Wednesday, September 28, 2011

More inspirations for Bath, Dining and Kitchen

These pictures were taking from several issues of HouseBeautiful and Campange. I can't say that I'm at the final stages yet of the direction I'm going to take with the house I just know it's going to be stunning when I'm through with it.


I love this shower. The walls would be a breeze to clean
and a squeegee for the floor. I love the marble they used
but getting Einy to agree on it will be tough. Especially with
the care and staining that marble is prone to since it's porous.

Can't help it I love this picture. This shows the TRUE color
That I want the kitchen in, it's a dark blue and I'm looking to
find some vinyl or linoleum to match the penny tile that
They have on the floor in case we opt out of hardwood
floors for the kitchen.

I love the pop of color that dark blue gives the wallpaper.
Although the wallpaper is expensive to get it in that motif
I'm sure I can find a good deal somewhere for it, plus I think
it would make the kitchen and dining room just sparkle.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Second Time Around ...

Well as Luck may have it we got to go to the house this evening and see it a second time as we placed our OWN locks on it! We got to looking at it and it's smaller than we recalled but that just makes it easier. In our moments of spelunking out our new home we agreed on the following new floor plan. This will give us more space as well as time for other things since we're not worrying about excavating a basement anymore. It's just clean up!

Presenting Plan FIN
We decided to remove that mini room and hallway so the front door is free to open and close without feeling
claustrophobic. We also discovered there may be a fireplace hidden behind the living room wall about where the
B is in Bathroom.




So my tastes for the Living room may change just a SMIDGE to incorporate the library portion of it however I do want the house to hold that 1920's nostalgic Holiday home feel to it. So we'll see on all what happens for the most part. I do know however that the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom are pretty much going to stay the same.  More inspirational pics will come as well as Actual house pictures once we get working on it. 

Closing and Crown Moulding.....

We close this Friday for the house the Keys are MINE and we can start the gutting the following weekend as this weekend we will be gathering up what we need right off the bat.

Now for a small snippet until I go shopping other more needy things such as flooring, drywall, insulation and PEX.

Crown Moulding, obviously is more like a finishing touch than a house buying must but I figure I would post up my ideas for over the doors as well as possible wall designs. I'll edit this post and place up some more Wall mouldings but for now these are the ideas.


I love this one, especially the one to the RIGHT for the house
The ledge/shelf above it would be perfect for holiday decorations to sit
And more practical to have in the home as well.

Loved the Ceiling and lower Wall Moulding for the house
But I don't know if would look proper so I'm probably
going to order some samples to play with. By the floor will
be wood, ceiling will be cheaper foam.

LOVED this wall design with moulding and think it would
look so period and elegant in the small house without being
stuffy or overbearing.

PC/Library Room Shelves
Like it or not the house will lose that second small bedroom for
our Books and PC's to sit in. One wall will be Floor to ceiling
shelves perhaps two of them while the others will be half shelves.

Again this is above the door Moulding that I like and I actually
like the moulding on the wall as well. For the doors the foam moulding can be
over top of the door, but the sides would have to be wood since its by
a high traffic and touching area. I don't want to risk nicks getting in it.


Friday, September 23, 2011

The waiting...

I never knew that waiting for a closing could be so mind numbingly slow. It just gives my brain more time to think and plan on "Oooh I like that's" and "What if's".  So I managed to work on the floor plan. I have two or three idea's for it but as Einy said, until we gut the place we don't know what walls we can and can't move because of the roof supports. Never the less, we are going to be making some improvements to what is already there.

I would also like to inform that these plans are not measured, they're just visual based layouts as I will have the true specs once the closing is complete. The true specs will have Before and After photos once the place has been gutted as well as new measurements from the space gain. The walls are like 6 inches thick all around because they just kept building on top of them.


Here's the original house floor plan/layout.


Original Layout


And this is the first set of alterations to it that I came up with.


Notice that the bathroom was extended as well as the kitchen.
The kitchen roof will be risen, but the ceiling in it won't be as tall
as the other three rooms. The Bathroom will be extended as well
and have a high ceiling as it will extend/follow the original roof line.
 This is how I want the kitchen to look from the outside.


It may become a smidge wider but as far as the look on this end
goes that is the layout I want. It's meant to mimic this photo.

Dream kitchen Minus the sofa chair.
It'll be a galley like kitchen but still have
Plenty of room to move around in.
Floor Plan 2 - Possible paths



 This plan shows the widening of the middle room to make it the living room, pay no mind to the little black tick marks at the bottom on the right that was just for my reference. Notice how smooth the floor plan runs in a nice flow along with privacy back towards the bathroom. Which got me thinking of moving the living room to the Bedroom and have it open up into the kitchen dinning area. The problem with that is we'd be losing space in the bedroom because there would have to be a hallway to the bathroom instead of having to navigate across the kitchen to get to it like the original plan. So that idea would be scratched.


This was my first fully planned idea Go me and MS paint



As you can see I went nuts with it. The ONE BIG snag
in it though is HE wants interior steps to the basement.
Below shadowed red is pretty much the basement layout.

Notice how you can only get down to it through the Bedroom or 2nd Bedroom area. We're either going to have to excavate underneath and inside the house to do it or change the floor plan to suit it. Either way I HATE the idea of having to lose space over a stairwell in such a small home.

The bathroom and kitchen however will be fun to deal with. I'm hoping to do this in the Kitchen area, as well as add 2 skylights to let in as much natural light as possible to cut back on costs.

Top Left Corner I haven't decided 100% if I want the door on the side or on the back, hence why its in two spots. You can see the skylights marked in blue as well as the windows. The pink is the laundry area that will be hidden under a cupboard and eventually be Front loading.

This will be the set up of the kitchen sink,




that will be on the back wall with the gas range top (further left of the garbage) that way I'm not moving large pots of boiling water in a spin and turn around to the other side of the kitchen. I'll just have to side step. The fridge and wall oven will be on the back wall along with more counter space.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Windows Part II...Image Bombardment

Well I spent a few hours looking over my pictures I gathered up of rooms that I liked before going back through and picking out my favorite windows from them. So prepare for a picture bombardment with this post. They won't be in any ranking but the most important rooms in the house will be bedroom, livingroom, kitchen. Since those will be the 3 main rooms we will be in that deal with outside light. The Library/PC room is located inside and will have a Transom window along the back wall into the kitchen to let in more natural light. The bathroom, will have the same style of windows as the bedroom depending on how it's final set up goes.

Lot's of light windows
Too many for our small Livingroom
But the style is very Nice.

I like the Black on white design for the
Interior of the home. Tiny House will
Be white and I think the black will add
just enough glamour to it.


Nice Big and Bright Windows
Add some Sheer curtains.

Again the darker window interior but this
time there is a Grille pattern to it.

Could be Large Double Casement windows
with a Transom across the top for the front and side
Of the house.


Stained glass Transom and clear blank windows! So pretty!


Curved transom  with attached
Plain Window


Row/2 Grille Transom and 3*5 Grille Doors

Horizontal 4bar Grille  

Prairie Style Transom


Bright windows possibly grilled or plain

Grilled Dark Interior Windows


Double Top Row Windows


Obviously Custom made But SO VERY pretty.

Another Custom that is very attractive. However, sleeping
in the city with that type of lacking privacy even with Locks
and curtains worries me a smidge. 

My Favorite entrance to a home, Elegant, clean, inviting.

Prairie style Door

White bedroom with Horizontal bar windows

Dining area with same windows

Another set, in a low ceiling bedroom. Notice the lack of
Crown Moulding and how high the curtains sit as well
as the high gloss ceiling. Makes the room seem bigger doesn't it?

A large possibility of how the Living rooms Crown Moulding will
look. Plus check out the Custom windows. They look very
Art Nouveau.
This will be the Kitchen window set up on the New extended
addition of the kitchen.
It will be accompanied the dining room table.



Again large plain windows. To let the light in.
 


Horizontal Bar Windows
 
Grille windows 2*4




Horizontal Bar grille windows
 



Pretty Plain Pocket/Bowed Windows


3*3 Grilled Windows


Plain transom windows


So what's the opinions on the type of windows for the Front of the House and for the Sides? The house is tiny and it has very high ceilings. How would you like to see it?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Window Options

One of the biggest things we'll have to tackle after the gut job is going to be the windows. They're all currently rotted and double hung I believe, if not their single hung. One things for certain is that I want to give the house some character and style to it.

We've got several options to choose from but I've narrowed it down to the style being either Casement or Single hung; Definitely casement for the Kitchen. And for the grille pattern 14-Lite Prairie, Prairie, Top Row, or Art Glass.

The issue will revolve around cost per window and the companies I've narrowed it down to are:
*Andersen Windows

*Jeld-Wen

*Pella


I would love to do Art Glass in it but I don't want to go too overboard with it since there will be stained glass transoms above all the doors to the rooms. Bedroom, Library/PC, Living Room, Bathroom, Kitchen. So the Windows for the rest of the house will have to let in a lot of light and be pretty for it. I also don't want my view obstructed by a busy window either. I think plain windows will be a little too blank and unattractive, but then again I'll have to see and make comparisons on what looks best. Perhaps the sales people in the stores can pull up and template of my home and show me what the windows will look like in it so I can get a good feel for the ones I really want.

Top Row window
Plus I love the sexy color of the wood
surrounding it.

Again Top Row but Shorter
Would look nice in the kitchen I think.

Prairie style
This I thought in the same
Red wood as above would look
very handsome in the house

14-Lite Prairie looks the same as above
but you give it one more horizontal line
Across the top middle

This is Double Grille Style
Not really one of my favs
I just liked the wood coloring
Then again, the interior will be white
And the exterior with white Trim
Looks like I'll have to re-think my styling


Triple Grille
As long as it's a Casement I like
This style. If it's not I don't want it.

Art Glass Example (Random pic)
Art Glass is an Option for
Andersen Windows and I'm sure
it costs a pretty penny to have even
Though they're not very colorful. See their
Site for more pictures


I liked how the windows were set up
here for the bedroom side wall window
Not 100% sure I want it though.