I don't want to be a designer, but ...
otterplay
5 years ago
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Cyndy
5 years agoJAN MOYER
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRelated Discussions
Bathroom a design departure from the rest of the house?
Comments (2)Hi wi-sailorgirl. Our master bathroom is quite modern and clean-lined (you commented on our vanity in another thread). The rest of the house leans a little more towards cottage-y. The exterior is (will be!) very new England-y beachy shingles, varnished craftsman fir door, onion-glass lamps. The kitchen we just did has natural-cherry shaker cabinets, marble counters, and white subway tile backsplash. The house has hardwood floors, white trim, and shaker-style 5-panel doors. So, our master bathroom is significantly more modern than the house's permanent fixtures. However... our furniture and lighting contains a lot of mid-century modern stuff, so there is a bit of continuity there. Another thing: although the bones of the bathroom are modern, we kept some cottagey things, like we continued the divided-light windows that the rest of the house has. And we continued the old-fashioned 2-part baseboard that the rest of the house has. I also added some things to soften the straight-edged modern, like a framed drawing and a soft, floral-embroidered panel as a window treatment. I defintely think you can blend cottage and modern successfully! Especially if its what YOU really want....See MoreDesign issues with the 'stone' switch plates on backsplash
Comments (16)Or what about plain ole' cheap beige or ivory plastic or painted metal? In addition to being completely budget-friendly, they'll totally fade into the background and you'll never 'see' them at all. If the faux stone ones are a good match, they'll have a similar 'fade into the background' characteristic. And if they're *not* a good match, you'll have spent a lot of money for a not-good match. Not to mention that some of them have a decdedly 'plastic' character to them -- so I'd recommend seeing before you buy. ORB or copper, while pretty, will call attention to themselves, which is probably not what you want. Consider also that 90% of the electricians working in my market area don't bother to install outlets all at the same height, or even level! It's horribly frustrating if you're the kind of person who will notice....See Morebeginning stages of layout design
Comments (9)Thanks for looking at the layout ideas... each idea I come up with is "close, but no cigar" - since it seems like it's almost possible, I keep working at it. If I could just find something that worked, I think my mind could rest. Yes, we currently have the window over the sink. I think dh is just trying to reign me in - less hassle of moving walls etc... plus he doesn't like the idea of losing space in the very helpful pantry. speaking of the pantry, I guess I wasn't clear. I don't need food storage in the kitchen, but if it was available, I'm not going to say no to it. the outside wall with the sink will have changes already - the french doors will be switched out for a single french door and then a window so the banquette can be anchored there. (the "L" banquette will be under the new window and kind of move into the family room space a bit the layout I posted didn't show that side) So if the window/sink need to move, it's ok. I still think I might be able to steal another 12, maybe even 15 inches from the pantry to lengthen the outside wall(it would push the range wall back). But as I said, dh is asking me to try to work within the perimeters of the existing room. But that's the only wall I can play with without doing major renovation. bar seating. dh really wants this. I personally would like at least 1 perch for a visitor to the cook. speaking of the little helpers - it's already crowded. for whatever reason, we often end up in the corner between the sink and the stove... very crowded feeling. that's why most of the plans I've put on paper have the cooktop on an island - not boxed in. a few of my ideas had a raised overhang/counter behind the cooktop as a bit of a buffer. I do have a lot of family in the area - so quite a bit of casual entertaining. And you know how people tend to congregate in the kitchen... I don't know. I know our space doesn't support our wish/want list. So now it's the game of compromises. My biggest want is definitely to get more workspace to the left of the cooking area. It will be changed - as I said, the cabinets are falling apart, drawers are broken, etc. - so my hope is to find a layout that meets some of our wants in the meantime. perhaps one reason we end up in the corner cooking with kids is because I really don't like the countertop material for the current island... it is tile with nasty grout and a few of the tiles are breaking. Once again, thanks for reading this far!...See MoreFrom Vision to reality - the “do big, long term stuff first” challenge
Comments (27)I found some pictures of the yard when I first moved in, and had to elaborate on my previous post. The yard was insanely overgrown with wild trees. Maybe fine for a new woodlot, but not okay for a safe stable place to live. I knew there would be a lot of landscaping work to do, but I had to get the tree situation taken care of first. After that I didnt really have a plan or any knowledge of plants or landscaping. I thought about consulting a landscape designer the first spring but really had no budget for it and thought I could do it on my own. A lot of the work I did the first spring (2016) involved removing undesirable vegetation and trying to plant some structural plants. 8 trees came down, 4 large, 4 small, all either extensively rotted or within unsafe proximity to the house. A huge garlic mustard invasion was identified and attacked in the back. I learned a little about plants, then I planted 12 tiny shrubs to hopefully, eventually form the basis of a privacy screen along the road. 3 of the shrubs ended up being a water hungry species that need to be moved to a wetter area and replaced with something that can handle dry summer soil. 3 of the other shrubs are a summer deer forage species and need to be replaced or fenced. I planted a ton of creeping phlox in the front bed which still survives, and some foxglove, delphinium, and lupines which mostly didnt survive. Last year (2017) 2 trees fell and I had 3 ugly, weedy, improperly pruned white mulberry trees growing around my powerlines that I had cut down to the stump in late autumn. I am going to allow those 3 to resprout and prune them to a manageable multistem shape as screening until my other privacy screen plantings mature and evolve. I used the woodchips from the mulberries to mulch over and smother the entire area of turf around the privacy shrub planting instead of just a small mulch ring around each plant. I learned more about plants and in my front bed I planted 16 long-lived structural plants- baptisia australis, amorpha canescens, ilex glabra "densa compacta", and rhododendron roseum elegans. The roseum elegans and leadplant look really sad (plants in the wrong place, sun exposure and soil texture respectively). Ill be watching to see if they need to be replaced or moved. This year Ive learned more about design and putting all the plants together. Its going to be all about filling in the front bed and establishing the planting, fixing mistakes, and starting desireable plant colonies in the backyard. So far Ive seeded 500 deep plugs in a DIY cold frame to provide myself with cheap plant material. I have even more to seed out when it warms up a little and I have identified plants that I would be better off buying. I could have saved a lot of time and effort by consulting a designer or landscape architect, have them clear out areas, and order and install the plants, but I do not want anything cookie cutter, I didnt want to have them make decisions for me as an uninformed party, and I dont have any kind of budget for a big project like that. The research Ive done and experience Ive gained so far has sharpened my vision to something I can now see clearly in my mind. I wont lie, some of the stuff I did is ugly, but I think long term when it matures it will be beautiful. I believe educating myself will help me manage the property in the future and provide personal satisfaction in a way paying to get it all done at once would not. Each year I move on to a new set of goals, take on unexpected challenges, and move onto the next phase of the landscape. There is no rush for me and it is fun to see the way it all unfolds....See MoreJennifer Hogan
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