Joni's condo kitchen update is nearly done. (See the project up to now.) Joni's friend and fellow nurse Patti is helping out, and she files this report:
I'm home from the mountains and went to see Joni's kitchen today. It's beautiful! I am thrilled and so is she. (Click photos to enlarge.)
Joni opted to have a friend who is a "tile guy" finish the tiling. She helped him and said that our thin set was definitely too thin. He applied it the same as we did; it was just thicker. We'll never make that mistake again. The tile guy also did the grout work for her and had a tile saw to cut the few that required adjustments. I think she had just had it with the mess we had to clean up after using thin set that was too thin.
We are very close to being done. I think one day or so of clean-up just may do it. We need to finish some drywall work and put a finish coat of paint on the kitchen walls. And then we'll replace the switch plates.
Joni is already talking about how to carry the mood and color palette from the kitchen into the living room. I can't believe the balance that the chocolate-colored panels at the top of the cabinets (see that here) provides to the tile. I really don't know if it's just dumb luck or if there was some intuition at play in the color choice. However it came to us, I'll take it. It's beautiful.
We have one more issue to resolve: how to hang pendant lights from a solid beam over the breakfast bar. I'll be asking your advice in a future posting.
In a previous post, Andrew C. wondered how to best use the extra space on the ground floor of his Crofton, Md., townhouse. He wanted both a larger laundry area and a bathroom.
Several readers gave good suggestions. Helen thought up a different configuration for the space with room for a big bath and a bigger laundry room.
Readers Jose and modernemama each suggested a stackable washer and dryer to free up space for, perhaps, shelving.
But it was lil_gaucha who has my vote for this idea: Use all the space for a combination laundry room and full bath. Then, Andrew gets a nice big space to do his laundry, and when he sells the townhouse in five years, the appraisal will reflect that extra full bath.
After doing some Internet searching, I see this is not an uncommon use of space. At first it seemed a little odd, having a toilet in the laundry area. But after seeing a few photos, especially with the washer and dryer behind folding doors, I warmed up to the plan.
I was also reminded of Bethany Orlemann's brilliance when she incorporated the space of her service porch into the kitchen and then added front loaders under a counter. It made her Eagle Rock kitchen much larger and her laundry area is stylish.
You like the idea of a combo bathroom/laundry room?
Patti here. Since our weekend tile project, which Joni and I wrote about in a previous post, we have gathered some valuable information.
First and foremost is that thinset should be the consistency of peanut butter! Ours was more the consistency of sour cream, so it was too thin. (Notice the food references; it is a kitchen, after all.)
Second, with this Oceanside tile, we need to make certain we thoroughly cut through the thinset all the way to the wall surface with the quarter-inch notched trowel. That means when we apply the thinset and pull it across the wall with the notched side of the trowel, we should hear the trowel scratching on the wall.
All things considered, I think our problem was that the consistency of the thinset was too thin and we applied it too thickly.
To our credit, we weighed and measured the proportions exactly, to the manufacturer's specifications. But there are variables to consider, I'm sure, and we now know to mix it thicker no matter how precise our measurement. These are the types of things a professional would know.
For Joni and I, a couple of novices, I consider this all well within a reasonable learning curve, and I'm tickled with the tile. It's beautiful and has exactly the right feel to set off the colors and features of this kitchen. We'll keep you posted.
Patti here. I'm helping my friend and fellow nurse Joni spruce up her kitchen. (See the project so far).
Well, we got some tile up over the weekend. Whew, it was a lot of work. With this, as with everything else, there was quite a learning curve. We were extremely careful to plan the placement, have all of our supplies ready and be versed on the instructions before we started (Photo 1).
We cut out a template for placement to make sure we had everything right, then applied the thinset (a thin mortar) with a trowel with one side having quarter-inch notches in it.
We put the thinset on with the flat side of the trowel, then ran back through it with the notched side of the tool, then back over one more time with the flat side of the tool. The reason for the smoothing is that we have some semi-transparent tiles that would show the trowel lines had we not knocked them down.
We placed the first sheet of tile up and had to finesse it into place, which created a lot of thinset oozing through the seams. We didn't quite know this as we had to leave the paper coating on for about 20 minutes (2). We then soaked the paper with water and removed it, much like removing wallpaper.
It was a mess underneath. We moved on to the rest of the wall (3), which is behind and above the stove, in the same fashion. We noticed the tiles slipping down the wall so the margins were no longer matching to the sheet already up!
We tried to hold the sheets of tile in place, which, I can tell you, was not effective. To keep tiles from slipping down the wall, I nailed a trim piece (which Joni had from the cabinet we had removed previously) directly under the tile (4), and I then hammered nails under the tiles themselves through the paper backing, to take some of the weight of the top tiles off the bottom tiles. The problem is that the thinset was moving down all along, even though the tiles stayed in place.
Now I'm not sure if this is a common problem or if the mix was too thin. I do believe we applied it too thick, except that is hard to assess in that the thinset on the top areas was very thin and beautiful and on the bottom very heavy and messy (5 and 6).
Joni worked on the project for about nine hours Saturday and was so wound up and frustrated that she was unable to sleep. I got a very distressed call Sunday that she was just done! She wanted to hire out the rest no matter what the cost, and she thought we wouldn't be able to salvage what was already up, thus wasting $300 in tile.
I assured her the best I could and went over to her house Sunday evening to take a look. By that time, she had discovered that if she applied water to the surface of the tiles, she was able to chip and rub the excess thinset off (7).
I helped her for about an hour and got it almost entirely done. It's vital to get the grout lines clear of all white thinset so that it doesn't show against the darker grout. Joni feels much better about it now.
I think it looks beautiful and that we have the most difficult area by far done. The rest of the job is only five tiles high, just above the counter, which isn't much weight and the tile will have the counter to rest on. Also, we need a few spacers so there is a grout line at the junction where the tile meets the top of the counter. But this is for Joni to decide.
It may be that when I get home from camping this week, the tile job will be done.
I think we've done pretty well for a couple of novices on a tight budget which, by the way, I think we'll still be pretty close to, unless Joni hires out the rest. I think it would be nice to finish ourselves so that we know we can do it, but as I said, that's totally her call.
It looks so good with the chocolate-colored wall above the cabinets (8 and 9). It looks like it was totally meant to be that way. I love it and am still having fun. Go figure.
And here are comments from the star of the show, Joni:
It was blood, sweat and tears over this little area behind my stove. As Patti explained, all the thinset settled to the bottom of the wall and the wood trim kept it there behind the tiles. I was attempting to remove the hardening thinset between the tiles for the grout lines (as recommended) once that was removed.
To make sure the tiles were flat against the wall, and not floating on various thicknesses of thinset, I used a 2-by-4 to gently tap the tiles flat and even. Then, thinset would ooze out between the tiles and I would have to start over again. I'm glad I spent the time to make sure all the tiles were flat against the wall and the nails (about 40 of them) kept the tiles in place. The spaces between the tiles are very close. Fortunately, with the type of tile it is, it looks great.
It turned out beautiful and I love it! I feel good about the job we did. I am getting bids on the remaining backsplash and will let you know what I decide. I love my kitchen and Patti has been great. My kitchen has a great vibe!
Here's an unusual design in a Los Feliz kitchen. Instead of a massive stainless-steel or stucco-looking stove hood over the gigantic range and built-in grill, these homeowners opted for a fan hidden behind faux cabinets. Plus, there are some pot hangers tucked in there as well.
I'm not sure I would do this, but I can see the logic. The home is a 1920s Spanish Revival, just half a block from Griffith Park, and perhaps it was thought that a great big hood would look out of sync? Or maybe someone had bad memories of hitting his or her head on a big stove hood and thus wanted to prevent that from happening again?
Whatever the reason, the next owner could change it. With a price tag of just under $3.4 million, this featured Home of the Week in today's Real Estate section will surely be bought by people with a lot of options in life.
I got a bunch of questions about the original ceiling and archway of the $20,000 kitchen remodel in the latest Rate This Remodel feature. So I thought I'd show the old and new compared here:
What's neat about the story, for me, is that Dani had a lot of time to think about her kitchen. The archway detail into the breakfast room is something she had thought about for years, and she was clear on the molding she wanted. Because of all of this planning, her contractor said, she was one of the easiest clients he has ever worked with.
So if getting the funds to do your remodel is taking longer than you'd like, put that time to use the way Dani did. The eventual remodel will be much better for it.
Patti here. I'm helping my friend and fellow nurse Joni with the update of her condo kitchen.
We were supposed to be laying the backsplash tile this week, but we hit a little snag. Well, it's a time snag more than anything else, probably costing a week and $100.
As it turns out, we need to move the light sockets and switches up the wall for the tile to be set straight across and without a lot of cutting. A handyman came out today, and he thought he could do the job. He'll also run a wire up the inside of the wall so Joni can hang a pendant light over the eating bar, and he'll fix a fan/light in the kitchen that Joni hasn't been able to use for a couple of years.
We'll have to get the tile up next week because I'll be camping for a week after that and our time will run out. At first Joni was not sure we could lay the tile ourselves, but perhaps because we've had so much success with the painting and other projects she feels more confident in our abilities.
Also, Joni decided to get a tall contemporary dining room table with bar-height chairs to replace the big oak table and hutch she's had for years. We discovered that oak sets like this sell for only $250 or so on Craigslist, so Joni might take hers to the local consignment shop (where she found her tall table) so that she doesn't have to deal with the hassle of potential buyers coming over to the house.
• The kitchen remodel in this 1971 Northridge tract house cost $20,000 and was done in three weeks. (Click on the photos to get a larger view) • Homeowner Dani Taylor did none of the work herself, but hired a contractor well known in the neighborhood. • Dani had many years to imagine how she would improve her kitchen as other remodeling projects and additions to the house took priority. • Rather than investing in new cabinets, Dani had her cabinet boxes refaced and got new doors and drawer fronts. • She added an amazing amount of extra counter space by designing the new, angled cabinet section you see on the right of the remodel photos. • While most of the appliances are new, she opted to keep her dishwasher, which worked fine, and got a new panel for the front. • A few concessions were made to keep within budget, including keeping the existing tile floor and not pushing the kitchen into an adjacent breakfast area. • But Dani did not have to give up her dream of granite counters, which were fit into the budget.
As Joni waits for her new backsplash tile to be delivered, and we all wait to see how it will look installed, clever POD Person* Mike did some computer magic to show us the end result.
Above, on the right, you can see a representation of what Joni's tile might look like up on the wall.
Also, Mike suggests a mustardy wall color instead of the cream or terra cotta colors being considered.
So far, the overhead cabinet that blocked the natural light has come down, and a fun s-curve track light has gone up. The boring wood cabinets have been sanded, painted brown, glazed green and coated with polyurethane.
Plus, the backsplash tile (right) has been chosen, ordered and paid for. It comes to a whopping $641 out of the $1,000 budget.
"We were found to have very expensive taste," Patti noted.
The latest indecision revolves around the wall color, which surprised Patti: "I thought the wall color would be pretty easy to chose," she said. "Well, it's not!"
As you see in the photos (click to enlarge), a coating of a terra cotta/mocha color went up on the wall (center left photo) and Joni loves it.
Patti, though, feels it takes away from the excitement of the green cabinets and of the very expensive glass tile for the backsplash.
So Patti found some cream-colored paint that Joni had used in her hallway and brushed some on to see if it worked better (center right photo). She leaned a sample of the tile up there to see how it looks.
Me? I like the lighter wall color. I think it sets off the tile better.
On the other hand, why not get the tile installed and then play around with the wall color?
Perhaps the 348,000 visitors to the recent Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, a showcase of new domestic furnishings, are way more arty than me.
I say this because the wacky way this new kitchen is displayed, with green food-looking stuff strewn all over, does not appeal to me at all.
Rather, I have a powerful urge to get in there, haul that green garbage to the compost pile, close the drawers and doors, get those two countertop ovens off the counter, and then see what we've got. It's probably not a bad-looking kitchen.
Here's what I need: an entirely separate room for my Newfoundland mix Zeus -- to bathe and dry him, feed and water him, and give him the high self-esteem a dog gets with his own space.
This story, in the Hartford (Conn.)Courant, is about a kitchen remodel in which half the space was given over to the needs of soap opera writer Megan McTavish's five Bernese mountain dogs, a breed I totally love.
I know, I know, we're supposed to be scaling down our homes, not adding dog rooms. But as a dog nut, I can't fault this.
From the article:
"The dog room has a bank of Shaker-style cabinets that organize all the dog supplies. There's one drawer just for leashes, another for grooming supplies, still another for dog bowls. There's storage space for towels, and recycling pull-out cabinetry. Instead of plastic bottles and glass jars, the cabinets house bins of dog food."
And: "In one corner of the room is a raised grooming bathtub and a fold-away grooming table. The floor was tiled for easy clean-up and durability, and portions of the walls near the tub were tiled as well so they can easily be wiped down when the dogs shake after a bath."
As shocking as it may seem to fans of young, hip, cool, midcentury contemporary design, this style will not be popular forever.
Stick around on the planet for a few decades, and you'll understand all too well that today's "modern" is tomorrow's "hopelessly dated."
Whenever I find homeowners denigrating Mexican tiles or avocado green appliances from the 1970s, I caution: Think about your karma. Thirty years from now, in a kitchen remodeled today, a young person may gaze upon the stainless steel appliances, glass tile backsplash and sleek cabinets and declare them "totally gross."
I started thinking about the end of our contemporary era when I studied this photo from Architectural Digest. I'm using this luminescent white kitchen (which is in a New York penthouse) as inspiration for my own kitchen update.
Notice how the living room furniture and the railing on that staircase in the background are very contemporary. But look at the kitchen itself. The beadboard on the cabinet doors, the white-washed table and floor, and those metal, farm-style chairs look suspiciously country in flavor.
In another magazine, I read that poofy drapes are coming back into style. And another article asked if it's not time to reconsider growing herbs.
This is all starting to sound like Mother Earth News to me. And if we are headed for a transition from contemporary to earthy, this kitchen says it all.
Six weeks into the part-time remodel, the two friends and co-workers at a surgical clinic — Joni and Patti — are getting down to the final touches on Joni's kitchen.
So far, they have:
• Taken down a cabinet over the peninsula that was blocking natural light.
• Added a mod s-shaped track light.
• Stripped the cabinets and doors and applied a brown base with a green glaze.
• Chosen, ordered and paid for the glass backsplash tile.
Of all these jobs, of course, it was the cabinets that took the most time. Patti suffered a setback (and suffered is the perfect word) when her "guru" at the paint store told her to sand against the grain when a certain look she was after was not coming about.
Patti knew intuitively that you're not supposed to sand against the grain. But she had gotten so much good advice from this expert that she went ahead and sanded the doors, ALL the doors, in that manner. Big mistake, it turns out. And another paint guy said you should, of course, never sand against the grain. I won't even go into how much extra staining and painting this necessitated, as it would be just too painful for Patti to have to relive here. Suffice it to say: Trust your instincts and question authority!
So, on other side of that debacle, the big deal now is: What should Joni do about an updated window treatment? Above, you see Patti at the beginning of the project explaining the issues, which are: Joni wants maximum natural light with maximum privacy. The way this condo is set up, her window looks right across the front porch and into her neighbor's front porch.
My idea: I'd tackle that wooden trellis separating the two porches rather than muck up the window. Think about it: If she installed a translucent panel over the white grid, just enough to block views but clear enough to allow light through, the window wouldn't need any covering at all. I mean, the only people who could see into the kitchen would be those standing at the door.
Engineered right here in Southern California by BMW DesignworksUSA, the sleek Ecopod is a compact recycling center that makes crushing cans fun! Just drop one in the top, step on the lever, and c-r-u-n-c-h, it's all over.
The bottom holds the crushed cans while the top holds other recycling.
At Gaiam.com, the regular price is $348, while the sale price is $169.
Or you could use the good old stomp-it-with-your-foot-and-toss-it-in-a-bucket method of can recycling.
Here's an update on the condo kitchen remodel being done, girlfriend style, by fellow nurses Patti and Joni.
The two spent a few hours in surgical bonnets and surgical masks sanding the boxes of Joni's cabinets. Patti took the doors home and sanded and primed them, laying them out on her kitchen counters to dry. Patti said the "sanding/prep work is the most time-consuming with the least immediate reward." It's the painting and glazing that is real fun.
At the beginning of the project, Joni struggled to find time for it. Now, though, she's "on fire," as Patti put it.
One day after work, the two headed out to peruse three tile stores. Joni has settled on the backsplash tile you see here to achieve the funky, arty, coffeehouse look she wants. The tile is called Petrified Forest in the Geologie line of Oceanside Glasstile of Carlsbad. It's a blend of these tiles: Harvest Matte, Olive IridSlate: Copper Quartz and Indian Autumn. Here's another view of it. Joni loves it. They are also considering medallions like you see here, in 2-inch and 4-inch sizes, with the larger ones above the stove area.
The two friends were planning on cutting the 12-inch squares of 1-inch glass tiles in half and installing rows of six tiles each above existing 4-inch laminate backsplash. But these squares have 11 tiles, not 12, so Patti said that's a head-scratcher. As for installing the tile, Patti attended a tile-laying clinic at Home Depot and doesn't think it would be too hard to do the backsplash. Joni's not so sure, and she's getting a price from a pro.
Joni polished a few of her existing pulls and decided they looked great with the glazed green doors and the tile.
Next steps, finishing the cabinet painting and choosing the wall color.
Do you ever feel "terminally unique?" I do. And that's why blending my own glass tile backsplash is so appealing. Oceanside Glasstile of Carlsbad offers an online tool for mixing up the colors you like best. Here's my favorite blend! It feels exciting to my bones. Granted, it's not relaxing. It's not classic. But, it's me.
And oh what a difference grout color makes. Here I show the same blend with (clockwise from top left) gray, green, white and red grout.
And if you're leaning toward green, this would be considered a green choice in terms of proximity to SoCal. These tiles are manufacturered just outside Tijuana. And in most green building philosophies, if stuff is made within 500 miles of your home, that's a good thing.
[UPDATE: After this post ran, which mentions Iris Harrell's Bay Area/Silicon Valley remodeling firm, I got a progress report from Iris. Since the time I heard her speak, she has grown Harrell Remodeling to 47 employees (well, they're more like owners, as this is an ESOP company, or one with an employee stock ownership plan), and so now there is much less of a waiting period to get a job done. If you live in that area, this should be very good news. End of update.]
I spotted an ask-an-expert piece in the San Jose Mercury News and it caught my eye because the expert is Iris Harrell, a super-well-respected contractor in the Bay Area.
Iris used to be a schoolteacher, and then became a contractor. Her company employs lots of women, and I've heard her say that if she senses a potential client will be disrespectful to her employees, she won't take the job. And because her work is of such high quality and her ethics so stellar, there's typically a long waiting list to get a job done by Harrell Remodeling.
So, anyway, this piece is about designing a kitchen for cooks of differing heights. In this case, the husband is way tall and the wife not so much.
Here are some tips:
Design an island with two heights: 30 inches for the cooktop and some counter space, and 36 inches (the typical height of a counter) for part of the island. The lower portion could contain a salad sink.
Avoid a big range hood where the taller person might hit his head, and go for a downdraft-style ventilation system (pictured).
Build a floor-to-ceiling cabinet, rather than an upper and lower with counter space between, so important items (like plates and cups) don't end up in the upper cabinets where the shorter person will have a hard time reaching.
Plus, you might want to consider hiring an actual kitchen designer. The fee you spend on this will be long forgotten while the functionality of your kitchen will be with you daily. Certified kitchen designer Susan Serra suggests 10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Kitchen Designer.
My friend Joni and I have decided to paint all of her cabinets green but leave some chocolate brown (base color) for relief on the kick plates and in a couple of mid-sections on the top cabinets.
Painting the bottom cabinets first gave us a feel for how the green would settle on Joni's eyes. As it turns out, we love, love, love it!
We fortunately have a short workday tomorrow, which will afford us some quality sanding time on the top cabinets, maybe get the primer on and then go shopping for backsplash tile.
Joni saw some tile in a small shop that she really likes and wants my input on. She's attracted to stone. It will be interesting. I think stone sort of dates the kitchen, but ya' know what? It's HER kitchen. If she loves it, that's what's important
Hopefully, I'll be able to post our prime choices for you.
Joni and her friend Patti, nurses in the same surgical clinic, are making good progress on Joni's condo kitchen makeover. They have sanded the sheen off the lower cabinets and painted on a brown primer. Here, Joni brushes on a brown paint/glaze combination, and Patti is coming behind her and wiping it with a sport sock turned inside out. Patti got the sock tip from Rick down at the paint store, who is know by his colleagues as Rick-casso, as in Picasso.
After this coat dries, the team will apply a coat of green paint mixed with glaze. Joni got a little worried about "all that green" in her kitchen, and she saw a kitchen in a book with green bottom cabinets and off-white top cabinets. So it was Patti's idea to go ahead and do the base cabinets with the full green treatment, and then decide what to do on the uppers. That beats holding up the project until the decision on the upper cabinets is made.
A big decision is coming up on the hardware. Patti thinks it should definitely be replaced with something nickel-looking to match the new S track light. Joni could go either way. She likes the original hardware, but could go for something more modern-looking. However, she plans on retaining the bronze-toned hinges either way.
I, on the other hand, think the hardware should not be replaced. I think it will really go with the new colors.
What would you do? Update the cabinet pulls? Update the hinges, as well? Or keep all the originals?
The project so far:
1. Watch a video of Patti explaining the remodel goals 2. Check out Joni's lighting choices 3. See a slide show of the track light going up and the cabinet coming down 4. Choosing cabinet color and backsplash tile
Question: Your coverage in the L.A. Times and your blog have inspired my husband and I to move forward with purchasing a new house that has everything but one key feature: A Great Kitchen. In fact, the existing kitchen is barely bigger than the one I had in my college apartment. We have a fantastic contractor whom we've used in the past, but we need a design plan and don't know where to start.
Our budget is $40,000, so the idea of hiring an architect, which would eat up a good chunk of the somewhat modest sum, is less than desirable. But we also don't want to make a mistake by not having a plan crafted by an expert. Where to start? Your suggestions and reply are most appreciated. Kind Regards, Tami R.
Answer: Tami, thank you for the kind words. I'm so excited for you. I’ll give you some ideas and invite other home enthusiasts reading this to add their suggestions.
First, I’d say you definitely want professional design services, and that means you’ll be paying for them, anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000. So I suggest when you state your plans from now on, you say something like this: “We have $37,000 for the remodel and $3,000 for the design.” That will help you steer your desires toward the proper price range.
Next, where do you find a designer? If you need major structural work done, you will need an architect or at least an engineer. For the price you mentioned, though, I doubt you could afford to add any new space. So I assume you'll be taking out a wall between the kitchen and dining room or family room to make the kitchen bigger. If it's a simple matter of removing a non-load-bearing wall to make your kitchen larger, I suggest you hire a certified kitchen designer, one who has CKD after his or her name. These people are certified by the National Kitchen and Bath Assn., and from what I've seen, they are talented and knowledgeable. To find one, plug your ZIP Code into the NKBA search engine and find those in your area. Also, read 10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Kitchen Designer, by Susan Serra CKD. You can also get discounted design services at kitchen shops if you buy your cabinets from them. But again, look for the CKD designation. And sometimes you can find certified designers at the design desks at Home Depot and Lowe's. Also, ask your contractor if he's worked with any kitchen designers.
And finally, I suggest you do a lot of research in advance and get familiar with what you like and how much it costs. How much are hardwood floors? Good-quality windows? Glass tile backsplashes? High-end ranges? Most designers spend half their time educating clients about the real cost of materials and labor. If you get yourself up to speed first, you can adjust your expectations and not be faced with either disappointment or going into debt to achieve what you really can’t afford.
When you do approach kitchen designers, tell them your budget and the style you want to achieve. If they tell you any kitchen will cost no less than $60,000 to $80,000, move on and find someone else who can work with your budget. And get someone who knows about green remodeling. Nothing else makes sense.
Kitchen designer Susan Serra, who writes an ever-inspiring blog called The Kitchen Designer, just got back from the Kitchen/Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in Chicago and offered to share with Pardon Our Dust readers the five big trends she saw:
1. Green: This year, much more than last year, KBIS was nearly ALL about living in an eco-friendly way. Mainstream companies small and large appear to be taking strides in an eco-friendly direction. I cannot overstate this as an overview observation.
2. Healthy: From new steam oven introductions, to refrigerator air scrubbing filters, to hoods replacing bad air with clean air (continually), and BioFresh refrigerator technology, there's definitely a concentration by appliance manufacturers on eating and living healthy.
3. Energy- and water-efficient: This is seen in various ways: LED lighting is now used more frequently in place of less-efficient lighting. Less water is coming through the new faucets. Induction cooking is becoming more popular. And gas cooktops are becoming more energy-efficient.
4. Glamorous: I don't know what the economy is doing, but I am seeing glamour in the kitchen! Lights, color, drama and glitz are seen in hoods, countertops, appliances, tile and hardware. No product category is excluded.
5. A shift in who sets the trends: Decorative trends continue to be seen (loads of browns in cabinetry and metals). But the vast array of choices available in colors and finishes illustrates that trends follow the whims of the public more than the public following the style demands of the manufacturers. Perhaps the tables have turned!
Thanks, Susan! Questions for Susan? Please post below or visit her blog.
You may have read the story about this Glassell Park kitchen remodel. You may have checked out details of the budget.
Now, here's the whole story in pictures, set to music. Enjoy.
And if you're doing a remodel, or will be soon, please take lots of photos so I can set them to music and we can share them with the world. E-mail me and let's discuss.
After the overhead cabinet came down in Joni's kitchen, and sunlight from the back yard flooded in, she said: Ten years! I've wanted to do that for 10 years!
With a $1,000 budget, she wants to update and brighten the kitchen, giving it what she calls a coffee-house feeling of comfort. Now, it just looks drab. Joni's friend and fellow nurse, Patti, is helping her do the remodel. The biggest job will be staining the wooden cabinets and maybe replacing the hardware.
With the cabinet down and the new bendable track light up (see top two photos), it's time to decide on the cabinet stain. Patti took a door of the cabinet that came down and took it to the local paint store, where a talented color expert there has been helping her figure out how to get the layered brown and green paint job she saw on a side table at Pottery Barn. The plan so far calls for a dark primer, a layer of brown paint, and then the green paint mixed with glaze.
In the bottom two photos you see the door Patti is playing around with and some of the tile choices she thinks Joni might like for the backsplash. If you've ever looked at kitchen books and magazines, you know there are endless ways the backsplash tile can be applied: a simple strip above the counter, all the way up to the upper cabinets, a mix of large and small tiles.
Joni seems to be conservative in her tile use. She's leaning toward a strip about six inches high just above the countertop. The trouble with choosing one color and style of tile is that you are letting go of all the other beautiful choices. And that's a hard thing to do.
Meanwhile, Patti finds herself having a lot of fun with this project. It lets her express her artistry and creativity in a way her nursing job does not. But she also has to watch that she doesn't spend too much time on it. Intense creative work too late in the day makes it hard to wind down at night. But Patti better get it figured out because other friends are beginning to hint that they, too, would like some help with their projects.
The project so far:
1. Watch a video of Patti explaining the remodel goals
2. Check out Joni's lighting choices
3. See a slide show of the track light going up and the cabinet coming down
Men, could this be true? You're abandoning your man-caves for man-kitchens and man-patios?
This emerging (get it?) trend was announced in a press release for ReVision, a remodeling company that won an award for the outdoor man-kitchen you see here.
Todd Senft, from the Canadian remodeling company, said the project was created for "a young entrepreneurial bachelor, who doesn't want to just sit in front of the TV, watching sports and drinking beer. Guys like him are into cooking, into wine, and they want to impress friends, family and clients. He wants to be responsible for feeding his own guests."
Plus: "It's an evolution in sophistication: more and more we see guys, like this client, who have great ideas for customizing their own kitchens. They've given it some thought and they know what they want."
This outdoor space incorporates a bar, open kitchen, barbecue pit, fireplace, eight-person hot tub and a shower/change area. It has poured concrete countertops, an intricate surround sound speaker system hidden in the 1-by-4 tongue-and-groove cedar ceiling, and a large outdoor fireplace and overhead gas heater.
What I'm not seeing here is any mention of a large-screen TV for watching college basketball, professional basketball, college football, professional football, soccer, golf, baseball, poker, boxing, mixed martial arts and the upcoming Olympic Games.
So I wonder — observing my own household — is this strictly a Canadian trend?
Check out the same client's indoor man-kitchen. Love that masculine pebble backsplash!
Patti here, blogging about the kitchen remodel I'm helping my friend and fellow nurse Joni accomplish in her SoCal condo. I blogged about the beginning of this project last week. On Saturday my husband, Gary, and I stopped by to help. And Joni's next-door neighbor helped as well.
I appreciate all your votes on the new light. As it turned out, Joni was partial to the nickel-looking track. I found some "a la carte" pieces at OSH that gave us some freedom to chose different lights, so we chose that option.
The harness box in the old ceiling light was so brittle that one of the screws just pulled out without being unscrewed. Fortunately, Joni had kept all of her parts from other fixtures she had replaced so she had another suitable box which we installed. This took almost an hour since it had to be modified to fit the hole in the ceiling.
The track went up easy enough, and the little lights are very bright. I bought samples of several different lights to choose from. Joni and I liked the same smaller light so we went with that. This job should have taken about 30 minutes but took an hour and a half due to the broken harness box (if that's the correct name for it). So it is with do-it-yourself projects; they always take longer than expected.
We had about 15 minutes to spare in our budgeted time so we ripped out the cabinet. (Click here to read the rest of the story.)
Check out this minute-and-a-half slide show of the day's events (and turn up the sound):
So I asked the guys at my local paint store about no-VOC and low-VOC paints. As you may know, VOC stands for volatile organic compounds, but you could also call them volatile chemical compounds. They are emitted as gases from paints and glues and sealants and other products and make people sick. Or, as the EPA puts it, VOCs cause adverse health effects.
I wanted none of that in the paint for my kitchen.
The paint guys kind of stammered a little and then told me all paints in California are low-VOC, and don't worry about it, the smell goes away in just a few days or weeks.
Well, honestly, it's not so much the smell I'm worried about. It's the toxic chemicals that regular paints and other standard building materials emit into the air. All things considered, and especially because my doctor wants me to strengthen my immune system, I'd rather not expose my body to any more toxins than I have to.
So that's why it was such a pleasant experience when I asked the tatooed young woman at OSH about no-VOC paint and she immediately directed me to the Dutch Boy paints that not only have no VOCs (see label above) but are verified by Green Seal, a highly respected third-party verification standard for green products.
Other paints verified by Green Seal include: Benjamin Moore's EcoSpec Interior line, Frazee Paint's EnviroKote Interior Low Odor Acrylic Interior line and Olympic Paint and Stain's Zero-VOC Olympic Premium Interior line.
Hi, this is Patti posting. I'm helping my friend Joni with her condo kitchen project.
A little update: We are focusing in on a lighting solution — a track in the middle of the ceiling where there is now a single fixture. The track will allow Joni to direct the various bulbs where she needs them to prevent shadows.
We have narrowed it down to three choices, which you can see at the right:
1) The top photo shows a bronze-look track with four bulbs and an old-world look. It's smaller than the bendable tracks below, about 4 feet long, but it has a certain charm. It's only $67.
2) The second photo shows a 12-foot-long bendable track in off-white. This would fade into the off-white ceiling and not be so noticeable, though it would still provide light to shadowy corners. It's $99.
3) The third photo down shows the same bendable track in a more-modern stainless look. Joni has a stainless sink and faucet, so this would not be out of place. It's $129.
The main idea is to give Joni the comfortable coffee house look she's after. See Joni's kitchen here, pre-remodel. You can see the look Joni is working toward in the dining room (notice the old-world-style plaster) and in the hallway.
Plus, we've also spoken with a paint expert who feels the look we are after on the cabinets is actually light stain over dark stain with a little natural grain showing through. We still need help learning about stain. More on that later.
And, we signed up for a tile laying class at Home Depot for an hour this weekend to see if we'll feel comfortable laying the tile ourselves. Hey, we're nurses, we should be able to do anything, right?
In the meantime, we need to install the light first to see how it affects the overall feeling of the room. And we need your help deciding on the light. In the bottom photo, you can see me at Home Depot, a little perplexed at the options.
This is Joni's SoCal kitchen. And this is Patti contemplating Joni's kitchen.
Patti and Joni are nurses who work together. Patti has a great sense of style — her hair, her clothes, her house, her life. So when Joni decided she wanted some of that style for her own kitchen, she asked Patti to help.
We will be following the progress as these two friends renovate the kitchen.
Joni's budget is $1,000, and the work will be mostly DIY. The slim budget means there will be no replacing of cabinets or counters or floors. Maybe "refresh" is a better term than "remodel."
Here are the plans so far:
• Remove cabinet above peninsula to allow in more natural light. • Lighten up the cabinets with paint or stain. • Replace hardware. • Add tile backsplash with some glass tile. • Replace lighting fixture in ceiling with low-voltage track lighting.
Joni says she wants the kitchen to feel like a comfortable and funky coffee house. She likes one particular local coffee house (pictured above), which has stone floors and white cupboards, and she and Patti will go there to check out the details. Meanwhile, Patti pulled a pillow off Joni's couch (middle photo above) and wants to use some of those colors in the kitchen.
Check out this video of Patti explaining the project so far.
Bookmark this page and check back for regular updates. Joni and Patti welcome feedback and suggestions!
As I'm perusing tile stores to get ideas for my own backsplash, I come across a photo of this gorgeous green glass tile. It's in a house featured by the L.A. Times Home Section in an article title, appropriately, Exploding with color.
What struck me was the use of the same color in all the tiles. It occurred to me that when you're considering 3/4-inch or 1-inch tiles, there is almost an irrestible urge to mix it up and include all your favorite colors. See what I mean here and here.
But there is something powerful, bold and courageous in using the same color all the way around.
Am I onto something? Or could this be hard to live with?
I promised myself I’d be super careful when choosing my kitchen colors. Why? These events:
First and foremost, and my daily reminder, is the garish green that got painted onto my exterior trim when I asked the budget painter guy to match colors on a house I’d seen. There I was, the morning the crew arrived, in my driveway, trying to figure out if the green he brought was the right green. It was so not the right green, but I don’t make my best design decisions in the heat of the moment, so I let the paint go on, figuring I’d repaint the trim later (but will I?). I need time to contemplate.
Then, providence brought into my orbit some role models: two women who took extraordinary care in choosing their kitchen colors. Kristina Johnson actually bought several pints of green to try out on her Glassell Park kitchen walls. (She ended up painting her kitchen three different greens, so that’s the hazard if you like a lot of them.) Bethany Orlemann taped paint chips on her Eagle Rock kitchen ceiling and studied them carefully to decide on the exact off-white she would love.
By the time my own selection process began, I had decided to paint my kitchen walls a pale olive green and my cabinets an ivory white. Then I spread out a color fan from ICI on the table. Did you know there are more than 140 off-whites in a fan like this? This is why people hire decorators and designers. The choices are daunting.
For my green, I was truly lost. There are greens with a lot of yellow, lots of blue, some gray. Dark, light, pale, bright, garish (been there), subtle.
Joni's condo kitchen update is nearly done. (See the project up to now.) Joni's friend and fellow nurse Patti is helping out, and she files this report:
