Atelier 918

Basement finishing progress

I haven't posted in forever but we have continued with our house projects. Our current one is completing the finishing of the basement.

When we moved in it was just a big open, drafty and sooty space. There was a boarded shut door to the old coal bin, a capped line to the old oil burning boiler, a hot water heater, a boiler (for our hot water radiators) and that was it. All those many years of oil and coal for fuel really made it quite dirty down there.

Now, so many months into the project, we now have a new storage room, washer and dryer (relocated as part of the kitchen remodel), a new bathroom, and two bedrooms with closets and egress windows. All the build out is finished and we are doing the painting ourselves before we have the tile installed in the bathroom and laundry area. After that we need the wood trim installed, plus the doors put in and the carpet laid in the two bedrooms and we will be done. I think the only things we need to still order are the new basement radiators, and maybe some towel rods for the bathroom.

It is nice to being so close to being done that we can start thinking about decorating the walls and purchasing things like towels and such.

New light on the back stairs

Fireplace Tiling in Progress - Hearth

Fireplace Tile

It has arrived finally. Now to schedule the other work of the fireplace insert, tile install and moving the thermostat.

Colors

This is the first time we are painting more than one room at a time in our house; the interplay of color between rooms is a new one for me.

The walls have been a pale putty color since before we moved in. The dining room, livingroom and hallway from downstairs to upstairs - all a beige-y putty. It is a decent neutral which is probably why it hasn't been painted over sooner but we are ready for a major freshening up of things.

Our kitchen is done in golden tones, from off-white on the walls to dark yellow in the cement tiles on the floor; it is viewable when you walk in the front door, through the front hall and dining room. I want to paint the hall a butter yellow and I think it would add a lot of charm to this in-between space but I worry a little about the yellow on yellow. I think with z strong color in the dining room though that it could work. We already have draperies purchased to go with that color so I better love it.

For the dining room we gave had some debate; my partner wants a color that fosters conversation and appetite, I want one thatadds atmosphere, depth and works with our furnishings. I'm leaning towards a green in the jade family right now, I think it will really help to showcase our brightly painted buffet and upright cabinet. I worry that it will darken an already dark room on the shaded north side of our house.

For the livingroom I wanted something beautiful. At first I was thinking of blues but we already have a fair bit of blue in the house. My partner was suggesting eccentric colors. I tried a couple of sample colors from Benjamin Moore, a green-gold that is a wonderfully dynamic color but doesn't quite work with our furnishings, and a yellow ochre which is too dark. My partner, after looking through some of my home decorator books, noted that many if them had white walls in the layouts his eye was drawn to. I looked and saw many different hues, but there were many in the neutral-white range (creams, offwhites, light and neutral pastels). I didn't think he would go for a white so I hadn't looked into it. This required another trip to look into paint swatches and samples.

I've tried one of the three whites that I picked up at the store and it is amazingly different than the beige we have. We both like it though I see how I will want to step it up a bit with our decorations to pull it together more tightly. The thing is that the offshore is really close to the kitchen wall color but it looks totally different in this room. How crazy is that? They are by different manufacturers so I then wonder if we should stick with the same exact color as used in the kitchen or not. This is a really tricky decision to make.

Tomorrow afternoon the painter comes by to discuss our choices and I'm feeling a bit panicky. I want to feel totally confident in the colors but a room is more than a swatch, more than a patch of paint. I work with color and design for a living so I shouldn't freak so much but maybe because of my training and occupation I care so much more.

Wish me luck!

Thinking about color

We are getting ready for a big paint job on our home interior. We are going to have our diningroom, livingroom and upstairs and downstairs hall painted professionally.

While years ago I did some of the prep and painting myself, and my partner painted our lovely new kitchen, we are so pressed for time these days between the kids and our business that we are bringing in the hired guns.

We are going to have some skim coating done, strategically, as some walls are a bit in need of repair. Yeah for smooth walls but boo for plaster dust. Oh and oy for the coming disruption of our living space while the work is happening.

It should look awesome when they are done though.

Back deck resurfaced

Looking good and even better since I have since scrubbed the railings. Once they dry out in the summer we can touch up the paint a bit too.

One fireplace surround idea

I saw this sample board and the richness of the glaze drew me in. It might be a nice accompaniment to the black metal gas fire insert we want to install, creating the feeling of the entire fireplace as it's own appliance so to speak.

Tile Shopping

I finally managed to have the kids and I healthy enough to get out if the house and go shopping all together. We stopped in at Ann Sacks to see what craftsman-esque options they had available as we want to tile over our damaged brick fireplace surround in our livingroom. I have investigated enough into what the original glazed brick and tile look like underneath coats of paint to determine that our best bet is to tile over it with something that contributes to the vintage feel without being too arts and crafts. It looks like their own line offers a broad range of colors and shapes which could be used to cover the varied surfaces that exist.

While there, I noticed tile that looked familiar and it was confirmed that they do carry Tabarka Studios tile. We did stop by Ann Sacks while shopping for our backsplash tile but the sales associate kept pushing some modern tiles on us. Even at my visit this week they were trying to take a cue from what I was wearing instead of what I was describing I wanted to do -- really odd. I was pretty clear that I wanted something that fits in with the vintage of the house, somewhat arts and crafts without being too (to use a Scottish word) twee with acorns and natural motifs. With our furnishings we add more of our individual style, with hard finishes we tend towards a more classic style with a subtle twist. Who knows what they are thinking, at least my partner and I know what we like. I've got the new Ann Sacks collection booklet showing all the colors and shape now so I can start measuring and designing.

Backsplash Tile

Here is our gorgeous backsplash tile from Tabarka Studio. Tile install this week. Fingers crossed that it looks good.