1938 Center Hall Colonial—Advice Welcome!
kcjjmama
6 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (14)
kcjjmama
6 years agokcjjmama
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Did you buy small or build small?
Comments (57)We're selling smallish to buy smaller (and cheaper) in a less-nice town. DH just changed jobs because the stress was affecting his health, but the financial impact is pretty massive, so we're going to try to get the house on the market in a couple of months (the delay is for the "Designed to Sell" routine, as it would show quite poorly at this point). We've been told it may actually not be easy to sell our house because it is "so small" for a family house (4BR/2.5BA if we fix up the powder room) at 1900sf especially where prices are so high in my area. People think "if I'm going to pay this ridiculous amount (say $350k) for a house I want this and this and this and this" even though that amount of money doesn't get you a whole heck of a lot in this town! It's a mental block. The average 4BR/2.5BA here has half again more square footage than this house. It's a very good thing that I don't need/want more space because there's very little even as big as we have now in our price range. Everything I'm looking at is about a third smaller; call me a space hog, but I doubt I can hack any less than half the space we have now even though there would be some lovely houses for the taking. When DH and I had a 900sf condo we were constantly in each other's hair, we had use of 1200sf of the house we rented and that was just right. We both need our privacy and when we do fight we both need someplace to go to get away from each other without leaving the house, we both have major emotional baggage about leaving the house during a fight. We also live on different schedules, I am a "night owl" and he is a "lark", and in too-tight quarters we wake each other up. I am hoping for fewer, larger rooms than we have now so that our furniture actually fits into them properly; the rental house had big open spaces so the scale of the furniture had to be bigger, and we couldn't afford to just ditch it because it was too snug in this one. I'm actually looking forward to having the EXCUSE to ruthlessly prune our possessions, get rid of some of the CRAP we have accumulated. We're not even acquisitive people! But the Law of Storage is that "stuff expands to fill all the available space to store it"... LOL It'll be mortgaged, of course, I don't know ANYONE who could buy a house without a mortgage. (Considering a freakin' trailer can bring a quarter of a million dollars in my town...) But I need to be able to make the mortgage payment without hyperventilating....See Morewhite vs wood cabinets
Comments (19)Caddeau: If, as seems to be the case, you are back to debating between maple cabinets and cabinets painted a light color, here are some factors you may wish to take into consideration. 1. Natural light: You have a lovely big kitchen window and you will also have light coming in laterally from the new french doors. 2. Reflective properties of surfaces: You are accustomed to light-colored cabinets and counters, with slightly darker floors and appliances. This lightness would be somewhat diminished by maple cabinets and honed grey countertops. 3. Factors that can affect how bright a kitchen with wood cabinets seems: Direct your attention to sayde's recently posted in-process kitchen, linked below. The second photo is the charming "before" and the first is the unfinished but luminous "after." Same window, same natural light, same gumwood cabinets. But just look at the difference achieved by using fewer cabinets, adding a lovely sculptural hood, and changing from dark counters to honed marble. The difference seems to me to be amazing. 4. Cabinet height and arrangement: It looks to me as though there is a soffit over your current cabinets. If it can be dispensed with, you might want to look into 36" or (if there is room) 42" uppers. The top shelf will be useful for things not used daily, and the higher cabinets will not clash with the style of the house. Gaining the extra vertical storage might also give you more options for opening up the ranks of your uppers horizontally. 5. Think about how the kitchen will look from the DR: I replaced the DR wall with a peninsula in small house. I did not have such a nice large window to be the focal point of the kitchen from the DR, so I used a pair of really tall old cabinets to flank the window I do have. (Also, like you, I have a truncated peninsula -- not due to a hall closet but because of beat up chimney that). How this happened, as well as the idiosyncratic outcome, can be seen at https://picasaweb.google.com/109620537835698726512/KearneyKitchen?authkey=Gv1sRgCNXMkYi-5aL3xgE#. (I am including this because modest-sized kitchens tend to be under-represented in this forum and among inspiration photos. Many kitchens depicted here have islands nearly the size of my kitchen and -- I suspect -- yours. The challenges posed are quite different.) 6. Finished kitchens blog: the kitchens at http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/2009/11/mrao77s-kitchen.html and http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/2007/01/outwests-kitchen.html illustrate not only the different effects of lightish vs brighter maple, but also how the massing of wood surfaces makes a difference in the apparent space of the kitchen. Whew, and cheers. Here is a link that might be useful: sayde's unfinished kitchen....See MoreWhat Were They Thinking?
Comments (50)The PO of our house ran wires through the heat ducts and installed an electrical outlet over the vent in the LR. Scary! The refrigerator was at one end of the kitchen and the sink at the other end - 18 feet away. We moved the fridge and added a cupboard on the other side to make it look built in. The joint compound between the wallboards in the basement looked like mole tunnels, they were so thick. Ripped everything out and started over. PO left an old gas stove in the laundry room of all places, and they wanted to sell their freezer but couldn't get it out because the stove was in the way. Our real estate agent made them pay to have it all hauled away. The worst was the DR light. The original 1938 fixture with bare light bulbs. DH went to change it and found twice the number of wires as required. He has had to do a lot of rewiring. We still have the old kitchen cupboards from 1938. That wouldn't be so bad, except the PO ripped them out, extended the kitchen, and put them back in on the new wall. One day I hope to at least get the fronts replaced, as they are in bad shape. We did cover the pea soup green with glossy white paint....See MoreThe decline of education in the US.
Comments (50)Just finished having Parent-Teacher conferences in my school. We have a set of twin brothers whose family emigrated from Egypt, and at the conference, their father explained that in their culture, God is top, then next is teachers. Almost brought tears to our eyes, especially after having one set of parents tell us that their 10-year old doesn't feel he needs reading support any more and so he directed them to "sign him out" at the conference, and he was staying up to hear that they had. Another set of parents apologized for the fact that their son doesn't know his multiplication facts, but he doesn't like to practice, and gets angry at them when they make him practice before he plays his video games, so they haven't been practicing much. My question both times was "who is in charge at your house?" In my classroom, I don't ask them if they'd like to learn about compound sentences or practice making inferences-nor do they get to decide who is in their project group or when recess will happen. Those who think they will have those decision-making privileges, learn very quickly that they don't. One said to me recently..."Do you mean that in here you are kind of the Queen?" My answer was "Absolutely." There are, no question, parents who will not hear any criticism of their child, but more often, I find parents who were afraid to "stifle the spirit" of their little ones, never said "no" or "you will" and have created 10 year old monsters with a big sense of entitlement....See Morekcjjmama
6 years agokcjjmama
6 years agoUser
6 years agokcjjmama
6 years agokcjjmama
6 years agosuezbell
6 years agoUser
6 years agoAnglophilia
6 years agoAnglophilia
6 years agohomechef59
6 years agokcjjmama
6 years ago
Related Stories
TRADITIONAL HOMESHouzz Tour: ‘Plain and Simple’ Update for a Center-Hall Colonial
An interior designer renovates a 100-year-old home near Boston with timeless touches that fit a couple’s busy lifestyle
Full StoryREMODELING GUIDESRenovation Ideas: Playing With a Colonial’s Floor Plan
Make small changes or go for a total redo to make your colonial work better for the way you live
Full StoryDENS AND LIBRARIESThese Rooms Put the Allure of Books Front and Center
Immerse yourself in a collection of book-filled rooms that indulge a passion for the printed page
Full StoryHOUZZ TOURSMy Houzz: Goodwill and Good Taste in a Grand Colonial
Welcoming the community for charity fundraisers and more, this Massachusetts home radiates graciousness
Full StoryECLECTIC HOMESHouzz Tour: Perfection Just Out of Reach in an Eclectic Colonial
Design objects, antique finds and hand-me-downs mingle in this designing couple’s inviting — and ever-evolving — Massachusetts home
Full StoryHOUZZ TOURSMy Houzz: Contemporary Colonial in New Jersey
A family of four makes a home their own with plenty of room for art and play
Full StoryHOUZZ TOURSHouzz Tour: Whole-House Remodeling Suits a Historic Colonial
Extensive renovations, including additions, update a 1918 Georgia home for modern life while respecting its history
Full StoryCOLONIAL DESIGNThe Colonial, America's Home Style
This classic elements of colonial design are still at home in today's architectural landscape
Full StoryHOUZZ TOURSHouzz Tour: Colonial-Era Home Puts Down New Roots on a Farm
A 1740 historic home is bought disassembled and then reconstructed on-site in another state
Full StoryLIFEThe Polite House: What’s an Appropriate Gift to Welcome a New Neighbor?
Etiquette expert Lizzie Post suggests the right time and best presents to introduce a new neighbor to your area
Full Story
User