Dining room finally usable. Blank slate. First steps?
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
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- 9 years ago
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Overwhelmed - kind of a blank slate
Comments (29)You have a wonderful home. Lots to work with. I'm not much good at this but I do see a plan. It is possible that someone else has suggested this and if that is the case then I am in agreement with whomever it was.(I get confused with all reading, I am a hands-on kinda person) I like the couch in front of the fireplace, placed at the same angle. I was wondering if there was room to offset the couch away from the carpet, and place the armoire in the corner. Is there enough room to place the loveseat in front of the armoire? The armoire is very visually heavy and if it can be placed in the corner it will balance out with the light coming in from the window. I was also picturing the mirror over the fireplace with a red painted frame. If the armoire doesn't have room to be placed in the corner and has to be placed somewhere else where it still looks heavy, you could put a large oblong fairly low white container and place somekind of white arrangement with a trailing white plant that would bring your eye back into the room towards the fireplace. I don't know if this will help or if it works in decorating. When I was in photography, a rule I was taught to read a composed picture. You would look a picture and read it from left to right, just like you would read a book. Anything that is/was placed in the upper right hand corner would create tension and that is where your eyes would go. That wasn't always a good thing because it would take you away from the "focal point". Since you can only view the fireplace room from one direction, I hope this may help. Have fun, don't stress. Oh and as for the oak. I have natural pine and I have found that the darker, grayish shades of paint seem to look the best. Since green is in the family of the complement to orange, I would stay away from green for paint. It will only make your oak trim stand out more....See MoreBlank slate, how would you configure this space?
Comments (16)Twins- Thanks for the clarification. You definitely need a larger addition, IMHO. Any chance of adding a bigger garage, to match the new addition? I don't know if you need the space, but it would seem to fit nicely into the overall plan...and probably increase the value of your home. I think your living space should be roughly equal to your bedroom/bathroom space. Think of a 2 story home...main floor living space, upstairs is bedroom/bathroom space. So...with that in mind, I would want to keep the layout of your first plan...and add the dining bump out, mentioned earlier. I'd add a rectangular dining room addition, where you have the wall of windows, in the family room. Then, you'd still have all those windows, but they'd be 10' to 12' further back, with a slider/french door on the 'left' side going out to a deck/patio, behind the kitchen. Great place for a BBQ. The fireplace/TV could be on the 'right' wall with the seating area 'as is' and maybe some windows on the TV wall, as you show in your pictures. This would give you plenty of room for the table and the seating area...without giving up kitchen and island space. You'll end up with a great entertaining space that can be flexible, when you have larger get-togethers :) As for the master bedroom (a bit off topic, I know) but I'd think about putting the master bath against the kitchen wall (closer to your other plumbing) and create a nice noise/privacy barrier. The closet could be on the front wall (as is) and the bedroom could have windows on the side and back. Maybe a slider/french door out to the patio...even a hot tub? Just a few ideas :)...See MoreHelp! Floor plan- Blank Slate
Comments (34)Dilly, ultimately about the kitchen, but regarding your statement that you wanted the deck off the living room because that's the nicer side of the propery: Decks almost always block the view of the landscape beyond from inside, replacing your view of garden (or valley, marsh, etc.) with a clutter of chair backs and legs, table and legs, railing and posts, BBQ, cushion storage, and of course...decking. No matter how expensive and how well done, at the best of times it will be less attractive than what it's blocking (and in many climates a desolate unappealing wasteland in winter). Besides you'll always have plenty of chair legs, tables, etc., inside to look at. How about instead: * moving that deck elsewhere, where it has a nice view of the good end of the property from a different orientation, * taking some of the current deck space *for the kitchen,* and * having the living room feature a pretty view of your garden while still having good access to a nearby deck? (BTW, balcony-type walkways can connect doors to large open deck areas without destroying views)....See MorePNW-blank slate yard
Comments (46)"... I know it won't get as tall as what you drew in ..." What I drew was a rough scheme, not a plan, so you shouldn't take it too literally, but as a guide of relative proportions. I think most people would want the front shrub (position #3 in the sketch) to be evergreen so as to carry the house through the winter. I'm not hard and fast on that as some deciduous can provide a lot of winter interest, too -- dried hydrangea flowers being one of those. I don't think I'd also want the next plant (#2, which wraps the house corner) to also be hydrangea. It would be too much similarity, making it harder for either to make a distinctive statement for its particular position. If it was me, I'd let #2 be a perennial, especially a long blooming or colorful foliage one if you can find such a thing. "I'm wondering if I should rethink this plan." There is a much greater chance of the answer being, "Yes," if one focuses too much, too early, on smaller details and aspects of the project. (A love of plants is one of the common early distractions!) It is best to start by looking at the big picture and taking stock of one's goals and objectives, which should be recorded on paper. Before thinking any more about plants, it would be good to have final resolution on the bed line, bench placement, any path or paved area for the bench. The bed line for the foundation planting seems to be resolved, but it seems there is not yet a commitment for the perimeter planting bed. If you take new pictures, please do it in the standard format of taking a complete, whole scene with the camera remaining stationary for the entire scene. These directions are for capturing the foundation planting area. It merely pivots but does not change location. The front face of the house would be one scene and the left side of the house would be another separate scene. Each scene is taken by lining the camera up with the center of the scene. (For the front house face, it would be lined up with the front door. For the side scene, the camera would be lined up halfway between the front yard corner and the basement driveway corner. Usually, the camera distance from the house needs to be positioned about at the city sidewalk or the curb, depending on how far that is from the house. Since your yard is shallow, it's probably the curb. Once the camera is at the correct position, takes a panning series of slightly overlapping shots, shooting from far left to far right capturing all portions of the yard that can be seen from that spot if one were just standing there looking with their eyes and not the camera. After that, it is usually best to walk across the street and take another distant shot that captures the whole yard (relevant portion) in a single picture so we can see what it looks like from the neighbors' point of view....See MoreRelated Professionals
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