House designed by HOUZZ!
Hello everyone! I am currently in escrow on a home here in northern California. The house needs a lot of work and my girlfriend and I absolutely love this website, so we thought it would be fun if we let the Houzz.com community make all of the design/remodeling decisions on our new home! We're talking everything from living room to playroom, kitchen to bathroom. Even the outdoor pool area and detached shop are open for input. Updated pictures to come upon close of escrow, but to give you an idea of what we're working with, I've included a few photos below.
A bit about the house: It sits in the middle of 6 wooded acres. 3600 sq ft 4 bed/3bath. Not included in the footage is a finished playroom/exercise room (300-400sq ft). It was custom built in 1989 by a retired engineer, so it has a unique split level layout.
The plan is to post 1 project/room at a time. We will show pictures of how it looks right now and then open it up to the HOUZZ community for suggestions. The post with the most likes will be the design we choose for that project/room.
To start, here are a few pics of the house as it looks today.
We would like to start with the red dining room pictured here. It has brand new hardwood floors that aren't bad, but everything else can be improved upon.
We are looking forward to all of your great suggestions!
Tyler & Vera
A bit about the house: It sits in the middle of 6 wooded acres. 3600 sq ft 4 bed/3bath. Not included in the footage is a finished playroom/exercise room (300-400sq ft). It was custom built in 1989 by a retired engineer, so it has a unique split level layout.
The plan is to post 1 project/room at a time. We will show pictures of how it looks right now and then open it up to the HOUZZ community for suggestions. The post with the most likes will be the design we choose for that project/room.
To start, here are a few pics of the house as it looks today.
We would like to start with the red dining room pictured here. It has brand new hardwood floors that aren't bad, but everything else can be improved upon.
We are looking forward to all of your great suggestions!
Tyler & Vera
| Share: |
|
More Discussions
Have you both ever been involved with a project of this nature?
Tyle, was this your idea?
Money: We aren't looking to break the bank and I feel confident that we are handy enough to do most non-plumbing/electrical work on our own. We are willing to buy furniture as needed, but because we are combining 2 houses into one, we don't expect to make lots of additional purchases. As a general guideline, a few hundred to a couple thousand per project is the most that we would like to spend. We know some projects will be more.
Time: As long as it takes. This will be a permanent home for us. Most of the work will be done on the weekends and weekdays after work.
Yes, we plan on letting the viewing public design our house.
Enjoy! The place looks great.
Although we have some ideas for structural changes over the long term, we have no plans for making any right away.
Theme for the house - Contemporary w Traditional flair. We like grays and whites for color scheme but are open to other ideas. Here is a pic of the only piece of furniture that we want to use in the Dining room. It is a custom built table made out of refurbished barn wood. Custom made by Vera's father. The picture does not do this table justice.
The whole point of putting the design of our house out on Houzz is to see all of the amazing ideas that you all can come up with. Don't worry about what our preferences are, we can always tweak the top idea to make the room our own.
Budget for the room: $1000
Have you moved all your furniture in the house?
I assisted a couple in Chicago, a few years ago. They were ready at the first meeting to run out and buy furniture. I suggested seeing what they had, arranging what they had to make the best of it, before adding anything.
Tyler I trust you will get Vera involved, as well.
I still am catching a bit of a 'condescending ' something of what I read here, I hope I am mistaken.
http://www.allmodern.com/Hokku-Designs-Masima-Unique-Bookcase-Display-Cabinet-in-Black-FM-38101-KUI2134.html
The window is the problem for me. In most dining rooms I see (both traditional and modern ones) a deeper window seems to be a feature and this one, feels skimpy. Maybe it needs the simplest rice paper blind, hung high on the wall, and a matching (aka white) simple bookcase, scaled as if it were a built in, right below it, so it creates a longer look - not a deeper one, .
I'm looking forward to a picture of this room with your dining table in place to better gauge proportions.
The photo you have is too small for me to photoshop any possibilities. Have you moved in?
I got this in my email and thought of your dining room. Great chairs and lamps in this collection (good pricing too). Hope all is well and we hear back from you.
http://www.myhabit.com/?#page=b&dept=home&sale=A1MQFSFZYETG89
http://www.blindsdirectcanada.com/blinds-toronto/hunter-douglas/silhouette-toronto.html
http://www.blindsdirectcanada.com/drapery-toronto/panels.html
Initially I said we would go with the most liked idea on this thread. Right now, it looks like the most liked idea is to hire an interior designer. As much as I would love to get a professional to come look at the house, we just cannot afford it! In addition to our mortgages, we have a wedding to pay for!
However, we do not discount all the great advice that the professional and amatuer designers continue to give us here on Houzz.
It seems that going with a grey-eige color for the wall, modern chairs, updated lighting is the common theme, so that will be the way we will go. Of course, if you have more ideas, feel free to chime in!
Budget:
$50 Bamboo Blinds
250 Faux Silk striped panels
free Dad's fabulous table
150 Chandelier, Lamps Plus #W2931
548 4xAnnie dining chair, HomeDecorators
414 2xWingback parsons chair, "
125 Denis Jully art - ebay
140 Avanti dinnerware set for 8, Target
I'd keep your eyes open at yard sales etc. for a slim console to fit between the panels under the window. I'm thinking a straight lined iron fish tank stand to mimic the clean lines of your window and keep it modern, since these chairs are more a nod to the table and your country roots. I'm hoping the art compensates for that. Cheers on your engagement!
Barnhartgallery, what an amazing mock up! We really liked the chairs with the color of the room. Grey-eige was a
popular choice among houzzers and we particularly like the shade you chose.
Update: We have painted the dining room and found some chairs that are similar to Barnhart's suggestions in the pics above. We also managed to re-paint/decorate 2 of the bedrooms. Below are the "before" pictures of each of these rooms along with the same "before" pic of the dining room.
1) Pool up all your money into 1 or 2 areas of the house that matter most to you and spend a decent budget on those areas. Wait on the rest of the house until you can afford to do it right. Otherwise your money will be wasted re-doing it later when you are unhappy or when items of poor quality disappoint you in a year or so.
2) Like many new home owners or couples, save before you spend. Spend your money on a good sofa and a good mattress. After that save up for the stuff you love, and yes, hire a designer to come up with a concept for you that you love. Then save up for each piece in the concept and buy it as money allows.
You are not the only person in the world who would be "house poor". Many rooms in my own house stayed incomplete or even empty for years. It's better to do it right - ONE TIME - that wrong over and over with stuff that won't last. It actually ends up being more expensive in the long run.
Hope that my two cents will help you in some small way.