It's Great To Be Home

A Testing Ground

April 12, 2013 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 13 Comments

So much of finding your own style is trial and error, don’t you think?

There are remodeling ideas and looks that I’ve wanted to try, but my house just isn’t the right place to act as a testing ground – our home is “done” from a construction standpoint, no more renovations going on here. (However, you know I’ll never be able to resist switching up the decor.)

So, that leaves our flips. Cue wicked laughter and rubbing hands together gleefully.

Obviously these houses are designed to appeal to a wide market, so I can’t get too crazy. But I can test out a few things here and there, right? Right.

With this flip in particular I’m kind of letting loose a little. For example, I think I want all white walls in our next house, so I’m testing it out here. And I’ve become smitten with the look of gray-painted brick with a watery turquoise front door, so I’m testing it out here.

Gray cabinets, the trend that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere? Testing it out in the kitchen and guest bathroom at this flip.

A slightly more contemporary vibe? Testing it out in a few places at this flip, but what immediately comes to mind is the fireplace.

Here’s how it started out looking:

Whoa sadness. And I don’t know how that’s the “best” before photo I have of the fireplace – apologies.

After demo, drywall and new flooring, now it’s a blank slate that looks like this:

I sketched up an elevation of that wall so that I could try out a few different looks for the fireplace.

Pinterest was of course my first resource for inspiration. The fireplaces that immediately grabbed my attention were very minimalist – just a simple wooden surround without any detailing. Swoon city. I added a little chunkiness to my inspiration images and came up with this:

But then I worried that a minimalist fireplace would get lost in that giant room, with that super tall ceiling. So, back to the drawing board. And I came up with this:

Still minimalist, but taller and therefore more substantial. The horizontal lines above the brick represent a streamlined mantle that would project out a bit. I think this option is definitely the safe choice…but I don’t like it nearly as much as the smaller, lower version. So, I’m taking a risk and going with my favorite.

Fingers crossed it turns out.

Paint & Other Fun Things

April 10, 2013 By Liz - It's Great To Be Home 15 Comments

Peeps! I was nominated for an award in the Best Remodeling Blog category in a contest held by Jackson Design & Remodeling - how cool is that?? The winner even gets 500 smackers! I’d love it if you’d vote for this ol’ blog – all you have to do is make 3 little clicks with your mouse. Just click here to go to the site, scroll down and click on the little box next to It’s Great to be Home, and then click “Vote.” Super quick, and no registration required. Thank you, you guys rock!

The flip is starting to look like a house! Of course, I don’t have any new and improved photos for you right this very second so you’ll just have to take my word for it. :)

Fun things are afoot – like picking paint colors.

For the interior of the house, I’ve always wanted to try all white – white ceilings (duh), white trim, and white walls. All the same shade. A mistake or an amazing look? Only time will tell. Hopefully it will look as great as some of these images that I’ve pinned:

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In our flip, all the contrast will be provided by the rich wood floors, gray cabinetry and tile. I don’t think we’re going to stage this house so hopefully the “all white” look will still look amazing without furniture. Fingers crossed.

I’ve thought about painting the trim a pale gray instead of white, like the photos below, but I think that might be too risky for a flip. Thoughts?

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As a reminder, our kitchen cabinets will be light gray, as will the vanity in the guest bath. The master vanity will be stained wood in a medium tone.

We need to figure out paint for the exterior of the house, too! Remember, right now it looks like this…

…and that just won’t do.

We replaced the old cruddy aluminum windows with new white windows, we will be replacing the frilly ironwork with painted cedar posts, and we fixed the siding and flat roof. Oh, we also got a new door!

Me likey. It should be installed this week sometime.

We’ve planned to paint the house from the beginning, and I’ve always envisioned it being painted a soft shade of gray. With a light pale turquoise door. Sound nutty? Here are some examples below: