Friday, January 30, 2009

Friday Five: HGTV Edition

Willsmama says:"As some of you may know I am in the midst of my first home purchase. It is a new-build and so some of the fun was picking out upgrades and major decor items to my taste rather than walking into a previously owned home that needed to be upgraded room by room (pink and teal tiles in the bathroom, anyone?). As much as decorating is not my thing, I did try to embrace the moment because just how many times do you get to have a do-over on kitchen cabinets/floors/countertops?And so, my questions to you this fine Friday involve your home past, present or future..."

1) If you could, what room in the place you are currently living would you redo first? My bedroom. And I personally would do nothing except call my fabulously talented friend and Soul Sister C and ask her to help me pick out wall colors and carpet, then I would hire it all done by others because I am getting pretty darned tired of being the doing it yourself girl. This particular room has been a trial to me. Several years ago, as I started to strip the wallpaper on the sloped ceiling above my bed, the skim coat came with it in patches and the wall now has divots and I just got stuck and stopped stripping or doing anything more. I took up the carpet and the floors are hardwood but hideous....do I sand and refinish or carpet (the pet issue stymies me here) and I am stuck again. So for five years I have lived in bedroom limbo with an ugly floor, a divoted ceiling to wake up every morning, old blue gray wallpaper that I mostly ignore but is peeling here and there and isn't me at all.

2) What is the most hideous feature/color/decor item you have ever seen in a home? Ummm...that would have to be the bedroom of the last house I owned. When I walked in to see the house for the first time there was a full wall mural above the bed of an autumn forest....blazing reds, oranges, yellows. And it was BIG wall. We are talking an old house here with very high ceilings! The look was complemented by a bright orange shag carpet, heavy red velvet drapes, and dark mediterannean looking furniture. My comment to the realtor that it looked a bit like a bordello elicited the response that this is the reason that buyers are not allowed to be home when houses are shown...."tastes differ." Um, yeah. It was so loud in that room (they left the drapes and carpet of course) that I had to kill the mural in order to get any sleep even before I finished unpacking!

3) What feature do you most covet? Do you have it? If not, is it within reach? My house is 100 years old. The full bath is on first floor and the bedrooms and a half bath are upstairs. I would love to have a master bath "en suite" as they say on TV. The only way to do it would be to sacrifice the smallest of the three bedrooms which adjoins the half-bath and convert that. It could be quite lovely. Large, all the bells and whistles, with a huge closet too, I'm sure. Yes, it's doable. If I win the lottery. So in the meantime in the real world, it's pack up my clothes and treck off downstairs to the shower.

4) Your kitchen - love it or hate it? Why? Love-hate relationship. I just got the most BEE-YOU-TI-FUL new counter tops and I love love love them. My kitchen is a decent size but a funny layout. Long and narrow like 15x9 (love old houses). The realtor called it a bowling alley! I have a dishwasher but it's one of those that you have to hook up to the sink and every single time I have to get soaked at least once in the hooking up process. The appliances don't match but they all work and I can't justify replacing for vanity. And with the new counters of course, the rest looks even shabbier, but new things or remodeling.... it is want not need.

5) Here is $10,000 and you HAVE to spend it on the place you are living now. What do you do? Hire that bedroom done! And if there is some left, strip and paint the hall....more old wallpaper with who knows what underneath and way up there ceilings I can't reach. Maybe install a "real" dishwasher in my kitchen if there is any left.

BONUS: Why do you think there was such a surplus of ugly bathroom tile colors showcased in all homes built from the 1950's right through the early 80's? I'm not sure they thought they were ugly. There seemed to be a rather strange color sensibility in general in the culture during that time. Think about avocado appliances, gold shag carpet, mint green leisure suits....can't explain it, just observing

7 comments:

Auntie Knickers said...

That whole Mediterranean furniture thing was really awful, wasn't it, not to mention shag carpet, and I doubt any real Mediterraneans ever had anything so hideous!

Anonymous said...

great play. i must say that i am very intrigued by the previous bedroom. i love those colors but...it does sound pretty overwhelming. ;)

too fun!

Teri said...

that bedroom bordello is pretty awful/awesome sounding! LOL...

Elaine (aka...Purple) said...

I am so not a do-it-yourself person. Great play.

imngrace said...

I am not envious of the mural you had--really, I'm not! Our mural was not pretty, but hey, you win the prize!

And yeah, a dishwasher. I don't know why it's so important to me--it just is.

Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

I would think a bedroom like that could induce nightmares.

Anonymous said...

hhhmmmmhhh sounds like the same person that hung your wallpaper... hung the one in my kitchen and bathroom. I spent hours... cussin and scraping... scraping and cussin. Then... I got to fill all of the holes and sand the entire kitchen and bath with a palm sander. I WILL NEVER HAVE WALLPAPER AGAIN.