Saturday, May 9, 2009

Remodeling 101

As I am finishing up my bachelor's (about 1 year left) in Interior design (residential & commercial) our new house is finally going to have some major changes. The city we are in are sticklers about the outside as well as the insides of homes. I mean really who is going to see the inside except you and whomever decides to visit? So the conditions of the bathrooms have to change and really they need some help!

Bathroom one -- the first bathroom is on the top floor, a full bath and it looks like whomever built the house (oh yes folks it is original to the house which was built in the late 50's/ early 60's) decided bananas were an inspirational theme for color I am guessing. The tile is an ugly brown almost reddish in the hue. Along with that the bathtub is yellow. Luckily it is baby yellow vs big bird. In the many thoughts and ideas I have had in trying to work with this I have come to a conclusion. It just doesn't work and I hate it and it must go. Most of the time I try to work with what I have and make things appear much better than they really are when it comes to design. For awhile I thought hey if I bring a hint of green in this bathroom it can be a beachy bathroom, but really I hated that idea too. Then I thought of resurfacing the tub and tile (you can do this), with a different color, but then, we had a discovery which ended up being a pretty major thing. Whomever had done the tile in the first place did a piss poor job and didn't have enough grout behind the tile in the first place; tiles started popping off left and right. To me I took this as fate. This was almost too good to be true!! YAY I have an excuse to remodel!! ha ha!! Along w/ this fateful fact was the wall behind the tile. Ants have been eating the wall. uh oh. So we have alievated that issue now it is time to demo!! I am still deciding on colors but it will have a spa feel to it and for a tiny bathroom it is going to be an exciting challenge.

Bathroom 2 - Basement Bathroom. This bathroom is interesting to me because it is double the size of the upper floor bathroom. I wish it was the other way around and the upper floor bath was larger. What is hideous about the bathroom visually is the fact it looks like it met victorian vs the 70's. The colors were hardly as offensive as the lighting, horrid linoleum tiling and the sea shell sink (cannot believe they still make those). The colors are white and blue which I am going with in the redesign. Also the layout of this bathroom makes no sense. The shower can fit two people comfortably for the most part. However, the linen closet built in next to the shower makes no sense and should have been placed on the other side of the bathroom giving more space allotment for a larger shower, and overall a better planning of the space. People just don't think. So we are working with what we have as far as what is there already. The fun part of this remodel: the builders of this did the bathroom entirely wrong in the construction phase. The wall behind the tiling in the shower the builders didn't put in the right wall and now we are paying for it. We will have to completely gut this room and install new walls as the moisture spread through the walls. Mold is no joking matter and we as well as most folks are highly allergic to it.

I finished the story board for the basement bathroom as this is the one that will need more work. The remodel will include rebuilding the structure of the bathroom, fixing the plumbing and installing tile floors, new lighting, new cabinetry/vanity/sink as well as a shower surround, shower doors and painting, moulding, etc.

Ok now moving on..... The kitchen. horrible horrible kitchen!! I spend more time in this room than any in the house. It should be a cohesive space that is worth of the attention that it gets already and the heart of the home. Currently you just want to get in there, get what you need done and get the hell out. If you stay in there too long you find things to complain about. Paint is going to be an important role in this room. We have already done the walls but the cabinets need some help. Currently they are the cathedral type cabinets and I think a few coats of paint and a faux treatment will help. Along with that a new faucet would be a wonderful thing as well as new flooring. Once that is all done we will be on the right path. My mother found this wonderful faux tin ceiling tile that you place as a backsplash. Pretty ingenious! They sell them at home depot and you can pick them up pretty cheap. They come in the silver, brassy and copper colors.
I am sticking with earth tones in this room. The tiles I found are GORGEOUS!! They are coppery and almost look like a dark stone. We are doing large tiles in this room as it will make the space look larger than it is. I am going to paint the fridge with appliance paint (black) and the cabinetry will be an oatmeal glaze color. Fortunately the cabinetry has inserts where the inset is so they are removable, may consider glass later on --- will frost it. Am also looking at different lighting for the dining room. Found this great piece that reminded me of an old world feel. Will look great in the space. The faucet is bronze. Am looking at double- apron sinks in the future to replace the ugly steel inset sink that we currently have and a different cooktop and double-oven. The cooktop believe it or not is probably original to the house. It works well so for now we are keepin it. Eventually this stuff will be switched out with restaurant grade cooktops. The tiling in this room was not done correctly and tiles are lifting left and right or cracking from the lack of grout underneath them. The tile used was not the best choice -- if you drop something like a few drops of water it is like ice skating through the room.

This is where we are now -- finalizing the details of the remodel. The house is going to be INSANE for about 3 weeks. As we are in the midst of remodeling we will also be clearing out our garage. Figure while we have a huge trash bin rented out might as well get that done too. We are clearing out LOTS of stuff and will probably send some to craigslist, while others will be sent to charity. We have compiled a LOT of crap over the last few years. Time to clear it out.

Now if only I could clone myself a few times this would get done so much faster. Will post pics soon!!

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