#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.

#dwh2 : The Lady Room Part One

When searching for the #dwh2 one one of the things on my list was a "lady room". Or as I've heard others call it a "sitting room". I think my term is more fun. So as we shall call it, the lady room.
I was really happy when we found the our house because it had the ultimate set up for said lady room. I haven't shared very many photos of this space because it wasn't to see. I just knew it had potential.
The room's walls were painted two shades of pink stripes. Which was really cool. But I've passed the phase where I want a pink room.  Had this come along about 8 years ago, I'd have been a happy camper. Alas, 8 years late. Also...a major NO for us....carpet. I was revealed that the under coating was raw concrete. Naturally, and realtor line is going to sound something like, "oh you can just replace it with hardwood." Well that ol' hardwood isn't in the cards right now. But perhaps sometime in the future. Should hardwood be installed it would have to be in several rooms not just this one and we'd have to replace the existing hardwood that's outside of this room.  Matching is not an option, it's really weird scrapped kind of red hardwood. (?? I know) Now back to this room....

Here it is about 2 weeks after we moved in. 

When we moved in I put all of my frames on this wall because I wanted them off the floor. 

I also wanted to see what it looked like.  As it turns out it was entirely overwhelming and something I didn't want to stay for longer than possible. Knowing that the room would get painted eventually I thought it was a harmless risk.

 

These photos were taken just before I started hauling 

everything out of the room to take the carpet up. 

The window to the right was covered. It had a really nice pair of white and pink silk drapes that would, again, have been great a few years ago but at this point not my cup of tea. The quality is so nice though, I hope we can use them in another space at some point. There was also a big cornice board that extended from the top of the wall to just past the top of the window. It was brown silk with pink flowers and had scalloped edges.  I really did try to figure out how to keep this as it is a nice piece. But again...same story 8 years go...SO it all came down.

And then I reached the magical point where I couldn't take it any longer.

And this happened. Which then meant that we had to go on and take all of it out. 

(I may or may not have done a little happy dance.)

Believe it or not taking the carpet up was the easy part. 

It was practically just laying there as though it was a rug on the floor. 

The padding likewise came up quite easily. 

Stay tuned for more on this room make over. 

Folks...as of today it looks completely different.

Memphis Fun : Tiger Madness

On Friday night I went to Tiger Madness with my Canadian husband and my Thai surrogate daughter.

This was a rather fun outing and my first "sporting event" as a Memphis Tiger. Having attended another highly acclaimed basketball school I had some expectations as to how Tiger Madness would go down. Tiger Madness is modeled after Late Night - which is to mark the first day the team can officially practice together. That date was earlier in October, none the less I am glad to support my new Tiger team as they start their new season. It was great to be in the Fed Ex Forum with thousands of other screaming, laughing fans. I was not only proud of the university community and all the students but I was also proud of the city of Memphis. Go Tigers, Go!

#dwh2: Fans.

#dwh2 is a fixer-upper. However, I would not call this house a gut job. I know there were many people who did think so. Alas, we do not. It needs updating. That doesn't include removing every last particle. At least not within the first 5 minutes of living here.

We are slowly checking things off the list of "we can do it" tasks. One of them was to paint all of the fans in the pool. We've been trying to come up with a name for it other than pool room because that means to most people that we would play pool in there. We call it the pool room because it is a room with an indoor pool in it. That's hard to explain sometimes. #firstworldproblems

So, I give you the offending fan.

Brown, leafy, more black and a bad lantern.

The pool room has a lot of lighting. 

There are 10 bulb fixtures with round lanterns on them. I like them. 

There are also 8 recessed lights. 

And last but not least, 3 offending ceiling fans. 

...and a partridge in a pear tree. 

The lanterns that go all the way around the pool are original to the house. 

We really like them. So..let's see what we can do to build this in to the fans...

As you can see below, the lanterns have a certain (cough, cough) shape to them. 

...pointy, you know what I'm saying.

The name of the game as we've moved in has been "PAINT". 

We've painted so many things to help give it a new face. 

So when looking at the fans, this was the logical answer. 

I priced some new fans but that project rang up at about $950 including the electrician. 

I'm not so keen on spending that amount on fans. Not today, probably not ever.

AND....the reveal.

Thank the dear sweet spray paint lords that this worked out. 

It took A LOT of paint. Like....A LOT. 

For each fan it took approximately 2.5 cans of spray paint.

The fan blades are sizable but they really soaked up the paint. 

Also, they needed painted front and back because of the angle they are installed.

 Remember what they DID look like?

 

Yes, I was rather glad to have this little chore done and off the list. 

Next up in the pool room...

1. Give it a better name

2. Paint the rest of the room. (probably in the spring)

It took about 2-3 days per set of fan blades to paint them. 

So this project while seemingly easy, took a couple weekends to complete. 

I think that this really made a difference in the space. 

Changing out the lantern and painting the blades in total cost about $25 per fan. 

I'd like to paint the body of the fan too, though didn't this time. 

I kind of like it with the black body, so time shall tell. 

This room is the room in the house that needs the most work long term so ultimately the fan blades are a very small drop in the bucket (pool) but for now it seems quite lovely. 

We got about 3-4 big projects done over fall break last weekend. So I'm excited to share them with you as they finish up and come together later this week.

A photo worth sharing.

I saw this photo on Bo & Dot today and it is simply to good not to share.

This photo is from Dubai.  While it is unlikely I will ever have the opportunity to travel there...

Can you believe this? It stopped my little browsing finger and I paused to marvel and say WOW. 

That is all. 

Happy Thursday. 

This is my favorite day of the week because it means tomorrow is Friday. 

Then it's the weekend.

#dwh2 : the blue bathroom

Before Tongta arrived in August we painted her room. It is Benjamin Moore electric blue. We love it. She loves it, everybody is happy. I highly recommend that color, it is very WOW.  In Tongta's rooms...Blue is the thing. Lots of blue, and in various shades of blue. Which is funny considering our house was in a movie called "50 shades of blue". Ha. hadn't thought of that before.

So now let's talk about Tongta's en suite bathroom. Her bathroom is the "blue bathroom". It has powder blue/light blue tile from the floor about 2/3 of the way up the wall. The tile is in really good shape. So no plans to take it out. The walls is painted the same color of blue the rest of the way up as is the ceiling. FORTUNATELY, all of the bathrooms in the house have tile all the way up to the ceiling. I am totally impressed that they did that when the house was built in 1960. That really helps curb the notion to take out the tile....did I already mention that the tile is in good shape (yes, yes!).

About 18 months ago I was at Seabrook paint store in Memphis and landed on a stack of black and white stripe wallpaper that was on major sale. The answer is "YES"... I bought all they had. At the time I knew I didn't have a spot for it but I knew there would be eventually. I actually even used it for a piece of furniture at our last house. I was so excited...I just had to use it for something!

That was fun! It really gave a different flare to this piece. 

I used a very small portion of the paper I bought. This was just a little practice.

NOW...back to the bathroom at #DWH2

Just as a reference here is some inspiration for the bathroom...

I originally found this picture on Google images but traced it back to this post.

I took this picture at the Kate Spade store in Memphis. 

I love their bathroom.  Their tile is a crisp white, but I think that it would still look cool with blue on the bottom. Adding in some additional shiny pieces such as a new faucet and other fixtures I think that will be a nice fresh start! I always go in there when I visit the store. I love to take a peak at that crisp white and dazzling shiny fixtures. The stripes sure are dandy.

Here is our blue bathroom as it is now. Styled up with some pink and gold. 

The ceilings are nice and tall so the stripes might be a nice touch. 

The counter is white marble, the sink is a nice shape so all of that is okay. 

I think a new faucet is in order. I've got a few in mind but nothing selected. 

 This bathroom has a really interesting layout, it's kind of an "L" shape. The bathtub is actually a separate portion. The bathroom and the toilet is on the other side of the wall with the pink towel (pictured above). You can also see the reflection of another door in the mirror...that's the space where the shower is. When you go through that door, you're in Tongta's room. So it's got variations of privacy. Nice option, eh?

Right now the striped wallpaper is in a bag in the bathroom, every day I get closer to calling somebody to have it applied.  However, after steaming wallpaper off 3 of the other bathrooms, it's an interesting thought to put up MORE wallpaper. Goodness, the dilemma.