Post by Velar Fricative on Jul 31, 2014 11:45:50 GMT -5
Hello all! I've been lurking and searching old threads lately. We recently went under contract with a buyer for our apartment and just had our offer accepted for a new house, so now I want to come out and play!
Background - I have only ever lived in apartments my entire life (NYC metro area born-and-raised, now live in the NYC outer boroughs). That doesn't necessarily make me someone who lacks any design skills, but I am a total home design newbie, like, for real. I know nothing. However, given our budget for a new home and the size we wanted, we knew we'd have at least some cosmetic and possibly structural updates to make. Thankfully we found a great, very structurally sound townhome-style house (so, fully attached with neighbors which is not unusual around here) and while we're waiting on the closing I am having fun trying to figure out what we want to do both soon and not so soon. Since the house was towards the upper limit of our budget, we are going to stagger major updates since we plan to be here for a really, REALLY long time, if not forever. Excluding finishing the unfinished basement which we plan to do first after we move in, all major updates we'd like to do will have to wait a while, but I do want to make the space look a bit less like 1997 threw up all over it with some relatively affordable and/or minor changes or decor additions.
The pictures aren't great quality but just wanted to give you an idea of what's here so that you can offer suggestions of paint, decor, etc.
The kitchen, dining room and that small pathway in the living room have light hardwood floors. We are ripping out that hideous blue carpet PRONTO. I would love to make it all hardwood but I am not sure whoever we pay to do the flooring can find an exact match to the current hardwood, so we may end up just replacing the blue carpet with carpet that's as close to the color of the hardwood as possible and then down the road redo all the floors. But I have no idea how to paint the walls of this relatively-open floor plan and what color(s) would go well with the floor. Note that we are buying all new living room furniture but for couches, we tend to gravitate towards earthy tones (our last couches were sage and liked the color), and I like dark wood for end and coffee tables.
I dislike the kitchen cabinet colors but we'll deal with those for a while - maybe some nice-looking cabinet pulls will help make them look less boring? Any other ideas for sprucing up the kitchen in general? A full kitchen redo is definitely on our list of to-dos but probably not for ~5 years. Appliances are staying and while they are old and mismatched, we'll see how well they work and start buying new appliances when they each crap out.
Finally, the full bathroom. It's the biggest bathroom I've ever had in any place I've lived. However, it's all beige-ish. Like, ALL beige, including the fixtures. I kinda like that it's all a blank canvas right now but how the hell do you match paint colors and shit to beige fixtures? I do want to be more adventurous with paint here but not if it clashes with the beige fixtures, and I'm only seeing inspiration pics elsewhere in bathrooms with white toilets, tubs, etc. There's no window in the bathroom so no natural light.
That was long, thanks and hope you'll have me even though I don't know anything!
Post by Velar Fricative on Jul 31, 2014 12:03:31 GMT -5
Yes, I have a Houzz account now but I'm having trouble finding photos of houses that remotely look like the new house lol.
Biscuit - that's the color! I knew beige didn't sound right but it's that color that all bathrooms from decades of yore seem to have. FIL did say that he and MIL bought the wrong toilet for their house and so they have an extra toilet just sitting in their garage. Awesome housewarming gift! Maybe we should just get started with replacing the fixtures and at least have a white toilet, because while that intricate tiling looks amazing...I will hazard a guess that it won't fit in our current budget.
Post by downtoearth on Jul 31, 2014 12:24:58 GMT -5
Congratulations - a NY homeowner is pretty amazing!
So are the current blonde floors actual hardwoods? If they are and you can afford it, have them match the size of hardwoods and then you can refinish the whole area at the same time to any finish you would like - light, dark, or in between. You can also just do carpet again as a quick fix if you need to move in quickly and save that pricey hardwood project for later.
As far as the bathroom, I think you could do a weekend makeover with paint for the walls and vanity and an new shower curtain/rug combo with some art and you'd be set.
Here's some inspiration makeovers.
Before - Better Homes and Garden's reader redesign - weekend bathroom makeover
After - with stripes on the walls and a painted vanity with a matching mirror - black and beige go well together.
Also - beachy blue/greens with natural beige elements like wicker and baskets look good together:
Or if you want something more modern - go with a bold color with your beige, like a bright green.
Or wall paper (temporary too):
Like this wallpaper - very luxe and then add a lot of texture with a shower curtain and a thick shower mat instead of color (and maybe some darker wood accents with frames or a mirror):
Post by Velar Fricative on Jul 31, 2014 12:32:57 GMT -5
Yes, the non-carpet part is actual hardwood. We're going to price all of our options out but we just expect that with our basement project, we'll probably put off doing anything major besides replacing that fug carpet for another time.
Love the pics, thanks!
So I've gotten a general idea through my lurking of what this board tends to love and not love, so are those sliding shower doors "in" right now? We only ever had them in the 90s so that's what I associate them with but I'm clueless. I think I would prefer installing them over shower curtains but we'll see.
Paint would make a big difference in the bathroom. Paint and a nice shower curtain with some interest. I know how many expenses there are with a new house, but Home Depot has some really reasonably priced vanities right now that would really make the bathroom look less dated.
I like to do searches on google images, rather than houzz. You wind up with houzz photos as well as photos from blogs, magazines, etc.. It seems to me that I find more ideas that way, and I can easily add a word or change a word to get more images. I find myself being led to things that I probably wouldn't have discovered otherwise.
I have spent a lot of time just looking at everything and getting an idea of what we like and how we want our house to feel when we get it all done. It has made it easier to take a step back before we paint or buy anything, and really think about how something will fit with our ideas or if it serves to convey the feeling we are after.
So I've gotten a general idea through my lurking of what this board tends to love and not love, so are those sliding shower doors "in" right now? We only ever had them in the 90s so that's what I associate them with but I'm clueless. I think I would prefer installing them over shower curtains but we'll see.
I prefer shower curtains to the sliding doors on tubs. The doors seem dated to me and I find them cumbersome. If I am taking a bath they make me feel claustrophobic, but that might just be me.
I think shower curtains are easier to clean, and they give more decorating bang for the buck, since it is a way to bring color and pattern or texture to a room full of hard surfaces. It is easy and relatively inexpensive to change out on whim too.
Yes, the non-carpet part is actual hardwood. We're going to price all of our options out but we just expect that with our basement project, we'll probably put off doing anything major besides replacing that fug carpet for another time.
Love the pics, thanks!
So I've gotten a general idea through my lurking of what this board tends to love and not love, so are those sliding shower doors "in" right now? We only ever had them in the 90s so that's what I associate them with but I'm clueless. I think I would prefer installing them over shower curtains but we'll see.
I say doors are out unless they are frameless and show-off tile work in the shower, but I am a curtain person.
With Urban Outfitters, World Market, Pier 1 and Anthrologie and a little paint, you can change the feel of your bathroom pretty quickly, but I'm guessing all those extras would be around $400 for a new mirror, a $50 shower curtain, towels, etc.
Oh and here's another cream, white and blue bathroom.
Or just a mother of pearl mirror to tie the white and cream together with some muted blue on the wall (not a bathroom). LINK
So I've gotten a general idea through my lurking of what this board tends to love and not love, so are those sliding shower doors "in" right now? We only ever had them in the 90s so that's what I associate them with but I'm clueless. I think I would prefer installing them over shower curtains but we'll see.
I prefer shower curtains to the sliding doors on tubs. The doors seem dated to me and I find them cumbersome. If I am taking a bath they make me feel claustrophobic, but that might just be me.
I think shower curtains are easier to clean, and they give more decorating bang for the buck, since it is a way to bring color and pattern or texture to a room full of hard surfaces. It is easy and relatively inexpensive to change out on whim too.
Welcome! And I completely agree with this. Then again I have sliding doors in my townhouse as they were already there, prevent possible water issues and this isn't my forever home so reason to remove them for now.