The Official decorating/home improvement thread!

[ilovesiamese]

I noticed that a lot of people here are very into home improvment inside and out and do wonderful work.

I just thought I'd open a thread dedicated to people movinv, renovating, repairing and decorating their homes or any ideas that you might have and want to share or test out on us!

I am currently painting my bedroom. The base colour is a brownish gold earthy color and then I have a intricate boader in the works (hand painted) its a nice red boxes bordered with silver and in the red boxes I'm stenciling japanese kanji into everyother box with the meaning of the kanji in the box to the right. I'm going with a Japanese theme in my bedroom. we've got the cutest paper lamps but I'm not going to go too crazy until we own our own home.

I have tons of plans. I took interior design for a semester (haha) and I learned how to do the sketches and make plans and how to arrange furniture and about light,lines, etc.

 

[valanhb]

We're moving into our first place in the next month.

NO MORE WHITE WALLS!

So far we've decided on a blue/green/brown color scheme in the living room. Um, yeah...that's about it.

We absolutely HAVE to paint the bathroom because it is chartreuse.

I don't know who would think that might look good, but apparently they did. It's nasty! But we haven't decided on a color yet. It will either be a better shade/tone of green or blue.

I'm addicted to HGTV, and have forced Earl to watch enough of it that we're really trying to make the place look like it's put together on purpose and not just thrown together. We'll see how it turns out.

 

[sandtigress]

Yay! I'm working on my first place of my own - I'm just about the only person who likes the colors so far.

Well, that's what they get since no one wanted to help me pick out the colors. My living room is a warm chocolatey brown (Behr's Pepper Spice if you want to look it up) and the living room, which can be seen from the living room is a beautiful blue with a high sheen that really makes the room glow to me (Mood Indigo). The common back wall is a slightly tan off white (Cinnamon Spice). I love it! There will be dark blue and I think red accent colors in the living, and purple and green (think lilacs - flowers and stems) in the kitchen. I'm having so much fun designing this place, but its very expensive sometimes! I love hearing other peoples' design ideas!

 

[vampirecat]

I spent all yesterday morning (7am-1pm) painting woodwork on the upstairs landing. Very hot work in this weather, gave myself the afternoon off to watch Wimbledon

We have chosen Sea Breeze (pale blue) for the stairs and landing it carries on the theme from the lounge which is 2 shades of blue.

I do like high contrast in my colours all wood and radiators are a very stark white, rather meditareanian (that sp. doesn't look right

) i think.

Next job is the bathroom and toilet, these shouldn't take too long tho'. The bathroom is mostly tiled and the loo is the smallest room in the house

And finally on to the spare room, this will take a bit of time as it needs a complete make over.

May get a couple of doors done today but the weather is very nice so maybe i will sit in the garden with the cats and read instead

 

[gailc]

The kitchen hasn't been changed in 10 yrs!! I have a nicewaller paper border of watering cans but its going to be taken down. The walls will be painted Benjamin Moore's "Melon Popsicle". If that is too much I'll have to figure out something to tone it down!! First I have to wash the walls and the woodwork!!
I also have to touch up the garage doors too.

 

[trouts mom]

This is a great idea for a thread...I just moved into an apartment that needs some love, and I have no idea what to do with it on a limited budget!

 

[pushylady]

Well, we moved two months ago and we're still sleeping in the living room! Our apartment needs some work, and we're both busy, so it's ahh taking a little longer than I thought.

I have got our bedroom painted : Benjamin Moore colours silver fox with an accent wall in stardust and trim & doors in abalone. I've decided I need some colour this time, as our last apartment was a nice safe beige. My last client chose some lovely colours in her house and I loved the bold rusty red so much that I'm going to paint the dining room & kitchen with it. It's so much fun choosing colour schemes, but boy when you're paying for the paint it really makes you think twice.
Next ongoing project is putting in laminate flooring in our bedrooms. Once that's done we can finally move in properly and I can do the rest of the place.
I have just finished the bathroom though. I had a leftover colour from a client - BM's Labrador blue, which I used and liked, but the paint had gone bad. So I redid it in one shade darker. I just love being able to go with some bold & dark colours for once!

 

[luckygirl]

I love decorating!!! And it was SO much fun when we moved into our duplex. The key is picking things that flow. For rooms that are seperate, like bedrooms that are off of a hallway, you can go with whatever you like. But I have a main living area, living room, dining room, and a small attached kitchen that is seperated with a 4 ft wall, the rest of it is open into the dining room area, and the living room goes into a hallway. So it's important to keep it flowing from room to room.

And my bathroom is pepto-bismal pink. Ugh. I thought I was gonna have to buy a ton of white to tone it down, then bleach it like crazy. But I found this cool disco 60's/70's kinda shower curtain that's black with big white & pink bubbly flowers on it. And I 2 black circle rugs to combat the pink tiled floor, then decorated the rest in a sort of Parisian style, with pink high heeled boots as an accent, and white towels with high heels on them! It's now one of my favorite places!

 

[ilovesiamese]

I have my living room/hallway planed out. I want to do an East Indian theme for my colors. (This is the theme I went with for my final project for interior design).

The base color is this amazing greenish blue (not turquoise) its a bit darker in color and then the accent colors would be like a canary yellow and bright pink for the border( I love borders lol) and then on the blue colour,

I have a paisly stamp that I woud stamp the walls with in gold and the pillows for the furniture would be the yellow and pink and the accessories would be in golds. For curtains, I would buy sari and use them as curtains.

 

[momofmany]

We just moved and the house has new carpet and paint - all in neutrals so I can live with it for a while. The outside is another story - they painted it a sickly yellow and we're out picking up paint swatches right now. Probably a light brown with burgandy and brown trim. It has virtually no landscaping other than a thick border of rocks all around the front driveway and entranceway. I've started to move them so that I can plant flowers and perenials but man it's a lot of work and it's been hot here of late.

The kitchen is on the small side and we've got contractors bidding on pushing out a wall and remodeling it. Can you say ouch for the price? Gotta get the old place sold before we can afford that one.

The deck is HUGE but the railings are probably the original 1972 railings. Since we're on a lake, we're going to make the deck look sort of like a dock - round posts, thinner railings and sailcloth as a retractable cover. There are some dead pine trees out back that we're going to cut down, strip off the bark and use as the posts. We're trying to find the sailcloth and mast riggings to reel the cover back and forth. It is also screaming for a round life ring like on a boat, and we're going to write "S.S. Minnow" on it for yucks and grins.

The basement has a wet bar but no electrical outlets by the bar. No place to plug in the blender or a small fridge. Hubby wants to resurface the top of the bar with some type of wood.

Then there are the 1972 bathrooms. Anyone want a harvest gold toilet and brown marble countertop? At least the shower and tub are new.

We're gonna be busy for a couple of years.

 

[menagerie mama]

Any before and after pics are welcome! I'd like to see everyone's work! I've been working on my kitchen for, how long has it been now?

But it has taken a backseat due to finances and lack of imagination, and finding the right stuff. I'll get on it in fall when it's cooler.

 

[ilovesiamese]

I'm only doing the bedrooms in this place because it's not forever. In about 3 years after I'm done university and I get a job (hopefully in a small town) I want to build my own home (dream home!) on a small farm like property and i want to design all the rooms myself. I know a carpender and elcetrician and my husbands a welder and my dad is a jack of all trades and my great uncle is a plumber, and an uncle does pipe fitting so I'm hoping we can do the majority of the work ourselves, if not that will be ok too. I should do a floor plan and scan it to show you what I would like.

 

[momofmany]

A great tip for anyone that is considering any remodeling. Get a subscription to Consumer Reports. We've been looking up all kinds of things like the best paints, best appliances, etc. We were about to buy Benjamin Moore exterior paint but read the article first. It's rated near the bottom so we've swung over to Glidden, which is near the top and the least expensive of the top 3.

We will get our subscription price back after the first gallon of paint - the one we almost bought was $35 a gallon and now we're getting them for $19 a gallon.

 

[yarra]

Oh my gosh, I so needed this thread!

We moved to Mabank a couple months ago and i have just not been able to get ANYTHING up on the walls or put out. Nothing is in boxes anymore, well, there are a few in the closets. I just can't make the things I own "GO" in this place as well as they did in the last.

I don't know what I am going to do

I have so much wallspace I think I am going to strangle myself!!!

This thread needs pictures...start taking them! I will take a before and after soon.

 

[pushylady]

Originally Posted by Momofmany

A great tip for anyone that is considering any remodeling. Get a subscription to Consumer Reports. We've been looking up all kinds of things like the best paints, best appliances, etc. We were about to buy Benjamin Moore exterior paint but read the article first. It's rated near the bottom so we've swung over to Glidden, which is near the top and the least expensive of the top 3.

We will get our subscription price back after the first gallon of paint - the one we almost bought was $35 a gallon and now we're getting them for $19 a gallon.

Yeah, Consumer Report.....people put a lot of faith into these reports and unfortunately that faith isn't always warranted. Such is the case with paint. You very much get what you pay for when buying paint and there's a reason Glidden is so cheap and BM is expensive. I'm not going to get off on a rant, but I would like to suggest that you go to a paint store and negotiate a discount. BM are well known for being open to a bit of bargaining and you'll end up with a better product. Having said that, Glidden is a large company and they do make some quality products. Basically, if you're buying paint from whatever company, don't touch the contrator grade (cheap stuff) but always go top of the line or mid-range at least.

 

[sandtigress]

lol My camera is at my apartment, but I'll be sure to pick it up soon and take some pictures of what I have so far! I really want to see pictures too!

 

[gailc]

My 2 cents on paint. When we painted the 2ndstory of DH workshop the siding was James Hardie cementboard siding. We used Pratt & Lambert "Accolade". P&L doubles the paint warranty on the siding. James Hardie states that their product won't have to be repainted for say 20 yrs with the paint warranty its around the 40 yr mark!! The paint was $$$ $50 on sale for $35/gallon but we only used a little over 4 gallons. I thought that was worth the price of the paint!

 

[phenomsmom]

You all are making me feel guilty!! We have lived in our house for a year now! The hall still needs to be primed and painted and everything else needs the 2nd coat. The only furniture I have is a yard sale leather love seat with a huge ripe in the side I have covered with a throw! Did i mention that every room we have painted other than the kitchen and dining room (pale yellow) is some shade of blue?!

 

[valanhb]

Has anyone used Behr paint? I've heard from a friend that it's the best, but would like other opinions on it too.

 

[yarra]

As far as paint goes, you CANNOT beat the cost vs quality of American Tradition. It is available at Lowe's and is AMAZING. I used to work the paint department at Lowe's and know everything there is to know about this paint.

Before I worked at Lowe's I would buy Bher from HD. It is a good paint. but once I started working at Lowe's and WITH Amer Trad paints, there has been nothing that stacked up, in comparison. Customers that I convereted felt the same way.

it isn't too badly priced being about 20 a gal. Depending on the finish you want. The shinier, the pricier.

American Trad. has an even BETTER brand of paint then there standard interior latex, it is called Signature. That is the base all of your designer colors will be mixed into. It is more expencive, but an even better paint.

Anyquestions, I will be happy to answer.