You are here

OT / Holidays for 2 weeks and renos

secret's picture

Submitted by secret on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 11:19am

I drive myself crazy after a long weekend... 2 weeks is going to KILL ME.... so I decided to renovate the kitchen, and finish my girls' room. Bright's post got me to decide to get it in gear. I've been wanting a reno for a while... so I'm going to use this time to do it.

I'll be adding stainless backsplash... my walls are a dark chili red... I think I'm going to go a pale grey - and I'm going to change up my counters, which are a crappy blue/grey laminate... can't decide if I want to go white/grey marble or grey/black granite. I'm going to be refacing all the cabinetry, which is currently painted white... I think I'm going to go black matte....

In their rooms I'm going to refinish the furniture - a small dresser, a vanity, a large dresser, and an armoire, which are currently forest green... they've asked for black or white, easy enough, I think I can oblige.

I would also love to reorganize our workout room... right now it's basically a bunch of workout stuff a little everywhere in one big long room. There's no order to it... I plan to add shelves, stuff on the walls... DH has rarely been going down there lately because he's been working so much, so I'm going to try and surprise him with a finished room. I just don't know if I'll have time.

I'll post pictures at some point of the before...the progress..and the after.

Comments

queensway's picture

Submitted by queensway on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 11:31am

Secret I am a HGTV junky. Fixer Upper is my favorite. Love that show and really all of them. You are tackling a lot but I say go for it. Decorating is one of my favorite things to do. I consider myself to be very creative. But I have always wished I knew how to do carpentry. I would love to add some bead board to my up stairs bathroom. Have fun and keep us posted.

WTF...REALLY's picture

Submitted by WTF...REALLY on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 12:17pm

That sounds like a dark kitchen. Be sure to add extra lights in your ceiling as black paint absorbs quite a lot the lights. And I wouldn't go to warm on the kelvin of the light bulb as that's going to distort your colors when you're doing such a dark pallet.

moeilijk's picture

Submitted by moeilijk on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 12:30pm

Woo, pro advice! I was just going to say that it sounded really dark and that really never works out unless there's a ton of natural light from somewhere. And then to be aware of window coverings and lighting so that once the sun goes down, you're still enjoying your space.

queensway's picture

Submitted by queensway on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 12:41pm

Not sure how big her kitchen is but white kitchens are very popular right now. And they make the kitchen feel fresh and clean. If the kitchen has a island maybe painting just the island black matte would look better. I would start there first to see how dark it feels. Then decide to do the rest of the cabinets.

moeilijk's picture

Submitted by moeilijk on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 12:54pm

Well, I also think about cleaning. I can't do white, and I won't do shiny, because I'm not that tidy or clean, lol!

I have the black-brown colour of cabinets, with off-white flecked countertops. It would be a bit much, but our living/dining/kitchen is all open and we have a huge amount of light coming in on two sides, so it's ok. Also, we only have upper cabinets on one wall. If we had done more, it would be way too overwhelming.

I was recently back in Canada visiting and watched home shows until my eyes turned square. I love them! But it's so unrealistic. The space, the budget, the decorations. Who lives like that? Everyone I know has to tidy up all the time because things accumulate on every flat surface. Great big countertops are deadly for turning into a wasteland. Lol.

secret's picture

Submitted by secret on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 1:47pm

I like all white if I'm going to a hotel or a spa. Dunno, makes me relaxed. When I got my last house ready to sell, I redid the powder room in all white, which taupe accents... while really nice, I was really pissy about anyone using it because it really was a pain to keep clean.

secret's picture

Submitted by secret on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 12:56pm

my kitchen is 14 x 14. Not huge, but not tiny.

I have a large bay window on one wall, and a decent sized window above the sink on another wall.

I currently have a 3-head directional spotlight in the middle of my ceiling, and a 2-head directional spotlight above my sink. Also, obviously, lights in my fan above the stove.

All my appliances are currently black and stainless.

I don't have an island per se, but on the wall opposite the sink I have another base cabinet - think island, but against the wall.

This is the look I'm going for:

http://imgur.com/R7OW0G1

http://imgur.com/OSyG1cf

http://imgur.com/2D07YEW

WTF...REALLY's picture

Submitted by WTF...REALLY on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 1:11pm

As you can see in all the picture you posted, there are recessed cans placed about every 5 feet so the cones of light connect. This along with the task lighting of the pendants produces the well lite space. And I'll bet those cabinets have undercabinet lighting as well. Plus they have the balance of light finishes with dark finishes. When going with black cabinets, you really have to know how to balance it, otherwise it ends up looking not so good. And none of those blacks are true black. You got to go to softer blacks.

Those directional ceiling mount light fixtures you are talking about aren't always the best. And if the bulbs are iMR 16, like they usually are, you can really get light placement that doesn't work so well. I'd look into the cost of adding some recessed cans. Go with CR6 and you will be very happy.

Best of luck.

secret's picture

Submitted by secret on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 1:46pm

Yeah, I thought about that... and I'm not really interested in investing time/money/energy in getting them installed.... at least, not until I see what it looks like without them. Thanks for pointing them out.

Realistically, the doors I'm specifically looking at are not quite black... they're more like a charcoal grey.

This picture kind of looks like my kitchen... except that the island is against the wall across from the sink... and instead of a bench I have a small table and 2 chairs. The stove and fan are where the coffee maker are... and there is a space over my cabinets whereas the ones in the picture go to the ceiling, with a beam. I have nothing on top of my cabinets, though. The bay window is south facing and the side window is west facing... so there's sun all day.

http://imgur.com/fmAcnJU

If I leave the walls red, it could look like this... and I'm not a fan.

http://imgur.com/upT6On8

moeilijk's picture

Submitted by moeilijk on Fri, 09/15/2017 - 2:28pm

What is the cost difference between refacing and replacing for the upper cabinets? DH and I are both tall so we always go up to the ceiling since we do use that last shelf. And I always choose short uppers, so that there is lots of headroom. Nothing worse than going to my mom's old place where there was only one spot that you could use the blender because it didn't fit under the uppers.

Are your appliances slide-in or built-in?

I like the image of what it looks like now, and I like the light cabinets contrasting with the dark island. When you say stainless backsplash, do you mean tiles or sheeting? Personally, I'd never do it because splashes and streaks and my unwillingness to be a slave to my stuff, but I think some stainless can look great in small doses but too much of a good thing can be baaaad (I just searched 'stainless backsplash' on google images... yikes!).

If you get new countertops, would you reconfigure the layout? Or is this really just lipstick vs a full-on face-lift?