Archive for June, 2012

Designers Live Through Construction Too

Wednesday, June 13th, 2012

I thought my clients might enjoy seeing that I have to live through construction mess and chaos too.

Here is the before view into our kitchen with the previous owners’ furniture.   The maroon carpet was hiding beautiful original wood floors, and unfortunately the slate tile in the kitchen was a DIY project by others that was already failing by the time we moved in (I believe the kitchen was updated within 2 years of our purchase of the house.)  Loose tiles, significant tile height variation (toe kickers), and grout chipping out were the key issues, plus the floor sloped in a multiple different directions.

Here is Flooring Day 2 before the tile setters arrived to demo the slate. Flooring Day 1 was having a plumber come over the day before to disconnect the plumbing and gas lines to the appliances so we could move them out of the kitchen.  You can see the raw wood floors that were hiding under the maroon carpet. We removed the carpet a few weeks back.  Refinishing of the wood will happen after the tile floors are done (proper order of construction projects is a key!)

Flooring Day 2 – Mid-morning. The guys made quick work of ripping out the slate and the underlayment.  Unfortunately I didn’t have shoes handy when I came upstairs from my basement office and I got to walk across the whole kitchen worth of rubble to get out. My bad.

Then when they got to the entry the discovered two additional layers of tile under the slate. Here the poor guys are debating how best to jackhammer out the top layer. Have fun!

By the next time I came upstairs to check on progress they’d cleared out all of the debris and the floor was ready for the self-leveling base to be poured.

Here you can see that the entry/ hallway area originally had both wood flooring and tile under it.

After the self-leveling base was poured and cured for a day we have this lovely starting point for Flooring Day 4. (Day 3 was drying time.)

At the end of Flooring Day 4: The majority of the tile has been installed and we just have to be patient as the thinset sets up. It’ll look even better once the tiles are cleaned off and grouted, but I’m soo happy with this new modern look that’s finally level!

Next week I’ll show you the finished product. Then we just have to refinish the hardwood floors and then we can put our whole house back together. (The large dining room and two bedrooms are being refinished, which necessitated moved the majority of our furniture, clothes, books, etc. to the basement where they’ve been for weeks.)  It’ll be great to get the nursery set up before the baby arrives; let’s hope she’s on time and not early!

 

 

 

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Things I’m Loving

Friday, June 8th, 2012

Happy Friday!  I’m headed over to the ASID Showcase Home for the last weekend of tours. I can’t believe how the past month has flown by!  I really appreciate everyone who has taken the time to tour the house and support our organization as well as the charities that benefit from this event.

I wanted to start your Friday off right with some beautiful things that have caught my eye recently.

First, I watched a marathon of Kitchen Cousins on HGTV recently(one of the few shows on that network I can stand because they do real construction with real budgets and show their problem solving in action. Though I don’t understand clients letting them pick the backsplash with no input.)  I’m impressed with their building knowledge, creative reuse of historic building materials, and well designed kitchens.

I like this kitchen they did for one of the designer’s parents.  They completely flipped the layout of the kitchen, opened up the traffic flow, and utilized a lovely mix of materials. The tobacco stained upper cabinets are lovely.  Mixed with the white lacquer lower cabinets and a handmade Moroccan backsplash, it’s a modern yet eclectic mix. My husband dug the wall graphic on the far wall.

The fact that they do the majority of their work in Hoboken,  NJ (just across the river from Manhattan) makes the show extra special to me since my aunt lived there for decades and I’d spend my breaks during college hanging out with her there. (I went to Vassar College, which is 1.5 hrs north of the city, up the Hudson River.)

These orange accessories would fit in lovely with the concept I developed for my deck (see the post here).  And the nautical hook, blanket and basket seem so perfect for a Cape Cod retreat I can dream of having (though the commute there is rough on summer weekends – round-about anyone?)

This kitchen has a lovely mix of classic white cabinetry and well worn vintage details and an abundance of natural light. The designer really played with scale (the etageres on the back counter, the chandelier) in a unique way that really takes this room beyond the typical.

The color palette, fabric selections, paneling, wall color and high ceilings in this room are so different than anything I’ve seen in a while, and that’s so refreshing!  Look how the designers mixed mid-century armchairs with a Jansen style daybed, French iron side tables and Murano glass lamps with a bone inlay table. What an inviting solarium (though I think any solarium would be lovely with all that light spilling in)!  The rest of this D.C. town house is equally well designed, so check it out if you have access to a copy of the May issue of House Beautiful. Or just click through to the article on HB’s website. The kitchen backsplash is amazingly transformative.

Finally, as promised a few weeks ago, here is the page featuring Fox Interiors in the new Mercury Mosaics catalog!  For more about this local company, see this blog post and their website.

That’s all for this week, or this post would be a mile long.  Next week I’ll share a soon-to-be completed bathroom project that’s ALMOST done and looking fabulous.

 

Photos:

1. Bruncon.com – Brunelleschi Construction

2, 3, 4. House Beautiful May 2012

5. Mercury Mosaics 2012 catalog

 

 

 

 

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Fox Interiors Chair