It’s time to select the baseboards for the house. The original part of the house has wood at the bottom of the plaster wall about 3" up. This was used in construction as a base for the plaster. It is painted the same color as the wall and is flush with the plaster. Then there was a painted quarter round at the bottom of the wall over the wood floors. We ripped out all the quarter round because I don’t like it.
In my research, a simple quarter round was used in Spanish style plaster homes. In some homes there was a large stained oak baseboard.
My dilemna is whether to put in large white painted baseboards that will blend into the white walls, or spend a huge amount of money to put in flat stained oak baseboards. The oak baseboards will cost a lot of money and require a lot of labor to stain and then varnish with the satin polyurethane. I really want to avoid that if possible
And then, if I spend the time and effort in the living, dining and entrance… can I change to white baseboards in other areas of the house. That would probably look really bad
I would keep it simple and just keep it the way it is. This house isn’t so much about wood trim, especially baseboards. A large painted white baseboard, that blends in, is the way to go.
We have white baseboards in the “formal” areas of the house and in the bedrooms and varnished wood baseboards in the kitchen and family room. I have to be super careful with the varnished stuff when I vacuum. White paint is easily renewable and low maintenance. So my vote is for the white!
Unless you are going to trim out all of the doorways, door frames, and windows in oak as well, I wouldn’t put in oak baseboards. I think it looks odd to mix them.
The front yard is looking good, and I love the way the wall came out. However, I will say that I am not a fan of gravel paths. They are hard to maintain, the gravel migrates and sinks into the ground over time, weeds will take it over, and I don’t think they look particularly nice. Pavers or a flat stone of some kind would have been a better choice and more in keeping with the style of the house, IMO.
I know, more $$, it’s easy to spend OPM (other people’s money)!
Not sure I understand the need for white baseboards that will be painted white to blend in with the walls…but then…I still don’t understand the need for white beams in the master to blend in with the ceiling.
I agree about the gravel being a pain, but I would defer to the buyers to put the paths where they want them. Gravel is easier to remove than pavers, IMO.
Don’t have enough budget for stone pathways so we just put down some pea gravel. I personally don’t like them because I’m barefoot a lot and would have to avoid the path.
We have some large flat stones that we found in yard. Im going to use those for a path to the backyard gate. That area is seen from the living room and will be more traveled.
A key issue with the house, that I could not easily fix, is that there is limited access to the backyard. You have to go through side gate from front yard or through door in middle bedroom. Not ideal
I started looking for them several days ago and also found the Sonoma with the stainless top one, and thought the stainless top would work well in the kitchen. Here’s a couple more with a stainless top:
But if you aren’t going to add a built-in island, I tend to agree with those who suggest that staging the kitchen with a counter-height table would be a better idea, if you can rent one that works aesthetically.
I particularly like the John Boos one, maybe with two simple stools.
Just purchased my countertops. Going with a quartz with a new design that looks like Calcatta marble. Its an off white base with creamy tan streaks and grey streaks like marble. Its not too busy looking. I could have picked another style called cloud river that is more white with subtle black veins.
Total cost for 5 prefab lengths plus one large island piece for stove area was $2,200. This covers the kitchen and the pantry area. Not bad
My fabricator recommended a giant wholesale warehouse in back of the industrial area at Miramar that is stuffed with granite, quartz, sinks, faucets and even cabinet handles. Gorgeous cabinet handles at incredible prices like $1.15 ea
16 gauge single deep sink with grate $150
Really nice kitchen pull faucet $100
Rectangle bath undermount sinks $35ea
Love those kitchen pictures. I don’t know if you should do an island or not, but if you don’t, I would definitely share the picture/link to the $1700 one you like. I think it would be amazing in that kitchen.
Today we didn’t really get too much further with visible things.
Finished drywall texture and sanding on hallway bedroom that has been ignored forever. First, it was the giant storage warehouse for everything, including all the doors and windows when they arrived. Then the electrician had a whole wall torn apart wiring up the new panel. Then we discover that we have to have a 2nd sub panel outside because there isn’t enough room in the new main panel for all the breakers we need! Several more weeks while that panel gets installed and wired. Then we realized that the HVAC guys had made it impossible for someone to get past the new staircase to the attic area above the hall bath and hall bedroom. I felt it was imperative to provide some type of access to that portion of the attic space because all of the main wiring for the house is running in that attic to the main panel and someone would need access in the future (not to mention the buyer’s home inspector probably!). So… had to cut out an access panel in the closet area so someone can get up into that attic. Finally buttoning up the room to get ready to paint it, which is sad because the floors are redone and now we have to meticulously guard the floors while doing all this work
Drywall is all hung in staircase and top floor. Starting to mud and texture tomorrow.
Deck guys came and put another coat of some other type of goo on the decks. But it might rain tomorrow so they cannot put next coat on until after rain clears and everything is dry
Crown molding finished in kitchen and all the scribe details. Worked on the gas line going to the new stove. We don’t finish up the gas lines until the stove actually is on site because you never know where the dang gas hookup is going to be located.
Finally got the extra box of the bathroom tile delivered (remember… we were missing 3 dang pieces to finish floor) and that got laid down today. We will get that grouted tomorrow so we can finish up those bathrooms with all the details.
Built a stone pathway to the side gate. Forgot to take a picture
Putting all our outlet and switch plates on to get finished up on the main floor and a bunch of other small things such as all the fan grates, laundry hookup rims, etc.
And… I made it up to the industrial area of San Diego (Miramar) and went through 2 different places to select the kitchen countertops. I’ve purchased everything we need to finish up the kitchen.
Best part of the day… we had an inspection today on the drywall installation (he has to come check the screws) and he walked through the house and said everything was looking great. First he asked “Are you for sale yet?”. “You do such a good job with everything. You really treat it like it is your own house you are going to live in”. What a wonderful compliment from someone who sees it all!!!
I loaded some photos showing the baseboard issues and the countertops
Oops! Missed that the awesome island was out of stock. Maybe cb needs a carpenter like Clint on Fixer Upper to create a one of a kind island. He certainly seems to work some magic for Joanna using salvage materials, but then that is the magical unicorn world of HGTV!
ETA: Just looked at the new pictures and you deserve the compliment!
