Help me improve my fireplace, please!!!
Rachel Fee
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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suezbell
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Please help me with my fireplace! It's un-awesome.
Comments (20)I know many here do not like laminate. I had real wood in my kitchen, breakfast area and hall in the last house. I would never recommend real wood in a kitchen if you have dogs and kids. I worked my tail of keeping that floor nice, and it wasn't perfect when I left either. The new house came with laminate in the kitchen, hall and dining area. I have to tell you, I love it. it looks perfect and is easy to keep up. Also we have shower one piece inserts in the bathrooms and linoleum or whatever they use now-decent brand on the bathroom floors. I love these floors. A quick mop, and you are finished-no cleaning grout and resealing grout, no cracked tiles from the kids dropping things. Also, we had a tile leak in our bathroom in our old house. Out beautiful tile in the master was installed incorrectly and leaked between the shower stall and the tub. By the time we found out we had to replace the entire floor, including some joists and sheet rock the entire garage. Naturally, we had to replace the sheet rock in the bathroom and tile again. It was a nightmare. I told my husband I didn't ever want to look at tile again. Also, when we put the house on the market, I spent hours on my hands and knees touching up that floor. Laminate and linoleum are out of style right now, but they were introduced as a modern convenience years ago-these materials are very durable and easy to clean and very convenient....See MorePlease help me design my fireplace
Comments (8)How are you planning to use your fireplace? Do you have your insert chosen yet? Do you have any safety concerns? I really like the hearth that continues into the bench seat in one of your inspiration photos. I can offer my sympathy because we waited and waited on fireplace drawings from the architect. Our fireplace is outdoors so we just continued the board and batten look -- the stone we were using elsewhere would not have looked right given the size of our fireplace insert and we didn't want to go smaller on that (plus it already had been purchased). This porch room has similar dimensions to your wall -- 10' ceiling, the fireplace area is 64" wide and each side is 6'+. The insert is 42". Sorry for the poor camera phone quality and angle (taken from over a table) and it's not done -- still waiting on doors. We did a cantilevered bluestone hearth to tie in with our steps. You can see that your inspiration photos have a much wider fireplace area in relation to the size of the firebox itself. Just something to think about as you are selecting your unit and working on the design. Good luck! This post was edited by Oaktown on Tue, Nov 4, 14 at 0:31...See MorePlease help me improve my kitchen!
Comments (12)I kept my wood cabinets wood, and refreshed with new countertops, backsplash and Kohler Whitehaven "short apron" style farmhouse sink, which can be installed on a standard sink base. If this were my kitchen I would eventually replace the over the range microwave with a hood. I have a wood hood, but for a more modern feel you could do a pretty stainless one. I would think about replacing the center panel in some of the cabinets with glass or removing one cabinet and replacing with shelves - that would depend on your storage needs and your feelings about dusting shelves. I retrofitted a cabinet with a plate rail for my cottage style - a thought if that is your style too. I have no problem with painting these simpler, ordinary wood cabinets - just know it is a lot of work and if they are oak the grain texture will show through the paint - bothers some but not others. I would still consider one or two glass panels or you will just be changing out wall of wood to wall of white. I used a cream subway tile which I really like with the wood. You would want to remove the 4" splash first. You can change out the black - I know I personally have trouble visually working on a black surface, but be sure your cabinets are in decent shape before you change out and spend $$ on a nice granite or quartz. My kitchen is here - as I mentioned it is a more vintage / cottage style, but it does show the sink and the lighter countertop: https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/57579129/thumbs/my-pics-work-in-progress If you want to keep the dark counter, cream tile still works - or maybe white depending on the tone of your wood: An example of dark counters with cream backsplash:...See Moreplease help me improve the horrible curb appeal of my duplex
Comments (8)Is this the front of your side of the duplex? I assume that the other side is opposite this side that you show above. Or is this a side entry to your unit? It would help if you can show where the two units join so we can see your property in context. Is the driveway to the right of the property your driveway for your exclusive use? In the original pic it shows two doors-are both of those doors leading into your unit? What is your current siding - stucco? Something else? Sorry for the barrage of questions. It just helps to see what the whole property is like to get context so ideas will be appropriate for your property....See MoreRachel Fee
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