hyzen's Profile

Reminds me of the saying that, of cheap, good, and fast, you can generally pick 2, but not all 3. This was good and fast.

If possible, I would find out what kind of cabinets those are, and see if you can get more short ones to go on top of the big wall cabinets to bring the whole assembly closer to the ceiling, then trim it out with crown molding or whatver you'd need at that point to bring it the rest of the way to the ceiling. If you can find glass-fronts for the top, great, although solid would be good, too. This will add height, storage space, and a more built-in feel. Assuming it would work with your configuration, I also like the option of taking the short cabinet over the sink and the short one that's over the stove, and putting them over the existing taller wall cabinets. Then, you could put a free standing hood over the stove and maybe some open shelves over the sink. I'd also replace all the hardware with something more interesting--maybe something in black. For wall paint, I'd do a sea glass green or maybe a warm gray. This might be a good inspiration image for you: http://rehkamplarson.com/projects/brandt . You'd also do well to trim out that window with some nice moulding, and I like the idea of a warm rug, either bold and graphic, or persian, etc. Add some nice pendant lighting, and you're in business.

I'm in your neck of the woods (we could even be neighbors!), and I wish my kitchen were as neutral and ready for a few easy tweaks as yours. The previous owners of our house made some weird color and quality choices for flooring, counters, and cabinets (and walls, but at least I was able to repaint those), and I've been plotting a remodel for about 7 years now--and 2012 is the year it's finally going to happen!

We just did a huge book purge a few weeks ago--got rid of about 20% of our book collection, and still have many hundreds more we kept. It's amazing how much lighter the place feels. We recently got both a kindle and an Ipad, so our method was to get rid of anything we didn't love that could easily be found electronically. I learned that most classics are available on kindle for free download--so out the door went anything I was just keeping around because I felt like it belonged in a good library, but which I didn't really love. Cookbooks were another big offender--we seem to have amassed a lot of these over the years that we rarely used, and the availability of searchable recipes on the internet meant it didn't make much sense to keep these freeloaders around "just in case". I love books, and it genuinely hurt a bit to part with so many, but in the end my house feels cleaner and more functional without them.

I really like the look of these, and it looks like a great project. Children's books really make lovely wall art. I have to say, though, what always runs through my mind when I see these face-out bookshelves: If you have limited space and lots of books, face-out is not the answer to your problem. I know people say that kids are more likely to want to read the books if they can see the cover, but I've never found my kids to be put off by book spines. They learn to recognize the spines of their books, and have no trouble rifling through them (or, in the case of my young toddler, pulling them all out into a pile on the floor) to find the one they want. It also helps to keep a rotating set of a few books in heavy rotation by putting them in a little basket next to the bookshelf, or on the coffee table or kids' nightstand, so there are a few in plain sight with ready access.

That said, this looks like an awesomee way to use a very shallow space on the wall that might otherwise go unused, like the one shown above. If you have a few more inches of depth available, though, I say go for a traditional bookshelf--you can store about 20 times more books in about the same space.

I love it! I also want to know if you can tell in real life that it is drywall and not wood in between the boards. I wonder if using a slightly higher gloss paint than on the wall would be helpful in adding to the illusion of paneling? I can't tell if they did that here or not. This is something I'd really love to try in my house, and it's so encouraging to see their success with it.

Any word on what the paint color is above the paneling? I'm in the market for something like that.

Ok, assuming that this pic is pretty close to your actual layout, here's what I say. Get a couch and a loveseat (or a big sectional). Put the couch or long side of the sectional with its back to the dining room, and spaced a few feet away from that wall so people can comfortably walk from the foyer to the dining room by going behind the couch. Put the loveseat or short side of the sectional floating in the room with its back to the windows. Put the TV on the wall shared with the bedroom, opposite the couch. Add a nice storage ottoman, end table or two, and rug to this set-up to complete your seating area. Put a low bookshelf (something like this: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80176279/#/00176278) directly behind the loveseat, and load that up with toys and whatnot. Put your child size table and easel back in that area, too, along with whatever additional storage you want (I like the idea of two tall bookshelves flanking the window, with maybe another low shelf between them, for instance). My living room is too small and square for this, but I wish I could do it, because it's a great set-up--like EAMOXIE says, it gives your kid their own special space, AND mostly hides their mess from general view when you come in the door, AND gives you a nice, cozy seating area to watch movies or whatever.

I don't know. I don't usually like oddball finishes, and I am a hardcore, card-carrying member of the pink hating club, but the house looks ok to me. Kind of fun. And interesting. And delightful. Maybe I'm feverish. Or I've been working too hard....

P.S. But I am telling myself there was something wrong with the stone before they painted it which justifes the painting, because I can't stand the idea of painting over nice, natural stone in good condition.

I recently sold our old oversized chair and a half and replaced it with my parents' 30+ year old Pennsylvania House loveseat. The loveseat is actually smaller, but provides comfortable sitting room for two. I will say that the chair with the wide seat and giant arms actually made a comfier place to curl up and read a book or nap than the loveseat does, but we needed the sitting space, so it had to go. It was just a space hog. If we were single rather than a family of 4, the chair could've stayed.

Thanks! Ooh, I knew looking at the paint chips that I would like that Sharkey Grey on the wall--now maybe I need to run out and buy a few gallons before HD discontinues it!

I echo those asking for one easy way to read everything chronologically, without having to click around and get missing or redundant posts. I really like the improved categorization and searchability the new design seems to offer, but the general/casual readability seems to have gone downhill--makes it feel more like a reference site than a daily read. Glad to hear you are working on a fix, and I hope it comes soon!