arroyo's Profile

This is a joke, right?

Beautiful. It is great to see a real working kitchen, rather than a showroom. The slag glass cabinet doors and the floor really make it for me. Makes me want to paint my kitchen.

FYI: We have a Bosch dishwasher and love it. Super quiet and awesome cleaning. I pre-wash nothing.

Rather ironic, but light colors really only work in spaces that have good light. When you have a small space with limited light, you have a great opportunity to go DARK.

I suggest BLACK. It would look great with your tiles, grout and brick. And it would bring a lovely richness to the space.

It sounds like a cliché, but the house will tell you what it needs. Listen to the house and don’t try to impose your will on it. It is a great house… but you have to work with it, not against it.

Paint and Color
---The house has a serious case of the drabs. Everything is grey, beige, and oh so boring. Grey is trendy now. But your craftsman house needs something warm. Get rid of the grey, and choose something warmer that works with the stained glass. It doesn’t have to match, but it does need to work together. (Remember, don’t fight the house.)
---Get rid of the accent wall colors. You have actual architectural interest… you don’t need to manufacture it. Paint both rooms the same color.

Furniture
---Too much and too large. And the matched set… yikes. Once you get some appropriately scaled furniture, you’ll have better options for arrangement.

Art / Accessories
---Your teeny tiny wall decor is not working. It looks cluttered and lacks focus. Go with less stuff, but choose things with more impact. For example, instead of 5 little paintings, choose 1 larger painting. Instead of a shelf full of photos and tchotchkes, hang 1 beautiful mirror.
---Identify or create a focal point. This could be something already in the house (like a fireplace or BIG WINDOW WITH STAINED GLASS). And note that this movie only needs 1 star (focal point); it won’t work without supporting roles.

Windows
---Your flimsy fussy window coverings are a serious decorating crime! Think about how much privacy and light control you need, then choose something that meets those needs in a minimal manner. And if privacy and light are not an issue, save yourself some money and forgo window coverings altogether.
---Craftsman architecture is all about simple lines; be true to that. Don’t try to fight the house by dressing them up with swags, flounces, or fancy poufs.
---Some things that would work: Bistro or café curtains, fabric shades, bamboo blinds, or simple panels that can be opened wide enough to reveal the windows and frames.

Keep the walls white. Don’t get too hung up on making everything MATCH. The floor tiles are a great neutral, and work as an organic complement to the white walls. Just bring in a VERY few accessories to unite them… maybe a few simple line drawings on buff paper.

---Remove the shutters. They are the wrong size and detract from the appearance.
---Paint the door a deep blue-grey. You want something that is dark and reads “almost” black. It will have more depth and be a bit softer than black.
---Paint all windows (innermost casements only) a steely blue-grey. Choose a color that works with the door color, but is lighter. Something from the mid-tone range.
---Paint the rest of the window trim cream (the thin trim surrounding the casements, and the larger wood area below the window). Cream is softer than stark white, and will blend nicely with the blues and browns. All windows (1st and 2nd floor) should be the same. Paint your gutters cream, also.

Before you start… what is going on with the front door? It looks odd. Like it used to be a double door but one side was closed off. And the trim is broken… is it in good condition? The pseudo-Victorian etched glass is REALLY off. I’m not a fan of the door at all, so if there is anything going on now would be the time to replace it with a Colonial style more suitable to your house.

The photos are small and really don’t show any of the detail you’re describing. From what I can see, the addition does not reproduce the historic details of the original house. And yet is not modern enough to create an interesting contrast. So it is sort of stuck in limbo. Maybe it looks better in person.

The result is that it looks kind of commercial. (I think that gray stucco is not helping.) But the fact that the gray stucco looks commercial is telling. Don’t paint it gray. Not even dark gray. My neighbors just painted their 1920’s Spanish style dark gray; it looks awful.

My suggestion would be to research traditional Craftsman color palettes. Then, tweak those traditional colors a bit to bring them into the 21st century. And do use multiple colors to play up the architectural details.

Also, your hillside location means you have a lot of unbroken stucco on the down slope (we have the same thing). You need to do something to break that up with plantings, paint, or both.

If you’re uncertain enough to be seeking advice from ATLA, I’d seriously consider hiring a color consultant. Painting is expensive and you want the color scheme to last for a good 10 years. Spending a few hundred dollars on some expert help might be money well spent. The color scheme is going to make or break your house. You want it to be awesome.

Not only will it work, but it will work very well. In a room that size, the bed is pretty much going to fill the space. A canopy bed will not only fill the space, but it will be a great focal point and will even make the ceiling look higher. Keep things simple and let the bed take center stage. AT’s photo is a good example of getting it right.

I can’t personally attest to this, but a friend has been happy with products from this company: http://noodor.com/p/smoke-smell-odor-damage-smoking-cigarette-tobacco.html

If it is really bad, there are companies (like Servicemaster) that clean up after fires, so there are definitely products out there for this. For example: http://www.winsol.com/smoke-prods.htm

Bottom line: This is your landlord’s problem to address.

I can attest to the persistence of this problem. I once lived in an apt whose previous long-time tenant was a heavy smoker. The apt had been re-painted, but the nicotine would bleed right through the new paint. I’d wash the walls and it would come right back. So yes, you have to re-paint and use a stain-blocking primer.

No small amount of work... but what great results! Gorgeous. Nice blog, too.