I like the windows too and like driven thought PAINT! You can get a melamine paint that works well in a kitchen and will give it a face lift at the right price until you feel the time is right to do a more major job. And I also like the natural wood. It's also a lot easier to keep long term than paint around the windows.
Ann
This message was edited Feb 27, 2008 8:08 AM
Well water and gardening question
driven, I like to hear that word "potential"! It's definitely not the worst kitchen I've seen and in fact, I would go so far as to say it's in better shape than ours was when we moved into our current home, even if it is old. It's super clean, all the cupboards stay shut properly and the walls are in very good condition. Oh gosh, those hinges are hideous eh? I forget what they're called exactly but they sure give the kitchen a farm look and that might be an easy fix depending on how they're attached.
Ann, I think you're right with regards to the wood faring better over time than being painted. Okay, I'm not going to ruin the wood around the windows! I'm glad that I'm only having cosmetic issues to deal with here that are relatively minor and hearing other's thoughts really helps. I can't rely on DH to give me any input because all I get is "I dunno, what do you think?" I could paint the place neon green and he wouldn't notice, haha.
I'll have to show you all what the walls look like going up the stairs when I can get a good photo. Picture a grid of 12" x 12" squares made of dark wood. In those squares is textured wall paper which the realtor says is vincrusta. It's ancient, it has to be! I've never seen anything like this! I really had to look past a few things when making the decision to buy this house I tell ya, but then again, like you said driven, it's all about ones taste.
I met a lady who owns the quilting shop in Erin. She and I got to talking and it turns out her house could be a twin to the one we're buying. She said she was looking at the paper a few months back and saw the for sale ad and thought someone listed her house!! Too funny.
Erynne
it's all in the eyes, Erynne!
I have to chuckle at the 'sell your home' shows on TV now... they get designers in are remake the space. A bit of decorating and everyone goes bananas over the 'new look' of the same space. Everything does look amazing (and I wish they would come and 'do' my spaces, lol)
You just have to see the bare bones under the paint, see your own furniture in the space.... and sometimes it's hard to do, to see what's not there, but what COULD be there.....
the hinges are utilitarian, 'barn door' and gate hinges, not to everyones' taste, but they work.
A few dollars and a few hours would have different hinges on the cabinets. Wood putty the screwholes, and paint over and instant facelift....
You have nice windows, and I'd be tempted to bring a bit of the outside inside... play up the greens from outside... white cabinets, pale green walls, quiet pewter hardware......... a 'hosta' theme if you will.....
I'd love to have a kitchen like yours!......
Oooo, that sounds nice how you describe it, driven, ('tho I'd go with the loud pewter hardware, myself...LOL)
I don't have a knack for decorating at all. I have a friend with a gift for looking at something and coming up with some interesting ideas. I have to literally pour through magazines until I see something I like. Erynne, it's a lovely bright kitchen. What colour are the counters and backsplash?
Sandy
driven, those shows crack me up sometimes but I do watch them to pick out certain tips and ideas. On occasion, I feel they've made the space look worse! I do think that many potential buyers out there lack the ability to see what a home can be. I think they start adding the to-dos as they tour a home in their heads (that will have to be painted, that border will have to come down, that linoleum will have to come out, blah blah) and they walk out thinking it's too much. But geez, get past the cosmetics already eh!
We knew that in order to sell our home, we would have to reno the kitchen....no question. My current home sat on the market for 1 yr before we bought and I just know that the kitchen was the problem. So we plugged in $15k to bring it up to date, make it open concept to give the feel of more space and bingo, the house sold for $50k more than what we paid for it 2.5 yrs ago. I'd say we also spent $5k on the basement, paint throughout and landscaping combined. Considering houses don't increase much in value in my area, I think we did pretty good......people don't relish the idea of living next door to Pearson International and Go Train lines.
Now I like the idea of "quiet" pewter hardware driven, but Sandy up there is a wild one...watch out, haha.
Sandy, the counter top is cream but DH calls it beige. The backsplash is ecru with beige design in it but to me it is 1970's style. The kitchen is 23 feet long by almost 14 feet wide.
As an aside, here is what my kitchen used to look like in my current home (no wonder nobody wanted to live here):
Here's what I had the contractors do to bring it up to date. Small but modern and functional.
WOW, Erynne, from what I see there, you will have no trouble with the new kitchen in the new house!
very nice!
I love those colours! So comfortable. Earthy. You have great taste, Erynne. Wow, I'd better update my kitchen before avocado comes back! lol The black appliances definitely work with that colour scheme.
Sandy
Those TV shows aren't all they are cracked up to be. They did a gardening one at a neighbour - 2 houses away (for US HGTV), last summer. They DID get rid of an overgrown cedar hedge which was probably worth it right there. But they piled a lot of Hostas in too small a place. They aren't labelled, but I can tell some are gonna get way too big. They built a wooden walkway over the existing outdoor step which the owners had to have redone because it was high, they wouldn't be able to open the outer door in winter if there was snow on it and the drainage was all wrong. Looked nice, but .... And I heard from another neighbour that some of those things they actually charge you for in the end or take away after the filming is done.
Ann
Oh Erynne..Congrats on selling your old home. I'll bet that kitchen redo helped a lot ....so nice.
I agree about the hinges in the new house....they need to go..they just jumped out at me..and then you could just paint the cupboards.
I like the natural wood..it ties in with the floor.
Please keep us updated ..
Would love to see where the well is inside the house..interesting.
Cheers,
Carol
Thanks! I was very happy with the way the kitchen turned out because it took me hours to think about every aspect and how it would tie together. I have to admit, I was a little worried that the darker colours would make it look smaller but no so in the end.
Ann, I can't believe they actually take stuff away after filming! I can understand the owner's paying something towards the costs but geez. I think you should go help with your neighbour's hosta problem by telling them they need to give you some so there's room for the others to grow ;)
Carol, for real those hinges were the first thing that hit my eyes when I looked at that kitchen. It reminds of those black spaces you see when someone smiles and they're missing teeth!
The well is in the mudroom! The lid is made of the same concrete as the floor and it takes two adult males to lift it! I know this because it took both DH and the inspector to lift this sucker....that makes me at ease knowing the kids can't lift it if they got nosey.
Here's the mudroom....screaming red, sigh. Some might like red and in certain situations it looks great, but this is not me. There is an area off the mudroom (not shown) that is a well-lit storage room but I have a feeling it's going to be converted to something else....insert evil grin here.
Wow...that is the prettiest mudroom I have ever seen....
you can always paint it a different colour when you have time.
Good thing about the well cover being too heavy to move easily..
That's a great size for a mud room. All sorts of things you can do with that.
I've told the neighbour with the Hostas that she needs to move them into a wasted area under some evergreens. Might help her this spring. Maybe they will just sort of come apart when they are being transplanted. LOL But first she's got to get some dirt there.
The other neighbour who told me the things about those shows was on Junk Brothers. Apparently it was all a plant. The junk they picked up from her curb and returned to her after transforming it wasn't even hers. I think she had an option to buy it and I don't remember what she did.
And I agree with different hinges as well as paint. What fun to plan what you will do with the new house.
Ann
Erynne, You might want to have a look at material used to make your kitchen cupboards. If they are real wood -instead of junque pressed wood or plywood, you might want to strip down a bit on the inside of one. You might have wide pine oer maple or cherry. Check before you dcide to repaint. You might decide to strip back to the wood.
Just my idea. Your kitchen is really lovely - spacewise. Wonder which wall the wood stove chimney is/was in??? Wonderful windows.
Painting the ceiling would be my very last thing. I'd live with it for awhile. You might not want to paint it.. Will have to go back and look at the floor covering.
Wonder if the well is inside the mudroom because maybe the mudroom was built on later. Are the laundry cx in the mudroom?
inanda aka .......
Re: Junk Brothers.....I KNEW it! That show seems so phoney! And those guys are immensely annoying....they're so corny!
Inanda, I am curious to know what kind of wood is underneath paint as well. I thought of taking the paint off but it depends on my mood when the time comes....sometimes I'm gungho to work and sometimes laziness prevails and I'd rather pay the bucks to have it changed. I'm not rich though,lol.
The original chimney is over the living room which makes me think that this house has been changed around somewhat.
The mudroom is indeed an addition that was added on sometime in the early seventies. How do I know this? I hunted down old surveys and noted that the shape & measurements of the structure changed from one survey to the next. Also, there used to be a pool that was noted on the old survey. I've seen about 4 surveys of the property now and one thing that is very consistent is the size of the lot, where the house is and where the drive shed is. I also dug around to find out what family would've originally lived there. I'm incredibly nosey when it comes to these kind of things,lol.
Erynne
I'm nosey too, did you find anything interesting about the original family?
Sandy
Hi Sandy,
I didn't find out anything extraordinary about this family, except that they were Latter Day Saints, they had three children, the father worked 70+ hours a week and they were farmers. The mother's name was May Lily and one of their daughter's was Lily May. Also, they were of English descent.
The buyer of my current home had the inspection on Friday night and there were a few minor issues as there are with every home. I have admit, I was on pins and needles wondering what the inspector would find but as we've heard, the house is solid. We have a gas fireplace that we've never used since we've been here as it was not necessary. But these buyers want it hooked up for when they move in. If that's all they wanted as a result of the inspection, I say we're pretty lucky!
So now, DH will start packing our "unnecessaries" as he calls them and I'll start weeding out more items for the Goodwill or the Diabetes Association. The less to move, the better.
I took an inventory of my empty plastic pots and will without a doubt need more bigger ones for when I move everything. I've got a ton of 4 inch pots but that's not going to cut it for those bigger root systems. Moving all these plants is going to be a massive PITA!
Erynne
Erynne,
Be careful that 'being hooked up' doesn't mean relining the chimney with new pipes to 'bring it up to code"/ That will cost you a packet.
G - just a warning.
Duly noted...thanks Inanda.
I just realized something....I'm going to be in zone 5a now! I'm on the cusp of 5b/6a currently. Oh well, not that much diff I guess.