Blog Archives
Our House: Wet Bar Finished!!!
Yay! The family room is done… finally! I’ve been working away on it, little bit by little bit for most of the winter. (I’ve still got a few projects to show you, but it’s is done!!)
I’ve worked on several different projects this winter/spring, from painting, to making a canning jar chandy, to getting a new sectional and creating a huge folding screen for it with vintage plantation shutters, making a new more neutral window treatment, and re-doing a table and chairs set I found on Craigslist, and installing a wide plank laminate floor, making a sign from old fence boards, re-doing a tennis themed folding screen, making numbered pillows, confessing my secret to an easy fireplace, and having a lot of fun moving around the furniture to create a sort of ‘Ralph Lauren meets 1900 Boy’s Club’ style room.
So here’s how and what I did in, what was once, this boring corner of the family room. click here to read the rest of the story…
Our House: This Sink has a History that Spans a Century and Half the Country
This is our powder room today:
The sink with the unique single pedestal leg is not a reproduction. It is an antique sink we rescued from click here to read the rest of the story…
Someone Else’s House: Bungalow Bathroom, Almost Anthropologie Style?
Continuing the tour of the refreshed and somewhat renovated c. 1916 bungalow, (or there abouts,) our young couple has purchased, the bathroom is the room to see today. (If you missed it, click here to see their bedroom/projects)
This room started in pretty good condition:
The walls, however, were a shocking yellow. I think the previous homeowner was trying to coordinate with the floor tile, but instead the result was quite harsh.
Although the mechanics of the room was fairly solid, our young couple really didn’t care for some things in the bathroom.
First, as what so frequently happens in older homes over the years, the bathrooms and kitchens during the ‘updating process’ lose their original trim and character. Which is exactly what happened to this room, it had, at some time in the past, been updated, and in that process, the original trim was removed and replaced with ranch molding.
Another thing our couple just wasn’t sure about, was the floor tile. Although it was in excellent condition, it just seemed to scream a little too loud.
After considering ripping out the tile, but given the budget, and encouragement from others to keep it because it had an ‘Anthropologie’ look to it, the new homeowners instead decided to add back in some of the missing character and see if then the tiles would feel more at home in the new setting.
And here are the results of their hard work and creativity: click here to read the rest of the story
Our House… DIY Rug to Fit
In the kitchen at ‘Our House’ I had a rug that went from the sink to the stove, but awkwardly didn’t go the rest of the way to the fridge. So I DIY-ed a new rug, here’s the story, and a quick before and after:
This is the old rug, and it’s a very good quality, durable wool rug. I’ve had it for over 10 years, and lots of spills etc. but they’ve shampooed right out of it, no problem. I am tired of the rust and darker colors though, and the size has always bugged me. Read on…
Little Brick Cottage… Kitchen Before and After, What a Change!
Whoo-Hoo, the big reveal of the kitchen at the ‘Little Brick Cottage’ is here! And what a change it is from when we bought this antique house in December of last year.
I think the best way to help you see this amazing transformation is to show you side by side before and after pictures.
One of the sweetest surprises in this reno, was finding the Read on…
Our House… Kitchen Finally Loses Pet Peeve
I last left you in the coffee bar, an annex from the kitchen leading to the dining room.
The coffee bar is in the background, and on the right is the pantry we built separating the kitchen from the living room. We used a vintage door and antique glass creating a transom on this pantry.
From this vantage point, the kitchen is behind, to the left, so, spinning around: Read on…
Our House… Coffee Bar Connects Dining Room to Kitchen
Continuing the ‘garage turned dining room’ tour, as the corner is rounded from the front French door entry, past the dining table and seating area toward the rooster lamp, to the right are two steps up to the coffee bar.
When I was designing this space I knew that I wouldn’t live here Read on…
Little Brick Cottage, more updates…
Yesterday I told you that we now have the bathroom sheet-rocked at “The Little Brick Cottage”. Well, that’s not all we have sheet-rocked…
The kitchen was so ripped up and patched with junky paneling, that we decided Read on…
Our House, Master Bathroom: The Whole Picture, Chapter 2
Here are a few more pictures to show you those areas; starting with my vanity area:
Because there is so much painted wood in the room, on the horizontal and vertical beadboarded walls, as well as the carsiding on the ceiling, I really wanted to have some woodgrain to contrast, so the vanities and linen stepback cupboard are cherry with a dark glaze, and the little antique Victorian chair next to the tub is dark walnut.
When we first bought “Our House” this same vanity space looked like this: Read on…
Little Brick Cottage: Kitchen Plan Revisited and Finalized
If you’ve been following along, this picture is not new to you, we had to completely remove the wall between the kitchen and bathroom.
And rebuild it, only a few inches in toward the kitchen, build the new doorway between bathroom and kitchen a few inches over towards where the range was going to be. Read on…
