Dis-stressed Out!

I suppose it's my turn to contribute to the blog since Katie is posting like a mad woman! Not only is she posting blog entries, she is really pulling together some beautiful ideas for the house.

I spent a few hours on Sunday clearing out the basement. Only one corner of it had stuff occupying it, but boy, what a lot of stuff was there. Fifty years of collecting.

I had hoped to find a secret stash of money, babseball cards or even a mint condition Colt, but no dice. I did however find an abundance of tools. And not the "Made in China" kind. America baby! I discovered power tools from the 60s and 70s, an old spinning reel, a huge pulley, about 6 vintage Stanley wood working planes and God knows how many hand tools. The previous owner must have had over 30 files, 50 screwdrivers, tons of drill bits and over 200 lbs of hardware.

I don't need all this stuff, so I am still working to determine what is of value and how I can move the other stuff with a quickness. If you know anyone interested in buying old tools, let me know!

In other news, I began looking how to take the interior 10-lite french doors we plan to hang with the barn rig and make them appear like they didn't come from aisle 32 at Peabody Building Supply. I had envisioned some really rustic, heavy wooden doors. The kind of doors that oozed character and made you think, "If these doors could talk!"

Well we don't have the time to play the American Pickers, so I think I found the next best thing on Katie's second favorite site - http://www.younghouselove.com/

With a few hours of work and some serious aggression, we plan to beat these doors into submission. Round one we'll sand the sharp corners into a more rounded edge. Then round two, we'll hit the doors with bags of screws, careful not to break any glass, but nicking the wood into perfection. Then we plan to take a hammer Tony Soprano-style to the panels to add some more "character".

These indentions will really come to life when we add the first quick coat of dark stain. All the nooks and crannies will really POP! Then we hit it with the walnut stain and the results will be breath-taking! (We'll be sure to post more when we undertake this process, which will surely be quite messy.)

We want each room to have a unique accent or focal point. And between the funky floor tiles to the barn door partition to the throwback master bath, this is going to be a cool crib!

Cha-Ching!

Though I don’t have photos to show of progress on the house itself, it was a busy, busy and productive weekend. It was also exhausting! While Chris was outside in 105 degree weather at a Salem Five event with Dustin Pedroia (and thousands of young fans) at the North Shore Mall, my mom and I were on a mission to gather intel on everything from tile to fireplaces to dehumidifiers to fans to clawfoot bath tubs to doors to kitchen islands to SO much more. We went to two tile stores, Lowes and Home Depot 3 x each, a bath and plumbing store, 3 x lumber stores... I learned a lot, took lots of notes and narrowed things down so that Chris could come in and help make some decisions. (I’m playing to both of our strengths – me being the gatherer/researcher and Chris being the hunter/decisionmaker.) Over the course of a few days, we did make a lot of purchases and decisions. Take a gander…

Some Purchases

• Hardware for front door (which we're going to keep and refinish, saving us a couple Gs)
  
  
  
• Hardware/deadbolt for door to mudroom (which will be our sunroom/den) – Home Depot



• 5 ceiling fans with remote controls (Hunter 52” fan with brushed nickel - a total steal for $89 with remote control, regularly $159!); had to go to two separate Home Depots and, when I asked if the second Home Depot would honor a coupon I had used at the previous one, the woman was unfriendly and said “No, it's not my fault they ran out of fans.” When I told her that she was being unfriendly, she gave me $20 off!!! It pays to call people on their rudeness




• One piece fiberglass tub insert for guest bathroom upstairs with right drain (who knew there were left and right drains?) – got the last one at Builder Supply Warehouse in Peabody. Love that store - it's like the Building 19 for builders, as Kel said. I’ll spare you the photo of the tub. It's pretty basic, but fine for a guest bath. (We'll save the tiling for our 1920s master bath.)



• 10 lite solid wood interior French doors for office entryway – plan is to stain mahogany and hang with barn hardware (see previous post)




• Three 2’x2’ awning windows mulled together with interior grid/panes for back of mudroom (which will be our sunroom/den). Kind of like this but with white trim, normal 4 panes and square.




• 6’ sliding door – Silverline (made by Anderson) – with grid panes in between glass – makes it easier to clean – super steal at Builder Supply Warehouse in Peabody
  

Top Ten Decisions (much more exciting than the purchases)

1. House color!!! We’re going with Pacific Blue, Certainteed vinyl siding – looks just like wood. My mom picked it out and we fell in love!




2. Roof color/type: Timberline charcoal black architectural shingles





3. Cabinets: We are refacing our current cabinets and chose a refacing company after getting quotes from 4 companies: Affordable Refacing – http://www.refacingdepot.com/! Sears was more than twice the price. Home Depot was also up there. This guy comes highly recommended, does great work and was very professional. He'll make a place for our counter-depth fridge (which will look built in) and our microwave (which will vent above the stove), will re-do the lazy susans, give us new soffits, crown molding. It'll be a great before and after photo! This won't happen for a couple of months but it's good to have a plan for the most important room of our house.



4. Cabinet style and color: White (not off white cabinets); raised (not shaker style); painted wood (not thermafoil) (Note: these were three big decisions in and of themselves...pros and cons to all. I'll spare you.)
   
   Countertop: We are going with a granite that actually looks like a Carrera marble but is not porous and doesn’t stain like a marble. Because it’s granite! We fell in love with it at Stone One in Methuen – awesome store with great selection of granite, quartz and tile/stoneware.





5. Kitchen tile: We thought we had decided on a cool slate-looking porcelain tile from Lowes. Until we went to Stone One in Methuen and saw this in a 12 x 24 shape:





6. Backsplash: We liked the 2x4 marble mosaic tiles from Lowes but found very similar tiles in the 3x6 size at Home Depot for half as much. It pays to shop around!




7. Tiles for mudroom (soon to be sunroom/den): We found AWESOME 3x12 porcelain tiles that are woodgrain – a super cool indoor/outdoor look that we’re very excited about. Regularly $8 per square foot. Got them on closeout at a place in Woburn for $2.99 per sq foot. It's a good deal...though doesn't seem like it when there's 250 sq ft to tile! Oh well. It will look nice.




8. Gas fireplace: We’re going to put one in our living room, and we decided to have Kel build a “bump out” or “dog house” on the outside of our house so that we don’t need to frame the fireplace in the living room, which would take up space. Instead, the fireplace will sit flush on our living room wall. Now we’re looking for the right fireplace – and the right mantel piece. I’m delegating that project to Chris. Btw, we had no idea that gas fireplaces cost upwards of $2,500 – and that’s just for the unit itself! Oh and the whole venting to code crap? Totally complicated, but I feel like an expert now.


9. Front door: We decided to save some money and just paint the front door that’s there. We’ll put it toward the countertop!


10. Okay one more for good luck: Interior door type - ARLINGTON. It's only appropriate ;-) And we can get solid core Masonite, primed for $55 per door or $79 pre-hung at Builders Supply Warehouse! Sad how excited that gets me...
    

We also went back and paid Janice at Home Depot in Danvers a visit. She priced out some base cabinets for our kitchen island…which will likely be a dark almost black wood. (Great suggestion, Amanda!) More on that in another post…

Space-Saving Altneratives to Interior French doors

Since we have a small cape and we're trying to maximize space, I pulled together some alternatives to 5" French doors that would separate our living room from my office. We couldn't decide whether French doors would open into living room or office because we didn't want to lose the space in either, especially since, unless I'm in the office and on a conference call, we will likely keep the entrance-way open. So that's what prompted this search. I like the barn door look, as well as the external hardware. One thing to keep in mind, though is that you need to have as much wall space as you have open space in order to actually keep the entranceway open. Kind of an obvious point but worth mentioning. Pocket doors are also an option and a space saver, but I find that they can be a pain and I know they're expensive to install. Instead of one big barn/carriage door, perhaps we could have two 2.5 or 3 foot doors that can be slid apart...or on one side for variation.

The Fun Continues

The dumpster is getting filled! Ty Pennington would be proud. If only the Payne Family could be in Disney World during all of this like on the show...

Kel, Dan and Dan's friend Ryan got a lot accomplished this weekend, knocking down walls, sledgehammering a bathtub to get it out of the house... Already, the house feels bigger and more open, which allows us to get a better sense of layout and what will go where. We spent hours at the house yesterday just talking through different ideas and formulating opinions on things that we had no idea we'd ever have to even have an opinion on!

Here are more "before" photos, followed by what we are using as inspiration for eventual "after" photos. So, you walk in through the front door and the stair case is straight ahead... Here is the view from the dining room.

Imagine this staircase being flipped in the finished product. The full/more opened staircase will be on the dining room side and just 3 stairs will be seen from the living room. Kind of like this... but again flipped, since the living room is on the right.

Now for the mudroom/enclosed breezeway that connects the house to the garage. It's currently not viewed as "living area," but we're putting a heating element out there and opening up the doorway into the kitchen, making those ugly cement stairs look pretty rounded and "internal" looking. This will be our sunroom/den with tile floors, comfy furniture, lots of light. We will be replacing the door and front windows that you see here. The back of the room will have 3 square awning windows that pop out and look a bit more modern. A 6 foot slider door will slide open to our patio. Two ceiling fans. You get the picture.

Some inspiration for this new living space...

Not a big fan of the animal print rug or tile, but those double doors to the left will be an opening to our kitchen and a nice step up. Oh - and see where the desk is, that's where we want a cute built-in bench with storage and hooks etc. Like this on a smaller scale...

The first floor bath, which used to have a gross tub...

We toyed with the idea of putting a glass shower stall here, but, since we will have a clawfoot tub and tiled shower in the master bath and a tub/shower combo in the guest bath (all upstairs), we just don't know that it is necessary. Instead, we thought we could do some sort of storage. Like this:

But less overwhelming...and white?

Here is another view of the bathroom that will be a powder room...

Leaning toward a pedestal sink, nice clean-looking mirror and ditchinig the old vanity/cabinet...though a case could be made for refinishing them...but they're low, so we'll see. As for the wallpaper and toothbrush...we'll probably keep those. I mean, they say combine the old with the new, right?

Happy Sunday everyone! We're off to Barnes and Noble to read magazines that cost $15 while sipping lattes that cost $15...and might stop by Lowes and a tile store for inspiration. Living the dream!

Guess Who Got a Building Permit?

That's right! It's official.

Island Dilemma

Can we discuss the kitchen island for a moment? It’s causing me angst.
Here’s why:
Our kitchen is small. Only 11 x 11. The wall that separates the kitchen from the dining room is coming down but, even still, the entire space is only 26 feet deep. We want an open kitchen with an island (for both work space and breakfast bar/socializing space with a few stools). But because the kitchen is small, we need the island to come out a bit into what would be the dining area – otherwise it would be too tight as far as walking around the island. Need a min of 36 inches from kitchen counters to island. We also want a nice dining room table so we don’t make the island to a huge monstrosity focus for the whole left side of our house.

This photo is actually not accurate but it gives you a sense of the downstairs plans. The fridge is actually going to be across the way from where it is now. The doorway to the left of the island into the sun room will be widened, and the door will go. We’ll have rounded steps going into the sun room (it’s now a mudroom but we’re turning it into living space).

The island is actually too far into the kitchen in this drawing because we don’t meet the 36 in minimum. So for this to work, we’d need it to come out more…which means bringing the tile out more, which means the dining area is smaller and the fireplace (which we can lose completely since it’s not going to be a working fireplace) will be off-centered.

Additionally I fear that the stools will compete with the table and it will look like two pieces of furniture back to back.

I’ve whittled down our options to:

1. No island – not really an option because we need the counter space and we want one :)
   Island with no stools – not really an option because we want them :)




2. Peninsula – not really an option because door will be widened and doesn’t solve our issues of infringement on dining space.




3. 3 x 5 Bi-level island – while I’m not a huge fan normally, I think a bi-level island like this will give workspace on one side (20 in - granite) and breakfast bar (16 in - hard wood) on another. The tiled floor could come to the end of the work space portion and switch to the hard wood at the raised breakfast bar. The hard wood countertop for the breakfast bar breaks things up and doesn’t make it look like your kitchen is in your living room and the heightened level means the stools will be taller and might not compete as much with a dining table.
   
   
   
   Love this one
   
   
   Note: I don't love this island, but it does illustrate what it would be like with a dining table right behind a bi-level island. I like how the stools don't compete with table chairs.



4. 3 x 5? Sideways Island with stools at end - This would allow us to have the island further into the kitchen. It's narrower so it might be less of an obstruction and focal point - even if it goes as far into the dining room as the bi-level island would. The tiled floor would prob go 3/4 of the way down the length of the island so that people sitting on stools would have wood below their feet.
   
   Really like this a lot - the island in our kitchen would be going the other way, though and the stool on end would face the kitchen window. Can you picture it?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Note: While I love the first island photoed, I do believe that this one above is prob the size we'd be working with because I beleive the kitchen it is in is around the size/configuration of our kitchen.

I think I am leaning toward 4 (vertical/sideways island). Chris likes 3 (bi-level). Neither are ideal but we need to work with the space we have. Either way we like a more furniture look like the examples in here. We do like some sort of butcher block top – or something that differs from what we hope to be light or greyish granite/marble countertop/backsplash for the actual WHITE kitchen cabinets. Maybe a dark brown or black island as Amanda suggested. Would love your thoughts!

Inspiration - and some bathroom stripes

My M.O. is: I get a vision for something...like I want the walls to be painted in wide vertical stripes of off white and light light tan. Voila - I search http://www.houzz.com/ and others - and I can see what I thought I came up with on my own. No idea is a new idea. But that's a good thing...because then we can copy! (Truth be told, I think Steph and Filipa provided the true inspiration with their half bath paint in Parkside - a variation of matte and glossy red, also a great technique...and then there was that one house in Beverly on the "cut through street"...)

Only I think I'd want vertical stripes like this...but just in the tan/off white color. Though the Black and White is kinda cool, huh?

We clearly have bigger fish to fry than the paint color for our half bath...but ya gotta start somewhere. And the kitchen cabinet and island situation is too hard to explain after a long week and 9 hours of driving today.

So, back to inspiration: I think it would be only fair to let you all know where I’ve been getting a lot of my ideas. These places are my favorites so far. What are yours?

www.houzz.com - Okay, I am OBSESSED. They have the BEST photos. The site is searchable. Great articles and tips. People are responsive to questions you post about the photos. And you can save photos to different "ideabooks" or photo albums. I now have an "ideabook" for each room in the house. Thanks to Sarah Taheri for the referral there. It’s like “the knot” of home decorating, design, renovations, etc.

www.younghouselove.com - Thanks to my coworker Christine...and a shoutout to Kate Kudrna who is obsessed. Just a cute, fun site to follow. Makes me wonder: should Chris and I spend ALL our time DIYing and blogging...and get so good at it that, like this couple, it is a full-time job and hobby.

www.decorpad.com - Good photos for ideas.

And here are some recommendations I’ve gotten some friends thus far… I haven’t gotten addicted to any of these (yet). But it’s only a matter of time. I mean, if I can get away from houzz.com. Most of what’s below is a copy and paste job from a coworker friend’s email. Just want to give credit where credit is due and share some resources.

One Kings Lane – this is a home decorating flash sale site – My friend used it a lot just to learn about companies for lighting, bedding, etc. that they have on sale that day https://www.onekingslane.com/all-sales

Pink Wallpaper – this lady is adorable I hear – she’s really cute and southern (and we like Southern, esp the juxtaposition of Southern and New England charm – her sister site sells fabric if you need any (designer’s attic) http://pinkwallpaper.blogspot.com/

Style by Emily Henderson – she’s on HGTV – she does two “looks” for each room and does it on a budget – a lot of her stuff is from West Elm, etc. – http://www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/?currentPage=2

Material Girls – Houston is supposedly the one to follow, and it’s easy to search by things like “lighting” – http://materialgirlsblog.com/

http://www.hgtv.ca/sarahscottage/ - Kacey LeGeyt and Beth Pollock say she’s great. I’m still new to this world…

www.designspongeonline.com – Kacey also likes this one.

Good mags for getting ideas:
• House Beautiful
• Veranda
• Elle Décor
• Traditional Home
• Southern Living
• Better Homes and Garden: Renovation Style
• Better Homes and Garden: Kitchen and Bath Special Edition

Okay, something I've learned - these magazines are not priced like, say, US Weekly is priced. Chris and I have a "date" at Barnes and Noble this weekend to peruse the magazine shelf, lattes in hand. We are wicked cool.

-KCPXOX