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so as not to hijack zonelady's thread from her kitchen remodel:
http://boards.hgtv.com/eve/for...4079532/m/8253952667

I too had to find continuity in the house, so we had to decide where we could have the arch again so that it would work in the house. I have a full rectangular house with all horizontal lines and straight lines, so it NEEDED relief! The Empire style I like has curves and so this will help all those lines come together. Since my arched space will not be a half circle but an elongated ellipse it will be different but give a nice 'nested' feeling for the table which I want against the wall instead of in the center of the room breaking the traffic flow.

I didn't want to do, as a friend told me, to do a 'one trick pony'! LOL

zonelady's house just asked for that round arch!

attached is the drawing I made yesterday of my idea. I used Microsoft Paint so it is crude, but you get the idea about the elongated ellipse with rounded sides. The space to the left is because there is a hallway entrance there and I didn't want to create a longer tunnel effect with the cabinet to the edge of the wall. Thinking of beadboard behind the settee and also painted cabinets, at least that is where I am starting from.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

I drew quick lines to show beadboard on the back of the plain wall between cabinets. This would tie in my kitchen and pantry ceilings. They would all have the same finish of tan/camel woodtone.

I have two large and two smaller Empire style plain S curve corbels to use for this treatment and the larger on the fireplace mantel we are going to make when we get in that room (and an arch treatment will be worked out there also to tie in)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

this is the settee drawn in the photo and the table is a late 1800's mahogany pedestal round table (has leaf for expansion). This will be refinished to leave as mahogany.

I found the settee on CL a few months ago and is being reupholstered as soon as I find the right material. the settee is in great shape, fabric in great condition, just want a fresher look.

Such great ideas! I love the beadboard. (obviously) The settee looks great, can't wait to see what fabric you pick.

Your Microsoft paint isn't as crude as my 14 year old Sierra Home Architect 2.0...LOL! I need to get an updated version soon.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zone9alady,

Thanks zone9alady!

Well Paint is a pain because it is mostly one line at a time! I then copy and paste a lot. LOL

Here is the drawing rendered with white woodwork, beadboard (wide boards, not 4X8 sheets) and settee in possible turquoise fabric.

*

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

Nice color combo. I like the wider tongue and groove beadboard too.

Thanks, luckily for me, the work is so much LESS than what you are doing in your house!

It's what DH loves to do...he's been building and adding on ever since we moved here. He never sits idle. I have to keep him busy! LOL!

Aren't we lucky?

Thank you to the over 190 views of lurkers on this thread, thanks for looking!

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Ruth:
Aren't we lucky?

YES! LOL!

Z9L and MR: How awesome! Thanks for sharing these great ideas. Please, let's see more.

I just may have to liberate this idea for my next home. (Which is sooner than we anticipated: our home is under contract after 2 days on the market and we have a 30-day closing!)

Wow, two days?? That is great. It took us 6 months to sell in 2003!

quote:

Originally posted by zone9alady:
Wow, two days?? That is great. It took us 6 months to sell in 2003!

Yeah, and for full asking price. No one was as surprised as we were. It's a mixed blessing as we have to find a new home REAL soon. But, who's complaining?

OH WOW! Real Estate is moving faster around here, and I am so HAPPY for you!

You will (I am sure) create another beautiful home knowing the way to create your style.
Can't wait to hear what you find and how you make it your home!

GREAT NEWS!

Wow do I love that settee. I can't wait to see your finished work.

Lisa Ann,
That settee is the one I posted on MMF's some months ago, I paid $20 for it!
I will have it reupholstered professionally, and have changed my mind about 4 times as to what to put on it for fabric! The color will be aqua or medium blue, and most likely a close to solid color (perhaps small print).

You must be so settled into your house now that it probably feels like you have always lived there!

I love the idea of the settee and the built ins. Will you have chairs on the opposite side of the table also?

Yes Wanda,
I have my painted wing back chairs to go on either side )pic shows chairs and chandy). I also have two dining style chairs to fit on the other side so that the table could sit 8 comfortably.

I also have a full sized dining table that the sides fold down into a smaller table that I use as my sewing table (expand when I need it to) for any extra table room I might ever need.

I have 6 wicker dining chairs but am giving them to my daughter, if they all come up, she could bring some for seating. We can get creative if we have more, since larger parties would require prior notice, I would have time to gather more comfortable seating arrangements. I do not plan to ever go that big, not in this house.

The table in the photo (sold that Oak one) and have one in Mahogany very similar to this to use for the dining table. The top on it is painted and I will be stripping that (as soon as the weather allows me to ).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

I love those round pedestal tables. Those chairs are painted? I didn't know you could do that.

Yes, I used latex paint over fabric. Here is the before and after photo of one of the chairs. They are still in great condition and still soft to the touch. Everyone thinks they are leather.

It never ceases to amaze me that you can paint fabric and that it's not hard and crunchy

here is the Craigslist photo of the late 1800's mahogany pedestal table I got when still in Virgina.
I am in the process of stripping the top and refinishing the bottom section. Been raining a lot so have not had time to do much with it outside. I have one leaf for it (we can always make another, spreads out enough for 3 leaves). I discussed it with DH and he said he can make the one leaf wider by adding to both sides of it.

Mary Ruth, I never get tired of looking at the pictures of your house. You keep giving just a taste of what the whole room looks like, I almost wish you could give a 360 tour of the whole place. I'm not sure exactly what draws me to your rooms so much - maybe the wood details, crown mouldings, beautiful baseboards, or what, plus everything just seems "restful" (in my opinion.)

AKsunny,
Some of the photos are from my Virginia house, like the photo of my breakfast room above (I always say it is from my Va house when it is). WE sold that house a couple of years ago and moved to Florida. Now we are remodeling this ranch (all on one floor). It is our retirement 'forever' house.
We are SLOW at finishing any one project because most of the work we can do is dedicated to:
First: storage and organizing our stuff (a place to store things out of sight).
And then figuring out where our furniture would fit and what we needed

Meanwhile I think about how to separate and divide my different woodtones and pieces since I do not have only one type of furniture. I like a mix.

When we get it all settled and clutter controlled we will take 'room' photos.

The Virginia house is sold, and NOW I realize I wish I had a video of the interior. Still shots are OK but, you are right a 360 tour would have been nice. When it was staged, we were told we would get one done for the realtor site. BUT it never happened and our realtor was awful and lazy. TG the house sold anyway!

I will be putting together a slide show of that Virginia house soon.

The drawings are for the Florida house. We have a pass-through dining space and that is why I figured I would have the table off center and closer to the wall to widen the walking space between the dining wall and the kitchen.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

Here is the floor plan for the Florida house to get an idea where the dining space is in relation to the rest of the house. It is 1900 sq feet. The house is on a slab, and is all one story.

Drawing is not to scale, so sizes actually vary.

The reddish color represent where I have mahogany wood, the yellow/gold color represents where I have that tan/camel color.
Floors throughout will be all medium brown woodgrain plank tiles.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

Looks like a great house Mary Ruth. I know you and your dh will do your magic to it, and it will be beautiful.. I loved your Virginia house too, so beautiful. Must have bee hard to leave it. So glad it's SOLD...YAY

Wish I lived near you. So I could hire you 2 out. LOL

This message has been edited. Last edited by: lilsophie,

lilsophie,
Thank you for the wonderful comments!
I am a mere shadow of my former self when I could whip out plans with CAD or my Cabnetware and Cabentvision software (both were Planet owned) and Cut-Rite that talked to the large computer run saw.

That was industry specific software and I had my library so that custom pieces were easy to put into the plans. With that software, I could print out a list of parts and also note where machining was custom, etc.

Now it takes me forever to draw something on Paint program. I had few drawing programs I bought over the years, and they were installed from the internet and with my computer crashing a few times and my erratic internet use over the past few years I lost the programs. It is frustrating NOT to have the tools to do something I am thinking about quickly. Oh well... I manage.
I am under no pressure to finish with any deadlines... so I have time to think and to think past the first, second and sometimes third choices. Design is like a puzzle, if one major piece changes or is deleted, it can change the whole design. I like the challenge and that is why I still use drawings and photos to communicate my ideas to DH. For myself, I can just visualize in my head and then follow the path. DH NEEDS visual to make sure we are on the same page and ideas. So, I draw for him to see and for making notes and decisions as to what to do.

Was not hard to leave the Virginia house, I had my serious fall in that house upstairs. And the bad memories of the construction business going down. We lived in Florida (Fort Lauderdale) for 13 years before moving to Virginia (stayed there 11 yrs) so we just returned to where we wanted to be because we like the climate here and 3 of our 5 children live near by. such a PLUS! And I am one who LOVES being near the beach and the ocean! Another PLUS!
Photo attached: OUR BEACH in Melbourne, Florida

I knew you were in Florida as I have seen some of those beach pictures. Your VA house was gorgeous but didn't you post some pictures of some work your husband did too in the Florida house? It was some beautiful woodwork he did in one of the rooms. Maybe I am mixing up your houses! LOL -

Anyway, I would love to get in a forever home in the next few years, but I don't know yet where that will be. I certainly don't want to stay in Alaska when I retire,which I still have another 15 years to go. I want a one-story and the plans for your house are great. I can't wait to see more of your pictures in the future, no matter how long it takes, of what you do to it!

Mary Ruth,

I love your design concept for arch and the inspiration pic. Looks like it will be the best spot in the house for relaxing.

The scale of the bottom cubby seems a little tight. Would someone bump their head on it perhaps? I realize it's probably not to the exact size but think it might need a tweaking. Perhaps shorter? Narrower?

Love the sofa you found for the space and agree with using the wider BB. Have fun deciding on the new fabrics too.

AKsunny, Beau's Rose:
Thank you! Yes, DH has worked on the pantry. We have experience in making cabinets and in the photo above, the cabinets in the dining room (white built ins) were additions we built in.

Thank you for such wonderful uplifting comments!

I don't show more photos of the pantry because we do not have the doors made yet. DH will work on those at the end of the remodel because it will take him totally away from building and into another shop where the cutting for the stiles and rails will be made and then his 'head' will be into the doors. That would cause such a delay in the building process that we are waiting until it is door time! LOL

I should post on my blog! LOL that way the story is put there once! Oh my...

The 'inspiration' photo shows a side view of the shelves you discussed. If you will notice... the depth of the shelf at the bottom is actually curve back to the wall and the side end panel is actually a corbel, and I also allowed 10" more for space on either side of the settee. This way, I can actually use that space is (72" wide for settee) 92" wide total (7 1/2 feet) so two chairs could also be used back there with table pulled out a bit. The table is not secured to the floor so it can be moved at any time.

Pic shows close up of that area of the built in you mentioned. I would not do cabinets any deeper than 14" and then the cubbies would be about 7 to 8" in depth, allowing for full backs making about 6" of usable depth for display space. The width would be wider than photo to make proportions work out. Beadboard will be the visible back on the cubbies.




Attached bottom photo is another IDEA I had thought of, with closets (using closet doors) for the dish storage areas. I still like this one too, with settee in the niche where the photo shows the mirror.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

This was my original idea with that wood (headboard like idea) backing for a built in settee. It reminds me of the Caribbean houses I see in a book I have for inspiration.

The beadboard is there, love the shape, but only in dark wood. Which means my table would disappear in front of it. I like the cabinets too, and this feels like a kitchen breakfast area.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

MR, I am saving all these pix and ideas on arched details for my new kitchen. THANKS!

these are ideas I FIRST saved from Pinterest and Houzz.
LOVE the fresh look of these.







I LOVE dental molding, but I don't want to have to carry the detail in other places in the house, my house does not have the scale necessary to carry a large detail like this. LOVE the curved doors with glass, BUT to make those doors is HARD, the hardware is $135 apiece But the look is amazing! DH had that 'deer in the headlights' type look when I showed him that photo! LOL

aychihuahua, (boy is your name HARD to type! and remember the spelling of!!!) LOL

And I am watching YOU as you go to your NEW ADVENTURE with a new home!

I will be glad to share ANY information with you about what we encounter as we make this happen.

This weekend we are organizing the garage. Necessary to make life easier to get to the next phase of work. DH couldn't find things easily, so I said 'next phase, organize'!

We are finishing off sheetrock behind the new pantry and fridge area. And that gets painted. He is making 2x4 supported shelving to hold cans of paint and supplies and storage. Then the freezer gets moved near the back door (now I have to walk around and over stuff... to get to it) so that will be easier for me too.
And we are going to put hooks up to hang shoes...
Then... we can get back to the dish storage area on the sides of the dining settee.

Do you have any inspirational photos for your next house that you will look for to create in your new home?

OK to PM me... for ideas you are not ready to reveal yet.

The reason my threads get wordy... is because my answers are the 'tip of the iceberg', if you know what I mean... I think things through and then show the results, there is miles in between the original thought and the final decision! LOL

Those that DARE ask get an avalanche! LOL

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mary Ruth,

For the lurkers that drove up the views on this thread, Thank you for viewing!

Wow, all those inspiration photos! I'd be in a quandry! I still think the first photo you posted is the best, especially if it's going to be right across from your kitchen. What a perfect cozy place that will be!

And that mahogany table is to die for. Shoot, I have to go "antiquing" more often!

There are two places I would want to live, either in the woods or on the beach....what a wonderful view!

OK I have to ask....what in the world is that silver thing on the left wall?

Mary Ruth, don't love the two interior cabinets that don't go down to the floor. They look too much like kitchen cabinets. You may want to consider some kind of transition from the flat bottom of the cabinet to the horizontal side of the cabinet next to it. I wouldn't get too into corbels, even though they are a staple of classical architecture they get a little too Victorian looking when intergrated into cabinetry, and that's too fussy for Empire.I would prefer to see the cabinets come to the floor, but if that is not possible I would ask how necessary they are for your storage needs, and delete them if possible.

Hi, another thought: what about just keeping the two upper interior cabinets, so they are in line with the other uppers and replaying the arch from the outer edge of the cabinets bottom tapered down to the sides of the flanking cabinets?

zonelady,
I am NOT sure! I remember reading about what it was, but cannot remember! LOL Weird and LARGE looking! I thought I read it was a wine opener or seltzer thingie. Not sure.

CharlesD,
Were you READING MY MIND? As DH and I are talking about the cabinets, that feature came up, AND DH said, you really want knick knacks in the cubbies? hummm. Then it came up he really didn't want to do the curved wood parts.

We do have 4 Empire corbels that are S-curve, one large set and one smaller set we got off a damaged Oak Empire buffet unit. I thought we would use the smaller set on the built in and the long set on the fireplace mantel (have to build to house an electric fire box).

On your suggestion I will redraw and look without that bottom long tail of shelving. DH will LOVE your suggestions!

Back to the drawing board for refining that look to be less Faudree and more sleek.

Thank you so MUCH for the great suggestions and comments! This thread has helped me to refine what I want to build in that area.

Any suggestions for a ceiling treatment that does not require 4 walls? I have a U-shaped area inside headers, one open end with odd shape not easily closed in.

I am off to research Empire ceilings and treatments, AND possibly a color! Blue? Aqua? gray? Taupe? hummmmm.

Floor is a medium brown woodgrain plank tile. shown here in the photo with ceiling light on in the hallway.

Glad you are exploring a few more design options.

Just not sure about those little side pieces hanging there.

IMHO they look ungrounded. If left off, there is room for floor lamp
or silk trees. Just another thought.

Love those additional inspiration pics too.

How do you like your wood grain ceramic tile? Our showroom is located in an 1860 farm house and the basement has the stone foundation walls. About 9 years ago we had a major reno and did the faux wood tile and it looks great. It is so durable and so easy to keep clean!

I LOVE that floor tile. I was just showing DH who was looking over shoulder, your floor plan and it's just what we would be looking for in our-ultimately-move-to-Florida-forever-house. Are you east coast or west??

Beau's Rose,
Re thinking this area, you are right about the ungrounded part, just thought I would put blue and white dishes in the slots, but mine would be at least 12" to 14" wide@ much larger scale than the original.

We are Middle Florida, East Coast, just look for Melbourne on the map! We drive a few minutes over the bridge and onto the long island offshore and then on the Atlantic side is our beach.

Since we were FANS of Florida before we moved here (having lived in Fort Lauderdale for 13 yrs prior to moving to Virginia) we KNEW we would love it.

We could not go back to Fort Lauderdale, we drove around and the traffic is as bad as in Miami and Manhattan! So, to quiet down our lives we picked an area my sister was familiar with (visiting her in-laws here for years). Another PLUS, since there is a large retired population here, there is more empathy for older citizens. I like that I am in the younger category!!! LOL A younger older citizen! LOL

The pace is slower but things get done!

YES this is our forever house and area in Florida! LOVE IT!

I LOVE my tile flooring! It does have a little texture and a corner is up a bit here and there because of the 18" length, BUT NEVER a tripping hazard! I love the rich color, grounds me well with the warmth of wood. But the ease of just a quick mop and it is clean. The best thing we did too is to start right off with SpectraLock grout! It will never stain or discolor, so no sealing required and will look good for as long as we are here.
We will use it on our white subway tile installation in the kitchen too.

I really LOVE the ideas suggested to me, and you all have my mind rethinking, WHICH IS A GOOD THING! And the creativity flows with suggestions! Thank you!!!

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Ruth:
Lisa Ann,
That settee is the one I posted on MMF's some months ago, I paid $20 for it!
I will have it reupholstered professionally, and have changed my mind about 4 times as to what to put on it for fabric! The color will be aqua or medium blue, and most likely a close to solid color (perhaps small print).

You must be so settled into your house now that it probably feels like you have always lived there!

It will be amazing in one of those colors. I just love the shape of it and you got one more deal on it. Love all your inspiration pictures and the table you posted.

We are all moved in and yes it does feel like home now although I still sometimes wake up and think I'm in the other house. We lived there for 23 years. We still own it but have it up for sale.

I'm still decorating along as I find things. I'm into the prim style although not the rough beat up type. We still have things to do on the outside come spring...fixing the yard, a front walkway, landscaping. We plan on adding a garage too but are waiting to sell the other house first. Lots of things going to be happening in the coming year if things work out. We love it here. My son and daughter love it too. Both have jobs within 10 minutes of home. Dh works about 10 minutes from home too. Its great.

Another great project Mary Ruth. You amaze me!

Lisa Ann,
I am so happy for you becoming settled and so close to work!
When I was in our temporary apartment, I thought of where I might have put something I needed, and my brain said 'in the hall closet'! NO hall closet, that was IN the house not the apartment! LOL
With things packed away, I had to make do with what we had in the apartment as temporary. I didn't like living temporary even though I tried to think of it as if we were 'on vacation' but DH needed lunch for work, we needed to make meals, do laundry, etc. We were in an apartment for 6 months in Virginia, and then about 6 months in Florida. LONG time to be temporary.

Georgia Peach,
Thanks!