Once Upon a Time

Once upon a time a couple people moved into a new house. Their third new house in 3 years. They had looked high and low for a house that would suit them and Hubs sister. Although two master suits would have been nice in the long run we were lucky to find a house with one and room to experiment. This is a story about that experiment.

What started out as the "work shop", as it is labeled in on our house map that the previous owners left, has recently gone under a transformation. Previously it was a corner of the basement located under the kitchen. SIL lives in the basement. We thought this would be better then giving her a tiny room across the hall from us. So far it has worked out amazingly. But this corner of her floor was a typical cleaned up basement. It is where the original cabinets of the house had lived for some time. It also housed the water heater, water storage for the baseboard heating, and various other things along those lines.

When coming down the stairs the door on the right is one of two entries into the "work shop" and the soon to be door into the new bathroom.  the room runs the length of that white wall (between the brick pillars).

This is the other corner of the basement is is a 90 degree right turn from the previous picture. The pillar in the right hand side of the top  picture is the same pillar on the left side in this picture. These double closet doors lead to the same room. We kept these here since you would need a large door access to the guts of the house if they need replaced down the road. This is also where SIL keeps her bed and has PLENTY of room to spare not to mention the whole rest of the room.

The bathroom isn't finished but to to compare some before and after pictures. I had pictures of the frame process, but they were lost along with my phone mid summer. Hopefully these picture make since even though you can't see everything!

This is those double doors again. From this point of view the inside has not changed too much. Those base counters have been flipped around to face the wall they are currently on. We wanted to keep an area for utility work (clean paint brushes etc) and we also couldn't come up with a reason why would take up the entire corner, work around the heating/water and still have a functional bathroom that made since.

Before

After 1

After 2

The alcove in the after 2 is the area under the stairs in the before. The wall is directly next to it, wasting no space and has about a foot and a half mini wall making up the door way. That is a 60 inch shower surround in the after. It has the shower head coming out of the ceiling with the control knobs to the right of the surround. It is basically directly in line with with window in the before picture. The room does not go back the length of the room. We needed to get to the fuse box and plumbing in the far back corner of the before picture. If you look closely in the after 2 to the top right hand corner you can see a piece of wood hanging from the ceiling. This is a place holder for a sliding "barn door" that will section off the water closet part of the bathroom when needed.

I could not get an interesting picture at this angle if I tried at this point. I would need to stand in the shower and all you would see is a green wall and possibly a toilet. The toilet is located in the bottom right corner of this picture. Left of the door (the two toned wall) is now a closet that is waiting for doors.

 This picture is now also impossible. I would have to stand in the shower, look through a wall, see a vanity area, and look through another wall.

Not the same angle as the one above, but the right light is directly in front of the chimney and the open space for the mirror is the water tank area. The wood boards will be "floating shelves" just as soon as they are finished drying from being stained. This area is directly across from the opening to the water closet.

If you could see though walls from this point you would be able to see majority of the bathroom. You could see all of the vanity, the shower (blocking the window)), toilet (under the white cabinet), and the alcove under the stairs. You would only be missing the new closet directly across from the alcove.

 There are no before pictures of this angle because I never would have thought it was needed. The opening on the right will be a closet with many "french doors" that are being converted from a set of bi folds. this is the space between the hot water heater and the wall that apparently I have no pictures of.

Think of the entire bathroom as a large I. The bottom left is the alcove under the stairs that will get shelves eventually. The top left is the water closet that closes off with a barn door. The top right is a vanity with floating shelves and wall lighting. Concluding with the bottom right closet.

The tile, obviously, is what we used through out the house in all the revamps. Hope this give you a better understanding of the new lay out and how far it has come. Now, to go work on it more!

Kitchen Remodel!

Kitchen  started a remodel back in February. We are down to 3 things left. Caulk around surfaces/windows, putting a trim around one very old original door, and framing out a set of shelves. I know that sounds like a lot to be calling the remodel "finished" but seeing how it took so long to get to this point... I'll take it!

Before

After

The corner cabinet is at an angle were before there was just unused space. The dish washer moved to the other side of the sink (red and green lights). The "appliance garage" houses the toaster and waffle maker. The original plug in stayed there which is a perfect location! New sink, garbage disposal, and faucet. The cabinet to the left of the corner is a double pull out trashcan. Hubs made the window sill and trim. Its extra deep for holding things (i.e. flowers!) The cabinet on the far right was also made by Hubs. It is the cabinet that needs trim. The company that we ordered from couldn't made a shelving unit the size we needed in the high that we needed so we ordered stain and made one our self. The extra trim will made it look finished. It appears dark in this picture, but it was about 5 in the afternoon during a thunder storm. It is actually very warm and cozy.

Before (after taking the wall paper off)

After

I think this side shows the biggest change. We couldn't move the location of the fridge which out designer tried and tried. but it works where it is and really isn't all that odd of a place. According to house snooping around open houses that should be where the original pantry was located. To the right of the original stove was a section of 12 inch deep counter that was in front of a chimney running the high of the house. We couldn't move this nor did we want to try. We put a floor to ceiling pantry infront of the chimney as wide as we good and then did a faux panel on the left side to cover the brick/wood/plaster combo. Although a pantry that deep would be amazing, having a shallow one keeps my food in check! We opted to get rid of the double oven since 1) they didn't work as a pair and 2) they were in the way! Instead we went with a glass top slide in. this actually give us crazy amounts of counter. Each side is 15 inches wide and 24 inches deep. We made the counters match the pantry depth. The back splash was clearance tile that really gives the room a pop of modern. The overhead microwave/vent is nice but so far it has cooked smores and melted butter for corn the most!

The tile is the same pattern that is in the guest bath up stairs, the laundry room, the new basement bath, and eventually the master bath.

Before

After

Here is a shot of the dinning room on move in day along with the new dinning room. First I would like to mention that even though you cant see it the paneling was all taken completely down through out the dinning room and kitchen. Also the random cabinet between the two door ways was the first to go. We did entertain the idea of doing a peninsula or something there, but agreed that it was too close the the doors on the right and would be awkward to get to the dinning room later. We attempted to do wainscoting in this room but the trim color that matched the cabinets was entirely too dark for this project. We went with the palm green from the kitchen and the bungalow gold from the first floor. It figures, that when I look for the original example to prove I'm not crazy, I can't find it!

Well that is the Kitchen remodel basically. I'll post about the new amazing bath soon!

Grandma

April 15 in the wee hours of the morning my grandma's house lost a battle with a tornado.

That is my mom (holding my first quilt) and my dad. That use to be my grandmothers house that you can see through. She is fine, for the record, but this post is really just for her!

Grandma, I'm going to make you a new BED SIZE quilt for your new place!

But, I bet you already  knew that if you are reading this because I sent you here to think about fabric choices!

I have no bed to put a quilt on. Actually I don't have one of my quilts, they are on other peoples beds and baby dolls.  But, I can make one for my grandma! There is a new place in her future and will need a new bedspread.

Now, I know you'll (grandma) would like anything that I make, but I would like you to really enjoy it too! So I have picked a few fabric lines that I could turn into a quilt just as soon as you say GO! Check them out and think what you would like! Dark "grown up" colors? Springy always fresh colors? Primary? Anything with flowers? All solid and modern? Let me know!

California Girl: I think the pinks could be amazing! I also think we could include the blues and greens to add interest. I would think this would fall into the "Always spring" category!

Other "Always spring":

Promenade has a few versions and could easily be made into a very large quilt!

Sew Cherry: Very bright and fresh but might be a little much?

 

Cattails & Clover: Now, not my style, I would say this falls into my "grown up" category. If you like the earth tones we could find something a little less Cattail, but you get the idea.

More "Grown Ups"

There is also a blue and maybe a green colorway if you don't want ti to stay so rosy

Seems very pretty and could be made dark with more of the red and grey or light with the pinks and blue.

Northcote Range: Maybe a mono-tone would be better? I keep leaning towards pinks. Do you want a pink quilt? Of course we could use all three color ways and must mix things up!

Fun Mono-tones

Historia Avalon: Just one of MANY blues if you like this one we could add other blue colorways or keep it to one line.

Meet Me at Sunset: There is also a "yellow" and "orange" version. This is the pink. They would all go very well together or as separates.



And then a few that just look really neat!

Reminds me of your house. Maybe its the blue? Who knows

Fun, bright and bold. Might be too much but it seemed "grown up"

Sweet and vintage looking. Also comes in a pink and blue/green colorway to mix in match if you like.

OK, a little too bright, but fun!

Alright, that was just a few of the MANY that you could pick from. http://www.fatquartershop.com/Fat-Quarter-Bundles.asp?Store_id=499&Page_Id=15&sid=29354172256452935 

That is a link that can take you to a online fabric shop that has all the "collections" of fabric. Of course you don't have to pick out anything specific. You could pick a color, or set of colors if a whole collection doesn't suit you! Take your time, I realize this is not really a priority.

Love you Grandma!

Kitchen update 2

Ok, back for the other side of the kitchen.
Friendly reminder, this is what that side looked like when we moved in

Stove top with no counter space, double oven with the bottom half only working part time, 10 inch deep counter that was worthless, and tiny fridge.

This is what it looks like today. A 15 inch cabinet (with counter to come) a fancy stove that will be here in two weeks is keeping its place with the old stove (girl has to cook) and then another 15 inch cabinet! That's a lot of counter space if you don't want to do the math, which I don't. Then there is the 90" tall pantry that is 12" deep and 24" wide. It is so tiny and holds SO MUCH FOOD! Its great. Then the cabinet over the fridge. We'll be getting a new black fridge in about a month and this one will holds it's place.

Pantry goodness just for honesty sake. If you want to really snoop you can tell I have a half a shelf of Cream of Chicken and like 8 boxes of banana nut bread mix. Holiday baking and cooking leftovers I guess.

and a picture of the new light just for fun. It isn't as bright as we wanted it to be. However, when it is actually dark outside it gives off plenty of light.

Well, Grandma hopefully that gives you a good understanding of my kitchen at this point in time ;)

Kitchen

Well its been a bit since I posted. Everything and nothing has happened since then. But I'm only posting really for my grandma. She needs updates on the kitchen and I can't message them to her...

So here we go....

This is the main side. The corner cabinet was wasted space before and the dish washer moved to the other side of the sink. The lazy suzanne alone holds more then the cabinets there were there previously. The green is "palm" is is pretty true to color here. The windows don't have any of their trim. We'll be making copies of the ones in the house, but stained the color of the cabinets. The flooring will be the same as the ups stairs bathroom.

 I have already forgotten what this kitchen looked like! Although the new kitchen will be darker and cozy... its the way we like our kitchens! I also use the term "cozy" lightly as are kitchen is just actually about a foot too small to put in an island so really it is awkwardly large.

A part visual of the plans. We have actually changed a little bit from this image, but only small details that wouldn't be worth pointing out.

Floor pictures because I can....