brookeatfreshquarters's Profile

I would love to stay in your B&B. :)

@Kathryn1123--

No Marmoleum with dogs! I had 2 big dogs in my house with Marmoleum and not only did it always look dirty (I got off-white--more like a cream--and charcoal gray) but the nail marks from the dogs were all over. When I was selling that house, I had to mop it EVERYDAY to look clean. No thank you.

Not sure what the general hate towards granite is. I remodeled in 08 and chose white cabinets and absolute granite countertops. As much as I hated paying the bill and would never choose a black again for again never looking clean, granite is a wonderful surface is you actually use your kitchen. We moved into an unrenovated house with carrot colored formica counters (I don't know these were ever IN!) and in researching counters, it's most likely going to be granite again that looks like marble. Marble is super hard to live with if you use your kitchen. Soapstone requires more maintenance. Quartz or the other manufactured counters have upsides but they're still pricey.

Subway tile isn't "trendy" unless you consider the period since like 1800 as a trend.

I did a red sofa about 8 years ago. Couldn't wait to replace it with something more neutral and went for a mustardy beige this time. It has its issues too! For the most part, paint is hard unless you like white or apparently brick. I did find peace with a gray living room and a very few shades of green. But it was tricky.

I choose Marmoleum black and white tile floors in my last kitchen that exited to the backyard. With two dogs and a small city grassy yard that gets muddy, they were ALWAYS dirty. In this kitchen, we're going with real wood--not prefinished.

Absolute black granite in the last kitchen...always looks dirty. In this kitchen, it's going to be a mixed brown granite or something honed. I don't need to see fingerprints in it ALL the time. Messy people should really plan around low maintenance in a remodel and not think you're going to change because you have new stuff.

A bright red sofa. Was never so happy to see that Rowe sofa bite the dusk prematurely. I got a slipcovered sectional from Pottery Barn to replace it...it's too big for the room but with kids, dogs, company, it makes sense we can wash it. After reading this thread, I'm really happy I didn't buy white!

I picked up a Victorian rocker from an estate sale for $100, promising myself I'd get it refinished. The springs it turns out are shot...and it's sitting there, huge in my dining room. It's going to the curb before I get to do anything else to it. Blah.

Philly is great and cheap in comparison. So many NYers are moving here because you can actually buy something for a fraction of rent in NY. I will always have NY envy here but we're an hour away on the train.

Who cares what they paid for it if they decorated it with affordable materials and a great sense of natural style?

I have a 2600 square foot house w/ 11 foot ceilings in Philadelphia (that I paid very little for thanks to the work it needs) and I totally understand the gripe that everything is dwarfed in it. I love all the original features of this house--we have a plain jane dining room with ENORMOUS open walls that I want wainscoting on but didn't know what type--just found it! Also, I covet that chandelier in the dining room--would be perfect in our house.

I love the balance between classic and modern, serious and playful. My last house (my 1st house) was a perfect, classic restoration of a 1920's house and felt very mature and serious. We were expecting a baby when we moved into this large home and now I want a sense of playfulness and casualness--the type of home where a kid can have fun but still have a dignified home and feel grown up. This home totally does it!

I wish we could see more pics of the kitchen. That's our major project and it looks like this family has the same space issues in the kitchen we have....huge house, 15 by 15 kitchen with no chance to expand unless we knock out our servant's staircase, which I think is too cool to lose. But big kitchens are modern inventions and seriously, how big do we really need a kitchen to be to cook. To impress: much larger but simply to cook and prepare meals...I'm thinking not so big.

Anyway, love this home and thanks AT and the homeowners for the inspiration.

I used the sink at first to bathe our baby but when she got longer than it, the blue whale tub was a lifesaver. She gets bathed everyday and I can't imagine wasting water to fill a whole tub just for her. We use our monitor even sleeping in the next room over-I sleep
So much more soundly knowing that we can hear her scream out.

The Arm's Reach co-sleeper in full size was a bloody mess. We planned on co-sleeping but our kid was a loud sleeping newborn and that kept us awake...plus, as a slightly less fat postpartum lady, getting up around it was a nightmare. Our baby was breech so she wouldn't sleep flat on her back for a few months so the rocking seat I thought was useless became her bed for 3 months and she still at 5 1/2 months only sleeps in her swing.

I didn't bother with a changing table and instead got a regular dresser and put a changer on top. Didn't bother with the wipes warmer.

Baby towels stink. We bought a kid towel from Target that is big enough to adequately cover her without being on an angle and is thick. Best purchase ever. We also loved this fish shaped wash cloth that goes over the baby's torso while laying in the bath...didn't register for it but use it everyday and the shape works out so much better than a regular washcloth.

Commercial baby blankets are a waste. We got 3 crocheted ones and they were awesome--and breathable if we ended up sticking a tucked in one in her bed on cold nights.

Pacifiers were a waste. She only wanted our fingers and now she wants anything but pacifiers.

A snowsuit. We went from house to car, from car to store---a hat and a crocheted blanket kept her toasty without overheating.

Baby nail clippers...worst purchase ever. Used curved cuticle trimmers-so much easier to see what you're cutting!

The orange and green are remarkably non-shocking. Very nice.

This is awesome. I am not doing a bumper and the room looks a little plain because of it.

We just did a mango room for our baby girl and until I added accessories, it could have been for either/or. I am not "themey" so I just took white curtains, had some help ironing on some ribbon and ric-rac and added some girly sheets from Caden Lane, etc., etc. I was set on a Jenny Lind crib, girl or boy, and picked up one of those ahead of time.

It's just the details you have to worry about.