Fall/Winter Projects

cripes.
I saw something very interesting about different turbine design. sort of tubular. Well, without totally digressing here, hope they will let you go ahead and you may be able to get the latest and greatest design.

Good Luck Janet, I would be interested in hearing how you do with that. I have heard that many Local Gov's are having problems. They don't have guidelines for some of these new products and have no real idea how to regulate installation site. I have looked at those turbines and the photocell for solar electric. They are running some good incentives but haven't done any serious research yet. When we got our system we got a huge tax break which made it very reasonable.

Yep, our heating bill is unbelievable at least to me... but then we lived in the south and to come up here oh my I don't understand how folks are able to make ends meet when so much of your paycheck goes to paying a heating bill...

But since DH was laid off in June we might not be long for here anyway, but going back south unless we go back to an area with good hills/mountains the wind turbines don't do as good on flat land that doesn't have much breeze coming through...LOL

Janet

Holly, sounds like Ric has some good shelf/storage ideas. In addition to a high shelf along the long wall, I'm wondering if you could fit a narrow shelf along the top of the bump-out opening... not sure how far down your ceiling will come, but a narrow shelf with a lip might be just the ticket for storing big platters. ?

Critter that is a good idea for platters. But they wouldn't fit there only about 8 inches between the opening and the drop ceiling. I do have a spot in the kitchen for platters. But maybe I could put some of my baskets on the walls back there. If I decide to put in that narrow cabinet they could hang between the cabinet top and the high shelf. One of the nicest things about DG is that you get really good ideas.

A friend has the most wonderful collection of baskets, hung all over her kitchen ceiling.

Ouch! It hurts me to look up! LOL Ric

Holly, I love the new washer and dryer - had no idea they offer such pretty colors! I like the idea of the baskets :)

I've been watching way too many DIY shows lately and getting ideas for makeovers here - Rick's ears are ringing with all my ideas! LOL

I'm getting everything lined up for a fairly major project (major for me, anyway) -- we're redoing the downstairs bathroom!

Many of you have seen that little powder room in the hallway... white walls that I've tried to brighten with a big aquarium poster, some wicker fish from my grandma, and a shelf full of little fish figures. The pedestal sink offers no storage (leading to a big clutter of sunscreen, bug spray, etc. on top of the toilet tank), and the 9 foot ceilings feel very high in such a small space.

We found a Cross Creek vanity in a "hazelnut" finish that we both really liked and even managed to agree on the perfect granite-look countertop to go with it. We're also getting the matching 24" wide medicine cabinet (wood door, no mirror) to go over the toilet.

I'm trying to break down the project into a lot of small discrete steps so I can accomplish it during Joyanna's nap time or in the evening, hopefully without having the bathroom out of commission for a week at a time LOL.


The PLAN:

1. Paint the upper part of the walls and the ceiling in a cobalt shade of blue. (I had a quart of "oops" paint I planned to use but realized it won't be enough to cover, so I need to get more paint.)

2. Install white vinyl beadboard on the side walls, 5 feet high. It comes with matching vinyl molding to finish it off top & bottom. I think this will be fairly simple other than cutting out holes for electrical outlets & switches.

3. Replace the pedestal sink with a wood vanity and solid surface countertop stretching from wall to wall. Install new faucet (dark "antique bronze" fixture with a high faucet that I'm hoping will let me get a watering can or whatever under it).

4. Replace the toilet, and install 3 ft. high beadboard behind it. (That way I'm not trying to install the cabinet over the beadboard, and I can use some of the cut pieces from the other wall -- the planks I'm using are 8 feet long.)

5. Mount the cabinet over the toilet.

6. Mount new toilet paper holder and towel ring/rod (also in antique bronze finish)

7. Replace the mirror over the sink with a piece of mirror glass that goes across the width of the vanity top. This will be framed out with some of the white vinyl molding.

8. The fun part! Add an 8 inch tile border to the side walls, using a dozen 4 inch decorative tiles (painted with tropical fish) and filling in with glass or ceramic tile. (I've got a sample on order of glass tiles like flat marbles in shades of cobalt, teal, clear and white; I think it might work really well.) Finish off with another 2 inch wide piece of white vinyl molding.

9. Add a narrow white shelf along the length of the bathroom, resting on the molding that tops the tile border. This will be used to hold seashells and other fun stuff. I might add a rope light along the back edge of it, not sure. I might also add a wider glass shelf further up (on the blue part of the wall).

10. I'm sure I forgot at least one thing, so there will be a 10th step! Oh, for example, I'm guessing I'll need to finish off the base of the walls & vanity with quarter-round molding.

If I get it all looking the way it looks in my head, I'm going to have to host a swap or other DG party here so I can show it off! :-)

Sounds great Critter! Let's hope Little Bit will cooperate with lots of naps.

Party at Critters!! More info to come! lol

Sounds really nice Critter. I've seen some really pretty fish tiles and I love the colors of those glass tiles. Just like jewels you will have to post pic as it progresses. I must say I do so love your color schemes Those living/dining rooms are beautiful. I'm sure this one will be, too.
Ric started making the shelves for the laundry room and I'm painting them today.

Can't wait to see it. You must post pics.

We are planning to (eventually) do our main bathroom. I have such eclectic tastes I'm going back and forth in my mind what I want it to look like(driving myself crazy in the process) ☺

I love oops paint btw

Just FYI--

OOps paint (any kind) at HD is----

$2 a quart
$5 a gallon
$20 for a 5 gal. bucket.

Great if there is a color and type of paint you like.....

Gita

we found exterior oops paint ... it was a gray.. we painted our shed with it.. couldn't beat the price

Well, I don't want to admit how long I've had the fish tiles... but on the up side, I've known for a while what my design plan would be... LOL, still changing a few details though, like using a full width mirror over the sink (DH's idea, and I knew I'd have an extra piece of molding to trim it).

I'm glad you liked the LR/DR, Holly. This will be totally different, more "beachside" than country but definitely not so Victorian (I fondly like to believe the LR/DR scheme is Victorian -- at least the colors are, and I have a number of botanical rose prints and crocheted bits around!).

Had a Victorian look to me.

LOL... that pub-back comfy couch is definitely not vintage Victorian... for that matter, neither is the DR set, although it does date back to the '30s. But I'm glad I got the overall effect I was going for!

I will post photos when there's something to post... presently, there's just a test splash of paint on the wall, and I've ripped out the molding along the floor... it's a start! :-)

Sounds really super! I was able to stencil my kitchen during first -baby naps. My smallest bathroom is my best decorated one. LOL. Birds nest border along the top of walls, one long swagged sheer sage green curtain tied with raffia. But an old hang-on-the-wall yellow sink and matching lovely 70s yellow toilet. Now you know my (low) standards, if thats my best decorated bathrrom.

LOL Sally, You have seen my half finished house. You would think after more than 30 years we could have at least finished all the rooms, never mind updating them. There are just so many other things to do with our time and money.

Drives me crazy when we start a project and we never fully finish it.
We bought this house almost 6 years ago and the first thing hubby wanted to do was our bedroom(I wanted a Taitian theme), so we painted, put a new ceiling fan in and right before ordering new furniture, he goes "ya know what??? let's do something that people see who cares if we have new furniture in here" Ugh, so off to do the living room we did chair rail and crown moulding , painted, I did textured painting above the chair rail, did this really cool area where I have a bunch of picutres...I'll have to take a picture of it so you can see what I'm talking about. Stopped short of doing the bottom moulding because he wants to change the floors but not ready to do them yet...so that's not finished oh and I never got my ceiling fans put in and all the furniture I need to fill this room. Then I find out I'm pregnant so have to do the nursery so we moved my son the bigger room so we had to paint that(but using old furniture that used to belong to my sis(gosh this stuff has to be 40 years old and not in a good way)....and it goes on and on and on....

LOL Jen you just described my house. You've seen it. The Great Room looks pretty good it's been painted a couple of times and all the glass has been replaced but the floor is just painted sub floor. Ric and I got into a pissing contest over what we were going to put down so we didn't put down anything. LOL Originally we were to put ceramic tile over the concrete area in front of the glass and hardwood the rest. But when it was time I decided that I didn't want that. Ric said we couldn't tile the whole floor and I wanted it all the same. So we put vinyl tile over the concrete and painted the sub floor just to protect it until we agreed on something. Then we moved on to some other area. I have bed rooms that have been remodeled more than once and other areas like the upstairs hall that are still unpainted drywall. I thought once we retired we would just whiz through one room after another but that doesn't seem to be happening. Not that we haven't done somethings but we sure aren't making fast progress.

I'm not exactly whizzing here, but I've made a start by putting the first coat of paint on the upper walls and ceiling. I love the color! It's called cerulean, and looking at the photo I took I realized it is very nearly the color of blue painter's tape. LOL

Very pretty. I'd love to paint my bath but I am not doing anything until we get finished in the laundry. LOL

I have some kitchen cabinets in the crawl space that have been waiting almost three years to get hung. We'll get around to it one of these days!!

Nice color. Yes it does match the painter's tape.

We (all ?) need a Last Ten Percent guy. So much gets mostly done....like this downstairs floor, except the last few details. Haven't figured out how to trim the edges at the two doorways. Split foyer has a railing at the top and one down the steps. We changed one railing to wood, fifteen years ago...but the other still black metal.

Jen I'd like to see that pic of your textured paint and picture area. Two things I might get into at some point.

painter's tape blue--not as poetic as Cerulean, eh? pretty

we are still on the forty yr old original kitchen cabinets and counter. One cabinet door is wonky so can't just refinish, plus someday would like to add a few cabinets, take out the wall between dining and kitchen....Two small bathrooms; should we update them or combine into one bigger really nice one? and on it goes.

Jill, I'm so envious - I would REALLY like to be working on our bathroom. Nothing major but it definitely needs to be spruced up. Your ideas sound great, the blue paint is really pretty and I can't wait to see pics as the project develops!

I've actually been MIA for a month because I've been so busy with what started as a simple makeover of our kitchen counter. Everything snowballed from there and as of yesterday we have a freshly painted kitchen, front entry and hall :) Bad news is I had every intention to do the painting myself but when I started with the kitchen two weeks ago I quickly realized there was no way I could paint all the ceilings and got myself into quite a predicament! Trying to keep expenses down but immediately called a painter to help me out and I decided to just hang it up and let her do all the painting. So much for my "decorating" budget :( We've still got a few things to finish - ceramic tile backsplash in the kitchen, new ceiling lights, laminate flooring down the hall and installation of cabinets in the closet at the end of the hall where the bifold doors have been broken for over two years! This was a major jump for us because nothing has been painted since the house was built 17 years ago when everything was painted off white (walls AND trim!) - can you say boring? LOL We were a little nervous with my choice of a dark chocolate accent wall for the entry, pretty dramatic for us but we love it :) I've started moving everything back but it will take me a few days before I'll have pictures to share.

RCN, You have been missed! I was just wondering what you were up to. Thought maybe you were working on that basement full of projects. LOL
LOL Sally on the 40 year old cabinets. That is what I have in my downstairs bath. The 40 + year old cabinets that my parents pulled out of their kitchen when they remodeled. There are two big tall cabinets and the old sink base with a pink tile top that came out of their bathroom when they remodel the bath. At the time we put them in everything was gutted and we were working on the Great Room addition. The down stairs bath was just an empty room with a bath tub sitting in it. The idea was they would just be in there temp until we were ready to finish the bath. That was about 20+ years ago. Every time I think about replacing the cabinets all I can think about is do I really want to spends thousands of dollars replacing perfectly usable cabinets. If it was a kitchen I would say yes, but the bath just doesn't seem that important.

Sally, if you're talkign about doorways between rooms, they make special threshold pieces for different applications -- wood to carpet, wood to linoleum, wood to wood, etc. The pieces are often brass, but I know the laminate floor people make ones to match their product.

Rcn, you know we'll need photos! I especially want to see how your plants look against that chocolate accent wall. :-)

I think everybody probably needs a "last 10%" guy -- I know we do! LOL

Old cabinets... HD guy accosted me (in a friendly way) to tell me they were running some sort of special on kitchen cabinet refacing. Paint can also work wonders; that was our solution to old and battered looking cabinets in the townhouse -- painted and stenciled to go with the new linoleum, and the new owner really liked it. LOL He didn't know about the damaged doors that had been fixed with wood putty before painting!

Jim walked into the bathroom last night wearing Duke blue (we got trounced, sniffle sob), and we realized another reason the color had appealed to me... yep, sure enough, it's Duke Blue! All I knew for sure when I chose the color is that it wasn't Carolina blue, which would have been unforgivable. ;-) It won't look like "GO, DUKE!" by the time I'm done adding beadboard and fish tiles, LOL. It's a very Caribbean hue. (I also realized when washing up my rollers that it's not unlike the color sported by Blue Man Group.)

RCN, nice to see you back. Of course, I knew you were busy working on something. You will be really happy with all of your improvements.

Critter, you are fearless when it comes to projects. Good for you. Please make sure that you teach that to Joyanna.

She's already pretty much fearless, LOL! I am having second thoughts about doing the vanity installation -- that's the physically difficult part of the job, and I just learned that a friend's brother is available to help (looking for side work). If he's willing to do just that bit, I can stick with the parts I think will be fun. Tile samples should be arriving today... one that I think will work for the bath, plus another that just might be the ticket in the kitchen... :-)

RC..glad you are back and sound sane after all the work you have done.. I know that kind of stuff can push me over the edge!!!.. can't wait to see photos

LOL, not sure about "sane"! It's bad enough when I start planning garden projects but THIS project has consumed me and my brain was ready to explode! Seems like it's been forever since the house has been in a normal state. Started in July with new floors in the living room and front entry - got everything back in order, then the tile floors in the kitchen upset everything again and NOW this :( Hopefully we can get everything accomplished that we need to within a month because planting starts the end of February! And then of course, the "garden" projects which have been on hold will have to be tackled :) There's still a lot of work to get pictures back on the walls, etc. but I'll post pictures as soon as I take some!

good luck finishing up!!!

Here's the picture area it's a little to the right as soon as you walk up the stairs from our foyer(we have a bi level)

Picture of the texturing I did.

I *love* the texturing, Jen! Is that the "crumpled plastic bag" technique, or something else?

I really wanted to do a textured effect in the dining room, but I tried several different treatments, and Jim thought it just looked like it badly needed another coat of paint. LOL (The texture worked just fine, and I liked it, but Jim likes flat coats of paint.)

That's really clever, to frame out an area for photos... little photo frames within can easily be changed out and rearranged. :-)

Jen that looks really nice. Beautiful job on the texturing and I love the framed out picture area. Holly