Moving into 1952 cottage to help "save the pink bathrooms".
Paula T
7 years ago
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Paula T
7 years agoRelated Discussions
Formal Introductions: I am the poster child of 'DON'T'
Comments (22)LOL @fori! So glad my angst is providing inspiration for someone. Seriously! At the least, "Don'ts" provide cautionary tales for people to learn from. Sometimes even in fairytale form. :) Yes, my aunt's place is in Florida, so palms are a bit more suited there. It is interesting to note, though, that her palms are actually potted out on her patio, not in the ground. I wish I had current pics of the backyard, but oh well. It gives the idea, just think cedar wood tones instead of redwood and orange. Add an arbor and a big yellow structure. You are almost there. lol I did some checking earlier on code for outlet heights and spacing, but I think I might have just looked at national code. I suppose I should add that to my list of things to confirm pre-header. Gads, this is so backwards! *swoon* My original designs were going for that tall wall of storage with fridge, pantry and perhaps a microwave in the mix, but the dimensions ended up being really tight AND it made working with that corner of the L even more tricky. I really do love that look and envy those of you who are lucky enough to have it. I'm just not sure it's made for people with small kitchens like mine! It means having all of those other appliances crammed on one wall - or going back to a sink or stove on the small island. And now that we are looking more and more at having the fridge or the pantry on the far left of the exterior run and I'm open to putting in pantry in the DR area, I'm just not sure it's the way to go. I do like the stove having its own wall and how the latest options do open up the L with counter space. There's so many ways to go here. Hopefully that means I'll be happy with the option we eventually choose. It is just so incredibly difficult to lock in on the BS window location and height with all of these unknowns. I keep telling myself that pushing it into that corner will not lock me in and I'll have lots of options left if I want to tweak. Right now, it's the BS window height that is giving me fits. How the heck I can lock in on that when we don't even have any material decisions made, I don't know. This is dicier than I think is prudent, but I can't seem to stop this train. That window is going in. Soon. And I'm going to need luck + clarity or magic blue pills. I have these images of me being back 3 months from now, posting to GW about how the heck to make (fill in the blank) work given the window. :D...See MoreTrick my island, PLEASE! Lots of pics
Comments (30)I seriously have the perfect thing. Get a pre-distressed Black Walnut top(saw you wanted the 'beat to hell' look, lol)! I have what the company I bought from calls 'Distressed Rustic Black Walnut.' It has gorgeous burl wood, knots and figuring, and is WATERPROOF. I don't know if thats a deal breaker for you, but for me it truly was. They used a 'Tung Oil' (sp?) finish that I read is organic and naturally waterproof- used to be used on the outside of wooden ships... all that aside, the wood tops are GORGEOUS. I'm serious. Worth checking out, certainly. Do a self-quote online and you get your actual retail price. You do have to get it through a dealer but when I did the quote myself online it was actaully what the tops retail price was. No sticker shock, ya know? www.craft-art.com/products/get-a-quote/ They also have a DIY line of wooden countertops (won't come pre-distressed or fully finished, but on a budget is perfect and all you have to do is rub on the Tung Oil yourself). My sister did her kitchen countertops in their DIY wood countertops and had a handy man (her DH!) finish and install. An island install looks like it would be even easier. They have Wenge in their custom wood line (can see it in the quote thing and their photo gallery) but I really think your kitchen would look great with a pre-distressed Black Walnut. So fabulous with the cabinet color you have and not as stark of a black/white look as you would get with Wenge. This was my inspiration pic. These are the links I talked about: http://www.craft-art.com/products/islands/ www.craft-art.com/products/get-a-quote/ http://store.craft-art.com I hope it helps. Can't wait to see what you go with! Here is a link that might be useful: DIY wood countertop...See MoreCan I make my existing kitchen footprint work?
Comments (36)Ok, here's my super long reply! The sink is a Kindred, made of granite composite material. It's a dark grey color (WONDERFUL for not showing any spots and most stains). It's 31" long, 18" wide (front to back) and 8" deep, single basin. The dining fixture is centered with the window on the far left wall (where your fireplace is; I've got a side window instead). It's NOT lined up with the window in the "dining room" area - several inches off, actually, but I never noticed until I just got up to check. (And I see that in my floorplan it looks like it's lined up with that window - oops!) The clearances to get past the table to the living room are perfect. Plenty of room on both sides of the table (except during holidays when I put that extra leaf in...then I try to push it toward the front wall so you can easily get around the "back" (hallway side) of the table. The noise with the open plan hasn't been a problem for me at all - I've got a 4-year-old and 19-month-old who are regularly running laps around the room screeching at each other. (Who knew opening up the floorplan like that made for the first real circular running path in the house?) When I'm cooking, if they're in the living room watching TV, I've got the TV as my background noise too. My only issue is the dishwasher. We tend to hit the "delay start" button when company is over or when we're just trying to watch a movie in the evenings. But, we didn't spring for a quiet dishwasher either - it was one we bought in '06 when we moved in and just made it work with the remodeled kitchen. When it's time to replace, I'll look for a panel-ready or stainless model that's got reviews for being extra quiet. Now, for outside, like I said, we've JUST closed it in. No siding or even a real door or windows up yet! The picture I'll post was taken several weeks ago and we've made some progress since then, but with waiting for those materials to arrive and it being a project my husband is doing, it's not exactly fast moving. :-). I'll also show you a picture from a few years ago - the door has ALWAYS been off-center. On to the good stuff - pictures! Here's the pictures from the mostly finished kitchen remodel in May of last year. It's probably the cleanest my house has ever been (the day of my son's christening). Imagine many more toys strewn along walls in the living room and a wooden play kitchen in the dining room now. View from the hutch/fireplace area: View of my island - notice how we raised it on the one end - another great mess hider! Mudroom area we built into the kitchen, given where we really enter the house. The small doors are for a pantry we added. Another reason we raised the island on that one side - for the hidden microwave at a slightly higher height than the traditional under-counter ones. The sink I still drool over. Here's a view from the kitchen out toward the dining and living room. That front door will become a doorway with our new enclosed entry. But it's not moving location at all. The original entry with off-center door: And, I know it's a blurry picture (cell phone) and it's off to the side, but here's the addition as it started to take shape. It now has a small porch (about 3' deep) and steps that line up with the door. The porch is covered entirely by the roof overhang (there will also be columns on each side). On that blank-looking wall, we're putting in a 24" x 24" square window, set up high so the top of the window lines up with the top of the door. It helps balance the off-center door within the addition. We may dormer the attic at some point and we'll do different size/shape ones to balance it out even more, but it really doesn't look too bad now. I wish I had a more recent picture for you - maybe if I remember tomorrow morning since it's dark by the time I'm home from work. We laid out a lot with painters tape on the floor (as much as we could since walls were coming down and we pushed the kitchen out about a foot from where it was). Heck, I even set up pieces of cardboard to test our layouts. I was thinking peninsula too, but hated the idea of doing dishes and having to walk around the peninsula, and then around the dining room table to open the front door. My dad threw out the idea of fridge on the front wall and an island with a totally open wall and we loved it. I never would've thought to do it that way. The pantry/entry/2 seats at the island side keeps guests out of my way when I'm cooking - but they can still linger nearby....See MoreFeedback on front elevation
Comments (29)Please take a look at the revision below. Two main updates: 1. Shed dormer between to dog house dormers as suggested by live wire oak. The architect said this is a traditional look, but will definitely be more expensive due to additional framing. I don't feel strongly one way or another one this one, so not sure it's worth the extra expense. I don't think three dormers over the garage is too much, personally. 2. Simplified the main gable over the front porch. I think this really accentuates the swoop and cleans the lines up a bit. Honestly, I'm getting analysis paralysis at this point. We're going to pay for a 3D rendering, but at some point I think we'll probably just call it good and move forward. Huge decision and I'm not sure if I'll ever be 110% ready to call the front elevation "perfect" before moving forward. Love to hear your thoughts!...See MoreUser
7 years ago
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7 years agoPaula T
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