Stairs!
This project is back-burnered somewhat, but that doesn’t mean I can’t think about things now. I’m talking about STAIRS!
We’ve got a one-level pillbox ranch house, so any dreams I had about lovely Newell posts, grand staircases, and whatever else are pretty much out. However! I do have one set to put my mark on, and that’s the stairs going into the basement.
even Saffron is a little creeped out standing on them
Up until very recently, I mostly tried to ignore them. They were rickety things, covered in the same shit-colored carpeting as the rest of the house, and always a little too shallow for my comfort. It was honestly an area of the house that I tried to ignore as much as possible. Vacuuming them never made them look any better/cleaner. They always gave just a little too much whenever you’d walk down them, too, and whenever I’d be carrying laundry down, I’d try to push the story about how Kevin’s mother fell through one of the steps out of my head. I had to work even harder at not thinking about them when Kevin took a good look at the underbelly of the staircase and found that the treads were basically just flimsy boards held in place with nails on either side, and no supporting brackets or boards or whatever you’re supposed to use to keep your stairs from cracking under the pressure of anything that weighs more than a hot dog.
Sigh.
I was at clinicals (the nursing school kind) a few weeks ago, and Kevin sent me a blurry cameraphone shot of something indiscernible, although I thought it looked like carpeting. It was basically a crappy version of this picture:
Gross. And now, we’ve got this:
The improvement is obvious, although the amount that the stairs give when you’re walking down them is ALSO quite obvious now. And scary. Eventually, these stairs will be replaced with sturdy ones that we’ll never have to worry about falling through. Yay! As for design, Anna over at Door Sixteen has done a couple of posts (1, 2) on staircases from which I’m going to draw heavy inspiration. I’ll have to keep my eye on Ferm Living for the next time they’re having a wallpaper sale. Oooh, or Minimoderns (yum).
Major winter project: Kitchen!
After discussing it a bit, I think Kevin and I have decided that we’re going to try to tackle as much of the kitchen redesign/renovation over the winter as we can.
I know what you’re thinking.
“Wait wait wait, the kitchen? It’s usable! What about finishing the bathroom? What about working on the lounge area in the basement? What about what about what about?!”
We’re both pretty sick of the kitchen, and if we’re going to be trapped inside over the winter, the season during which we do our most labor-intensive and creative work at the stove, we’d might as well be in a room that we like to look at and use, am I right? I think I am.
Anyway, before I get to a few inspirational photos that I’ve collected lately, I want to ask you readers a couple of questions:
- What is your favorite thing about your kitchen?
- What do you wish you had in your kitchen?
On with the pictures:
From Retro Renovation
Pam's Kitchen from Retro Renovation
From Design*Sponge
From Design*Sponge, I love the FermLiving wallpaper and black countertops
From Decor8
Alice's kitchen from bread&honey, I love the green cabinet interiors
From Apartment Therapy, I love the shelves around the window
From Apartment Therapy, I think I want a tile backsplash
From Apartment Therapy
From Apartment Therapy
From Apartment Therapy, we're definitely doing black and white checkered floor tiles
A little inspiration
I can’t wait to get into the house so I can take some real pictures of the inside to share, because until then I’m left to daydream, scour the intarwebs for items to fill the house with, and update this site. Sorry, dear readers.
I tried to find some pictures that might serve as inspiration for the bathroom tile, and these were a few that I came up with:
I think what we’ve got in mind is lots and lots of white tile with some black accents throughout. I really like that we’re choosing colors that will go with everything, because I’m a little on the fickle side, design-wise, and I want the ability to change things drastically without actually bringing in demolition.
Also, here’s a tub that looks exactly like the one that’s in there now, the one I want to save:
Just imagine it as white. Isn’t that fabulous? What is that style, art deco? I really need to convince Kevin to keep it, as it adds a wonderful design element to the room.
