#dwh2 : Butler's Pantry

We had a "butler's pantry" in our last house and it was lovely. The built ins had been refinished and are in a crisp white finish (which I love). In the previous house the built ins were part of a whole room that was also probably supposed to be the breakfast room - it was between the kitchen and dining room. 

In #dwh2, the butler's pantry is a little hallway that connects the kitchen to the dining room and then also has a door way to the wet bar, which is it's own little space all together. 

Also, if you've read my blog before you know my style, all of these photos are what I like to refer to as "keeping it real"...hehe…no pre photo staging here.  I'm lucky if I can remember to take the photo…let alone stage it pre-renovate. So anyway, when the contractor was here a few weeks ago he worked on both the kitchen and the butler's pantry. The wallpaper came down and the whole space got a fresh coat of white paint.  

We have yet to paint the cabinets.  That's a really tough call for me.  The cabinets are custom cabinets, and yes they are what we could file under vintage, but none the less the wood is still pretty.  So painting them is not a done deal as of now. Right now I'm going to paint/renovate everything else around them and then we will see what we have. 

Now, just the other day I was flipping through Instagram and found this photo that's below. 

(Photo and design via Lance Jackson - Parker Kennedy Living - find on Instagram, it's fab.)

Talk about gorgeous! I love this.  Now, blue is probably not on the palate (like I've said 300 times I am a white paint person).  But MAN…this has me thinking.  It sure is fun to look at.  I really like the mirrored backsplash as well.  That is an excellent idea until you consider the number of other floor to ceiling mirrors we have in the house…so back to the drawing board on that one too!

None the less - way to go on this space.  The lucky key holder to this bar is in for a daily treat!

More on the butler's pantry as things continue to come together.

#dwh2 : Laundry Room/Hallway

The laundry room at #dwh2 isn't really a room unless you stand still. Rather it's a hallway you walk through on the way to the den or to the pool room or to the 4th bathroom, or to the garage, or to the pantry. So if you stand still to do the laundry (which most people do) it is a room.

Behind those shutter doors are our washer and dryer.  When moving in, the washer and dryer were the only appliance we had to buy (for the time being). We went with our standard LG front load red washer and dryer with pedestal. We had these in our other house and really liked what they did for our clothes, you know...clean them and all. If it's not broke don't fix it, right? And besides, who wants to learn the new buttons (totally kidding)?

Good bye gold paint.

See the door in the wall...That's a fold out ironing board. 

There are two of them in the house. They're lovely. 

This space was finished about a month ago...

More when it's completely finished.

#dwh2 : New York City Bathroom

We have 4 full bathrooms in #dwh2. This is a good thing, I do not consider it extra work to clean bathrooms, I like having them. So nice to have the space so now worry here. Our smallest bathroom I affectionately refer to as the New York City bathroom. Because, compared to the other 3 bathrooms, it is the smallest. Also, because of the style of the tile, the layout, what's in there, etc.
The bathroom includes a full sized walk in shower, a big section for storage, a potty and a sink. Perhaps the biggest reason for the NYCBR is because it has a frosted window. Much like that of one you'd see that overlooks a stairwell or is next to that of another building (and the bathroom of another). A very fine point of this restroom, it has very tall ceilings. That is always a plus.

So...here it is. Our NYC BR after having the beige, textured wallpaper removed. You are correct to notice that the room has a yellow tone, the lighting also needs to be addressed. Just keeping it real...you get to see what the bathroom really looks like. 

This bathroom was painted 2 weeks ago - can't wait to show it to you. I'm still adding in a few decorative elements. I hope to have it done before Thanksgiving week when my family will be here for a visit.  Stay tuned for the part deux post on the NYC BR.

#dwh2 : The Kitchen

We are 5 months in. 5 months at #dwh2. All bedrooms and 3 of the 4 bathrooms have been painted along with the laundry room, master wing hallway and another hallway by the den. Still to do...the bar, the dining room, the breakfast room, 1 more bathroom, the whole indoor pool area (yikes) and then there's the exterior (maybe this time next year). For now...let's get back to the kitchen. 

Here is a photo from the kitchen (from sometime in the summer). Remember, keeping it real. This is what a kitchen really looks like, yes we use those counter tops, there IS stuff everywhere.

 There is wallpaper all around the top of the kitchen walls as well as a yellow gold colored paper around the sides. I somehow neglected to photograph the yellow gold wallpaper (whoops). Just imagine it being the color of the yellow gold in the print on the patterned wallpaper. Yup, it was solidly 70s. Legit stuff. We were able to salvage the wallpaper up top. There's something sentimental about it after all. It was pictured in the movie. So...yeah we have a pile of it laying around in the house. Maybe frame a piece later on?

 From different angels. There are 3 different entrances into the kitchen. One from the breakfast room (which still has wall paper on it, we may keep that paper though, it's kinda cool). There is an entry from the den hallway, and another entry from the butler's pantry hallway that goes from the kitchen to the dining room (also with an doorway into the bar.

The wallpaper is even in the butler's pantry. So that also got the ax. 

 

Let's reflect back to the inspiration photo. 

That is the inspiration photo that require no demolition. 

The inspiration photo of what our kitchen could like without replacing/painting cabinets. 

Basically, our same cabinets, stainless steel, my highly desired white walls and the big wildcard...concrete floors. The big question mark includes removing the layers of linoleum on the kitchen floor. That's right...there are LAYERS. More than one. GULP...moving on. 

Time to take the paper down...here we go. 

 

Taking the paper down was a REALLY big step. It make the walls look much better even though they were then caked in wallpaper paste because there were at least 2 layers of wallpaper in the kitchen. Why in the world would you do that? Seriously!?!? 

While taking the paper down, the contractor undovered a secret door in the wall between the bar and the kitchen. It had been plastered shut and papered over. Again...??? What in the world. Need I say more? NO. Moving on yet again. 

After the day with the wallpaper removal we were left with pseudo white walls.  Remember the wallpaper paste. I was delighted. It really gave us a chance to look at the pretty wood in our cabinets.
Also, by now I'm sure you're noticing the super awesome lighting...yes we are going to address that at some point too. I can, however, understand why these lights are there because the actual light under neath is is very small. So this at least gives adequate light.

In this photo above, you can see where the contractor uncovered the little door in the wall (to the right). It was a really fun surprise to see it revealed. We always thought something was under there, but didn't know what.

Again, here is the inspiration photo.  After removing the wallpaper and painting the walls and ceiling with a new coat of lovely white paint...I feel like we are closing in on having something.  Though, the white walls and wood cabinets don't look half bad with the green floor now.  That won't stop me though on the mission to remove the linoleum....It's going to happen I tell ya!

#dwh2 : Lady Room Part 2

In my last post I shared the beginning stages of the Lady Room at #dwh2.  I've now been back into the space for about 2 weeks and love the way painting it and taking out the carpet has changed the feel of the space. It's really something what that can do. The room felt really boxed in with the carpet. Make the ceiling feel lower and the room feel smaller. I've never really lived in a space with carpet. Out of all the rooms at my family's home the only room with carpet is the den and at that it opens up to two other rooms so it doesn't make it feel as small. This room...it made it feel small. Not so good.
So, out the carpet came.

Here is the room after the carpet came out and we had the white concrete stain on the floor. Geoff is putting on the coat in this photo. As I shared in the last post, I thought about keeping the pink walls (for a single moment) but remembered my original vision of white/white/white (walls/ceiling/floor). 

 

The next point of consideration...the gallery wall. 

I really liked having all of these photos hanging because in truth I really do like to look at them everyday. They are important photos from our lives. I had a couple of pieces (bottom row) that were place holders for other pieces that never were hung. So alas there were going to be a few holes. 

So...they all came down when the painter came. He filled the holes and I'm moving on. 

Another point of consideration when painting is the trim. We don't have crown molding throughout the house because it is mid - century and obviously that isn't part of the deal.  It has been added in this room and in Tongta's bedroom. Taking it out wasn't really the thing to do so the crown molding and all of the trim got painted the same color as the walls (high gloss white). My goodness it made a difference. Don't forget the trim folks, it will totally change the look of your room!

 Handsome was oh-so curious about this project. 

A lot of things to smell and inspect.

Here is a glimpse of what the room looked like when all the furniture went back in. 

I'm always in suspense looking at other blogs what the finished project looked like. 

(So, here it is in advance!)

These photos are from two weeks ago, so a few more things have found their way into the space. 

Also, I'm experimenting with painting the doors black. I've painted a few of them to see if it looks good. After we finish with painting projects, new doors and hardware throughout the house are next. So for now, these doors are serving as research.  So far...the result is very positive. 

In the next post....More on the concrete staining process.