Friday, September 7, 2012
Mood boards
I might have a new obsession! As you can imagine by my last post, I am extremely anxious and excited to finally make our house a home. Get it organized and decorated in a style that I love. I have been over at www.Olioboard.com where you can put together a mood board. You can add your own pictures or search through their categories and find examples of things you would like in a room. Here is my first mood board for my master bedroom. A lot of the items I found on their site were out of my budget, but it gives me a good idea of the style I am looking for, or at least the pieces I want to see in my room! Here it is...
The List...
Of things that drive me crazy about my house...
After reading this post, I don't want anyone to think that I am not grateful for what I have, because I truly am. I know that we are very blessed to have a house in a great neighborhood, but there are more things that drive me crazy about this house than things I love! Here they are....
Closets- We have one in our bedroom and one in the hallway that acts as storage for linens/storage for extra food and kitchen supplies that we can't fit in the kitchen/art supplies for the kids/pet care and cleaning supplies. Those ARE our ONLY closets in the WHOLE house....
Bedrooms - We do now have 3 bedrooms...thank goodness. But my complaint is our bedroom that acts as storage/office and adult hangout. Since we don't have a place to put a desk we have a bookshelf that acts as our office in our bedroom. I can't wait to have a bedroom that is just a bedroom, a retreat. I know that sounds corny, but really I would love to have a cozy, relaxing looking space tohide spend time in. As much as I hate my bedroom space now, I spend WAY too much time in it....which leads me to my next ugghhh thing about this house...
Bedroom Location - The kids bedrooms are right off the main living area. RIGHT off the kitchen and living room. This is not ideal for ANYTHING. During the day when Owen naps I have to hang out in my bedroom (or at least at that end of the house which is only my bedroom, hallway and bathroom) when he is falling asleep because if I don't he can see me if he comes to the door. Then of course he talks to me and calls out to me and I get aggravated and he doesn't sleep. Then once he is asleep I still don't dare go in and do anything loud on that end of the house like clean the kitchen for fear of waking him up. He is a very light sleeper during the day, and when he wakes before he is ready, he is a grouch and that makes me grumpy! At night, it is hard to be out here with the lights all on with the kids trying to fall asleep, and of course for some reason they both HATE having their doors closed, so instead we watch TV, use the computer and hang out in our bedroom....I feel like I am in college again, living in a dorm room...we just need a mini fridge and we'd be all set!
Bathroom - Our bathroom is tiny and very akwardly shaped. We actually have to walk into our bathroom and shut the door in order to get to the toilet....who designed this space...really?? It was even more difficult when I was pregnant with the kids and my belly was giant. We also have a turquoise sink and tub. We used to have the toilet too, but we replaced that a while back.
Bay window - Although this is a hit with the children for use as a stage, chair and place to play with toys, etc, it is not a hit with me. Knowing we are not keeping it we haven't wanted to spend a lot of money to get a good window covering, but finding a cheap covering that looks good and keeps everyone from seeing inside is pretty impossible. I can't wait to have it gone. It also has crank out windows that let it no breeze which leads to my next gripe...
Crank out windows - We have no regular windows, they are all crank outs. We also have no screen doors, so basically we have no way of getting a breeze to go through our house. We run our air conditioner from May through September constantly. I don't mind air conditioning, but I also love to be able to open all the windows at night and feel the breeze. On days that are not so hot I would love to be able to open up the windows and air out the house...but we would fry! It gets so HOT in this house in the summer and we get no relief without the AC.
Kitchen - It sucks...plain and simple. I have 4 accessible cupboards and ONE drawer. I have a stove that is supposed to be built in so it is on a platform and looks terrible (but it is better than the tiny stove we had before) and the tiniest fridge ever. It is like one step up from dorm fridge. Our dishwasher sounds like a jet plane is taking off from our kitchen. Our sprayer in the sink sprays water at me when I run the water and my counters always have stuff all over them because I don't have enough room for everything....
The Exterior - One word...EMBARRASSING. Chipped paint, Tyvek, broken panel in our bay window (thanks to Mike and a snowball this winter), crappy front lawn (thanks to not one, but two, water pipe leaks in the past year that had to be dug out), overhang that looks ridiculous (another one of the previous owners stellar "add ons) Now can you see why I don't want to admit where I live?? I don't mind saying my street, but if I can avoid saying exactly which house, I do!
Then of course there are all the little things that are still unfinished around the house. No crown molding in most of the rooms, no transitions between different types of flooring and no trim around certain windows and doors. And our garage.....thats a deserves its own post on another day!!
You may think, why have you been living like this?? Well, it really doesn't make sense to fix these things just to rip it up later. If we had to wait any longer for this renovation we would have fixed the outside and done the rest of the cosmetic work on the inside, but we came to the point where we knew it was close and spending the money just didn't make sense. Having this renovation be so close, literally has me giddy with joy, I can NOT wait!
Pretty soon I will post pictures of all these things. How the house looks presently before we strip it down for the big move! Still no word from the contractor....still waiting, and not as patiently as before...starting to get ansy! Hope to be posting word on Monday!
After reading this post, I don't want anyone to think that I am not grateful for what I have, because I truly am. I know that we are very blessed to have a house in a great neighborhood, but there are more things that drive me crazy about this house than things I love! Here they are....
Closets- We have one in our bedroom and one in the hallway that acts as storage for linens/storage for extra food and kitchen supplies that we can't fit in the kitchen/art supplies for the kids/pet care and cleaning supplies. Those ARE our ONLY closets in the WHOLE house....
Bedrooms - We do now have 3 bedrooms...thank goodness. But my complaint is our bedroom that acts as storage/office and adult hangout. Since we don't have a place to put a desk we have a bookshelf that acts as our office in our bedroom. I can't wait to have a bedroom that is just a bedroom, a retreat. I know that sounds corny, but really I would love to have a cozy, relaxing looking space to
Bedroom Location - The kids bedrooms are right off the main living area. RIGHT off the kitchen and living room. This is not ideal for ANYTHING. During the day when Owen naps I have to hang out in my bedroom (or at least at that end of the house which is only my bedroom, hallway and bathroom) when he is falling asleep because if I don't he can see me if he comes to the door. Then of course he talks to me and calls out to me and I get aggravated and he doesn't sleep. Then once he is asleep I still don't dare go in and do anything loud on that end of the house like clean the kitchen for fear of waking him up. He is a very light sleeper during the day, and when he wakes before he is ready, he is a grouch and that makes me grumpy! At night, it is hard to be out here with the lights all on with the kids trying to fall asleep, and of course for some reason they both HATE having their doors closed, so instead we watch TV, use the computer and hang out in our bedroom....I feel like I am in college again, living in a dorm room...we just need a mini fridge and we'd be all set!
Bathroom - Our bathroom is tiny and very akwardly shaped. We actually have to walk into our bathroom and shut the door in order to get to the toilet....who designed this space...really?? It was even more difficult when I was pregnant with the kids and my belly was giant. We also have a turquoise sink and tub. We used to have the toilet too, but we replaced that a while back.
Bay window - Although this is a hit with the children for use as a stage, chair and place to play with toys, etc, it is not a hit with me. Knowing we are not keeping it we haven't wanted to spend a lot of money to get a good window covering, but finding a cheap covering that looks good and keeps everyone from seeing inside is pretty impossible. I can't wait to have it gone. It also has crank out windows that let it no breeze which leads to my next gripe...
Crank out windows - We have no regular windows, they are all crank outs. We also have no screen doors, so basically we have no way of getting a breeze to go through our house. We run our air conditioner from May through September constantly. I don't mind air conditioning, but I also love to be able to open all the windows at night and feel the breeze. On days that are not so hot I would love to be able to open up the windows and air out the house...but we would fry! It gets so HOT in this house in the summer and we get no relief without the AC.
Kitchen - It sucks...plain and simple. I have 4 accessible cupboards and ONE drawer. I have a stove that is supposed to be built in so it is on a platform and looks terrible (but it is better than the tiny stove we had before) and the tiniest fridge ever. It is like one step up from dorm fridge. Our dishwasher sounds like a jet plane is taking off from our kitchen. Our sprayer in the sink sprays water at me when I run the water and my counters always have stuff all over them because I don't have enough room for everything....
The Exterior - One word...EMBARRASSING. Chipped paint, Tyvek, broken panel in our bay window (thanks to Mike and a snowball this winter), crappy front lawn (thanks to not one, but two, water pipe leaks in the past year that had to be dug out), overhang that looks ridiculous (another one of the previous owners stellar "add ons) Now can you see why I don't want to admit where I live?? I don't mind saying my street, but if I can avoid saying exactly which house, I do!
Then of course there are all the little things that are still unfinished around the house. No crown molding in most of the rooms, no transitions between different types of flooring and no trim around certain windows and doors. And our garage.....thats a deserves its own post on another day!!
You may think, why have you been living like this?? Well, it really doesn't make sense to fix these things just to rip it up later. If we had to wait any longer for this renovation we would have fixed the outside and done the rest of the cosmetic work on the inside, but we came to the point where we knew it was close and spending the money just didn't make sense. Having this renovation be so close, literally has me giddy with joy, I can NOT wait!
Pretty soon I will post pictures of all these things. How the house looks presently before we strip it down for the big move! Still no word from the contractor....still waiting, and not as patiently as before...starting to get ansy! Hope to be posting word on Monday!
Monday, September 3, 2012
October??
Today I am both excited and a bit anxious....
We may be starting this project in ONE month!! I can't believe it! I have done a lot of looking around the house the past few days wondering what I will pack up, what will come with us to our temporary home, and what I will toss! In about a week, two tops, we will know for sure if we are moving forward next month...here is an update!
We really LOVE the contractor. We went Thursday night up to his home and saw his work, and some of the materials he was recommending to us. Both he and his wife were so kind to open up there home and we chatted with them for a while. Mike and I both agree that he will be very easy to work with!
On Friday we met with our mortgage broker and got the low down on how this would all work. She ran some numbers for us and we decided on a maximum budget for the project based on the final mortgage payment numbers. After we met with her we went out to lunch and discussed our plan. It looks like to get the project into our budget we are going to have to cut some things out...which is fine, as long as we get 3 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and a new exterior, I am one happy lady!
We are probably not going to touch the garage at this point, which means we won't have the two extra rooms over the garage, but those rooms are a bonus and right now we are working on necessities! By cutting out the addition over the garage we save all of that money and also avoid having to put in a sprinkler system in the whole house. Right there saves us at least $10K, that decision is a no-brainer as far as I am concerned! So, we will just put the second floor over the main house and little addition that we currently have, and save the garage for anotherday year! We will put new siding on the entire house and hopefully have them build the front porch at the same time, but we will probably hold off on the back deck for now! Of course we are making these predictions without actually having a quote, but we have an idea what the quote will come in at and have an idea of what these extras will cost, so we think we have it pretty close to our budget....but we could be totally off....
Our To Do List for the Week
We may be starting this project in ONE month!! I can't believe it! I have done a lot of looking around the house the past few days wondering what I will pack up, what will come with us to our temporary home, and what I will toss! In about a week, two tops, we will know for sure if we are moving forward next month...here is an update!
We really LOVE the contractor. We went Thursday night up to his home and saw his work, and some of the materials he was recommending to us. Both he and his wife were so kind to open up there home and we chatted with them for a while. Mike and I both agree that he will be very easy to work with!
On Friday we met with our mortgage broker and got the low down on how this would all work. She ran some numbers for us and we decided on a maximum budget for the project based on the final mortgage payment numbers. After we met with her we went out to lunch and discussed our plan. It looks like to get the project into our budget we are going to have to cut some things out...which is fine, as long as we get 3 bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and a new exterior, I am one happy lady!
We are probably not going to touch the garage at this point, which means we won't have the two extra rooms over the garage, but those rooms are a bonus and right now we are working on necessities! By cutting out the addition over the garage we save all of that money and also avoid having to put in a sprinkler system in the whole house. Right there saves us at least $10K, that decision is a no-brainer as far as I am concerned! So, we will just put the second floor over the main house and little addition that we currently have, and save the garage for another
Our To Do List for the Week
- Check with the Fire Chief to make sure that we are correct in assuming that if we bring our renovation total to below 50% we can scrap the sprinkler budget.
- Get the feasibility study from the the inspector that came out to the house. Basically a document saying that, yes, we can do the project we want to do.
- Cross our fingers and toes while we
anxiouslypatiently wait for the bid. - Researching what we want for fixtures and paint colors, as we may be making those decisions very soon, and I don't like to be rushed...
- While unrelated to the project, I have a certain 6 year old that I will be sending off to her first day of 1st grade this week! She is very excited and I would be lying if I said, I wasn't a wee bit excited myself!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)