<p>I never felt I could do much to our house when the kids were younger, mostly because I didn’t have time/money/energy, plus if I moved the couch my daughter reacted like I moved my eyesockets, so everything is basically exactly the same as it was 15 years ago. ( and no she didn’t learn to get used to it, however she has gotten much better as she got older)</p>
<p>But I have always been very interested in architecture and design ( my dad was a photographer who focused on interesting buildings) & while our 1901 house isn’t a strict Craftsman bungalow- it is pretty much the same as 100 years ago ( although indoor plumbing has been added! ) & I am starting to pursue making changes that better reflect the period and the house.</p>
<p>Starting with the bathroom- we have been without a sink in the bathroom for a year, ( my H was doing the work & football season apparently starts in August and never ends) . However- We now have a cabinet , a faucet & a sink!
But since the cabinet and the sink don’t match up , I am making the counter myself. ( [w</a> local recycled glass mosaic tiles](<a href=“http://www.bedrockindustries.com/stoneyard.html]w”>http://www.bedrockindustries.com/stoneyard.html) )</p>
<p>However- what Home Depot carries doesn’t seem to be what I need- I guess I better go back to Bedrock & ask.</p>
<p>I am curious- what style is your decor?
Or what kind do you like?</p>
<p>We live in a stately-ish Victorian home. I’m not great at decorating and that stuff, which annoys my husband to no end. I have a fantasy that Candice Olsen will come and decorate my home. Hasn’t happened so far.</p>
<p>My last house was built in 1914 and influenced by the bungalow style, but was not a pure example. Front porch had classical columns for example. It had nice oak wood work, some stain glass transom windows in the dining room and a non-working brick fireplace that I suspect was made for gas. Current house is 1924 and is not quite colonial. Gambrel roof, brick first floor, aluminum siding on the second hiding heaven knows what. It’s got that window trim that makes squares in the corner - I’m an architect but don’t know what it’s called. Nice oak floors, chair rail in the dining room. Our decor is very eclectic - among other things it includes a chest from Zanzibar, a coffee table from Indonesia, a couple of Hiroshige prints, my great grandmother’s monstrosity of a dining room table and chairs (claw feet), a modern carpet from Germany and a Pottery Barn armchair.</p>
<p>I love homes with the charm of yesteryear. However, we are not do it yourselfers, and I don’t like being at the mercy of workmen, so we don’t live in one. I love the wood work, wainscot paneling, crown molding, wood floors etc. Porches are great, especially with great furniture. There are lots of specialty magazines which focus on cottages, victorians, etc., and you can get nice ideas from these.</p>
<p>I’m in a fairly mundane circa 1967 Colonial, with a renovated 1999 kitchen and, sadly, 1967 bathrooms. We’ve just been advised that unfortunately our house is not a tear-down,which means – darn it – that we’ll have to put some money in it before we put it on the market.</p>
<p>Our dream: To renovate a church or a barn in New England. Now how do I find me one of those??</p>
<p>My H is one of those “Don’t buy it - I can make it” kind of guys, and I am very cheap, so we make or re-do almost everything ourselves. Today H repaired the dripping shower. Last week he replaced 3 of the four bathroom sink faucets. (Only 3 bathrooms, but one has double sinks.) </p>
<p>Unfortunately it takes time, and sometimes motivation that gets up and leaves mid-project. I pulled the carpet off the front stairs, sanded, painted, and stained. Still need to buy the runner. It’s been bare wood for over a year now.</p>
<p>Our home decor is a mix of early K-Mart and late attic. Just before we moved to Germany, I got tired of my old K-Mart table lamp (the kind with the pole running through the attached table.) I painted the fake wood to look like stone, and tiled the surfaces of the double-decker tables. Looks fabulous; I get lots of comments.</p>
<p>Our “late attic” finds have been two old iron floor lamps put out for the trash. Turned out to be beautiful once we got the rust off. One has a marble base. Refinished a rotting music cabinet - had to replace the back and the shelves, and refinish the front. People ask me all the time where they can buy one like it. In Germany, a friend gave me three old cusioned straight-back chairs that I refinished and recovered in fun fabric (Swedish horses from IKEA) - have one in each of the kids’ bedrooms now.</p>
<p>What’s funny is how many people give us their “trash”, then end up wanting it back after we’re done. (They don’t get it, though.)</p>
<p>I don’t have a great “decorator’s eye”, but I have friends who do, who I can ask. I don’t always follow their advice, though. I’d rather live with what I feel comfortable with, than with what someone else says is “right.”</p>
<p>VeryHappy, we lived in an old renovated school house in Germany. Trust me, the charm wears off the first winter. No insulation!</p>
<p>We live in a ranch style house. Very boring - not much decor. My dream is a cottage style house - smaller house and smaller garden (we have @ 1 acre and I would prefer a small garden where we I could potter and grow some pretty flowers). I would like to downsize but don’t know where to start getting rid of the incredible amount of junk we have accumulated over the years. </p>
<p>Decor - hmm - mostly messy as my husband is a major packrat. Our kitchen was a very dark and depressing brown so we (ok I) decided to paint the cabinets white about 4 years ago. Right in the middle my husband was taken very ill so everything came to a halt. we had finished painting the cabinets but have never got round to repairing the doors (they were kind of falling apart), painting the doors and rehanging them. So we just have open cabinets. And not the nice fancy and neat looking open cabinets one sees on TV. We are used to it but it probably looks very odd to anyone coming into the house for the 1st time! I don’t think the doors will ever get repaired so I need to order new doors - one of these days!</p>
<p>Both H and I like contemporary, more modern, minimal designs. I’m the do it yourselfer, but dislike artsy craftsy projects. H owned a house I liked stylewise when I met him. We ended up building a house years ago when we couldn’t find anything we liked- town too full of tradtional houses, even new ones like we prefer. We are also very practical and so our “dream” house has space (nice in cold winters) but not fancy upgrades in the finishes. 15 years ago we had an all white interior, several years ago I “colorized” it (hired a painter)- blues, greens, beiges. Some rooms ended up the same color as others as I like harmony, didn’t know of any other colors I wanted and it used the same paint… We still have the bedroom sets we each had before marriage and some of his old entertainment center pieces have been cobbled together to suit the new tv. You would never know that we could afford to replace things- we don’t when the old ones suffice. I made drapes/curtains although I hate to sew when I finally found fabric (on sale) that I liked. Consulted interior decorators for color choices (so floors/woodwork et al didn’t clash) when building and for original shades/blinds. I measured and installed all curtain rods and newer shades- had the time and too cheap to pay the prices charged to have it done. Painted the basement concrete walls and floor and stairwell but would hire a professional again for the upstairs. Had the professionals do the retaining wall and seed the lawn, did the rest of the landscaping Mother Nature didn’t provide (it was a lot easier to do when I was years younger and took years to finalize). Plan to move in a few short years- downsize- so I’m not redecorating or doing any major projects- letting the next owner do it to their tastes (I don’t want to live with a neutralized house or spend a lot of money on things the next owner would want to change- did I mention I am practical…). Have replaced vinyl floors (professionals) and did the kitchen faucet myself (bought the one I liked, by the time I got around to doing it couldn’t return it and no plumbers would install it “for insurance reasons”- even though it was the exact same model they would get) but definitely hired the plumber for other faucets. Some DIY projects look better done by pros and take too much time by us amateurs to be worth it. H is not into doing things while I am, hence the I, not we, references.</p>
<p>If we try to repair something, generally, it becomes worse, and it is really work for the professionals, so I learned to call the professionals first. Mostly we don’t have the right tools (or know what to use.) I remember buying a new toilet seat, but then I didn’t have a hacksaw to saw off the rusted bolts (that house was 25 years old - metal bolts.)</p>
<p>We did repaint the front door once ourselves, but the dogs scratched it again anyway.</p>
<p>We live in a 1927 tudor-style home. HGTV inspired us to buy an older home. I still remember when the kids first saw it. One of them asked, “Are we poor now?” They didn’t understand the charm and character and didn’t care that it happened to be in a very good school district. All our windows are leaded glass with colored jewels in some of the panes. I’ve been gradually buying art deco furniture, rugs, lamps, artwork, etc. on ebay. Ebay offers so many things that you’d never see in hundreds of trips to antique shops and at prices significantly less than antique stores. Until moving in 7 years ago, I didn’t even know what art deco or tudor styles were.</p>
<p>We live in a '60s split level. Our decor is a combination of grad student and last surviving member (a little inherited furniture). If it was purchased new, I put it together; I’m SO glad to have an Ikea near me!</p>
<p>I used to say I’d be glad when I could afford furniture I didn’t have to put together, but now that I’m at that point, I’m too cheap to buy it.</p>
<p>H called me at work one day to tell me he’d heard an ominous cracking sound when he sat down on the seat in the smallest room in the house. Probably would have lasted a while longer, but I thought we should go ahead and replace the toilet, because I didn’t want to guess how long “a while longer” would be. So that’s what we did one afternoon, which surprised H because he’d have called a plumber. For that?! No, no, let’s go to Lowe’s!</p>
<p>Our house needs work, our yard needs work, and someday, I’ll clear out the basement so we can renovate that.</p>
) & I am starting to pursue making changes that better reflect the period and the house.</p>