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Display Name: textiles
Member Since: 5/6/09

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The medicine cabinet is perfect vintage, and goes with the age of the tile. Don't replace it. The sink should be replaced with an old, or reproduction old style, pedastal sink - you can find storage elsewhere - and the added space around the base will make the small room seem bigger.

Don't mess with the tile - figure out the colors to tone it down, and use them for wall paint, trim paint, towels, and other textiles. Also add window treatments of some sort, and shower curtain, not necessarily in textiles or colors. I'd be tempted to go with a clear vinyl shower curtain, with a pattern in the vinyl to make it semi-opaque, in this small space. It will be hard to find color and pattern to look good with the tile, and you may end up making it look worse. If you go with fabric shower curtain, look for a large, say flowery pattern, or a more subdued stripe pattern - either way, getting the color right is key - get one with a bit of black and a bit of the lilac color, mixed in with other colors, to distract from the tiles.

Did this with an ugly pink bathroom (toned it down using light gray and light blue towels and rugs and furniture, but used the clear shower curtain, in my case to let light in from the window over the bathtub) and ended up almost liking it - missed it when I moved on to a newly renovated but boring white bathroom. The pink one had so much character, as does yours. You may never choose this color (as I'd never choose pink), but you can make it work for you just fine, really.


Ideas for Rental's Lilac & Black Tile? Good Questions
5/17/13 8:21 AM

Oh, and unless you want to close off your closet desk, don't. It will make the room look smaller. Just make it look interesting too look at, and leave that longer view open.


Advice for Tying Together Decor? Good Questions
5/17/13 8:06 AM

Agree - don't paint a ceiling line - just pick a nice off-white or cream color, and paint it all one. Of course use eggshell finish.

Since you are allowed to take down the awful vertical blinds (good choice, I hate them, too), perhaps you can take up the carpeting if you ask. The age implies hardwood underneath. As noted above, even in lousy shape, they will look better with rugs on top of them than any carpeting will. And having floors refinished is not nearly as expensive as you think it will be. If your landlord's issue is noise, promist to put down rugs with padding in every room and hallway. If they want carpet anyway, offer to share the cost of new in a material and color suitable to you. But I'd really try to go without carpet - these rooms were not made for it, and will be much nicer without it.

As to the rest, I'm no fan of neutrals with "pops" of color decorating (give me lots of color anyday), so no advice to give, there.


Advice for Tying Together Decor? Good Questions
5/17/13 8:04 AM

I'm guessing the furniture company delivery people moved in it, and were thus responsible for it. hard to reverse that.


Tips for Moving a Mirrored Dresser? Good Questions
5/16/13 7:02 AM

You can definitely stage yourself. I knew what I needed to do from looking at other open houses. That said, I asked my realtor to walk through each room with me and give me an opinion on what furniture to remove - she advised me to remove more furniture from each room than I was planning on removing, but I recognized this as good advice, and did it. It made the place seem really spacious. Way less really is more.

I had already touched up the paint, replaced light fixtures, etc., and then after moving out all clutter (including plants, books and bookcases, all visible paper, and most stuff from closets) and extraneous furniture, I washed the windows, left the window screens I took out to do in the closet so the windows looked shinier, had professionals help me do majoy cleaning for two days, and spent for flowers for most rooms every time it was shown. Rearranged furniture in two rooms at suggestion of a friend.

That really worked to sell it quickly at full price. Think my broker would have suggested an even higher price had I showed it to her initially in its final condition (there's a lesson there, realtors are also human and of limited imagination). But I was happy.

Money for stagers: $0. Money for minor repairs: what I would have spent had I gotten around to doing them earlier. Professional cleaners: well worth the money (saved me time).


Five Things I Learned About Real Estate From Reality TV
5/16/13 6:27 AM

I think there may be places in the world where open kitchen shelving works...but how would I know, I've always been a city creature. But I can say for sure that Soho isn't one of them..and I know from living nearby in the Village. The truck exhaust particulate alone is enough to turn stuff on shelves black with grit.

There are things about this Reno that I really don't get...it's kind of putting lipstick on a pig. Maybe it is the way I was raised, but I don't like to waste things. And it seems to me that spending for the countertops and faucet makes absolutely no sense when put over what look like crappy old cupboards and not really fixing the floor situation (like putting down quality flooring over the entire floor would have done, whether first removing the tile or laying it well over the old tile, but most likely by removing the old tile, unless it contained asbestos, in which case just covering it could be a sensible option...but either way, over the WHOLE floor, not just the part in front of the old cupboards.) Would have made more sense to me to lay a great floor and replace the cupboards (even Ikea ones would look better, and their cupboard boxes are really sturdy, even if the doors aren't great, the doors are easily replaced now or later with something sturdier.) It would have made more sense to me to do this first, base part of the renovation, even if that meant using a cheaper but nice countertop material, which could always be easily upgraded later. Here, when someone wants to replace the crappy cupboards and lay a great floor, all this countertop will be wasted. And I can't see just ignoring the cupboards under that marble.

Opening the pass-through wall was a good idea (given by readers here on an earlier post, I believe), but I agree with whoever said above that stainless shelves don't play nicely with the marble counter.


Maxwell & Ursula's Light Rental Reno: The End is... in Sight Renovation Diary
5/1/13 11:03 PM

Yes, have done things like this in the past, usually rather small scale. The best reason to resist the urge and study up first a bit is to protect yourself from environmental toxins. I've scraped and dry sanded a lot of lead-paint coming off of walls in decades past, never again - it certainly wasn't good for me. And the paint stripping stuff you find in the local hardward store? Also not the best option to use for your brain cells. Popcorn ceiling? Asbestos. Ditto for certain floor tiles you may pry up unawares (best to have them tested, and if they contain asbestos, leave them and install a new floor on top.) Pulling up old carpet is fairly harmless - it is what you do to the tiles underneath of unknown materials that matters. (Though you could be exposing yourself to mold, depending on the carpet.)


When the Mood Strikes: Impulse Makeovers & Upgrades
4/25/13 8:00 PM

Another who couldn't see ripping out that kitchen, even if I would't have chosen the trim. What I could see is getting rid of the island to put in a table instead.

Isn't slate rock that comes from outside, or am I missing something here? It likely spend millions of hears out there already.

If you really are salvaging stuff, though, have you thought about selling your current kitchen, if you are ripping it out, to a place that sells used kitchens to those wanting to repurpose other people's nice discards in their own frugal kitchen renovations? Look into it. And, if so, you might be advised that selling that slate island top wtih the rest of the countertop and cupboards might make it all more useful to others.

Which isn't to say you couldn't keep it for an outdoor table for yourself if you still wanted to. Only that if your desire to use it outdoors is not to waste it, there may be other ways others can put it to good use with the rest of your kitchen discards. I can't tell if you really want to use it outdoors, or just don't want to waste it.

The only difficulty I can see with using it outdoors is that it would be very heavy to move. I wouldn't even attempt to attach legs - just rest it on a sturdy base.


Can Slate Countertop Have New Life as Outdoor Dining Table? Good Questions
4/25/13 7:43 PM

While I like the idea of some empty space, there is a big difference between an empty room, and rooms that aren't crammed with furniture. I like the idea of minimally furnished room - my place never felt so nice as it did when I removed a ton of stuff and left it minimally furnished to stage it for sale. But there were some furnishings in every room - none was left empty.

An empty room cries out for SOME furnishings. That window in the picture cries out for a simple window treatment of some kind, especially since the bars on the outside indicate that it is likely on the first floor. While I like to sit on (or lie on, or stretch on) a floor in a room designed for this and left largely empty for this purpose, I'd like a nice rug in there to sit on. And some low furnishings on the side to hold things I like to use in that room - like incense, candles, books, hand weights, musical instruments, etc. Space around stuff is nice. Completely empty rooms feel, well, like empty, wasted space.


The Case for Leaving an Empty Room in Your Home Life At Home
4/23/13 4:11 PM

Yes, I see the problem with this kitchen. This is what I'd do: Remove the valance over the sink and the shelves over the table. Leave the cabinets alone for now - painting them is too much work if you think you will be doing a renovation later, and they are unoffensive. But change the hardware - I can't see the drawer handles very well, but what I can see makes me think I don't like them. Don't replace the two doors above the stove with a flip up door - the hinges on those tend to fail. Just change what is around the cupboards, and you won't notice them as much - promise.

I think you don't like the floor - easiest fix for that is to cover it. Get a cotton rag rug (they are washable in up to 6'X9' size in triple washers at the laundromat - and you need something washable in the kitchen), or a vinyl or rubber mat, or an indoor-outdoor flat mat-like poly-whatever "rug" (the kind made for outdoor patios - not one with fabric pile) - whatever you like best - that covers up most of the floor. You will change that surface immediately. Start with finding what you want for that floor surface first, as that is what will be hardest to find - paint comes in all shades. Do paint that dark grey soffit another color - the same color you go with on the other walls, whatever shade that ends up being to go with your new floor cover.

Also cover up that busy-looking backsplash with something - there are many suggestions on the site here in ideas for renters. Don't make it permanent, and don't spend a ton on it - as you will be removing the tile and whatever covers it when you renovate. Pick your wall paint color and backsplash cover together, to go with your floor cover and each other.

Can't really tell what the counter material is - if you still can't stand it after picking out the other changes now, change it out for a wood one now. The ones from Ikea look great, and are about the cheapest countertop you can buy, really cheap, but gorgeous. Get the wood countertop in something a bit darker so as to not clash with your cupboard color by being too similar.

Then, ignore your cabinets, and plan to redo the entire kitchen - floor, cupboards, sink, counter, smash that soffit, perhaps change even the layout, appliances, window size, doors, etc., when you do a wholesale renovation. Don't do a piecemeal one - don't do just floors and counters and backsplash - just get the kitchen you have perfectly liveable for you until you do the whole thing, even if it is years away. It can be done to something you like well enough cheaply and easily for now - I know this from experience.

If you do all I suggested above and still hate it, then, and only then, paint the cabinets. And maybe replace the sink and faucet when you do the counters if they bug you (can't really see them). Then start saving for the whole thing. You won't be in any huge rush if you make this one look good to you, and you can easily.


What Colors To Unify Chaotic Kitchen? Good Questions
4/23/13 4:01 PM

Yep, the single ones make me think of the insane asylum. These look better in larger sizes, though double/full can still bring on the crazy look for me. The ones with the curved edges like the first one bring up that image, even in larger sizes - the ones with posts at the corners look better, as they bring to mind the look of brass beds, not the asylum look, in my opinion.


Get the Look: Iron Bed
3/15/13 11:44 AM

There are some applications, such as here, where white-painted wood gives a much brighter and less dark look to a space, moreso than unpainted and stained wood.

I do however, totally agree with the above poster who said that wood is much easier to maintain than white painted wood.

One way to split the baby, and which I would do to something that looks blindingly white like the above, is to paint some of the white in paint colors that don't show every scuff like white does. Were I to move in here, I'd paint the risers one color, and the wall molding going up the wall with the stairs another color, and I might paint the newel post as well. I'd probably leave white (or, more to my taste, paint in off-white or some other color that coordinates well with both the colors in the adjacent room and the colors I used on the staircase) the beadboard in the room on the exterior of the staircase.


Before & After: Christine's Edwardian Staircase Restoration
3/15/13 11:29 AM

As he no doubt would have in time as he grew - didn't mean that as a slight on your kid - just a comment on how inventive kids are and see things that we miss right under our noses all the time.


Creative Play: A Really Cool Road Rug Right Under My Nose All Along
3/14/13 12:22 PM

My only surprise is that you had to give him a hint...kids figure this stuff out all by themselves often.


Creative Play: A Really Cool Road Rug Right Under My Nose All Along
3/14/13 12:20 PM

Nice transformation. They did what many did, and made the spindles someone's else problem on resale....though if little kids ever live in their house, they are making it their kid(s)' problem. There are reasons for these codes, folks, as noted in comments above.

Otherwise,nice transformation. Though I'd have sprung for wood rather than melamine on the risers myself were I doing a staircase. And done a carpet runner if I wanted something on the stairs, not individual carpet treads. Not too late to do that one easilyl


Before & After: Kelly's Staircase Remodel on a Budget
3/14/13 12:05 PM

One shouldn't have to say "I'm a renter, but..." I get the impluse. But renters have homes, too. Where you live is your home, whether you own or rent. Most buyers don't own their homes anyway, the bank does if you have loan - you basically rent it from the bank.

I think it is even more important to love a rental, as you can often make significant changes to a home you own to make it feel more like home, even enough to come to love it, but you usually can't do much to a rental (exceptions exist, I know.)

I pretty much have loved all my homes, all but one were rentals. Even the crappy first college rental, as it was my first home on my own. One glaring goof I didn't - learned a lesson - many lessons, actually. Having a lot of space matters more to me that to most of my friends. Having good air quality from the outside matters, too. Layout matters. Renting a place quickly when under time pressure is not a good idea - better to find a place to stay temporarily while you look for something you like. Because moving is disruptive and expensive, and it is hard to just move on quickly when you have a place you don't like (at least for me it is.)

Light, and good air, lack of bad smells from outside - these are not emotional things, but rather physical. Even having a style and/or layout similar to an old home is physical - it generally means your furniture will fit in OK...important, I find. As is neighbors who don't disturb you - with noise that keeps you awake at night, smoke that gives you ill health, personalities that give you anxiety - all physical, not emotional.


Falling in Love with a Home
3/12/13 12:44 AM

I also liked the way you made the window and art into one piece behind the headboard. Makes me want to remember this trick if I ever need it - though I'd likely do it with a long curtain rod - with a floor-length curtain as a backdrop behind the whole headboard, which could be drawn completely to one side of the rod when I wanted to let in light from the window.

Finding dressers that exactly fit into the edge of your footboard is also a really nice touch. I'll have to remember that if I ever have a bedroom wide enough to place dressers (or anything) at the foot of the bed.

The vestments cabinet is a nice size, though anything formerly used for vestments, and with an IHS with an intertwined cross on it, would never work for me - I still have nightmares with nuns chasing me sometimes, decades after the torture of catholic school.


Julie's Cheerful Calm Bedroom My Bedroom Retreat Contest
3/10/13 6:27 PM

I'm a total fan of top floor apartment living. Have been disturbed repeatedly at night from people above in most places I've lived in, even had to move once due to such noise (24-hour drug dealers moved in above us in my first apartment in college.) Have never had noise above me when on top floor (except drug dealers on roof breaking open the hatch in our building to run down out stairs to get away from whomever was chasing them.)

I have heard noise from below when on the top floor (usually occasional loud music causing floors to vibrate), but luckily never at night, so it didn't keep me up. One top floor place was great, once I got used to the loud sirens outside. Then there was construction outside for months (jackhammers breaking up concrete), but the foam earplugs I finally tried worked wonders to let me sleep past their very early morning start up time.

Now I've got traffic noise. I don't seem to mind it, but then again, I've been waking up way too early since I moved. I haven't thought that it might be morning traffic sounds (it is kind of like white noise in the winter with the windows closed). Maybe it is time to try some earplugs again and see if that is what is waking me ... should take care of it if it is and let me sleep later.

I love the idea of doing layered window treatments for noise - I'd start with honeycomb blinds (adding the blackout layer to keep out ambient light as well), and add floor-length curtains made from heavy cotton, lined, with the heavy interlining inside, but have been reluctant to spend the hundreds needed to do up each window this way (old buildings tend to need both blinds and windows custom-sized) in the many rentals I've lived in (or even in the one place I owned, which made blinds and curtains hard to fit due to radiator placement and window gate on the fire escape window). Someday, when I feel like I'm staying for the long term, I'll indulge.

My favorite bedroom was a city top floor room that looked out into the backyards that were so heavy with trees I that I needed no window treatments at all - no sound, no light, no neighbors could see in through the trees. So maybe my long-term place will end up being my ideal, in which I'll need no window treatments, but look out on trees.


Soundproof Your Sleep: Tiered Solutions to Stop Street Noise Renters Solutions
3/10/13 6:14 PM

I would get a cotton rag rug. They come in various colors and sizes. You get a solid color - there are many that go with your bedding - but it has the advantage of having variegated colors in that one color in it. Yet the somewhat solid color doesn't clash with other stuff in the room, and doesn't limit the color and pattern you can use everywhere else in the room. They also come in patterns if you prefer that.

The reason I recommend this over the other rugs shown is that I would want a rug my baby crawled and played on all the time to be easily cleanable. Lets face it, it is going to have all sorts of stuff leaked on it that you will want to wash out. I have found that I can wash a 6' x 9' one easily in a triple-size washer found in laundromats and apartment building laundry rooms. And dry in the dryers there. Used one in different rooms for decades, including my kitchen. Always came out really clean. Wore like iron. Could take your child through an entire childhood and into their first apartment.

Love those foam tiles, too. Even more easily cleanable!


Fun Rug to Match Kids Bedding? Good Questions
3/7/13 12:29 AM

Oh yeah, not to mention pet dander - stays in carpeting years after the pet has moved out, even when cleaned, as I found out the hard way staying with friends once. A lot of people are allergic - to pets, as well as to dust, mold and mildew, and others are phobic about dirt - so an apartment you can thoroughly clean is definitely more valuable than one you cannot.


Maxwell & Ursula's Light Rental Reno: Floors - #2 Renovation Diary
3/5/13 3:58 PM