Primer

A couple of photos of the front of the house with the new coat of primer!

This small swatch is what the final color will be...kind of a bluish green.

You can see it here too.

So exciting! Already a big change from this.

Final Kitchen Design

Progress on the house has been painfully slow these last couple of weeks. The kitchens and bathroom have been gutted and the exterior paint went up this Friday (pictures of this after we swing by the house this afternoon). Now we are just waiting for the permits in order to start the plumbing and electrical work. I finalized our plan for the kitchen with our contractor last week in order to submit the permits. Here are some screen shots from the Ikea Home Planner (which has been an awesome tool). We decided to go with the White Ädel ("Shaker Style") cabinets because they are truer to the character and period of the house.

Here's what the Ädel cabinets look like in real life.

(photo courtesy of Ikea.com)

(photo courtesy of ikeafans.com)

Backyard Bush Whacking

We spent this Sunday whacking at bushes in the jungle that is now our backyard. We made a remarkable amount of progress and we couldn't have done it without the inspiration and support of our friends Mike, Katie, and Katie =) Here are some before and after pictures (click on the pictures for a larger view).

and after...

A couple of pics of the front yard, before...

and after....

Exterior Colors

Here are a few photoshopped photos of the exterior paint color we have chosen for the exterior of the house. Originally I was thinking of more of a slate blue, but after looking at samples, we decided to go with more of a gray-green-blue combination called "Franklin Lakes" from the Benjamin Moore Exterior Color line. I really like the way the green undertones make it kind of an earthier color than just the slate blue, as the earthier colors are more typical of craftsman style houses.

I also really like the idea of doing royal blue accents for the window sashes and porch columns.

We did it!

We closed on the house on Monday! Yay!!! Here I am with Masai in our (yay!) house after we closed.

(Note the peeling paint in the background.)

Our realtor gave us our first housewarming present, a smudge stick - a bundle of sage to burn to cleanse the energy in the house. Here is Masai with the sage stick.

And now the real fun begins, we have one team heading into the house on Monday (hopefully) to start gutting the kitchens and bathroom and foundation work schedule to start on the 11th. We'll keep you posted on the progress! In the meantime, I'll be doing more online window shopping. Bedroom Idea boards are coming up next!

Living Room Idea Boards

Here are my three different idea boards for the living room (complete with some ridiculous, Lucky-inspired titles). Again, I'm trying to maintain my excitement for the house by doing online window shopping (so fun and so cheap)! I'll be posting the descriptions and links to all products soon. In the meantime, I want to know which one you prefer!

#1 - Ethnic Modern

#2 - Urban Seaside

#3 - Downtown Eclectic

Garden Inspiration

Well, despite a few rainy days, summer is back in full bloom here in DC and since we're still bogged down in the contractor selection/closing process and I can't actually work in a garden that I don't have yet, I figured I'd post some inspirational photos, mostly to keep my spirits lifted! I love the winding gravel paths in these photos that snake their way through the gardens. It's almost like there's a little surprise around every bend!

This is the kind of path I'd like in our backyard, a combo of gravel and flagstone pavers....

I love this little bird bath on the brick pavers...

And maybe somewhere nestled in the garden, a little patio with lights!

The Good, the Bad, and the Fugly

The Bad: One of our contractors dropped us (because of FHA financing specifics that I will not go into for the sake of not boring myself to death). Now we are scrambling to find a new one which is very stressful since our new closing date, August 11th is quickly approaching!

The Good: New Ikea Catalog!!!! I'm going to stop by on my way home from school tomorrow to see if I can pick up a paper copy!

The Fugly: My favorite blog. Even when I'm having contractor-inspired breakdowns, the Fug Girls always come through.

More Exterior Ideas

Today, on my way home from brunch, I decided to drive around my neighborhood to look at the bungalows in Silver Spring and Takoma Park to get some inspiration for exterior paint colors. I'm so glad I did, because there are tons in our neighborhood and I found this cute little bungalow right down the street.

It is really similar to our house and I LOVE the cedar shingles on the top floor. AND our house has cedar shingles on the top floor but only on the back side of the house. At first I thought we should just paint them to match the rest of the house but now I like the idea of leaving them and even doing the front to match! You can't see the side of the house from this angle but I found another house online that is much bigger, but had the same shingle application as the house I saw except the shingles went all the way to the roof.

I really like the sage green with the shingles and the white trim but I think we might do slate blue with the cedar shingles and the white trim and a red door. The shingles on the side would have to wait until later but its an exciting option!

Kitchen Idea Board #1

Here is my first shot at an idea board for the kitchen.  Masai and I stopped (very briefly) by Ikea this weekend to look at cabinet doors and we decided on the Lidingo (yay!) with the butcher block countertops.  We're picking white since it is what would have been most typically used the time the house was built and it was actually the sample kitchen we liked the best.  Below I've overlaid a picture I found of someone else's recently done Lidingo kitchen with some options I'd like to use for our kitchen.  I'm not completely settled on this color scheme but it sort of came together so I thought I'd post it.

Product List:

1.  Kitchen Island Light

2.  Benjamin Moore "Monroe Bisque"

3. Cristezza Green Glass Subway tile for Backsplash   

4. Ikea Elverdam Faucet  

5.  Fabric from Design Fabric   

6. Ikea Framtid Range  

7.  Pendant lamp for above sink   

8.  Ikea Grundtal Shelves   

Would love any suggestions!

So Close to History

I just found out that our house is not located within the boundaries of the historical district of Takoma Park.  This is a little disappointing since it means that we will not get the special tax credit for doing renovations to historical properties.  On the bright side, we won't have to deal with an extra hurdle of approving everything by the historical commission of Takoma Park.   I was a little confused by the map so I called the commission to verify that we will not be in the historic district.  As you can see (the historical district is everything in yellow and our house is the red dot that I've drawn on the map) we came pretty close, just not close enough!!

Craftsman Exteriors and New Ideas for the Porch

I couldn't fall asleep last night so I sketched out a new idea that I had for the front porch columns on one of Masai's legal pads. I based this column design on traditional craftsman porch columns and I thought the stone work on the columns and foundation might help to balance out the dominance of the roof.

That's supposed to be a porch swing on the side =) .

Since the house is a Craftsman style bungalow, it's been really neat to research the architectural history of the bungalow and the arts and crafts style.  I'm even thinking of taking a trip up to Fallingwater because its so close, I've never been, and it's part of the architectural revolution that began in the late 19th century (let me know if you want to come with!!!).  If you are at all interested in the Crafstman style, there is a great little pdf guide that you can find here and below are the pages on the Craftsman style bungalow and the section on columns from the guide.

Bungalow Exterior Paint Colors

When I was coming up with the different options for the house colors, I forgot to first do some research on historical bungalow house colors (oops!). A good source of info on homes from this time period is the 1917 Aladdin House Catalog.

Here are some sample colors from the catalog.

Here is another link to historically accurate house colors from the same period.

Now, I was originally thinking of painting the house blue because the neighboring houses are yellow and a tan/sage green. I still like the idea of doing the slate blue, but I'm excited to look through the rest of these colors for trim colors. I just learned that craftsman homes were typically painted a main color and two trim colors. To go with my original blue with white trim idea, I like either the Willow Green or the French Gray the best.

Let me know what you think!

Landscaping

I recently did some drawings of how the front and back yard might look after a lot of work.  I tried to make notes of what all of the pictures represent. Hope you enjoy!

The Vallonia

I heard that the house (built in 1923) might have been constructed using Sears house plans. With a little internet searching, I found some plans that come very close (and I even found a copy of the 1926 catalog at Borders). You can see my hand drawings of the house plans here. The only difference is, on the second floor, there is a bathroom behind the two bedrooms. Other than that, the plans are identical.

1928 Sears Catalog

1926 Sears Catalog

(click on the pictures to see a larger version)