HOW ARE YOUR SUMMER PROJECTS GOING, readers? What are you getting done? What do you fear will never get done? Me, hopeless. Wrote a check for some new landscaping work, but other than that, too busy with work, the blog, visitors, the usual. And all you lurkers, make my day and leave a comment, for gosh sakes.
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57 comments
mcmeg says
Do you remember my blue and grey bathroom with the American Olean fish tiles? I have stripped the wallpaper and primed the walls. I have to get out and buy the paint to finish. We decided on Ralph Lauren Ginger. It matches one of the yellows in my fish tile. I also plan on buying yellow, or black and yellow towels when I am finished. That is my only project this summer.
I am mentally updating my knotty pine kitchen. Now it has red cracked ice counter tops which I have never liked and 50 years has not improved them any. I’m looking at Wilsonart. The floor was replaced in the 80’s and I’d like a cork floor, but price is a consideration, so we’ll see. Hubby thought I was crazy because I kept asking him about appliance color. Stay with the stainless or switch to white. He couldn’t figure out why I needed to think about this since we probably won’t be doing the kitchen until next year. Well, don’t you know the fridge conked out last night and I told him THAT was why I’ve been thinking about this for months. We’re going with stainless so I can keep the original GE wall oven as long as it’s willing to work. Oh, and my NuTone range hood, let’s not forget that! So that leaves the ugly black dishwasher to replace. Originally we had a stainless Kitchen Aid dishwasher. I wish I could get one that looks like that one did. It had a cool handle in the middle of the top of the door that you turn to turn the machine off and on. I’ll keep meaning to post pics of my kitchen. Here’s a link to my before pictures. http://www.flickr.com/photos/31108567@N06/sets/72157621971263328/
pam kueber says
haha, mcmeg — “mentally updating”… I like that. I do that non-stop!
Jeanne says
Wow, I’m tired just reading all these posts! Pam, I owe you a picture of my bathroom cabinet with the new Saturn + Star backplate knobs from Rejuvenation. That’s the only thing I’ve done in the bathroom since we moved into the house (oct. 08). I will eventually take down the wallpaper and paint the bathroom either light turquoise or flamingo coral (still deciding). That’s the only thing that really needs to be done, and I can live with. I could repaint the cabinet to freshen it up and eventually a new sink/faucet, but now that I know what a Hudee ring is, I’m hesitant to get rid of it! haha.
My main project to complete before the fall/holidays is finish painting the living room/hall/foyer. One thing leads to another with this project! Right now I’ve been painting all the window/trim Benjamin Moore’s Dove White (or White Dove, I forget). I’ve also narrowed down the wall color to a few greys. I’m looking for a good medium warm grey, not too brown. I have Gee Gee in Gray wallpaper all picked out from Bradbury & Bradbury to wallpaper the little foyer I have. I think it will look nice with the grey walls and white trim. Then I need to order 2″ white blinds (I think I’m going with the faux wood instead of aluminum) with tapes for all the living room windows. I have a nice 3-window bay in the front and one window on either side of the fireplace.
The dining room will be the next project.It’s paneled half-way with a walnut paneling, which I will keep. I just need to remove the existing wallpaper and I’m thinking grass cloth wallpaper on two walls, and painting an accent color on the common wall that extends into the kitchen. You see…one thing leads to another!!
Basically we’ve gotten a lot of landscaping done this summer. We completely re-landscaped the front, had a huge tree removed from the backyard, but a few borders in the back yard, built two wood racks to stack all the wood we got from our removed Maple tree, and my husband moved our gate so that the side door opens into the gated yard (so we can just open the side door to let the dog out instead of having to go outside with her to put her in the yard). Simple things to make life easier! 🙂
Okay, I’ll stop now. I haven’t gotten to the stairs going up to our bedroom and the knotty pine upstairs. 🙂 I want animal print carpeting on the stairs.
Femme1 says
Well, after 2 1/2 years of trying to decide on a kitchen floor, I finally chose an Armstrong commercial vinyl sheet—it’s Connection Corlon in “amber.” (http://www.armstrong.com/commflooringna/product_details_toolbox_magnify.jsp?item_id=95022)
It’s a grout and chip style, so it looks very much like real terrazzo, but it also rather looks like a solid sheet of cork, because of the color. I’m VERY happy with it, except that the installers screwed up and used a white seam sealer that never dried clear. (I wonder how many brain cells we killed trying to use heavy solvents to get rid of all the white seams.) Their solution (from Armstrong) is to use solid color weld lines in recut seams. So I asked them to create blocks to look like the metal seams in real terrazzo. We’ll see how that goes. If I don’t like it, they say they’ll replace the whole floor. What a fiasco!
BUT…the whole kitchen area is coming together…the walls are painted a bright orange-red, I just made new blinds and curtains using an incredible Etsy find of vintage barkcloth, and my Drexel Profile dining set and new (vintage) retractable dining room satellite lamp is lookin’ good. My husband is in the midst of painting all the trim work and doors (with much prodding from me). Now I’m looking for a new stove, because I’ve pretty much given up on renovating that old yellow Chambers range in the garage. That’s probably going to have to be a project I tackle after I retire!
I should send Pam some photos, but I know she’s swamped with e-mails.
Sarah says
I’m not renovating anything now. Just waiting until the day I can move out of the dorms and buy a little brick ranch in NW Indiana (sigh).
Thanks for the inspiration, though. I’m not sure if you’ve posted anything like this before, but I’d love to see a post on giving an apartment (or other space where you really can’t change much) a retro feel.
Wendy says
I finally finished painting another room of my 50’s rancher–the hall. And that was a lot of cutting in! Benjamin Moore Bright White on the trim (wow), and Sea Froth (kinda mushroom-y) on the walls. Now I’ve got my paint-by-number collection back up, and everyday I walk down the hall I feel inspired to do more painting!
I know there are a lot of good paints out there; Benjamin Moore is the brand I tried. I will never buy cheap paint again. (Except primer, which I’m not sure was worth the extra $10.) Expensive paint loads into the brush better and is more likely to cover in one coat. It’s worth it to spend more on a gallon of good paint instead of two gallons of cheap paint.
Next stop: the master bedroom.
Caffeinated Katie says
My house is full of half-finished never-ending projects. First, the living room. When we bought our house, the ceiling in the downstairs living room was only 6’4″ high. To remedy this, we removed the upstairs living room (which was directly above it) and created one sunken living room downstairs with the upstairs now only containing the kitchen and dining room. We removed the horrible contractor-grade carpet downstairs and purchased Ikea maple laminate flooring. For six months, the flooring sat in a pile behind the entertainment center while we lived with filthy bare concrete. Finally on a rainy day my husband and I tackled the flooring. We were able to almost finish the flooring in one day and only had one corner of the room by the base of the stairs left to finish. That was six months ago and the section of flooring by the stairs still remains unfinished. Somehow we just can’t muster up the energy to put in the last twenty square feet of flooring. We also made another change to the living room by moving one wall three feet back. The new drywall is up on the wall, but not on the ceiling. We moved the wall a year ago.
Then there’s the bathroom. We bought our house as a foreclosure and there were and are many problems with it caused by an inexperienced and ignorant flipper. The tile in the bathroom was never sealed and the grout wasn’t properly cleaned off of the tile. My husband and I purchased tile stripper and sealer to remedy this problem seven months ago. They’ve been sitting under the bathroom counter ever since. At the same time we purchased a light to go over the bathroom mirror because the only light in the entire bathroom comes from a globe fixture in the middle of the bathroom and the bathroom mirror is in a little alcove behind a small wall. The new light fixture is somewhere in the vast wasteland we like to refer to as the “junk room”.
Finally, there’s the kitchen. I’m not sure where to start with this one. We’ve found the perfect flooring (blue sheet vinyl with gold and green metallic glitter) and the perfect appliances (a vintage Caloric Ultramatic wall oven, Thermador gas cooktop, and a great old fridge) and the perfect tile for the backsplash. These items are all sitting in a pile in the corner of the already cramped kitchen. We just can’t seem to decide on or afford the cabinets we want. There is also the problem of half the outlets and one light fixture in the kitchen no longer receiving any power. We’ve got the microwave plugged in with a ten foot long extension cord running into the dining room. We have the new breaker, but I’m not sure where it’s gone. It’s probably hiding in the junk room.
Perhaps one day we’ll actually get the house where we want it, but then I’m sure some new project will pop up and occupy our time until we get half-way through it and find something else to work on.
Susan says
My summer project is to prepare for a move and plan my wedding. Wedding plans are in order, moving plans, not so much.
Erin in Ohio says
Our bathroom has been under construction since we bought our house in December 2005. We do little things here and there as time and money permit. We got a cool ikea sink and some terrific vintage light fixtures off ebay. We even purchased all the tile for the project several months ago – white hex flooring and white and black ceramic 4×6 tiles for the walls and shower. It’s going to be fabulous when it’s done, but I just don’t know when that will be! Still hoping to find some sink legs with a towel bar attached…
In the meantime, I’ll just keep lurking. 😉
Jen says
Pam, I think your post was meant for me — meant to kick me in the butt, that is! I have a bathroom with half-stripped wallpaper, and there it sits. I have no idea what look I want, or whether or not to keep the newer vinyl flooring in there or get rid of it and go for something more authentic to the ’50s. I am uninspired, so there it sits. I know that the moment I get it together in my head, I will attack the bathroom with a vengeance. Lack of money, energy, and inspiration are preventing me from having a nifty retro bathroom. This is my confession.
(I feel better now.)
Elaine says
My kitchen, my kitchen! It was built in 1964, but unfortunately damaged by fire in 1981 and redone at that time. It maintains the original layout, just different cabinets. It has a U shaped counter, one side being a peninsula that separates the breakfast nook from the business end of the kitchen. For some reason, no cupboard doors were installed on the nook side of the base cabinets, resulting in difficult access to the back of the cabinets. The upper cabinets do have doors. The nook side of the base cabinets was built with a hollow core panel for some reason, making it difficult to add doors. Well, we did it! We found a company that would build matching doors, solid wood! Lots of styles to choose from. cabinetmakerschoice.com
Then the neighbor cut into the back and discovered the hollow board. I thought we should replace the back of the cabinet but he wanted to try and keep the original, which is actually a beautiful slice of wood. He took the cut panels, disassembled them and used the inner support pieces to fill in the door edges for support. Then he installed the doors, stained them to match the rest (walnut), and installed some beautiful new handles I found, silver concho bracelet style. (Hickory Hardware – Southwest Lodge – 3″ Pull – Silver Medallion – ( BEL-27715 ) ). http://www.knobs4less.com/belp390sm.html They also have MCM look hardware. It makes me remember relatives bringing things from visits to Mexico in the 50s. Wasn’t everyone traveling in the 50s? Route 66! It’s more the mood than actual vintage knobs. Boy would these have been the talk of the town back in the 60s.
I wasn’t happy with the unfinished edges of the openings, so next, he filled them in with furring strips stained to match. Beautiful job! My neighbor has the same issue in her kitchen and has been told she cannot get doors because of the hollow core back. I can’t wait to show her my new doors. The project was completed yesterday, everything is back in there, and I can reach things in back without dragging it all out on the floor.
Next step, pull-out drawers in that great pantry. The builder told me he had put in U shaped shelves, but someone replaced them with full shelves, again,. impossible to reach to the back and find that darn can of posole.
After that, the floor, and I am thinking of terracotta tile, again that southwest influence. For some reason, I keep gravitating toward that terracotta brick look for the floors, ever since my first house in 1971. Also I must have that dark wood. I really think it was from the pictures brought back by relatives traveling out west in the 50s.