One Sixty: Stylistic Pricess

Stylistic Pricess

I just took the HGTV, What's Your Design Style Quiz. Would you believe they hit it right on the money? Eccectic with a touch of: hip! That is so true. I have always described my style as modern, yet comfortable and always original. My friend Amanda, when we were younger, once told me that I could be an interior designer. Now, I have my chance!

So let me tell you about one of my room designs.

The Mudroom - first room you walk into entering the house. (Look at Kamikazee, contemplating the laundry... or maybe he's just thinking about pooping in the litter box below, who knows.) The inspiration for this room came from an episode of Debbie Travis's Painted House. (One of my favs, by the way - weekdays at 12:30pm. I watch it while I eat lunch.) On the episode, Debbie designed a bathroom using a soft green faux finish and clean white wainscott. Well, I just thought that soft look was perfect for a mudroom/laundry room. I mean, what's better than coming home from a 14 hour day and walking into a soft, relaxing space? Plus - laundry, soft - they just go together so nicely.

I picked out the most gorgeous stacking washer/dryer from LG - the first company to have a cool one, not like these wanna bees that are everywhere now by the way. It fits so nicely in this nice big laundry closet Mike was kind enough to build to my specifications. Now, I know it's hard to imagine now, but to the right of the washer/dryer will be white cabinets - upper and lower - with a countertop in between for folding and ironing. (Litter box will move to the soon-to-be-basement.) Now, imagine crisp white bi-fold six panel closet doors to close in the laundry area when I don't feel like displaying it.

The paint I chose for the room combines a darker and a lighter shade of blue. (The two shades are not so far off - they're right next to each other on the paint swatch thingie.) I did a base coat of the darker color and, after mixing the lighter with some glaze, sponged it on using a sponge roller, hand sponges, and a cut off kitchen sponge for the corners. It turned out beautiful! Just the soft look I was looking for. Then, Mike helped me add wainscott, chair rail height around the room. (Chair rail trim itself soon to come.) I painted the wainscott white and also kept the ceiling primer white.

Now, as I've worked on this room, I've thought about the scheme more and more - relaxing, soft, serene - and the colors - blues and whites - I am reminded of Cape Cod in and of itself. The white of the sand, the blue of the ocean. Blue shutters on a white cottage. Feeling blue when you're white in the middle of traffic...

And then I saw that the Christmas Tree Shop (discount junk for nick-nack junkies like myself - Don't you just loooooove a bargain! doot doot doo!) had interesting Cape Coddy signs such as "Route 6A" and Cottage for Rent and etc etc. (Hmmm, an "Etc etc" sign. I should market that.) So now, I'm going to combine a couple of those signs with some enlarged photos I took while on my boat and put those on one wall. (Close up on the waves of the wake, beautiful sunset clouds, and interesting, modern techie close ups of the boat gages and the compass that look oh so moderna.)

I'll combine those with a comfy big blue chair (from IKEA, yet to be bought) and a old timey woven rug with like colors. The chair will sit under a hanging tiffany lamp in the corner next to a table for reading. On the other side of the room, I'll have a mudroom type drop off station with a bench for taking off shoes and wet beach towels. Colorful plants will bring a touch of nature and add interest to an otherwise totally blue/white room. And, for contrast, and keeping with the eccesiast in me, there will be an old army locker in the corner, painted with black blackboard paint. This will jive with the planters, which... when I get them, will also be painted in blackboard paint.

Blog Story

My now husband Mike and I purchased this quaint home back in spring of 2004 - our first home - and, being the handy folks we are, expected to have the entire thing renovated in about a year or so.

And here we still are... renovating away.

This house needed a complete overhaul. Its plaster walls were uninsulated, its attic floor covered in 2" of bat guano, its basement - dirt and snakes, its exterior - asbestos siding, and lead paint windows in every room. The electric had not been updated and light sockets hung bare from the ceiling. Plumbing featured cast iron radiators - and only one for the entire upstairs.

We began by gutting almost the entire house from top to bottom. (sans bathroom - we needed to pee) We rebuilt the entire upstairs, with a new floor (not new carpet or wood - the once unstable framing underneath) and turned 3 small rooms into two. We reinvented the downstairs by turning a closet into a hallway and eliminating interior exterior windows and doors from old half-assed additions.

New insulation, windows, electrical wiring (including phone and CAT-5 internet), plumbing and baseboards, and drywall were all added.

We purchased kitchen cabinets from a yard sale. (None existed previously.) Our families helped us replace and purchase new appliances including the once also missing washer & dryer.

Then we had the entire house lifted - straight into the air - dug out the dirt, and had a real basement foundation poured. We updated our oil tank and burner and created heating zones.

Outside, we took down trees and planted grass. We dug out an awkward hill to create a 2nd part to the driveway and used the rocks our house once sat on as a retaining wall. We electrified and repainted the garage.

And of course, we spent many an hour on finish work like paint, trim, closet doors, lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, curtain rods, dimmer switches, and many other things everyone else takes for granted. We are still working to complete all this final finishing, but happy to report that we are FINALLY nearing completion of all little things in all rooms!

In 2008 we began overhauling the exterior by creating a new french door entryway and building a farmer's porch and garage addition. We replaced our roof and then stripped off our siding and replaced with new clapboards. We then planted two new flowering trees and a maple in the front yard - our first major landscape purchases. I'm happy to report that here in 2011, the porch is nearing completion and the back yard is on the road to recovery with some new loam and grass. More plantings soon to come!

In 2012 we plan to attack the last MAJOR (emphasis on major) job in the house - the dreaded BATHROOM! We plan to first add a second bathroom in the basement. Then, demolish our current bathroom and rebuild it, adding a second bathroom on top for the upstairs.

And that pretty much brings you up to date. The battle continues day to day as we try and complete everything.