recessed storage in master bath: how much is too much?
girl_wonder
4 years ago
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Comments (8)
girl_wonder
4 years agoRelated Discussions
How much is too much toile?
Comments (13)What I've heard is that the traditional way to use toile is to have it be the only print in the room but use it heavily. That's why I initially did not like toile because whenever I saw it in photographs the walls where wallpapered in the same toile as the draperies and pillows and bedding were made of. Now I've gotten used to that look and I can appreciate it more but I think it's an acquired taste. Now I love the look of toile wallpaper enveloping a room with matching draperies. Where I think it goes to far is when the bedding is made of the toile. Now the eye has no place to rest so I think it looks better to have a white matelasse coverlet cover the bed (another large surface area) and have just a couple toile pillow shams to tie in with the walls and drapes. There can be a coverlet in the toile color folded at the foot of the bed. But the chair fabric and the comforter should be a solid white IMO. I'll never forget a room I saw once done up by Ethan Allen. The walls were papered in black and white toile with matching draperies (so the wallpapering company has to hook up with the fabric company and make the same print). There were two Bergere chairs with ottomans in a seating area of the bedroom, both had dark wood with solid white upholstery. Between the two chairs was a round table draped to the floor with a solid black matelasse tablecloth and a white square topper. The wood on the bed frame was dark and they had a white coverlet on the bed with toile pillows and another coverlet folded at the foot of the bed, I think it was solid black. So the room was a medly of black and white. It was very jarring and the contrast of black against bright white was a bit much for me. It was memorable that's for sure. I don't know if many people have the guts to put toile wallpaper on their walls (!) but even if you didn't I think I'd still chose to either have the pillows shams in the toile or the comforter in the toile, but not both together. There can also be a padded headboard in the toile. The idea behind it is that you can get away with a room saturated in toile because it's the only print in the room. It's hard to tell the drapes from the walls because it all blends in. I can't remember if they included a black and white checked fabric, I don't think they did because of the walls. That's another option I've seen used many times, have a second print in a non-floral, non-toile design to coordinate with the toile...usually that's a check in the same two colors as the toile. I have the same question as stargirl, when is there too much toile in a HOUSE...how many different rooms can you get away using a different toile?...See Morehow much is 'too much'
Comments (35)One thing that no one's mentioned and that I'm seeing in my neighborhood is that while our homes are all basic 2200 - 2500 sq ft homes with laminate counters & inexpensive cabinetry (all the builder offered at the time), the majority of people who have renovated have gutted the homes, added expensive cabinetry & surfaces, etc. So, while yes, most homes still have the less-expensive fittings, that is gradually changing. Part of that may be that when the neighborhood was built, the location was considered pretty far from major cities (DC & Baltimore), had no city water/sewer, and generally quite rural so the prices weren't very high and the location wasn't as desirable to those who could afford "bigger and better". Fast forward 13 years and the mega-construction that's occurred in that time and the pushing out further and further from the cities to find room to build. We are now considered one of the more desirable areas, the fact that we have wells & septic is a non-issue b/c it means that each house has a minimum of 3 acres and land is considered a premium. Our homes have appreciated over 300% since they were built (probably only 250% now due to the economy). So, more money is moving into the neighborhood and as a result more renovating is going on. [Of interest to me is that most of the renovations are being done by the few new owners, most of the original owners are staying with what they have...which is probably why the remodeled homes are all becoming "higher end". Although, I seem to have sparked interest among us "originals" with my remodel...I've had several ask me recently if I can recommend anyone and what I think of their plans for renovating.] Renovating in our neighborhood, then, means upgrading a lot, not maintaining the status quo b/c the status quo is changing! What I'm getting at is that each neighborhood is different, look around and see what others are doing...if everyone is sticking with their old cabinets & inexpensive surfaces or similar and/or you plan to sell in the next 2-5 years, then your best bet, as many others have already said, is to stick with similar. Note that in your case, you're already in the "top 5" so others may be playing "catch up". If, however, you're staying long-term (and 10 years is long-term, I think) or you see that when others renovate in your neighborhood they're upgrading significantly (higher-end than where you're currently at), then you should probably do the same...but whatever you do in this situation, do it for you (and what you can afford), not some hypothetical future buyer....See MoreIMPACT marketing - how much is too much?
Comments (19)The lack of price is an instant turnoff. I don't want to have to contact a salesperson to get such minimal information as price - I really don't like dealing with salespeople unless I absolutely MUST, I don't like being "sold at". At least put an MLS# on it so I can go look it up. Count me in on the slide show being too long, rather pretentious, and laden with grammatical errors and typos which looks amateurish. (I fought and fought with my realtor about the captions to my own virtual tour because he can't write his way out of a paper bag, I'm still not happy with it but I've had to pick my battles.) The "warping" effect of the wide-angle lens is very irritating and makes it look like you're trying to make spaces look bigger than they are. Either a simple scroll-down or frames with clickable thumbnails would be better IMO, so people could go through at their own pace. I also had a hard time trying to examine the floor plan thoroughly in the time allowed, I had to reload the page several times, but I don't need to spend a full minute on the master bathroom including seeing at least one photo twice. (And what the heck is an "estate lot"? Is that a regionalism? Less than two acres doesn't seem very estate-y, especially since you can see several other houses from the house/yard - it has more of a sense of "subdivision" than "estate".) breenthumb, if you choose the right plants you shouldn't get the overgrowth issues. Dwarf specimens are great for foundation plants because they grow so slowly and don't gt monstrous. When we had our foundation plantings done last year and I posted pictures, people jumped all over me because the 6' spruces flanking my front steps "are going to get huge in no time"... no, I put in dwarfed spruces that MIGHT grow an inch a year and MIGHT get up to 8' under optimal conditions, and there is over 10 feet of space for them to fit! (Which is why I paid through the nose for 6' tall ones, even at end-of-season 50%-off sales. The 4' ones I initially brought home looked totally pathetic and would take a long time to get to a respectable height, so I coughed up 3x as much for the 6-footers.) A local nursery offers the services of an experienced landscape designer for free one afternoon a week. I told her how much I downright hated mucking around with gardening, she helped me choose plants that would require about two afternoons a year of care. :-) Check with the nurseries in your area to see if they offer such a service to help you out....See MoreMaster Bath (Pretty Much) Complete
Comments (48)kaysd - well, DH goes to California a fair bit for work, so I'll tag along on his next trip! :) lascatx - very good point about aging in place and lifting heavy ipe panels. We definitely plan to sell this house when our son is 18 or so (still 13 years away), so we don't have that worry with this house at any rate. I quite liked the aesthetics of my original bathroom too. We assumed we'd keep it as is for at least five years, maybe longer. But the shower broke down, the tile job was poor, the plumber told us it was only a matter of time before the toilet started to leak, we had a view of the toilet from our bed, the oak cabinets couldn't open fully (they hit the pedestal sink, so could only open partially), and while sitting on the toilet you could literally lean on the shower wall on one side and the cabinet on the other. So, a pretty enough face, but the rest was a disaster! We are loving the new space. My DD (8) showered in our bathroom the other day and nows begs not to be forced to shower in 'her' bathroom (you have to step into the narrow tub and pull a shower curtain, *gasp*). Maybe we do need a lock on our bathroom! :)...See Moregirl_wonder
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