House & kitchen miscellany
Jul. 24th, 2009 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sexy_romulanBookmarking this handy site that lists ballpark budget figures for a whole range of home improvement projects.
My latest issue of Style At Home came today - and in fashion most timely, it is a special kitchen edition! Of course most of the actual setups they feature are way too costly for us, but they do have some lovely decorating ideas that I may implement.
For example, they suggest as a "perk-up" an orchid potted in a white ceramic container. That would be gorgeous, actually, although I don't have the best track record with the things. Well, I've only killed one, right? I could try another one before giving up on them, and if it's in the kitchen it would in theory be harder to ignore.
Other perk-ups I liked:
* message board made by putting decorative paper or fabric behind the glass on a picture frame; use a dry erase marker to write on the glass.
* keep a scrubby brush and sponge in a pretty container instead of hanging a smelly dishcloth over the faucet.
* use a white ceramic pitcher as a utensil pot.
* dress up the windowsill with potted moss (which would need a lot of water, I think, but not much light).
* put liquid soap in clear containers for a nice dash of colour.
One interesting idea was using painted faux tin panels (you know, the kind they used to put on the ceiling with the funky patterned textures) as a backsplash. Apparently they sell such things at Home Despot for $22 apiece (18"x24"). Which would be....mmm...around 15 of them, in my kitchen. So ~$350. Not as cheapass as adding to the existing inoffensive 4x4 cream tiles, but not heinously expensive, either. Interesting. God knows how they're installed, mind you. I may have to look into this more carefully.
We will need to paint eventually, too, and I'm seeing lots of nice neutralish greens in here that have me thinking. Well, actually, we won't need to paint very damn much - the wall cabinets I have in mind go right to the ceiling, and the backsplash covers the wall between the cabinets. That leaves a few inches around the door and window, basically. Heyyyy, that means we could go all out with some sort of crazy accent colour! Corey is emphatically vetoing lime green. Alas. Chocolate brown, maybe? Red? What say you, internets? We have cream tiles on the floor, cream backsplash, and are planning for birch wood cabinets and a dark brown countertop (to be confirmed, since I'm a little bamboozled by that decision yet). Oh, and stained glass will eventually be retrofitted into one or two cabinets, but colours for that are flexible. Maybe some bright jewel-tone red and blue to match the front sidelight.
This is all highly dependent on our actually being able to afford kitchen renovations, of course. Sigh. Still waiting for kitchen dude to get back to me with a whole-project quote; I am going to pester him on Monday, since it's now been 2 weeks since we last heard from him. He had said he could do the general contracting thing for us, but I suspect he may be too busy to do more than the demolition and install. I don't think 2 weeks is typical for a quote, even if it is for the whole project...? Am I just too impatient? I was hoping to avoid playing general contractor myself but will do it if I have to. Taking out the wall, it turns out, is not going to be that expensive; it's the plumbing and particularly the electrical that may sink us cost-wise. In any case, if we're going to do it, I want to find out soon, so that we can take advantage of the kickass sale that's on chez Ikea (15% of your $1000+ kitchen purchase back in gift cards. Sweeeeeeet.)
If we can't afford the kitchen, I would be tempted to blow the accumulated budget on a set of patio doors leading to a new deck instead. There's a beautiful photo in my magazine of a roofed-over deck with a skylight, surrounded by airy curtains for privacy, with nice cushy furnishings. Not sure if I would go for something like that or just an outdoor dining space; after all, the use of such a space would need to be coordinated with the use of the patio. The deck would be a better dining space, probably, whereas the patio could then be outfitted with cushy outdoor furniture to curl up in with a book and a Strongbow. Yes, that's it, I think. I wanted the patio to be able to lounge and enjoy sun and garden, and it's hard to lounge in a dining set - you can't put your feet up properly.
And now it's midnight, and with any luck the Zoodle will be waking up in 6 hours, not 3 or 4, but I should get my ass to bed.
My latest issue of Style At Home came today - and in fashion most timely, it is a special kitchen edition! Of course most of the actual setups they feature are way too costly for us, but they do have some lovely decorating ideas that I may implement.
For example, they suggest as a "perk-up" an orchid potted in a white ceramic container. That would be gorgeous, actually, although I don't have the best track record with the things. Well, I've only killed one, right? I could try another one before giving up on them, and if it's in the kitchen it would in theory be harder to ignore.
Other perk-ups I liked:
* message board made by putting decorative paper or fabric behind the glass on a picture frame; use a dry erase marker to write on the glass.
* keep a scrubby brush and sponge in a pretty container instead of hanging a smelly dishcloth over the faucet.
* use a white ceramic pitcher as a utensil pot.
* dress up the windowsill with potted moss (which would need a lot of water, I think, but not much light).
* put liquid soap in clear containers for a nice dash of colour.
One interesting idea was using painted faux tin panels (you know, the kind they used to put on the ceiling with the funky patterned textures) as a backsplash. Apparently they sell such things at Home Despot for $22 apiece (18"x24"). Which would be....mmm...around 15 of them, in my kitchen. So ~$350. Not as cheapass as adding to the existing inoffensive 4x4 cream tiles, but not heinously expensive, either. Interesting. God knows how they're installed, mind you. I may have to look into this more carefully.
We will need to paint eventually, too, and I'm seeing lots of nice neutralish greens in here that have me thinking. Well, actually, we won't need to paint very damn much - the wall cabinets I have in mind go right to the ceiling, and the backsplash covers the wall between the cabinets. That leaves a few inches around the door and window, basically. Heyyyy, that means we could go all out with some sort of crazy accent colour! Corey is emphatically vetoing lime green. Alas. Chocolate brown, maybe? Red? What say you, internets? We have cream tiles on the floor, cream backsplash, and are planning for birch wood cabinets and a dark brown countertop (to be confirmed, since I'm a little bamboozled by that decision yet). Oh, and stained glass will eventually be retrofitted into one or two cabinets, but colours for that are flexible. Maybe some bright jewel-tone red and blue to match the front sidelight.
This is all highly dependent on our actually being able to afford kitchen renovations, of course. Sigh. Still waiting for kitchen dude to get back to me with a whole-project quote; I am going to pester him on Monday, since it's now been 2 weeks since we last heard from him. He had said he could do the general contracting thing for us, but I suspect he may be too busy to do more than the demolition and install. I don't think 2 weeks is typical for a quote, even if it is for the whole project...? Am I just too impatient? I was hoping to avoid playing general contractor myself but will do it if I have to. Taking out the wall, it turns out, is not going to be that expensive; it's the plumbing and particularly the electrical that may sink us cost-wise. In any case, if we're going to do it, I want to find out soon, so that we can take advantage of the kickass sale that's on chez Ikea (15% of your $1000+ kitchen purchase back in gift cards. Sweeeeeeet.)
If we can't afford the kitchen, I would be tempted to blow the accumulated budget on a set of patio doors leading to a new deck instead. There's a beautiful photo in my magazine of a roofed-over deck with a skylight, surrounded by airy curtains for privacy, with nice cushy furnishings. Not sure if I would go for something like that or just an outdoor dining space; after all, the use of such a space would need to be coordinated with the use of the patio. The deck would be a better dining space, probably, whereas the patio could then be outfitted with cushy outdoor furniture to curl up in with a book and a Strongbow. Yes, that's it, I think. I wanted the patio to be able to lounge and enjoy sun and garden, and it's hard to lounge in a dining set - you can't put your feet up properly.
And now it's midnight, and with any luck the Zoodle will be waking up in 6 hours, not 3 or 4, but I should get my ass to bed.
