Tag: <span>renovation</span>

The Physicality of the Space

February 9, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

-- Download The Physicality of the Space as PDF --

The physical feel of each room is starting to take shape. This is meaningful because we are working with the existing foot print to carve out additional rooms; not by adding square footage to the foot print.

You can look at scaled drawings and imagine it in your mind, but neither of those things give you a real sense of the space. Walls are going up, windows are being added and storage is being built in and all of these thing are starting to help me understand the physicality of each room.

It’s fair to say, this will be a cozy cottage with small but well appointed rooms. Every room is getting a closet, plus some additional built in storage squired away because I am losing my garage for storage and I have to make up for it somewhere else.

Nothing illustrates this more than the master suite. We have a bedroom, sitting area, bathroom, dressing area, closet and some generic storage.

Since the master area occupies the entire second story, it will become a true retreat. I made the decision to build out an additional 120 square feet, the question becomes what is the best way to use the space. They did some additional framing, but before we can do more, I need to decide what the configuration should be. With some guidance from my contractor, I have settled on using it for closet space, storage space and a dressing area. Picture and diagram below. Other framing updates follow.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Cindy

xoxo

Always

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: a, antique, cottage, district, fireplace, historic, mckinney, old home, remodel, renovation, texas, white

French Farmhouse Window

February 6, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

This gem will be used in found condition. With the exception of glazing; there will be no treatments of the surface; it will be installed as is.

For the renovation, I have been searching for architectural pieces that I can use in found condition that will reinforce the age of the house. With all the new construction, I have made careful design decisions that will keep the old cottage feeling old.

One piece I came across from one of my favorite downtown McKinney antique dealers, is the old French Farmhouse window. It will have a place of prominence in the house. It is in the direct line of sight as soon as you walk in the front door. It will be set, with its current worn finish against a wall of white plank boards in the kitchen, above the kitchen sink.

The kitchen sink, by the way, will be an old zinc trough. I believe the pairing of the old window and trough sink will be lovely reminders of the age of the house. I have seen them at a number of dealers at Round Top, so I’ll add it to my list of things to get:

The cherry on the sundae will be an old brass wall mounted sink faucet…if I can find one.

As I was looking on the Houzz website this weekend, an old French farm house kitchen caught my eye. When I clicked on the link and saw pictures of the entire house, I spied a window very similar to mine. I am in heaven.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo

Beautiful French farm house bedroom. I love the stone floors and the architectural salvage bed. But mostly, my eye was drawn to the window above the door.

The window looks very similar to the one I bought from Chase Hall in downtown McKinney, pictured above the post.

Filed Under: Discoveries, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: cottage, country, district, farmhouse, french, historic, home, kitchen, mckinney, old, remodel, renovation, sink, texas, windoe, zinc

A Lesson in Renovation Mathematics & Updates

February 2, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

I had about sixteen feet of unused attic space. Part of that space is allocated for the HVAC unit. That would leave about ten feet where I was just going to throw down some plywood and use as attic storage. Then I had this thought, since we are doing all this other work, why not just build out the space? It wasn’t structural, so (I thought) why not just add the insulation, some electrical, sheetrock and bippity boppity boo…I have additional square footage. How much more money could it be?

Fast forward…things are not that simple. Some engineering is required, the electrical is a bit more complicated, add duct work and we’ll need some additional hardwood flooring. So my incredible contractor (who really is a great guy) got the numbers together and to build out this additional 120 square feet, it will come to about 45 per square foot. But it would appraise much higher per square foot handing over some instant equity.

We had some windfall monies from parts of the renovation that we over budgeted, so those monies will fund the build out of the 120 square feet of attic space, keeping us within budget.

Bippity Boppity Boo is right.

Updated pictures from the progress from this week.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always.

Cindy

xoxo

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, cottage, district, historic, historic district, kitchen, master bedroom, mckinney, remodel, renovation, stair, texas

I am being framed…finally

January 25, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

-- Download I am being framed...finally as PDF --

I went by this weekend and got some additional photos and took some measurements. As the various spaces are being framed in, it gives me a better sense of the size of the rooms once the renovation is completed.

It’s not much to look at…but it’s progress. The ugly way, way before the pretty.

I hope you find some inspiration.

xoxo

Cindy

Filed Under: My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, bathroom, bedroom, cottage, dormer, framing, historic district, kitchen, mckinney, old home, old house, pantry, remodel, renovation, stairs, texas, vintage

My One Renovation Splurge…

January 2, 2015 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

Let’s face it. My renovation is largely budget driven when you consider that 70% of the budget will be spent on things you can’t see like electrical, plumbing, HVAC, etc. So when it came to finishes, we had to keep things simple and economical so no high end splurges on anything.

One area, though, I absolutely insisted on a splurge are my kitchen appliances. So much so, I am purchasing them myself and not running the cost through an already strapped budget.

I settled on the AGA suite of appliances: range, fridge and dishwasher. My decision really centered around the range. I had a list of must haves and for the most part, the AGA Legacy Series of ranges checked of every box on the list:

5 burners
dual fuel
two ovens
vintage look/feel
the proper finish option

Regarding the finish, it was important to have a finish on the appliances that melted in with the aesthetic. Since I am creating a great room that makes the kitchen, dining room and living room into one area, I really didn’t want to go the trendy stainless steel route. The high contrast that the stainless steel finish would create between the appliances, antiques pieces, kitchen cabinets and furniture would fight the harmony I am trying to create so I have chosen an antique white finish for all three pieces.

Fortunately, AGA was also having a year end special whereby if you purchase the stove and fridge, they tossed in the dishwasher for free.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

Antique white finish, two ovens and five burners.

Broiler.

Two ovens and a broiler; convection heat.

French Doors and bottom freezer.

Full size deli drawer and filtered water dispenser.

Simple styling with integrated, hidden controls.

Filed Under: Discoveries, Uncategorized Tagged With: AGA, antique, appliances, broiler, cottage, dishwasher, dual, fuel, kitchen, oven, range, refrigerator, remodel, renovation, stove, white

The Prettiness of Ugly

December 14, 2014 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

-- Download The Prettiness of Ugly as PDF --

We are at a bit of a standstill with the renovation until we get our permits approved. So when I went by the house this weekend, I didn’t expect much would be different. And I was right. But what little had changed was choice indeed.

The six or seven layers on the kitchen floor were pulled up and to reveal original hard wood floors. They don’t look especially great right now, but everyone loves a Cinderella story and these little ugly ducklings have a shot at becoming pretty. What a sweet surprise!

My contractor believes we can salvage the floors in the kitchen. All the floors will be refinished in a honey pine tone. They will be a nice, warm contrast to the exposed ships lap on the walls which will be painted white as part of the renovation.

The top half of the picture shows the newly revealed kitchen floors, the bottom have of the pic are the floors that were already exposed.

The top half of the picture shows the newly revealed kitchen floors, the bottom half of the pic are the floors that were already exposed which are in serious need of refinishing.

Here is a general sense of the feel I am going for:

A simple palette: white walls with pine flooring. This will make the house a canvas for my antique pieces.

Filed Under: Discoveries, My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, cottage, farm, farmhouse, floors, honey, honey pine floors, house, interior, pine, remodel, renovation, white, wood, wood floors

A Lovely Mess

December 7, 2014 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

-- Download A Lovely Mess as PDF --

The last few weeks have been stressful, to put it mildly. Closing on the loan, packing, moving and settling in to a tiny apartment. It’s fair to say that I am a nester and being in limbo is not my strong suit.

I needed to see progress on my house in order to feel like this is all for something. In this case, moving forward, or progress begins with stepping back and deconstructing.

Week #1 has begun with demolition. And it’s a lovely mess. I am beyond thrilled to see that under all the sheetrock was ships lap. Original to the house and of its time, it really needs to shine. We are keeping it exposed for the renovation and will eventually paint it. We’ll harvest, patch and repair where we need to and fill the whole house with it. Wood walls. Warm, comforting wood walls. What a simple path to happiness.

Here are the pictures from the first week. Please join me on this journey.

Always,

Cindy

Filed Under: Before 'n After, My Home, Projects Tagged With: antique, cottage, deconstruction, design, planking, renovation, ships lap, walls, white, wood

It’s All About the Front Door

February 3, 2014 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

My renovation has got me thinking I want to change the entrance to my home. Right now, I have two French doors for my front entrance and I think I would like to have a single door point of entry. I intend to set the tone with the curb view of my house. My dream cottage would be on Nantucket, so it seems that would be a good place to start. Looking at these pictures, there is definitely a theme emerging. I am leaning toward removing the planking just on the front porch and replacing it with cedar shingling. Coupled with the bright white trim and some old lanterns flanking the door. I would love to find a really old plank door that originated on a house in the North East. It all depends on budget and availability. To that end, here are some of the options I have found:

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always,

Cindy

xoxo.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: antiques, cedar, coastal, cottage, country, door, front, lanterns, nantucket, porch, renovation, shingles

The Cottage Bathroom

September 25, 2013 by Cynthia Leave a Comment

I love the idea of the curtain divider….very ethereal.

Forgive me. This week’s posting was to have been of my Halloween/Fall outdoor decorations. But I am feeling a bit under the weather and I wasn’t able to take pictures, so I thought I would share my cottage bathroom look book with you for my upcoming renovations.

The bathroom is not an existing bathroom, but rather an existing space. Upstairs, I have a large stair landing area. Not large enough to be a bedroom, but plenty large enough to fit a small bathroom with room leftover to serve as a pass through to the upstairs bedroom.

The bathroom will have a walk-in shower, a vanity and toilet. The vanity will be an antique table I acquired months ago and will be modified to fit a bowl sink. Simple white subway tiles for the shower, white octagonal tiles for the floor and wood planking every where else. The rule of thumb as throughout the rest of the house will be the same for the bathroom: simple, unpretentious and soft white tones and natural textures.

One finishing touch will be a pair of French, ornate cream and green wall sconces I found in an antique store years ago. I fell in love with them and bought them without a clue as to where I was going to put them. I think they will look perfect flanking an old, white painted mirror that I am sure I will find at some point in my weekly antiquing haunts.

I hope you find some inspiration.

Always.

xoxo.

Cindy

Love these old photos.

A lovely footed bath.

Love the antique pine table with the crisp white bowl sinks.

I always thing being able to see the pitch in a roof makes a room feel tucked away and cozy.

I always think being able to see the pitch in a roof makes a room feel tucked away and cozy.

I won’t have room for this in my new cottage bathroom…but I love it anyway.

It’s doubtful I will have room for double vanities…but I love this look.

This bathroom probably best emulates the size, shape and space of my bathroom…down to the pitch in the roof.

Although doubtful, I will have room for a full sized armoire…but this is lovely.

More contemporary than is my style, but I think this room blends old and new very well.

I like the neutrality of this bathroom. The décor is probably more ornate than is my own style.

I love the old fixtures in an old home. Doors, floors and windows. Nothing opens like an old window with weights in the wall or swings like an old wood door. Just perfect!

Filed Under: My Home, Projects, Uncategorized Tagged With: antique, bathroom, beadboard, cottage, renovation, vintage, white

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