Decorating the New House
kdhu...@my-dejanews.com
redecorate your old one, throw out some really cool ideas for decorating that
you have come up with. Since we are all trying to "get settled" in new homes
or will be soon, I thought I would start a thread on this subject. Anyone
like to share something really cool about your new house? Color scheme,
landscaping, anything. Any cool products you have discovered? What syle are
you looking at? Contemporary, Country, Traditional?
I'll go first. My husband does not like flowers or pink. He will tolerate a
little, but our bedroom is done in blue and yellow with gingham sheets. That
is even pushing it. Our bedspread is denim. Does anyone else have such an
anti-feminine husband as mine? We love to work in the yard so we try to make
our yard look nice. Our dishes are solid hunter green, so that is what color
our kitchen is. I got to do the guest bedroom in Hunter green and pink (our
wedding colors -- also my favorie). He really didn't mind that. I am just
afraid when we get ready to get living room furniture (right now our
furniture is from college, and it is mostly dark brown -- yuck!!! with wagon
wheel type things on it), we will not agree on color or pattern. I like
pastel floral. I know we will have to compromise. I don't mind a
bright-colored plaid, but that is not necessarily my first choice. We have
agreed on a country style and have seen things we like, but that is all. I
want something lighter, but he is afraid it will get dirty when we eventually
have kids. I love the color peach! We have already picked out dining room
furniture, but that will have to wait quite a while.
The coolest thing about our house is that it has a loft with a spiral
staircase going up to it. I am currently sitting in the loft! :)
Kelli
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HollyLewis
>or will be soon,
You mean there are people who haven't lived together for ages already when they
get married? Oh, sorry, that's a different thread. ;-)
>My husband does not like flowers or pink. [clip]
. Does anyone else have such an
>anti-feminine husband as mine?
Anti-flowers and anti-pink is not limited to those of the masculine persuasion.
I personally cannot STAND pink (probably because I'm a redhead, so I can't
wear it), and I really am not fond of floral motifs in home decor.
Everything we have is very modern, clean-lined, and predominantly blue and
green. Cobalt blue and forest green in the kitchen and living room, pastel
teal/minty green and pale slate blue in the bathroom. With a variety of warm
brown/orange/gold type shades mixed in, like the Southwestern pattern of the
futon cover. Ken really prefers strong bright or dark colors exclusively,
while my color tastes are a little more varied, but both of us prefer plaids or
geometric designs or solid colors to anything floral or watercolorish.
Fortunately we did not have any violent style disagreements and most of what we
had when we moved into a joint home went together pretty well. Our only
problem is that Ken tends to like things really spare, while I prefer to cram
every available space with furniture, artwork, books, etc. Our house is small
enough that I win for now. It'll be interesting to see what happens once we
get a bigger place. We joke that we'll have to set aside one completely empty
room with totally bare walls for Ken to retreat to occasionally. :-)
Holly
Robin Futrell
> anti-feminine husband as mine?
Hmm...does it count if we're *both* as anti-feminine as you are? =)
--
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Robin Futrell
(futons and used couches) to "real" furniture? It's so exciting!
A month or so ago we spent the day looking at furniture, and it was
horribly disappointing. We live in South Western Virginia, so there
isn't a lot in the way of selection. We went to the two furniture
places in town, and were sorely disappointed. We couldn't fine
*anything* we liked, even *out* of our price range! We like simple,
quality stuff, and *not* veneer. Everything we saw was decorated
veneer!
So then we wandered over to the mall and the unfinished furniture store,
and fell in love. Almost all of their stuff is solid wood, and you get
to finish it yourself (they do it for a fee) so you get exactly the
finishes you want. We've already ordered a corner cabinet, and are
looking at a really neat coffee table. We eat dinner on the couch
(we've sworn we will never let the hypothetical future children know we
used to eat dinner of the couch ever night!) and this coffee table has a
top that lift up to form a table. Now all we need is a dresser, a T.V.
stand, ...
Amy
>For anyone who has a new house (or apartment), or if you have just decided to
>redecorate your old one, throw out some really cool ideas for decorating that
>you have come up with. Since we are all trying to "get settled" in new homes
>or will be soon, I thought I would start a thread on this subject. Anyone
>like to share something really cool about your new house? Color scheme,
>landscaping, anything. Any cool products you have discovered? What syle are
>you looking at? Contemporary, Country, Traditional?
We have an ecclectic look right now. Our living room has
cranberry/hunter/navy/gold plaid couch, dining room is semi-formal,
computer room has a light feeling, bedroom is country-ish, spare room
floral.
Cool products: Krylon "make it stone" spray stuff. You can make old
lamp bases look MUCH better. You can use this stuff on lots of
things!
Another Cool Product: Dirt Devil hand vacuum! This thing is amazing!
Our couch gets vacuumed all the time because of the dogs and this
thing sucks the hair up in no time!
Not so great product: Dirt Devil broom vac. I don't like mine! I
think it goes in next year's yard sale!
Great idea: Check out prints at Michael's. I got some great Anne
Geddes prints for my bathroom that everybody loves.
Color: never in a MILLION years would I have even DREAMED of painting
a bathroom teal, but the house we bought had a teal bathroom that I
love! Everybody else loves this color, too.
>
>I'll go first. My husband does not like flowers or pink. He will tolerate a
>little, but our bedroom is done in blue and yellow with gingham sheets. That
>is even pushing it. Our bedspread is denim. Does anyone else have such an
>anti-feminine husband as mine? We love to work in the yard so we try to make
>our yard look nice. Our dishes are solid hunter green, so that is what color
>our kitchen is. I got to do the guest bedroom in Hunter green and pink (our
>wedding colors -- also my favorie). He really didn't mind that. I am just
>afraid when we get ready to get living room furniture (right now our
>furniture is from college, and it is mostly dark brown -- yuck!!! with wagon
>wheel type things on it), we will not agree on color or pattern. I like
>pastel floral. I know we will have to compromise. I don't mind a
>bright-colored plaid, but that is not necessarily my first choice. We have
>agreed on a country style and have seen things we like, but that is all. I
>want something lighter, but he is afraid it will get dirty when we eventually
>have kids. I love the color peach! We have already picked out dining room
>furniture, but that will have to wait quite a while.
Picking out furniture together can be a pain! Robert and I would find
stuff that we liked but the other didn't. Finally we saw my aunt's
couch and knew we wanted something similar. That really helped us
narrow down ideas! As for furniture color, I would be wary of light
colors, but now I've learned something about darks, too. My
devil-dogs get hair all over my couch that is very visible! I have
to vacuum constantly! Also carefully consider the type of fabric
upholstery you get on furniture. I've only had my furniture for 6 1/2
months and there are some fuzzies on my couch!
If y'all need any links to great decorating sites, check out the
"living" section of my home page. I have some pretty good links
there!
>
>Kelli
>
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Amy
Please check out my website at:
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/ridge/7589/index.html
NOTE: I just wanted to pass on some advice to people considering
purchasing a computer through mail-order. Do NOT buy one from
Royal Computer Inc out of City of Industry, CA. I recently did
and had an awful experience. I tried numerous times to get in
touch with them regarding my faulty computer and didn't get a
response until we sent an email stating that we were considering
contacting an attorney. I just wanted to pass this information on
so nobody else would have to deal with the same mess we've dealt with.
kdhu...@my-dejanews.com
> >My husband does not like flowers or pink. [clip]
> . Does anyone else have such an
> >anti-feminine husband as mine?
>
> Anti-flowers and anti-pink is not limited to those of the masculine
persuasion.
> I personally cannot STAND pink (probably because I'm a redhead, so I can't
> wear it), and I really am not fond of floral motifs in home decor.
I guess I didn't consider that. I am not an extremely "flowery" person, but
I would like a few feminine elements in our house. I guess I haven't done
too bad. I don't like pastel pink. I like more of a rose or mauve color. I
want to add blue to our hunter green kitchen as well, but he doesn't ever
really care when I ask about these things. I just think green by itself is
so boring. Our dining room will be navy when we actually decorate it. Our
bathroom is hunter and rose and th guest bath is jade and peach. Those
colors are not terrible. I just feel like we have way too much plaid in our
house. We need a change of pace. Floral would break up the pattern. Or
stripes!
minn...@my-dejanews.com
We did the same thing! I've stained a small 5-drawer dresser, a corner
entertainment cabinet, and a huge armoire since we moved in together. I also
bought a Duncan Phyffe-style mahogany dining table for $100, a narrow china
cabinet to "match" for $85 and a bachelor's wardrobe for $125 (I think -
can't remember now). Each piece was in great condition, so no work required.
All were found at antique stores. They aren't really "valuable" antiques,
but they are funtional and pretty, so who cares? My only problem was finding
chairs to match the table - got lucky finally (on the day our first dinner
guests were coming!) on a set of six mahogany ones with harp backs and
burgandy needlepoint cushions for $550. We still have the futon, but Joe got
a wild hair to spend money (bluntly, he's cheap!) this past weekend, so we
ordered two really neat chairs for the living room from this wholesale
furniture store (they sell Broyhill, Lane, Craftmaster, etc. for 1/2 off list
everyday). The chairs will actually work well with the futon, thank
goodness. We just have a one-bedroom place now, so the futon is necessary if
we want to have guests and I've never found a sleeper sofa that was really
comfy...
-Tara
Chris or Heidi Thurtle
>
> For anyone who has a new house (or apartment), or if you have just decided to
> redecorate your old one, throw out some really cool ideas for decorating that
> you have come up with. Since we are all trying to "get settled" in new homes
> or will be soon, I thought I would start a thread on this subject. Anyone
> like to share something really cool about your new house? Color scheme,
> landscaping, anything. Any cool products you have discovered? What syle are
> you looking at? Contemporary, Country, Traditional?
>
> little, but our bedroom is done in blue and yellow with gingham sheets. That
> is even pushing it. Our bedspread is denim. Does anyone else have such an
> anti-feminine husband as mine? We love to work in the yard so we try to make
> our yard look nice. Our dishes are solid hunter green, so that is what color
> our kitchen is. I got to do the guest bedroom in Hunter green and pink (our
> wedding colors -- also my favorie). He really didn't mind that. I am just
> afraid when we get ready to get living room furniture (right now our
> furniture is from college, and it is mostly dark brown -- yuck!!! with wagon
> wheel type things on it), we will not agree on color or pattern. I like
> pastel floral. I know we will have to compromise. I don't mind a
> bright-colored plaid, but that is not necessarily my first choice. We have
> agreed on a country style and have seen things we like, but that is all. I
> want something lighter, but he is afraid it will get dirty when we eventually
> have kids. I love the color peach! We have already picked out dining room
> furniture, but that will have to wait quite a while.
>
> staircase going up to it. I am currently sitting in the loft! :)
>
> Kelli
>
It is funny you brought this up!! Chris has JUST last night decided the
color scheme for our bedroom. The carpet is blue. The colors are
Rasperry Parfait (accent color - light rose color) Teal Passion (very
pale greeny color.....the walls will be this color) and the blue color
which I cant remember the name of now as an accent color!
I cant wait to decorate!!!!
We just did the spare bedroom up this weekend....it has lavender walls
and a flowery border on top......very nice....very martha stewart!
Heidi =) (marrying Chris in 10 days)!!!
--
Go check out my K1 Visa Homepage at
http://www.angelfire.com/ny/heidichris/index.html
"All you need is love" - The Beatles
Wende Vyborney
>
> Anybody else just now making "the big jump" from college furniture
> (futons and used couches) to "real" furniture? It's so exciting!
Phil was, even though he's older and has been on his own longer! I
finally persuaded him to sell the Gargantuan Sofas someone had donated
to him (much appreciated by a nice young couple who moved out here from
Nevada with no furniture) and we have been scouring antique stores and
flea markets for high-quality old furniture.
I convinced him of the wisdom of this method when I told him I'd find a
dining room set for under $500 (the blasted things are $3,000 at
Gabberts, and too big in scale for our apartment) -- he scoffed -- two
weeks later, he was writing a check for $400 (Duncan Phyfe mahogany
repro from mid-century, both leaves, all the pads, perfect condition
before the cat got on it, upholstery on the chairs goes with the planned
color scheme). I've been bargain-hunting amidst old furniture since I
was 10 and briefly worked for an antique dealer -- this is fun and easy!
It's very weird to see actual furniture where once there were vast,
dusty spaces, though...
Wende
Sandi Rollins
Robin Futrell <rfut...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
>Anybody else just now making "the big jump" from college furniture
>(futons and used couches) to "real" furniture? It's so exciting!
Argh! I wish, Robin!
We bought our house together 6 years ago; since we moved in, we've
re-done the bathroom (blue and white paint, new toilet, sink, counter,
floor, lights, fan, medicine cabinet!); added new window blinds
to the dining room and bedrooms (BIG difference!); and bought new
dining room chairs, a sofabed, and a loveseat.
We *really* need new bedroom furniture; we're still using a pine
dresser I've had since I was 17, a nightstand I've had since I was 6,
and a bureau Dave's had since he was 8. Mismatched, broken down, ugly.
Our problem? we really like contemporary furniture. Italian or Scandinavian.
Cherry wood, or maple. Or older Deco stuff, like Heyman-Wakefield.
And it's *expensive.* Our dining chairs (for which I searched for 2 years)
cost $165 each. They're well-made, easy to re-cover, and comfortable.
The bedroom set we finally found? $7000!!! for a bed, 2 nightstands,
and armoire, a dresser w/mirror.
So we're trying to set aside money in the furniture fund, but it'll
probably be another couple of years before we can pay cash for it. :^(
>A month or so ago we spent the day looking at furniture, and it was
>horribly disappointing. We live in South Western Virginia, so there
>isn't a lot in the way of selection. We went to the two furniture
>places in town, and were sorely disappointed. We couldn't fine
>*anything* we liked, even *out* of our price range! We like simple,
>quality stuff, and *not* veneer. Everything we saw was decorated
>veneer!
Amen! Since you're on the East Coast, you guys should take a weekend
trip to High Point, NC. It's where 80% of the US furniture is made,
and they have wholesale showrooms open to the public. If you lurk
on misc.consumers.house they have a Furniture FAQ that explains the
process. (Or you could check DejaNews). People who have done it this
way say that they're saving 30% or so, even with shipping charges.
Dave and I have talked about flying out to NC for a long weekend at
some point; however, we're not sure we could find our preferred style,
since we seem to be freaks in our taste. (And Holly, as usual we agree!
No pinks, florals, etc. In fact, or couches are a dark green with pinstripes
of yellow, red black, blue showing through -- very cool).
>So then we wandered over to the mall and the unfinished furniture store,
>and fell in love. Almost all of their stuff is solid wood, and you get
>to finish it yourself (they do it for a fee) so you get exactly the
>finishes you want. We've already ordered a corner cabinet, and are
>looking at a really neat coffee table. We eat dinner on the couch
>(we've sworn we will never let the hypothetical future children know we
>used to eat dinner of the couch ever night!) and this coffee table has a
>top that lift up to form a table. Now all we need is a dresser, a T.V.
>stand, ...
LOL! We'd be willing to try this, except the stuff that makes our
hearts palpitate typically has round fronts -- very hard to find.
If anyone knows of a manufacturer that makes furniture (especially
rounded front dressers, armoires, nightstands) like this, let us know!
Sandi
BPevler
my prized possessions is a 250 year old cedar chest. I almost had a heart
attack when my husband's cat decided to sharpen his claws on the side of it!
Now I have a 250 year old cedar chest with two paws full of scratches down the
left side. Danni is not permitted in the bedroom again until he is declawed,
which causes some controversy because Sammi has no claws and curls up on the
foot of the bed. IS that cruel? I did not know what else to do when he is
destroying things like that. this is the only furniture he has ever done this
to.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
'''''''''''''''''Go Away!! Can't you see I am flossing my Toes?.....Ren
kdhu...@my-dejanews.com
> > So then we wandered over to the mall and the unfinished furniture store,
> > and fell in love.
We did this too. What is soooo cool is that when you finish it together, it
is really a "bonding" (not the word I was looking for, but it gets the point
across) experience. We had a blast doing ours. Our kitchen table was
unfinished as well as a wardrobe in our guest bedroom and a bookshelf in the
living room. We like a light finish, so we love choosing it ourselves. We
have also laid ceramic tile in our new house ourselves. If you plan on doing
this, just think about how much fun you are having. It was hard work, but we
really had a lot of fun doing that as well. My husband and I really like
doing things together, like finishing furniture, working in the yard, etc...
Kelli
kdhu...@my-dejanews.com
> It is funny you brought this up!! Chris has JUST last night decided the
> color scheme for our bedroom. The carpet is blue. The colors are
> Rasperry Parfait (accent color - light rose color) Teal Passion (very
> pale greeny color.....the walls will be this color) and the blue color
> which I cant remember the name of now as an accent color!
My room at home was those colors. Same color walls, with white trim, though.
My husband would never go for it. Too "girly" I'm kind of sick of it now,
too. We are afraid to paint the walls any color that is not neutral because
of resale, even though we don't plan on moving again any time soon. Our
bedroom and bathroom share some walls because the bathroom is kind of open,
and since we don't have the same colors in our bedroom and bathroom, it is
hard to paint the walls. I would like to paint them pale yellow, but that
just would not look right with the bathroom. I guess we will keep white
walls for now, and maybe add a border later. I wanted the bath to be the
same colors as the bedroom, but he didn't, so we compromised. We can't
change now because we have all the towels, rugs, shower curtain, and
accesories that match. Maybe someday when we have a third bathroom.
Robin Futrell
your friendly neighborhood vet or animal shelter.
That said, in this particular situation:
Do the cats have scratching posts? Cats with claws have to scratch *somewhere*,
they have to remove the sheaths off of their claws. If they're indoor cats (and
since you're declawing them, I assume they are) this means it's the carpet, the
couch, or the chest. *Get a scratching post* Get two! Fiji (our cat) has a "cat
tree" I made her, a commercial scratching post, and no desire to scratch the
furniture.
BPevler wrote:
--
SupareX
couple of the best buys we found.
1) a 3-drawer chest: found at an auction and paid $4.00 for it. It's great
when you can last until the end of an auction and pick up the really great
bargains! I painted it black and the faces of the drawers taupe and it now
sits in the breakfast area and holds table linens, candles, and playing cards.
My kitchen is black and taupe (not my choice, but the house came that way and
it works better than I ever imagined!)
2) a white faux leather chair, 50's-60's style: also found at auction. There
were two chairs on the auction block and I wanted the low, skirted dressing
chair to go with an antique dressing table I've had and planned to put in one
of the guest rooms. When I was the highest bidder at $7.00, I thought I was
going to be able to take my choice of the two. Instead, I found out I got
*both* for $7.00. We didn't want the white chair and were just going to leave
it at the auction house for them to auction next week, but we managed to get it
in the car along with the other one. Turns out, this is one of the most
comfortable chairs in the house! We put it in Andy's office.
3) unfinished furniture mart: some of you have already extolled the virtues of
unfinished furniture. We ended up getting a futon (in Andy's office) a gun
cabinet (also in the office), bar stools (kitchen). We also fell in love with
the rocking chairs and plan to get them next spring so we can enjoy our front
porch more.
For those of you who are waiting for a good deal on furniture--shop around and
find the 6mo. or 1 yr. no payment-no finance charge deals. We purchased all of
our living room and dining room furniture that way, plus we got a good price on
washer and dryer from Sears with the 6 mo. no pay/ no fin deal. Even though we
had most of the money for those things already (see other post about
inheiritance) we were able to keep it in the bank a bit longer and draw
interest off that rather than pay the interest to the furniture company.
Now if I can just find drapes to go with the new rug in the dining room . . .
koa
Madison, AL
(married Andy on October 25, 1997)
Jeanne Petrangelo
BPevler wrote:
> We have antique everything..even the old Victorian loveseats and such. One of
> my prized possessions is a 250 year old cedar chest. I almost had a heart
> attack when my husband's cat decided to sharpen his claws on the side of it!
> Now I have a 250 year old cedar chest with two paws full of scratches down the
> left side.
One nice thing about real wood is that you can fix things like this fairly easily.
My husband gave me a book last Christmas called "The Weekend Refinisher" by Bruce
Johnson, and I've found it extremely informative and well written. One thing I've
found in this book is steps on how to restore and old finish - this is /not/
replacing the finish, which involves stripping the furniture and lots of other
stuff (of course, if you want to refinish the book'll tell you how to do that too).
This book also has great advice for selecting a quality restorer or refinisher,
should you choose to pay someone, and lots of information on how to fix more minor
damage like dents and water marks. The book also tells how to create a workshop
space, even if you can only use a temporary space like a kitchen. I tell my husband
I just like the book because it has a picture of a cute guy on the cover. ;-)
My husband gave me that book as a companion gift to an antique vanity and bench
that had wood in great condition but the finish was trashed. This vanity is
mahogany with a mouth- watering patina, has drawers, and a mirror several times
larger than the ones in the stores today, and he got it for less than the sale
price of the fake veneered stuff in the discount stores! I had a lot of fun
refinishing it, and it looks great.
Jeanne Petrangelo
Jeanne Petrangelo
> I'll go first. My husband does not like flowers or pink. He will tolerate a
> little, but our bedroom is done in blue and yellow with gingham sheets. That
> is even pushing it. Our bedspread is denim. Does anyone else have such an
> anti-feminine husband as mine?
Give him time, and he may surprise you. My husband has surprised me a lot
recently. He used to voice strong opinions against soft, feminine colors, and
scoffed at floral wallpapers in houses we were looking at buying. Sometimes I
felt like I'd like to just go ahead and get what I want and he'll just have to
/deal/ with it, but it's fleeting... in reality, the house is Our house and
reflects Us. The surprises came when actually making big decisions about things
like the living room furniture. We settled on a fabric with flowers in the
pattern, and he liked it best (we selected the sofa and loveseat locally and
ordered from a store in High Point, NC - even with delivery to New England we
still saved over 20%).
Then we needed side tables... we found a furniture factory just 15 minutes away
from home that had what we wanted - high quality solid wood, high quality
craftsmanship, traditional styles, the stain color of our choice - for less than
the worse furniture at the discount stores! After we got them, /he/ is the one
who said we need doilies!
I think he really likes what he grew up with, and his mom has always decorated
their house. He doesn't like "girlie" things, but he does want a certain amount
of traditional coziness. Since I don't particulary like pink and lace and frills
either, we find enough middle ground.
The place we thought we'd have the hardest time is in choosing wood. I prefer
traditional and dark wood - mahogany or cherry - in Queen Anne or Chippendale
styles. He prefers a simpler country look, with turned legs in oak. It ended up
that the bedroom is cherry and mahogany, and the living room is oak - in a darker
stain and nice refined brass hardware but still traditional country. I remember
when I told mom over the phone about our different furniture tastes, and she
said, "Just don't get divorced over it!" I did a silent double-take, then asked
her what she was talking about. She said she'd heard of a neighboring couple who
couldn't decide on the furniture so they got divorced. I calmly replied that
there was probably a lot more to it than the furniture, and wondered how she
could believe it so seriously.
We've been in our house almost two years now, and we haven't done much to
redecorate it. The existing decoration is kind of neutral, and it's okay to live
with. We might get more done when I'm not taking grad classes.
Jeanne Petrangelo
Kellie Whitehurst Gaines
stripes and solids to break the flowers up a bit.
In our current house, our bedroom has a tapestry comforter with the colors of
cream, taupe, hunter, purple and mauve, accents are ivory Battenburg lace,
towels are dark hunter green and cream. We have dark hunter green carpet
throughout the house, so it's sort of the running theme. The guest
room/Mark'soffice/computer room has a quilt that has lighter pastels and the
accents are white Battenburg lace. The guest bath is really interesting - the
walls are redwood! It feels like a cabin =) Because of the pink tile, we
really had no other choice but to incorporate pink into the color scheme, so
it's mauve-y pink, dark periwinkle blue, lemon yellow and white. The living
room has a hunter green floral slipcover, and chairs have an ivory tapestry
slipcover (lots of solid pillows on both). Hunter and cream checkerboard throw
rug. Dining room chairs have tapestry upholstery which is similar to the
bedroom but more hunter. Kitchen is hunter, navy and burgundy.
I'm really lucky that Mark actually likes hunter green (otherwise the whole
house would be blue - the only other color he likes).
We are getting ready to buy a new house (should find out today if we got it!).
The whole house right now has silvery-blue carpet and white walls. Guess
what's going to be replaced immediately? (Bonus points if you guessed both).
I've waited my whole life to be able to hang wallpaper and have non-white
walls. The flooring will mostly be Pergo (wood floors), only the bedrooms
and family room will have carpet. The kitchen and our bedroom will stay the
same colors. The master bath will be all green and white (I have a Jacuzzi tub
with white tile - space for plants!). The dining room and living room will be
in hunter green, the family room will be in navy blue, the guest bedroom
(downstairs) will be the celestial blue & gold and the bathroom will match.
Upstairs, Mark's office/computer room will probably be devoid of any color
theme except for oak and scattered paper. The 2nd guest room will have the
pastel quilt and the 2nd bathroom will match that. There is a pool outside and
most of the landscaping is in. I'm ripping the cactus garden out (giving it to
my grandmother and mom in Palm Springs) and will plant an English garden in
it's place. Mark gets the concrete BBQ space for his basketball half-court =)
I'd love to hear what everyone else is doing....
kellie
In article <6pm6vd$4k9$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>, kdhu...@my-dejanews.com says...
>
>
>
>> >My husband does not like flowers or pink. [clip]
>> . Does anyone else have such an
>> >anti-feminine husband as mine?
>>
>> Anti-flowers and anti-pink is not limited to those of the masculine
>persuasion.
>> I personally cannot STAND pink (probably because I'm a redhead, so I can't
>> wear it), and I really am not fond of floral motifs in home decor.
>
>I guess I didn't consider that. I am not an extremely "flowery" person, but
>I would like a few feminine elements in our house. I guess I haven't done
>too bad. I don't like pastel pink. I like more of a rose or mauve color. I
>want to add blue to our hunter green kitchen as well, but he doesn't ever
>really care when I ask about these things. I just think green by itself is
>so boring. Our dining room will be navy when we actually decorate it. Our
>bathroom is hunter and rose and th guest bath is jade and peach. Those
>colors are not terrible. I just feel like we have way too much plaid in our
>house. We need a change of pace. Floral would break up the pattern. Or
>stripes!
>
BPevler
*shrug*
Jessica and Christopher Bowen
>
>I'd love to hear what everyone else is doing....
When Chris and I bought our house, it was SOO ugly you could not believe it.
Ugly wallpaper in every room, puke brown shag carpet covering beautiful
hardwood floors, but the worst was the bathroom. Downstairs has mint green
fixtures (have you ever seen a mint green toilet) with bright yellow tiles and
horrible flowered metallic wallpaper. Actually, metallic wall paper was
popular throughout the whole house - and it's difficult to remove! Upstairs
bath took the cake - dark grey stick on tile linoleum, coral marble tile with
black borders, pink flowered paper and maroon, yes maroon fixtures. I can't
tell you how gross it was. We could only afford to redo one, do the mint
green lives on.
BTW, our kitchen had these horrible metal fake tiles that were coming off. We
picked off the rest, but were left with all the glue/cement/whatever hold the
tiles the the wall. (Martha Stewart I'm not.) I thought I'd pass on a great
thing we used. We covered the tiled area with white sheets of laminate. It
comes in big sheets and you get little plastic joints to hold the sheets
together. Worked miracles for us. I saw someone mention orange counter tops.
Well, ours are red which at first we hated, but now I love. I put up a wall
paper border with blue and white checks and apples. I have the apple motif
throughout the kitchen, and it ties in the red countertops.
Here's my decorating problem - can anyone help? My husband has this curtain
thing. He thinks the whole purpose of curtains is to prevent people from
seeing in. I think they're mostly for decoration. We can never agree on
curtains and the few rooms I have managed to hang curtains in, he's always
closing them. It's weird. I don't like blinds, but will put shades in the
bed and bathrooms. Has anyone else faced this?
Jessica
Sandi Rollins
Jessica and Christopher Bowen <fro...@popup.com> wrote:
>When Chris and I bought our house, it was SOO ugly you could not believe it.
>Ugly wallpaper in every room, puke brown shag carpet covering beautiful
>hardwood floors, but the worst was the bathroom. Downstairs has mint green
>fixtures (have you ever seen a mint green toilet) with bright yellow tiles and
>horrible flowered metallic wallpaper. Actually, metallic wall paper was
>popular throughout the whole house - and it's difficult to remove! Upstairs
>bath took the cake - dark grey stick on tile linoleum, coral marble tile with
>black borders, pink flowered paper and maroon, yes maroon fixtures. I can't
>tell you how gross it was. We could only afford to redo one, do the mint
>green lives on.
Jessica, maybe our house was done by the same decorator? I must admit,
yours sounds a bit worse, but our bathrooms (lemon yellow wall tile
or mint-green wall tile) and kitchen (orange and green linoleum with
yellow counter tile) sound pretty simliar.
We're working on it, but it takes time. we've been in the house
since late 1992, and we haven't done as much as I'd have liked, especially
in regards to updating the kitchen and the carpet.
FYI, you can refinish the fixtures. We refinished our tub about 4
years ago. Cost was $300 or so, and we have to use a spray cleaner (no
Comet or abrasives), but it sure beat replacing it! We did yank the
old toilet, sink, etc.
In the living room, I used a raw silk in off-white to cover the
mortar boxes that rest on top of the windows. They were three
different colors (in two adjoining rooms). Peach, blue and GREEN.
Our carpet is still in need of replacement; it's a grey-green. Awful,
but not as bad since we replaced the dining room chairs, the sofas,
and the window blinds. If you can get fabric, draping it on walls
or as swags over the windows might help break up some of the awful
color. (My advice: if you can't change it, *complement* it with something
that helps tone it down!)
>BTW, our kitchen had these horrible metal fake tiles that were coming off. We
>picked off the rest, but were left with all the glue/cement/whatever hold the
>tiles the the wall.
It's called mastic. And it's the cause of my home-improvement
nightmare. It's a wonder that Dave still talks to me. :^) We also
had the 40's style tile on our bathroom walls. (remember the mint green?)
So, after we'd been in the house a few months, my mom and I decided that
the bathroom was due for an overhaul, and popping off the tile was the
best way to do this. So we merrily popped our hearts out. Tiles
littered the floor. And then we tried to scrape off the mastic. Then
we tried to chisel. Then we tried chemicals. And then a heat gun.
Screwdrivers. Razors. Putty knives.....
Our final solution? We had to *cut* the walls out, and replace them
with sheetrock. the "simple" project of getting rid of the green
tiles ended up taking it right down to the studs. Since neither
of us will do a job half-assed, we did it right. Two years and nearly
$5,000 later, we had a lovely blue-and-white bathroom. Since we did
all the work ourselves, we know that similar remodels in our area
would likely have run closer to $15,000. Learn how to DIY, and save
a bundle.
>I thought I'd pass on a great
>thing we used. We covered the tiled area with white sheets of laminate. It
>comes in big sheets and you get little plastic joints to hold the sheets
>together. Worked miracles for us.
These work beautifully if your bathroom is close to square. We have lots
of weird angles and small walls leading to large walls. Lots of seams.
>Here's my decorating problem - can anyone help? My husband has this curtain
>thing. He thinks the whole purpose of curtains is to prevent people from
>seeing in. I think they're mostly for decoration. We can never agree on
>curtains and the few rooms I have managed to hang curtains in, he's always
>closing them. It's weird. I don't like blinds, but will put shades in the
>bed and bathrooms. Has anyone else faced this?
Yup. We live in a fairly urban area, and Dave dislikes having the
blinds open because he's always afraid of security issues. If you're
out in the middle of nowhere, can you agree to open them in the
morning, and close them in the afternoon? Or get the bottom-up
curtains, so that the lower half is covered for privacy, and the
upper half is unveiled for nice lighting?
Sandi