What’s your biggest design dilemma?
Wilmoth Interiors, LLC
6 years ago
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Kelly Starr - Rooms With A View
6 years agocpaul1
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Kitchen Storage and Design Dilemma
Comments (18)Wow! I think your kitchen has a lot of cabinets, more than my second house had and we had a similar problem. We built a pantry closet on the wall where your cart is about 15 inches out form the wall. The microwaves were deeper then and we used the stud space to increase the depth of the pantry by about 3 inches so that it was 18 inches deep. You could do less if needed depending on microwave you choose. My husband put in shelves according to our needs and installed doors on the top and bottom. That pantry was a lifesaver. That could be a very cost saving solution. The less deep you do it, the wider you can go. Use boxes to get a feel if the pantry would work there. If you were able to move your doorway to the DR and move your fridge to the cart wall and flank it with a pantry on one side and a cabinet with on the other side, that would be nice. It would really help if you drew your layout on graph paper with door cabinet walkway measurements listed....See MoreWhat’s the worst thing that happened during your house build?
Comments (40)Here is some good, free :), advice of exactly how to avoid many of the above items, and worse, from happening. Get a really good area Real Estate Attorney (not your friend's friend who went to law school) to review your contract before you give one $ in deposit to any builder! I cannot overstate this enough. Many of the issues in these forums would have been avoided if the folks got proper representation and contract review!! Spend the $1000-$2000 its way worth it. Make a list of all your "wants" and "needs" before designing a plan. Make sure you list them in order of importance as you will most likely need to sacrifice some to obtain the others. Nothing is perfect and you will not get 100% of everything you want. Be ready for that. Find a good local architect to design your plans. Make sure you and the architect have some chemistry as this helps in understanding what you want and need (lifestyle, budget, lot constraints, etc.) and your plans will reflect that. Make sure you have not only plans but specifications (at least as many as you can think of, otherwise assign allowances such as kitchen cabinets $10K or $60K, you get the idea). Put the plans and specs. together and bid the project out. Make sure everyone is pricing from the same information or you will not be able to truly compare. Do your due diligence on local builders (should generally not be more than 45 min to 1 hour away from their base of operation). Your architect can help you with #s2-6 (obviously #3) above but it will cost you extra. Unless you are very good at design, hire a good interior designer and make a furniture layout on your new plans. This is critical so that you know if your window and door placements work and you will be able to configure your lighting much better that way. Its worth the investment for sure. The more you pre-plan and are prepared the better/smoother your project will go. Good luck with your project....See MoreLarge Kitchen vs. Large Living Room - Remodel Design Dilemma
Comments (6)@Patricia, you have a good point. I think I will definitely want to consult a designer to get their perspective from an aesthetics/space usage mindset. I do have a large media room in the lower level where my big screen is, so I figure if I ever have a large group to watch a game, etc., that is likely where I will need the most seating. The upstairs could then be used more generally for entertaining. My dining table seats 10 and moving it into living area would allow me to add chairs on either end. The addition of a 9-10’ Island would add seating as well. At worst, the family in its current footprint could snugly fit a ~6-7 person sectional and a chair. I think with an additional ~2-3’ feet in length and width, I should easily be able to fit a sectional in there as well as 1-2 accent chairs. Plus if I’m entertaining there would be plenty of space to gather at the end of the kitchen where the new bar would be. These pictures are not by any means exactly what I would do (I used a trial version and stock colors/cabinets), but should help give a sense of layout....See MoreExterior Design Dilemma - Boring House
Comments (17)Where do the doors go - into which rooms? Was perhaps the side facing the driveway meant to be the "front," entering into your front room/living room? Sometimes they placed houses in a way that might have made sense at the time, but don't anymore - or rural areas the house sometimes faces driveway instead since no one would be approaching from the front. I would not be spending money on adding on dormers and other stuff not original to the era of the house. Sorry, like it or not, its not a colonial or cape house.... but it does in fact have a charm or character of its own. Sometimes with an old house, less is more. Be careful you don't ADD to the visual clutter already there, and instead, you want to strip OFF the extraneous gack that is creating visual clutter - like the 2 extra porches on the driveway side! LOL - its like you have the orginal sunporch, then another porch was added on to that, then the third porch (with stairs) onto that! Do any pics exist of your house in the past? I wonder if there wasn't a porch on the side facing the street, with the roof attaching to the wall in that blank space above the door/windows and below the eaves. Rather than dormers, spend your money an open porch - need not span the whole length of the house, in fact it might look best just putting it on the right side over door + 2 windows to the right. Duplicate exactly the pitch and style of the other porch roof. I would make it an open porch, then your landscaping- flowering shrubs and ornamentsals in front of porch with inviting walkway from the street....See Moregthigpen
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6 years agoWilmoth Interiors, LLC
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoKim KP
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6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoDenita
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
6 years agoKD
6 years agoWilmoth Interiors, LLC
6 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
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