a little do it yourself

at our house, we take a little do it yourself VERY seriously. luckily, my husband will attempt to build whatever i attempt to draw. the pictures that follow are projects from the last house we lived in, a 1952 flat-roofed box on a hill just outside the capitol of new hampshire.

the bigggest transformation here, excluding the removal of greasy gold shag carpet, is our fix for mushroom vinyl window syndrome (MVWS). take many cans rust-oleum black paint, many lengths bookcase molding from home depot, not so many tubes appropriate goop brand product, and call me in the morning. do not forget to paint the back of your bookcase molding the color of your outside trim (in our case, also black) because you will be seeing it from the out of doors.
the next big change was the fireplace wall. we were very fortunate to live in an area full of furniture makers and that = great lumberyards, like my personal favorite place to shop ever goosebay lumber. if you are interested, i will take you on a tour when i visit new hampshire in may.
so, we moved the door to the right as far down as we could to gain the idea of a little symmetry, and covered the whole fireplace wall in maple bookcases with a walnut mantle.
the walnut on the mantel was left over from the couch we built to gain a little symmetry on the other side of the room. we made a room within a room. the cushions are made from diamond matelesse coverlets from the tj maxx, straight off the clearance end rack for $19.99 each. the insides are down comforter wrapped foam. the mirror coffee table is an mdf box covered with mirror cut to measure, total cost around $175. please wear your dust mask, especially when cutting mdf. all curtain rods are copper plumbing pipe, painted black and hung on iron hooks from the home depot gate hardware department. also above, the photo i took before we bought the house.
and now, if you are still with me, i'll take you to the kitchen!


for reference, the window in the before photo is the same window that you see to the left of the stove in the after photos. the refrigerator did not move although we did cut a hole in the wall, remove a stud and install a header so we could gain a few more inches in the kitchen. the big transformation came with the removal of the stove wall in the before picture. the stove wall cut the kitchen into 2 small bits. one side for cooking, and behind the stove side for laundry. ridiculous, i say. laundry promptly migrated south to the basement and saws-all and crow-bar action ensued. i will spare you the mouse infestation drama.
as for the rest, we built it ourselves. the cabinets, the countertops (in walnut, my favorite wood AND it's antibacterial) we built from scratch. the glass doors on either side of the plate rack were from my travelling architectural salvage stash. we made them slide back and forth over the plate rack because if they opened normally they would wipe out everything on the counter and take up half the kitchen. my husband fulfilled my mantle over 4 oven aga fantasy (minus the 4 oven aga) and we tiled the entire back wall of the kitchen in water blue tiny mosaic tiles from home depot expo. there are a couple ceramic tiles offered at home depot expo that read en masse like a real glass tile. the difference? ceramic version = $25 a sq. ft. less. kitchen table from unfinished furniture warehouse, covered in throw from tj maxx. the chandelier is a WICKED GOOD flea market find that i take with me from house to house.