Victorian meets rustic - design dilemma!
30+ years ago we bought a charming turn of the century home in a mid-sized town. Since my (then) husband and I loved antiques, it called our name - loud and clear (pre-blight chestnut doors; hardwood floors; high ceilings, wide molding) - it was so 'us'! We spent the next 10 years or so furnishing it with period pieces (but inexpensive - since we were young and just starting out - lol), trying to bring it back, at least somewhat, to its former charm (after it was 'restored' in the 70's). Although the ol' gal probably had a part in ending the marriage (not a sad ending, we are still the best of friends :-) -- as the years went on, I also changed. I longed to leave the 'city-life' on a teeny-tiny lot and breath in the country air! 10 years ago I fell in love with a place nestled deep in the woods - and knew this was going to be my retirement home (see view from my deck!). The house was secondary at the time; I think even if it was a shack, I would have bought the house -- since I loved the location and the huge 2 car garage with a loft - lol! Well, fast forward 10 years and I am now a recent retiree - in the process of cleaning out 30 years of accumulation to downsize into my country cabin (note to self - never, ever, buy so much stuff again!!). Well, now reality is hitting me right between the eyes. Back in the 80's, homes and communities were sprouting up like trees in northeastern PA. With that came plain, simple housing - with no architectural style what-so-ever! :-). My 'cabin' is covered from floor to ceiling in T-111 - in every room. Although wonderful for those who prefer 'zero maintenance' - it sure is tiring on some level - and now I am faced with a huge design dilemma. I do plan to either pickle or paint some of the T-111 -- since I am not totally adverse to the look in this house (it is small and box-like -- no sense in making it what it isn't :-); but it's a perfect retirement home). So here is the question for all of you who have an eye for the eclectic :-)
I do plan to bring as much of my existing furniture that I can to my 'new' house -- first, because I like it; second, because it is better quality than what I could afford from today's choices; and third, my budget says 'slow down - you're retired; spend on what you need, not what you want' -lol! So first rooms first: the master bedroom - and your challenge for those who wish to embark on such a mammoth task....
My existing furniture is 1930s/40's Queen Anne style mahogany (see photos) - our first purchase for the ol' gal and although well-worn, I still love it! The master bedroom in the cabin, however, is much larger (so I'll be able to add my mirrored vanity that never fit before) - it has rustic wide-planked flooring and (what else?!) T-111 walls - lol! Came with the house is a queen sized brass bed - which I kind of like, too. The room boasts two large windows (south and east side) looking into the woods so it is plenty bright. So my challenge to you designers -- how do I tie this together? I do plan to paint the T-111 to help with this but I also think it it also needs some accessories that will bring the look (Victorian-rustic - ha ha!) together. I do not have any night-stands -- so I am now on the hunt for them; but I think those night-stands will be an integral part of bringing the look all together, so before I select them I thought now would be a good time to get some ideas on accessories, and the nightstands, before I make a mess of things. Thanks, in advance, for any suggestions!
Comments (33)
richfield95
5 years agodvd94
5 years agoRelated Discussions
doorknob dilemma
Comments (2)Oh yeah, and if we don't go with the Emtek knob with the porcelain rosette (DH isn't sure it will work with the knob on the other side of the door, which we are keeping), then I guess we have to do a metal rosette and metal escutcheon. Any advice there? Colors? styles?...See MoreVictorian Farmhouse I designed, take 2
Comments (32)It's not really what I would consider either Victorian or Farmhouse, more like Gothic Tudor, but it's nice. I called it Victorian because I live in a gold rush town and there are tons of houses labeled as Victorian that have the exact same exterior shape. The Gothic and Tudor influences are our own, although I have found examples of those styles incorporated into Victorians. I guess its all semantics in then end though. I think you'll end up wanting some type of overhang on the office windows, especially the south facing ones. IÂm so embarrassed, I put the direction arrow exactly backwards, it should be pointing the other direction! I didnÂt shade the office windows because they face north and west. who would want to stay cooped up in a bedroom? (Well, maybe a teenager) We do happen to have a teenager for that room, and IÂm sure guests will appreciate the view. When it gets decommissioned as a teenagers room it will probably be a library / sitting room, so a view will still be nice. OTOH, if you did move the bathroom, and replace the shower with a tub/shower to soak in, it seems like you'd have the perfect place to relax and enjoy the view. ;^) We have a big jetted tub in our current master bath and never use it. We plan on putting a wood fired hot tub in the roman ruins on the other side of the pond at some later date. ( no the ruins arenÂt there, yet ) I know you're off the grid, but do you have children? An 18 year old daughter who is there off and on, away at college and then back sometimes. or heirs that you care about? Saying we donÂt care would be a bit insensitive, but we arenÂt worried so much about it that it would affect our building decisions, we are building this house for us and nobody but us. Someday, you'll be gone and the home will go up for sale. No AC will mean no sale. If my wife and I are gone, other people can find their own way in life and not be mad at us for not wasting money on a planet destroying A/C system. Do you really think that A/C tech is going to stand still and HVAC systems in 50 years are going to in any way resemble what we have today? ItÂs impossible to look or plan that far into the future. Perhaps your design should anticipate eventual connection to the grid If IÂm generating all my own power, why would I want to connect to the grid? I hate utility lines so had them run underground 500 feet to my home site. Dig 1100+ feet of trenches and bury thousands of dollars of copper wire for some possible future eventuality?? I have a few swords and armor pieces of my own by the way. Cool! Ever put them to use? ⺠I think jedon is going for a stick style Victorian which this isn't too far off That is the closest Victorian style and we threw in some other touches as well. Thanks. Holy Hannah! Who told you that you could design a house? Why do I need someone to tell me what I can and canÂt do? This thing is horrendous! Our sense of aesthetics must differ, perhaps you could post some links of your own designs? the gothic windows(fighting with the other window style) There is only one gothic window and itÂs in a place where rectangular windows arenÂt visible close to it. Plenty of "pretty" buildings mix gothic and rectangular windows. Here is a shot of Notre Dame Cathedral http://www.bornemania.com/civ/gothic_architecture/notre-dame-front.jpg , OMG it has gothic arched windows right next to a big circular one and the doors are rectangular! EEEEEK! combined with tudor accents Victorian Stick Style, see above comment for link vaulted ceilings(which are one of the biggest offenders for inefficient heat usage) The house is highly insulated (R22), almost airtight, and compact. I have a virtually unlimited supply of firewood and a woodstove rated to heat 3000SF of "normal" house. I really donÂt think heat in the winter is going to be an issue. Keeping cool in the summer on the other hand is very important to me, thus the vaulted ceiling thermosyphon system with cross ventilation. The floor plan has major issues such as the placement of the pantry....why is it there? I roped off the plan onto the building site and tried it out, itÂs 5 steps from the kitchen to the pantry. There are lots of wall cabinets in the kitchen for often used items so the pantry can hold the full freezer and 50lb bags of stuff along with enough beer and wine for a protracted stay if we get snowed in. Why is there a window in the shower Because we like the light and to be able to gaze out onto our lovely property while we shower. The parcel is 97 acres, nobody can see you shower the washer and dryer in your office? ItÂs close to where we remove our clothes, the master bedroom and there was room there for it as opposed to downstairs where itÂs already cramped for space Is there a reason that there is a bedroom and bathroom next to the kitchen The home theater needed to be on the north west corner so it was in the least desirable place for looking out, the kitchen and dining and living rooms want to face the pond to the south as well as the view of the 300ft cliffs. That pretty much only left that corner for the bedroom and bathroom and since a small bathroom doesnÂt need nice views, the bedroom went in that corner. and why have you placed all those beams on the ceiling? Because it looks nice and also to hang a pot holder off of etc. It will look a bit different when we actually build it, hard to get everything looking just right but if you look in books and magazines you will find a whole lot of kitchens with beams. I don't know what a construction advisor is but you should find a different one.....someone who will be honest with you about your plans and the need for some professional design advice. We went and looked at the houses our construction advisor has built and they were very nice. He loves the design and would like to live there himself. It's "purple polka dots" time! What a luxury!! pinktoes, you have hit the nail on the head! If bellamay doesnÂt like this place, wait till he seeÂs the castle! SHEESH JEDON! YouÂre just not following the program! (the nerve!) what next...no cultured stone? No 3 car garage? No two-story entrance foyer? No 2,000 sf master bath? No butlers pantry? How do you expect to move in 5 years??? If you keep spreading these kind of ideas, people might actually think they can design a house for.....(dont freak)...themselves! HONESTLY!. Now there is someone who understands where we are coming from! This is our final resting place. Even if it isnÂt it will be a special person who would want to buy our project anyway, no matter what we build first. I donÂt care about resale value at all and there are no home owners association rules etc so we can do as we please. jedon: Are you getting the kind of input you want here? I have gotten some good feedback and ideas, as well as the input from people who donÂt really understand our situation or aesthetic vision but I have a thick skin. I'm not wild about the idea of the laundry in the office space. I think I would find that distracting. I used to have the laundry downstairs but it took too much room away from the pantry, and the clothes would just have to be carted up and down the stairs anyway so it made sense to put it upstairs. I agree that it could be distracting, I'll be sure to put extra sound deadening material in the floors and walls of the laundry room to help with that. Check with your local code guys - if you have them where you're building - on the suicide doors on the upper floor. Make sure what you want will be something that passes inspection before you actually get started. Same with the upper landing of the stairs. It's looks kinda tight as you have it drawn. The drafter and I were trying some different ideas to try and make the landing larger but nothing worked out nicely. Thanks for the tip about code, I'll ask about that. My personal preference would be to create a mudroom/laundry area in the currently drawn pantry space. My wife really wants a large pantry, since we are a couple hours away from places like Costco it will be good to be able to buy in bulk and stock up. Our mudroom will be the huge porch ⺠My suggestion for the downstairs bedroom and bathroom I had a version where the show was where the closet is now, that worked great for the bathroom but really cut into the bedroom area since I then had to put the closet jutting into the bedroom. I donÂt disagree that that bed/bath area is a little less than optimal but the space limitations really make it difficult. I like your version but without a good place for the closet itÂs not doable. If the kitchen beams are suspended below the ceiling Sorry, in the rendering the beams are actually a foot lower than the ceiling but that was not on purpose, I had raised the ceiling height from 8' to 9' and hadn't moved the beams up yet. still make sure you have a good lighting plan in order to avoid creating aggravating shadows in the kitchen workspace. The kitchen will have a combination of spot task lighting, 4' fluorescent area lighting and ambient LED lighting. I've tried to give a lot of thought to lighting since I know it can play a pivotal role in the aesthetics and mood of the house but of course that doesn't really show on the plans since I haven't done most of the electrical schedule yet. Actually, if you're willing to make the room smaller you could back a standard 24" deep closet up against the bath wall. That room is already pretty small. I did try and have the closet in the room but it was taking up too much room and looked awful. Even that 3x3 closet isn't enough, there will be a armoire in there in addition. don't think many things are an issue for Jedon, including guests. Hehe that's true for sure! Jedon, why are there two doors to the home theater? hmm you have a point there, the entrance by the foot of the stairs was there first and I added the other door later, I didn't even think of removing it. I'll try taking that out and see how it works, thanks. Are you planning on having operable gothic windows Due to the high cost of custom windows the one remaining gothic window in the master bedroom will be a fixed glass window. The vaulted area in the living/dining room area will be vented by the clerestory awning windows. Maybe we could use a fan to pull the hot air out of the master bedroom vault. Is there a passive solar reason that your kitchen is up front or is this your personal preference? We wanted the views of the meadow and pond from the kitchen as well as morning sun to make it seem light and cheery. Perhaps I need to learn more about passive solar in order to understand your plan. Do you have any recommendations on where to start? This article mentions some of the guidelines for passive solar with regards to heat: http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/121/cool The things I tried to pay most attention to were: Lots of insulation - SIP panels R22, Cross ventilation, Low-E double pane windows, covered porch around the south and east sides of the house shading most of the windows on those sides, having a garden around the house and using thermosyphon theory to allow cold air to be pulled from the lower windows filtered through the plants and exiting through the high clerestory awning windows. I think if you would reduce all those beams over the kitchen and have more in the living room, you'd get something that looks like authentic timber frameing. I would love to put more timbers throughout the house, we'll see what the budget allows. I do think the 3D view doesn't accurately reflect what we will have in the kitchen, it will probably be some larger beams mixed with smaller beams and not look quite so domineering The columns that support the porches seem too thin The program automatically generated those, since part of the porch has a second story porch I bet the engineer will specify some larger timbers there....See Moreevolving kitchen design
Comments (7)I LOVE the way your kitchen sounds! Totally ideal -- recognizing it's a twenty-first century remodel while respecting the Victorian heritage. Caveat: I'm a big fan of a cool (as in cool colors) kitchen: my kitchen is white perimeter, white marble countertops / backsplash, (some) stainless appliances and grey walls / ceiling. What you're describing is totally up my alley! So I live in a ten year-old house -- nothing special to respect (design-wise) here! And while I wanted a traditional kitchen (which makes sense with the remodel we did throughout the house), I also didn't want it to look ridiculous or twee. We have a stainless apron front sink and a commercial style faucet, and if just for those two pieces I think it elevates our kitchen to a "makes sense" standard. I'm not sure that sentence makes sense, but what I mean is: it's clear the remodel was recent (as in earlier this year), and we're not trying to fool anyone. But really, our goal was to have a kitchen which yes, looks pretty but which really works like a dream. For us, the big stainless apron front sink does just that. For us, the commercial style faucet does just that. I happen to love stainless countertops. They are insanely practical and gorgeous. I also happen to love soapstone. I mean, what's not to love? But there are pros and cons for both (and many threads addressing those pros and cons already exist here on GW, so I won't attempt to summarize them here), and only you can know what you're willing / able to live with. For example, most people oil their soapstone. That can be a laborious process -- are you up to it? Stainless is known for scratching and can be irritating for some in the beginning, when the scratching process is just starting. After a while, the scratching tends to be uniform so it's no longer visible. (I think someone here with stainless countertops had them abraded before installation.) We have polished nickel bin pulls (and appliance handles) and glass knobs and I love them. I think they're beautiful and sparkly, but other hardware can be and is gorgeous as well. Is this something on which you need to decide right now? I wonder if the longer your new plan can gestate the more the hardware choice will make itself known to you .... I'm about to turn into a pumpkin but I had to pipe in because I am crazy about your proposed kitchen!...See Morekitchen remodel, design dilemma
Comments (12)Can you post a pic of the fridge wall facing it. and the space on the other side? I understand wanting to try to come up with ideas before meeting with professionals. Sorry so many people are just telling you to talk to a designer and not offering comments. It is obvious one can talk to a designer or architect and not post here........but that is the point of posting here, getting feedback from more than one perspective for free :) before and while you talk to professionals. I do like all of your cabinets....See More
Cheryl Smith
5 years ago
groveraxle
5 years ago
acm
5 years ago
Cheryl Hannebauer
5 years agokootenaycapable
5 years agotatts
5 years agodvd94
5 years agodvd94
5 years ago
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
5 years agodvd94
5 years agodvd94
5 years agotatts
5 years agodvd94
5 years agodvd94
5 years ago
J Williams
5 years agoUser
5 years agoMaybe embrace the contrast rather than attempting to make it look like it belongs? Put silk drapes up to the windows and fabulous mirrors on the rustic walls?
To give you an idea, you can look at some photos of the interiors of log cabins (yes, I know yours isn't like that, but it's just an example of what works)... Some of them make no attempt at tying anything in with the building...
I would get all my furniture in (don't get rid of anything yet) and see how it looks, as is. You just may want to emphasize the difference, rather than try to make it look like it belongs...eandhl2
5 years ago
localeater
5 years ago
Elaine Ricci
5 years agodvd94
5 years agonjmomma
5 years agoNot a Pro.
Really scanned all above....so forgive me if this has been mentioned.
Have you considered painting the furniture instead to make the room work. A pretty aqua on the furniture with that beautiful bed. Area Rug bringing in all colors. No need to touch the walls,
Amelia Park Courtyard Home · More Infodvd94 thanked njmomma
Fori