White Kitchens: Part Two

 Its a classic. It was in, It was out. It's IN again and has been for a long time. Sometimes white gets a bad rap that it is boring. Take a look - there all these are similar but have a different look. This top one with the subway tile to the ceiling - so cool.

 Bead board on the back splash, hood and ceiling - why not?

 The sliding barn door makes the perfect door for a pantry.

 This is pretty glam and traditional until you get another shot and see the black, mega buck stove.

 The ceilings, the french doors the window over the sink, oh my.

 Marble back splash to the ceiling - lordy.

 I spy... a map as the back splash above the stove.

 All kinds of awesome

 Light fixtures here and...here (below) add drama

Black Kitchens Part 2

 See the detail at the base of the cabinetry - makes it feel more like furniture and less static. The rest of the design is pretty simple.

 Great ceiling

 Tori Spelling's old "TV" kitchen. Think they sold that house.

Starting to wonder if black kitchens are overtaking the all white version in popularity. This last one is the bomb - think it is Miles Redd.

Our Flip is Done!

Two months after purchasing our little project, it is done!

I am going to walk you through each photo and let you know just what we did in each area.

If you remember, the exterior of the home needed some serious help.

1.The front window was about eight windows retrofitted into one. We replaced them with a picture window.

2.We also ripped off the turquoise metal awnings that were above the windows.

3. The roof had serious hail damage from the storm last spring, we completely replaced it.

4. The North side of the house also had serious hail damage so we replaced all of the siding on the north side.

5. The white siding was dingy so we picked a nice neutral greenish gray exterior paint and coupled it with handmade cedar shutters. We chose to do the cedar because unbelievably, it was less expensive than purchasing the plastic shutters sold at hardware stores. In addition, it matches the cedar posts that we replaced.

6. The front door was replaced and storm door was removed.

7. Lastly, we ripped out all of the weeds and over grown bushes and laid down wood mulch.

This is the view from the front door looking in towards the living/dining room and kitchen.

1. As you know, we knocked down the dividing wall into the kitchen and put up a header.

2. We continued the wood floors into the kitchen and re-finished the rest of them.

3. We painted all of the walls and trim.

4. We replaced all of the light fixtures and updated the electrical throughout.

Here is a more detailed view of the kitchen.

1. We rearranged the kitchen and spread it out to create more space. By adding a peninsula, we created a boundary between the kitchen and living areas as well as allow for more work space and flow between the spaces.

2. We installed cherry cabinets, granite tile, glass tile back splashes, stainless steal appliances and new lighting throughout the space.

Here is a view of the only bathroom in the house:

1. The only things left standing in this bathroom were the bathtub which appeared to be recently replaced and the white 4x4 tiles. We had to replace some damaged tiles here and there, but the rest were in great condition.

2. We replaced the vanity, sink and fixtures.

3. We added glass tile to warm the space up and make it feel less sterile.

4 We replaced the wc.

5. The shower doors and shower hardware was replaced.

6. The mirror and light fixture was replaced.

Because this is such a small bathroom, we wanted to keep it light and airy. The blues in the glass tile combined with the white tile and the pale blue paint give it a clean, polished look.

This is the North side of the house where the siding was replaced. In addition to all of the exterior work that I already mentioned, we painted the fence and replaced the garage door.

The bedrooms were all in good shape, so all we did was paint and replace light fixtures and all of the interior doors.

Amazingly, we came in $1,000 under budget! We are so pleased with the results!!!

Flipping project

Here is a little project that my husband and I have been working on for the past month:

It is a flip! We bought a little investment house and have been fixing it up to sell. This has not only been a good design exercise, but a good one for our marriage too :). My husband's background is in construction management, and mine is obviously design, so we have been working together to come up with the most cost effective, aesthetically pleasing solutions for this home.

This house was not in horrible shape, but in need of a total face lift.

Here is a list of what we are doing:

1. Gut entire kitchen and tear out a wall

2. Re-do most of bathroom

3. Tear out carpet

4. Add/re-finish hardwood floors

5. Replace some windows (most have been replaced)

6. New roof

7. New tile and water heater in laundry room

8. Add canned lights

9. Update electrical

10. Update all lighting

11. Replace all doors

12. Replace garage door

13. Replace posts outside

14. Fix siding and paint exterior

15. Repair cracked driveway

While this seems like a huge list, it is really not that bad once you get into it.

Here are some before and in progress photos:

We replaced the iron poles with some nice cedar ones along the garage which houses an overhang in the backyard.

This is an easy and inexpensive way to add a little warmth and character to the home.

This is the wall in the bathroom. As you will see later, the white 4x4 tile was in good shape, so to save ourselves from replacing all of it, we are adding some decorative glass tile and replacing a few white tiles that were damaged.

We took out the existing sink, vanity, mirror, lighting, commode, shower doors, grab bars, and smelly linoleum floor. We will be replacing all of the above and adding some decorative tiles.

Here is the exterior of the house. As you can see, the windows have been replaced, however, the what should be picture window on the right is kind of interesting. We will be replacing that with a new picture window and adding new trim around all windows and doors.

Here is the old kitchen halfway ripped out. It was very small and outdated, so we have torn out the wall to the right in order to create a peninsula with a breakfast bar that leads into the living/dining room. We had to put up a header to support the roof, but it makes a huge difference! The kitchen is getting all new cabinets, appliances, counter tops, lighting and hardwood floors, the works!!!

The other side of the kitchen looking into the laundry room. The hardwoods from the living room will be continued into the kitchen.

The bathroom before we tore it out.

The wall is down! This is the view from the living/dining room into the new kitchen!

Here is the opposite view from the kitchen into the living/dining. This beautiful hardwood was under some nasty carpet. We are so glad that we could save it! People often think that refinishing is too expensive, but if you find the right company, you can save yourself money and save the environment by refinishing floors rather than replacing them.

There are always surprises when you start ripping into stuff taking things out. If you are going to be doing a big project like this one, be sure to build in a percentage of your budget for these unexpected costs.

A note on budgets. In order to sell this house quickly, we are upgrading slightly above what the price point and neighborhood calls for. For example, this neighborhood does not call for crown molding and stainless steel appliances. While this is an added expense, we hope that the little bit of extra money we spend now will help us sell the home quickly and for close to our asking price.

We hope to be done in the next two weeks, so we will keep you updated on our progress.