compared to other pine species; however, it needs to be processed from its raw state. The natural process creates a high quality, stable, long lasting, toxin free, consistent growing substrate available in different sizes for specific growing needs. The process allows Orchiata to hold water and nutrients on the outside layer of each chip, as well as creating a slightly rough surface for roots to anchor to. Pathogens do not survive this process, however beneficial micro-organisms remain. Orchiata retains the best attributes of Pinus radiata, and combines them with longevity, ability to rewet quickly and long term stability. GrowersÃ¢ÂÂ have reported that frequent re-potting is not necessary, as potted plants have been known to remain in excellent condition in excess of 10 years. The fines is to hold moisture in my mixes a bit longer than but I really could only add more turface..But I need to use up my very high quality peat...So a bit here and there does well for me.. Hope this helps.. By the way, the cuttings are still holding their own..The mix dries out every other day allowing me to water them as if they are growing... Mike
...See More
McMansion - The Thread Continues
Q
Comments (41)
I've been lurking this forum for a good 6 months. One thing I noticed was a lot of posters seemed to be doing custom homes. I've sat here and drooled at the plans, the kitchens, baths & finished houses and actually hoped to make my own custom house thread eventually but it was not meant to be. There's not one piece of land to be found where we are. We did find an awesome 12 acres but it was nothing we could customize as the town the land was in was very picky about what could be built. Had we only bought the land, it would take us years to submit plans like the current builder did. While we did not want a home with 2 floors, we could not find a rancher that had the master away from the other rooms. We wanted a basement (hard to find around here) and a 2 car garage. If we couldn't have the garage we wanted enough land to be able to build one. After looking at houses from February until September, there is no way we would get that here. We ended up buying a beautiful 4 bedroom home, large master bath with my jacuzzi tub (yes, I will use it and know what it's like to clean) it has an office / library, gourmet kitchen with a gorgeous staircase in the foyer. While we wanted a porch, rock front and sun room we did not get those things because in order to afford the house we had to buy one someone else spc'd out. Since we live in NJ, the home of the McMansions, hubby & I have seen tons of them get built. We swore we'd never own one, yet, what we ended up with might be considered one by some. To me it is not, it is a 4 bedroom house that makes great use of space. There is not one inch of wasted space as none of the rooms have really high ceilings. Our house will be in a community with what we consider McMansions, fairly large (3,000+ sq ft) estate homes. We'd walk around them wondering why a builder would waste 1/2 of a house by not building rooms over the family room and leaving them open upstairs, so that you look over the railing upstairs, down below. I have no clue how someone would raise small children in those houses. The floor plans minus the wasted space are beautiful, but we just can't see living like that. I do understand why some people do, especially those that have their parents living with them. To me that makes a lot of sense. If our 2,700 sq ft 4 bedroom home is considered a McMansion by some, so be it. I might consider it a mini McMansion :) lol... I will say one thing, I will enjoy every minute of living in it and I'm sure we will be happy to have a newer energy efficient home instead of spending the same amount of money on an older 4 bedroom home that does not make as good of use as space as ours does.
...See More
A Country Walk (Looooong thread)
Q
Comments (9)
Thank you all! ""Looks like the farmhouse was added on to recently."" Yes, about 30 years ago when my Brother got married and took over the Farm, then it was added on to accommodate 2 families. "Those jersey cows are for producing cheese? " Yes and no, They are a very old breed, Swiss origin, they are called Brown Swiss, one of the oldest "clean" breed's out there. Yes, the Milk is mostly made into Appenzeller Cheese [my favoured], I have taken many pounds home. .. Every morning this milk truck is sucking the refrigerated milk from evening and morning, stored in a tank. Konrad Here is a link that might be useful: Appenzeller Cheese
...See More
Progress (2.5 days in; 1 more to go)!
Q
Comments (31)
Wow glad I found this thread. Like others I thought your initial photos were the new kitchen in progress because your original backsplash looked great! Love your new one too and I like the pearl grout over gray; rather see the beautiful tile rather than grout lines competing with the natural movement of the stone. Small space I prefer less contrast and for the same reason I prefer your original stainless (nickel?) pulls over the black. I too feel the black overpowers the space and size of the drawers. My eye is drawn to the black and not in a good way. IMO the black are too heavy and takes away from the clean modern vibe of the space. And your bathroom....HELLO BEAUTIFUL!! Thanks for sharing and hope to see more.
...See More
parma42
15 years ago
What an absolutely great job! It is looking so pretty.

I didn't respond to your first post because you had me feeling a bit guilty. I had been whining about how much I hated my new construction home and then I saw all the work you had in front of you with little ones to boot.

The other room you posted about earlier is looking great, too.

Kudos to you!
sarschlos_remodeler
Original Author
15 years ago
I like the gray a lot. It reads a bit blue in our house, but the color card is a true gray. Not sure how the Aura (which is supposed to be similar to the full-spectrum paints) changes the color. I think the very green backyard alters the light in the kitchen. The 4X4 tiles are fine on the backsplash (except that poorly executed decorative tile over the cooktop), but they're really gross on the counter (well, the grout is gross), but we're not going to worry about changing that until we're ready to do the real reno. All in all, it's a vast improvement over the baby poo brown that was there.
no_green_thumb
15 years ago
You work fast girl!!! No doubt the kiddo help speeded things along. Isn't it amazing what a coat of paint can do? You have got to be so excited. Even though there are many elements of the kitchen that you do not want, like the counter, that will fade away given the beautiful freshly-painted walls. Maybe you can use one of those grout cleaners. I did that at one of my kids' homes - it was the floor - and there was literally a layer of goo in all the grout. That may help. Great job!
elizgonz
15 years ago
It looks wonderful! I have also been wanting to let you know that your progress pics in the previous thread have really inspired me to get some of the little and relatively inexpensive things completed in my home, too. I just needed a little kick (like your progress pics) to get me out of my funk. Thanks and keep up the good work!

Elizabeth
kitchendetective
15 years ago
Finazzle is the grout cleaner that worked the most effectively for us.
walkin_yesindeed
15 years ago
Wow, terrific! (Hey, who's the cute girl in the pink tshirt painting the ceiling? (: ) Adorable little guy, too. Is he eating better these days?

Good for you!
DLM2000-GW
15 years ago
Ya see??? NOW you have your game face on! All it took was a bit of a pity party and a good cry ;-) to get your adrenaline going!! You're moving along at a good clip now. No doubt due to ALL the male helpers you have. large and small! It looks great - fresh and clean.

How'd you like the Aura paint? I was all set to hate it but my paint guy INSISTED I try it myself and not assume discontented reviewers know what they're talking about. He gave me 3 qts of oops colors to test and I'm sold. You have to read the directions and it does work a bit differently than regular B/M paint but what a finish. Great coverage in dark colors, too.
rmkitchen
15 years ago
I am so excited for you and feel as if we're twins with the white cabinetry / grey-blue walls and the "helpers" ....

Congratulations on all your incredible work -- I am really proud of you.
metromom
15 years ago
Go Go Go!!! I bet it feels great - what a difference!
sarschlos_remodeler
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for the grout cleaner recommendation, KD. I'll look into it. Anything would have to be better than the grout we have now!
greenmtn
15 years ago
That is looking great. I had white tile counters before and used one of the Clorox Bleach pens to squirt bleach gel into the bad areas. I left it on for a bit and it worked nicely.
mldao
15 years ago
Looking good!! Your little guy is beyond cute! I like your gray walls.

I used clorox bleach pens on my grout. I let it sit for bit and then used an old toothbrush to scrub. I've used Oxyclean before and it cleaned my grout pretty well.
Valerie Noronha
15 years ago
I am so excited for you that you've made some progress on the kitchen. That is a wonderful paint choice. You really are very talented with color. You must be thrilled to have the refrigerator in it's proper place. Thanks for sharing pics of your little helper guy too. He is just adorable.

Regarding grout cleaning, Bill Vincent over on the kitchen/bath forums recommended making a paste with Oxiclean and water and putting that paste in the grout and letting it soak in for awhile, then rinsing it and sucking up the rinse water with a wet vac. I did this in my guest bath (after we'd been out of the house for 8 mos. during out remodel and it was never cleaned)--everything except the wet vac part as I don't own one. I was very happy with the results.

What's next on the list? The fireplace?
sarschlos_remodeler
Original Author
15 years ago
From the sounds of it, the grout cleaning is next. :)

Actually, we need to get the fireplace fixed so that our tv room is comfortable this winter, but the estimate for the repair and refacing is $6k. Yikes. So I'm thinking about getting separate estimates from a roofer and a drywaller for those parts, which might save some money. After that, I'll be painting the dining, living, foyer and catwalk.

From there, we'll need to work on new built ins for our desk/library area in the family room.
Valerie Noronha
15 years ago
$6K. Yikes is right! Make sure to talk to multiple contractors as they may have different (or less expensive) solutions and get more than one quote. There is a separate fireplace forum--have you posted your problem there? Don't you just hate it when your house money goes for repairs and not improvement?

More Progress ('Hovel' Thread Continued)

Comments (17)

User

kitchendetective

Related Discussions

parma42

sarschlos_remodeler
Original Author

no_green_thumb

elizgonz

kitchendetective

walkin_yesindeed

DLM2000-GW

rmkitchen

metromom

sarschlos_remodeler
Original Author

greenmtn

mldao

Valerie Noronha

sarschlos_remodeler
Original Author

Valerie Noronha

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

More Progress ('Hovel' Thread Continued)

Comments (17)

Related Discussions

sarschlos_remodelerOriginal Author

sarschlos_remodelerOriginal Author

sarschlos_remodelerOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

sarschlos_remodeler
Original Author

sarschlos_remodeler
Original Author

sarschlos_remodeler
Original Author