Orange Accents At the Beach!

I've been in an Orange Mood lately, and I just had to share these photos with you - they have really jazzed me up for the weekend stint in the Studio! 

Just look at this palette!  It is pure genius.

 Lauren Guarcello, of Porter Design Company, did this room for the Stately Homes by the Sea Showhouse.  Here's another look:

For some, the walls may seem too dark...but look -  the white bedding just lifts it right up.

 These gorgeous photos are courtesy of Peter Rymwid, and were posted by Kerri, a talented artist at Driftwood interiors in Brisbane, Australia.  She was tapped to create these paintings to co-ordinate with the room:

Now, doesn't this just make you want to go Crisp Up a room by throwing some Orange in it?

Look out, bedroom...you thought you had escaped!

Beach Cottage Renovation Finished!

After my two month hiatus to tend to the Beach Cottage renovation, I have GOT to get back to Textile and Graphic Design.  So that I don't feel like I left everyone in the middle of the road, here are some shots of our finished renovation - that I am just so in love with.  Pictures aren't hung yet, because I can't bear to put holes in the walls yet!  Maybe tomorrow.

The "sewing/create something" room is now totally white.  I took the old kitchen peninsula and made a cutting/pattern table out of it.  And, look at my new window by the sewing machine!

This is what it looked like before:

Big Change, there!

Kitchen all finished!

My yummy new tub, that USED to be my closet!

The mirrors tilt!

Wooden blinds coming tomorrow - do you remember how this looked a month ago?  Yikes!

This was the bathroom on May 24.  What a difference, huh?

 

 

 

 

 So much work, soooo much work.  But I am happy, happy, happy.  And now it is time to get back to Surface Design...graphics, textiles, Illustrator and Photoshop.  In my clean new house!

Beach Cottage Decor - Shopping List

It's time to resume "Normal Life" and the Beach Cottage Renovation.  When I walk back in there tomorrow night, the floors should be refinished and gorgeous, and we'll be ready to place the furniture back where it belongs and start unpacking boxes.  Meantime, I've been thinking about how to accessorize our new updated look, and find myself falling for looks like this:

I love the idea of using these glasses for wine - I found them at Berry Red.

 Also love the look of this sideboard - and you just KNOW that I will be making the Giant Clamshell myself...

The Guest Bathrooms will need new shower curtains, and they'll also need new hooks - these are perfect for the look I'm going for:

I also found these at Berry Red - my newest online fave store to browse.  Don't you love the retro look of these?

I can hardly wait to haul my big belt sander up from the basement and sand the top of my dining room table down to the wood.

Okay, so you can't really see the table, but it is painted white.

And, because we cook so much with fresh produce from local farmers, I need one of these:

I'm so happy with the palette I've chosen, and can hardly wait to start integrating my old accessories in with the new - not to mention firing up my new gas stove and grill!

The King Mackerel, Sea Bass, Mahi-Mahi, and Spanish Mackerel are biting off the coast right now, and I WILL be sending Husband off to fish...recipes to follow!

Cabinet Hinges in a Nutshell...

As promised, here's a quick jot on Cabinet Hinges - not very entertaining, but if you are renovating your kitchen, you are going to run into this.  Took me DAYS to work all this out.

If you are trying to keep your existing cabinets (as I was) you need to know the different styles of cabinet before you go off shopping for hinges.  Here are the two different styles:

You can see that the cabinet on the bottom takes a hard right and hard left when it comes to the front.  The door has to be mounted onto this frame,  determines what choices you have on your hinges.

My cabinets are "Face Frame Cabinets":

My doors sit on top of the Face Frame - they don't go out to the edge, and they aren't centered inside the opening.  They OVERLAY the frame.

So now I knew what kind of hinge configuration I needed...an overlay hinge.  Only an overlay hinge will work in this configuration - not a full or partial inset hinge.  That narrowed the choices considerably.   I wanted little or no hinge visible, and the cabinet maker and job foreman firmly suggested that I go with a European hinge rather than a partial overlay hinge.  The reason?  The good ones are adjustable 3 different ways.  That means you can always go back and loosen the set screws and adjust them if your house settles and the cabinet doors start looking like they aren't on straight!  

So, I used a 5/8" European overlay hinge in brushed nickel.  And, many of the decisions were made for me before I even went shopping...  You can buy these in "Contractor Packs" of 10 at The Home Depot.  Comes out better on the budget that way.

The hinge will be invisible from the outside, allowing my hardware to be the stars of the show!

The reason I had to go with the 5/8" was because my oak frames are what carpenters call "one-by".  That means the frame is 1" by 2".  Only it isn't totally 1" thick - for some reason in this industry, if it says it is 1" thick, it is only 5/8".  That is a mystery I am not willing to spend time on to figure out.

Now, my fairly simple hardware will be the only metal showing on my doors:

Cup pulls for the drawers.

 Okay, I know how boring that was, but trust me, this is info you can use if you are updating your kitchen any time soon.  You won't spend days and days picking out your hinges, and have to return them all because they won't work!

Secrets Of A Successful Coastal Cottage Renovation

Today I was at Home Depot and Lowe's, picking up more materials for the Beach Cottage Renovation, and was thinking about how much I have learned.  There aren't any books out there to tell you the little Secrets to Coastal Cottage Renovation.  I was thinking that I should write a pamphlet, but decided my blog would work, too.  So, here goes.


Rule No. 1:  ALWAYS use a reputable general contractor for Coastal Renovations, one that you know personally if at all possible.  Like this one at Ocean Isle Beach: http://wbpropertiesofnc.com

Examples of work by WB Properties

Coastal communities draw all sorts of folks who have the bright idea to "live at the beach and do some work on the side to support myself".  The work comes 2nd.  The beach comes first.  Always.   Getting Sub-Contractors to finish the job on schedule is almost impossible if the fish are biting or the surf is up.  Know what I mean? You need a General Contractor who is mean as a snake to get those guys back off the water and on the job.

Rule No. 2:  KNOW the language and vocabulary of your coastal home and lifestyle.  This way, the millions of choices out there will shrink to a handful, and you will always know you are "in the zone" when choosing paint, hardware, and architectural details.  Be authentic to your vocabulary, and you can't go wrong.

You just know from the exterior of this Coastal home what the interior is like - it has to be Tuscan in flavor.

The color of the exterior, the tile, and the architecture all say that the interior should be Tuscan in vocabulary - that means earthy rusty oranges, olive greens, reds, and yellow tones, with oil-rubbed bronze, natural wood, and a huge stone tiled kitchen area that opens out to an expansive patio with an outdoor kitchen.

See the earthy greens, oranges, and golds?

This Mission/Prairie style Coastal home says that you will NOT  find hot  pink, lime green, and flamingoes in the bathroom:

This is the Coastal Living Idea House for 2009.

 Instead, you will find granite counter tops with black flecks, oil-rubbed bronze hardware, white kitchen cabinets, and lots of built-in shelving and ceiling work.   Pretty much Prairie-Style, but with creamy whites lifting it up to a Coastal Look.

Looks like this:

Or this:

And then, there's the Coastal Style that is best portrayed at this blogspot that I found about a month ago - Lime in the Coconut

This photo just says it all - very saturated color, ethnic influences in the decor, and an easy/breezy lifestyle with the focus on Mediterranean/Florida Keys flavor.

The back of the house probably has a patio/deck that looks like this:

See what I'm talking about?  You INSTANTLY know what belongs in these homes, and all the other bazillion choices just drop by the wayside.  That's the vocabulary that you choose, and you just take it and run with it.  Easy, yes?


Next post:  The nuts and bolts of ceramic tile and cabinet hinges.