The Worst Parts of My House

The worst parts of my house aka my to do list for the next 5 years are
1. the hall bath
2. the kitchen
3. downstairs

This is the floor of the hall bath. I am generally a very careful person, so I took care to pry up small corner pieces of tile to see what was underneath. Original adorable square floor tile. Score. I let that soak in for a few months until I couldn't handle the wretched brown giant tiles anymore. So last week I got out the crowbar and down to business. But the more tiles I took up the worse it got. I can handle a few broken pieces, I can handle a few missing pieces but then there were just gigantic patches of missing tile, filled in by some kind of mortar. Another great and thorough DIY job by previous owners wah wah. Unfortunately this project is in hold for now because I need to figure out what to do and this is literally what it will look like for the next 2 years until I can make a decision. I think I'd like to do concrete floors. If that's not possible then a concrete looking tile. The shower is this same brown tile. So.

No it's not a black and white picture. It's just a cold and lifeless kitchen.

The kitchen is in pretty good shape because somehow I have controlled my to demo it. Initially I thought I would need to redo all the cabinets because the layout is all wrong and there's no storage, but now I've decided to do everything in my power to keep them. But this room really needs warming up so I'm going to strip the cabinets and get back to the wood/birch plywood underneath that I think is really pretty and warm. I've already done one to test and I love it. The subway backsplash was something we did when we first moved in because there wasn't one. Subway tile is fine for most kitchens but it doesn't seem like it belongs in a mid century house. I've got my already broke just thinking about it heart set on Heath Ceramics tile. The fault really goes to these two kitchens for being too damn beautiful.

The floor is the #1 thing that has got to go. It's awful. The tile is so so bad. It is so ugly and dirty looking and also super uneven. I have tripped over uneven tile. #2 thing that has got to go is the counters. They are concrete and I like the look but they are just too fragile on the surface and look cheap.

And I'd like to add: pantry and other better layout things, grown up dining set, sexier light fixtures, new hardware.

So really, it's fine I just want to change every last thing about it.

The downstairs is scary, starting with this horrible banister. I've gotten a few quotes from stair people and metal workers on a better railing but nothing seems quite right. Something with a matching gate would be nice so this ugly thing isn't the first thing you see when you walk in the front door for the next 5 years.

The actual downstairs is really a full gut job. It was all DIY'd in a major way. Wood laminate that is clearly not on an even surface, toilets turned the wrong way, original fireplace covered with 90's ceramic tile, beadboard where there should be sheetrock, etc. There are no pictures because it is just too scary for the internet.

Mid Century Window Coverings

When we moved in two years ago the only item of "decor" in the whole house was unworking vertical blinds covering our large front room windows. Those came down when we redid the windows and then we lost the blinds. Not really, but we remembered how awesome it is to look out those windows so we left them off. Sorry neighbors.

 

In my mind the perfect combination for these windows would be solar roller shades combined with thick drapes. This would give us privacy with some warmth as well. Inspiration:

 combined with this (link)

love those pretty yellow heavy drapes. (link)

Those two pictures are a pretty good indicator of the design battle going on in my head.

This week we got the roller blinds installed. They look beautiful. They take out the glare so I can binge watch Friday Night Lights at any hour of the day. But I can still see the mountains through them. There is not quite the privacy at night that I was hoping for, but that is where the drapes will come in at some point. I'm going to live with it like this for a while but I think this room is really needing some color.

Blinds are from blinds.com, the Bali collection.

A Mid Century Exterior Door

My main goal for my house is to keep and restore as much of the original that is left as possible. But there are a few things that just aren't in good enough shape to keep. The front door is one of those things. It had a storm door that no longer existed when we moved in, but the aluminum frame was still there. The wooden door had morphed and you could see sunlight and feel cold air through the cracks at the top. For all I know this wasn't an original door, there wasn't anything special about it or the knob. Time to go sad door.

But where can you find a good mid century exterior door? I got a few quotes when I was getting quotes on new windows in the spring. Their eyes glazed over when I asked whether they had any modern styles, and my eyes glazed over when they showed me their catalog of 100 different styles of six panel doors. I decided a slab door with a cool handle set was my fate.

At one point I had my heart set on Crestview Doors. The styles are exactly what I need. But then two things happened: they raised their prices by 500%. And every door expert I talked to said I needed a fiberglass door, not a solid wood door. Fiberglass doors are better for the extreme weather we get, the direct sunlight, and don't need to be refinished or repainted. But it is a good site for inspiration.

I was shocked when I browsed through Home Depot's door selection online and found two cool modern doors by Builder's Choice. One had 3 windows and one had 5 windows. We went with the 5 window modern door because I liked the clear glass better. We were able to get $100 off the door by leaving it unpainted instead of the brick red that wasn't up my alley. I'll definitely be painting it once it warms up in the spring.

I love the change. I love that it brings light into this little entry space and the look fits with our house. It ups the curb appeal. And I'm happy to have the extra security with the deadbolt. Handle and deadbolt by Kwikset from Amazon.

But I do have some regrets.

1. I asked the installer to save the original moulding on the interior side but he said it was damaged too badly so he used the moulding that came with the door. The new moulding is not solid wood and I hate it. So I'm going to have to replace that to match the moulding in the rest of the house at some point.
2. When the installer took the door and frame out, I noticed that underneath the tile there was the original hardwood. For some reason I thought the tile was original to the house but now I doubt it and it looks really 90's to me. But the door is installed to the height so we're stuck with the tile.
3. That the installer left his blood behind.

What color should I paint the door? The current vote is purple.