I could wire it up above the fireplace, but I think we will stage it with a nice mirror or artwork over fireplace. It provides all the wiring needed for a buyer, but they can hide it with art work if they want to put TV somewhere else.
I’m in favor of painting the ceiling white between the beams to brighten the room and allow more light to bounce around. With the deck right outside the vibe will be open coastal sunshine ocean. An all wood ceiling seems to say country cozy. I also hate seeing a TV over the fireplace for many of the reasons already stated.
I like the ceiling all natural wood or all painted white. Having the beams dark and the rest white is a bit too high contrast for me. I think it would always pull my eye up.
Main Floor Redesign
I’ve finished the first pass of redesign for the main floor. This includes the 400 sq ft addition that will be above the new garage. It does not include the 2nd story addition, although the staircase to get up to the addition has been designed.
Basically, we are losing the original Bedroom #2 in the hallway to create staircase up to 2nd story, large walk in pantry and laundry room. The remodel includes:
Stairs to 2nd story
New powder room in entry/dining area
Sink peninsula bumped into dining room to take advantage of views from that spot
Large stove area
Medium size island with seating
Back wall tall cabinets to house refrigerator, ovens, microwave and warming drawer
Laundry room
Walk in pantry
Stairs up from garage with landing area
row of cabinets with dumb waiter in back hallway (kind of like a butler pantry)
bedroom with exterior door and attached bath (could be used as a home office with separate entrance)
larger bedroom with walk in closet and attached bath
My main concern with the kitchen design right now is that there are no upper cabinets in design - except in pantry. the only area available to store daily dishes and glasses is in the cabinets under the island. There can be drawers under the island configured for plates and glasses. Lots of room for pots and pans in stove area. There will be a long countertop in pantry to hold countertop type appliances.
It’s just a first pass. There will be lots of tweaking for awhile. I’ve loaded the plans into the Flickr group
How exciting!! Off to the Flickr page. Hope you and your lead are doing better… Flu is a nasty thing.
kitchen suggestions:
having to maneuver around an eat in island in the middle of the kitchen is awkward and makes poor logistical use of the space. May I suggest you instead -
move the sinks to the stove location . move the DW next to it.
move the cooktop to the inner island. accross from the sink. either vent it down and out to the exterior wall in the garage area or have a hood above.
locate the eating bar on the island next to the DR.
Add my vote for menloparkmom’s suggestion. I think cooktop in the island across the sink is a very efficient solution. This is the arrangement I have in my current kitchen, and I love the eficency of this setup. Hope you will be able to install a hood above it.
I remember reading somewhere that fridge, sink, and cooktop should be placed in a triangle. A-ha, here is one of these articles.
http://www.kitchens.com/design/layouts/the-work-triangle/the-work-triangle
IIRC, the “view” from the wall where cb has currently placed the cooktop is the house next door. That’s where the lovely deck is right now – but with its view completely obstructed by the McMansion. So I believe cb does not want to have the sink there, as there will be no view from the sink. I think putting the cooktop there – presumably with the vent right above it – is a good use of that alcove. No one wants to look out that way.
cb, I like just about everything you’ve done, but it appears there is no living room on the main floor now. Am I missing something?
ETA: I completely applaud your installing a dumbwaiter!
wait, so CB is planning on walling in the widow above the stove? I missed that .
Regardless , it should make no difference which appliance- sink or stove , has bad/ no view.
The floor layout in the kitchen as currently planned, is not efficient and having someone eating at a bar in the middle of the kitchen, instead of one adjacent to the DR, will be better layout ergonomically.
Add me to the list of people who doesn’t like TVs mounted over FPs as a focal point in the LR.
I don’t like the idea of sitting in the DR looking at kitchen faucets. Could you devote the penninsula to storage on the kitchen side and seating on the other, and move the sink and D/W to the island? I think keeping the oven on the exterior wall where it is easy to vent the hood directly to the outside is advantageous.
What is going in the area currently marked with an “o” to the right of the stove?
With regard to the LR ceiling, it looks like only the center beam is what one would call a real beam. The perpendicular pieces are much lighter weight. I would predict that if only they and the central beam are left dark, they will look kind of cheesy.
Have you considered the possibility of whitewashing the brick instead of painting? Might work well on the ceiling, too.
One of the key things I’m desperately trying to capture is that the only location in kitchen that has views is the sink location. Thinking of putting 42" pony wall behind sink to allow for outlets and switches and block straight view into sink. View money shot is right there and I have seen tons of buyers stand at sink and analyze view from sink.
The middle window of the current three on western wall will get closed in to provide stove venting alcove and it blocks straight view to neighbor wall. The side windows to left and right direct eyes to peek views.
Rest of kitchen still being figured out. I’m meeting with a kitchen designer Wednesday. “O” was for bank of ovens, microwave and warming drawer
Yes, draftsman/designer put in dumbwaiter without my asking for one and my agent loves it. We will see
Is the dining area formal or informal? If informal, I think it fine for the sink to face the dining area (and the view). I think it is nice to see outside when you are doing something mundane like washing dishes. When you are cooking on the stove, you don’t look up since you are busy.
I do think the fridge is too far away from the stove and everything else. Can you switch the “O” area (is that the oven area?) with the fridge? That would make the fridge more centrally located for cooking.
So, just to clarify, there will now be 4 bedrooms on the main floor? Pretty nice, especially if you put another bedroom upstairs!
I think the pony wall would fix the problem. Obviously, the dining area isn’t going to be formal, given that it is open to the kitchen, but that doesn’t mean one wants to look at all the kitchen mess.
I don’t see any need for island seating at all. Stage it with a rustic-ish round table that works with the French Country thing. People can sit at that table whenever: they don’t need to sit at a counter.
Regarding the ovens, are you planning a range and a separate wall oven? Plus a microwave shelf? That seems like a good idea. I can’t say that I think a warming drawer would be worth the money or the space. Do people really use them?
I have a warming drawer, and use it a lot. But I only have one oven (part of the range), I didn’t have room for a wall oven. The warming drawer turned out to be a great compromise.
If you have two wall ovens, the warming drawer is probably unnecessary, unless you think someone wants to do massive amounts of entertaining.
Thinking about the laundry room now that I see the plans - can you flip it around and have the entrance at the foot of the stairs instead of the kitchen? That will keep the refrigerator door from blocking the laundry room entrance, not to mention avoiding the need to lug dirty laundry through the kitchen. It will also be closer to the master suite and guest room (although further from the back bedrooms). It will also help cut washer/dryer noise in the kitchen/dining area.
If I’m reading the plans correctly, the only other wall the laundry room could open up on goes into one of the bedrooms. Opening up that wall would eliminate the logical place to put the bed.
I think opening the laundry room on the wall at the foot of the stairs means opening it up to an outside wall, and I believe those are outside steps.
And I believe cb has designed this so two bedrooms remain on the first floor and two more will go on the still-to-be-designed-and-built second floor.
" I can’t say that I think a warming drawer would be worth the money or the space. Do people really use them?"
I use mine all the time. We added a second one to match the new ovens (the idea is that we will rip out the old one someday). It is great for keeping multi-course dinners warm and is also useful for those times when I am too tired to cook and simply bring a rotisserie chicken from Costco… it keeps the chicken warm and toasty until I gather up some sides. Warming drawers do not dry out food.
Hi, I have been following this and the last flip but have not been able to comment, I lost my ability to log in after the format change, as of this morning I finally got it worked out! Glad to be back. coralbrook, I love what you do and love following along. I have a comment (or two) regarding the ceiling and fireplace in this flip.
After looking at the fireplace you linked to, it seemed off. Too transitional, like you would find in a “McMansion” type house, not bad but not special. If you look at the first two links you posted regarding the wood ceiling and look at those fireplaces, very appropriate for this type of house, special and high end.
My second observation is regarding the wood ceiling. I think it is fabulous as is. If you look at the two rooms you posted with the natural wood and look at the rooms they are gorgeous and very high end. I think if you painted it, it would look like every house built in the seventy’s with white popcorn ceilings and wood beams. I think you would gain a lot of money on that ceiling alone. I saw there was some talk about just what style this house is. It is Mediterranean, so a mix of southern France and Spain. A beautiful combination wildly desirable and most definitely high end. This is such a fabulous opportunity for you and and I know it will be wonderful!
My 2 cents.
If the room is filled with lots of natural light…and is very bright…I say…don’t paint the ceiling.
I agree. That ceiling and the vintage air of the arched doorways are what makes this house stand out. If the person who buys the house doesn’t like the ceiling, they can very easily paint it themselves.