Flip This House #3

Parents' Social Lounge Parent Cafe
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<p>I am pretty sure that beach condo makeover is right on Mission Bay in a building that I used to rent in many years ago. And, she used several products (grey bath vanity) that I have used in my projects. I used that grey vanity in the new little master bath that I carved out of the La Mesa bungalow.</p>

<p>Note that the designer installed pale grey kitchen cabinets!! But, Consolation is right… she installed white uppers to lighten up the space. </p>

<p>FIREPLACE - the faux limestone is inset about 1/2" from the arched bricks, but that doesn’t leave much room to try to put some tile on top of the faux morter and keep the arched brick opening. But we might be able to get an expert (read… expensive) in to try to put some smooth mortar/drywall mud over the faux limestone for simple painting. The issue is that the brick and mortar ‘box’ of the fireplace surround is about 6" from the wall and it cannot be blended into the entire wall to create a smooth fireplace surround.</p>

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<p>ANTIQUES update</p>

<p>In a moment of weakness I gave the Samurai Sword to my electrician who wanted it really bad. He was able to get the blade out of the handle and he gave it to a friend who has some samurai swords. We know that the blade was machine made by the way the steel is cut. The older, more desireable swords are hand carved blades. There are 15 markings on the blade that were under the handle. I sent a photo of the markings to my friend who is Japanese and she can only read the first three markings ‘High Mountain Sword’. We don’t know anything more. Electrician is telling me his friend said it is worth about $200</p>

<p>Napoleon and Josephine are all cleaned up. I have loaded the final photos into the Flickr group. Right now I have found two other similar figurines that sold in the last 5 years. Both did not have separate French guards. We have three guards, but one of them is damaged and glued back together at the base. One is eBay sale at $995 and another auction house at $550, but I’m not sure of that sale price, that was the starting price for auction house. But, the interesting thing is that the other two pieces did not have as much detail on the table, roses on the floor and the Josephine figure did not have as much detail as my Josephine - no ruffle on dress at neck, dress less flowing. So, I have no idea whether they were custom made for each client, whether my piece is older and more detailed. It’s all a mystery to me!!</p>

<p>I have posted the detailed photos to an eBay porcelain discussion group to try to figure out what we have. But no one is replying so I guess it is all a shot in the dark. Have no idea how to sell this, whether eBay or a local auction house or an Internet auction house. My biggest fear is how in the world I am going to wrap and ship these items to absolutely ensure no damage happens to the figures.</p>

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<p>cb:</p>

<p>On repairing the Napolean guard with the broken base: Take it to an expert; don’t do it yourself. There are people who specialize in repairing porcelain who can do it so well that the break will absolutely, positively not show. (There is one fabulous guy in CT – here: <a href=“Repair and Restoration of Ceramic, Pottery and Sculpture”>Ceramic, Pottery, Sculpture and Kintsugi Repair | Custom Made Pottery; – but that won’t help you. Actually, it might, if you wanted to use him. He does accept items that are shipped to him. I’ve used him and he’s fabulous. Not fast and not cheap, but fabulous.)</p>

<p>And regarding the outdoor stairs and the stair railing: Are you still thinking of landscaping and zigzagging the stairs across the front yard to make them less steep??</p>

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<p>Is it too late to vote for no niche on the right side of opening but upper kitchen cabinets on both sides of hood? </p>

<p>In the living room, that corner where the new niche will go will already be busy with the window (to become door?) next to the fireplace on the perpendicular wall. (And the fireplace sticks into room a bit). It doesn’t seem critical to match the niches on either side of the large opening.</p>

<p>The lack of symmetry in the kitchen is a bit more jarring. And the storage from the extra set of upper cabinets is needed.</p>

<p>Galley kitchen with upper cabinets on one side of kitchen seems fine.</p>

<p>If you are concerned with it being too confining, could you do shallower uppers with glass fronts?</p>

<p>I’m trying to picture the pass through area. Is the shed as wide as the kitchen? Could you put laundry on one side of the pass through area and a floor to ceiling pantry cabinet on the other?</p>

<p>Re the midnight blue uppers – i think they would be smashing but agree with others that it might restrict possible buyers. Take it as a single data point, but I am in the market for a new house and just looked at a house with beautiful midnight blue cabinets (in an open-concept kitchen) and despite the beauty it was a turn off for me because they didn’t match my furniture. My mom, sister and aunt who were with me when I viewed the house didn’t like the midnight cabinets at all. (The kitchen was completely different than yours though – Euro modern kitchen).</p>

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<p>Love the new windows by the sink. They will have an ocean view? I think I would move the sink closer to the refrig and put the trash cabinet on the left of the sink. The other side looks weird to me with only one set of upper cabinets. I like the idea of a pass through to the courtyard but would rather have windows on either side of the oven like the other side but I guess that really cuts down on storage. Can you do a stackable washer drier and have a pantry in the cut through?</p>

<p>I would make that courtyard really nice with a water feature and fire pit that would be visible from the kitchen and living room.</p>

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<p>Thank you all for the input. </p>

<p>I can put uppers on the right side of the stove behind living room niche, they have to be screwed to wall very carefully. They can only be screwed to wall on top of the cabinets. But we could put some kind of bar along bottom that can be screwed in at the ends of the bar, just barely outside the left and right of the niche behind the wall.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I have to go into kitchen place today and order cabinets in order to get a 10% discount from Kraft Maid that expires today. That 10% is a large savings to me, so it has to get done. I am debating whether to just order all the lowers and bite the bullet later with a separate upper order. Or, ordering uppers for both sides and making them white. Or ordering a large pull out pantry at the back of the kitchen on the right, but it will be across from refrigerator and then downsizing the uppers a bit. Uggh, too much pressure</p>

<p>The other things I need to get into that kitchen is a microwave shelf somewhere. The trash is definitely moving to the left of the sink. Dishwasher on right, trash on left. That also puts the trash at the entrance to kitchen just in case someone is just coming in to drop trash. My biggest concern is that the refrigerator is way at back of kitchen which is not convenient, but there is no other place for refrigerator. If I put it on the right at the entrance to kitchen it will really close in the space visually.</p>

<p>Haven’t decided whether I need to build up a small raised area at end of each cabinet run at dining room. I’m not sure it is really necessary because most kitchens in ‘open concept’ homes are very visible. All countertops visible from dining and living areas.</p>

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<p>Laundry area… I would prefer to put full size stackable washer and dryer on one side of the walkthrough and a pantry shelving cabinet on the other side. Some buyers don’t feel that stackables are ‘true’ laundry areas, but they are the same size and quality as side by side. You can buy full size washer and dryers (front loading) and put a kit on to make them stackable. No sacrifice of size or quality of the machines.</p>

<p>It would be really beneficial to have the other side with water heater (waste of space, may be looking at another nuclear plumbing tankless installation outside somewhere). Instead of water heater, full size shelving for dry goods and cleaning stuff. Better use of space</p>

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<p>I know this is heresy among this crowd, but with a kitchen that small I’d probably go with downdraft venting and a microwave above the range to use the space more efficiently. </p>

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<p>And I think stacking washer/ dryer units are great, especially in a tiny house. </p>

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<p>@nottelling, I agree. That’s a good idea.</p>

<p>cb: Buy the lower cabinets and get the discount. Don’t buy the upper(s) until you know what you want. Better to not get a 10% discount on one or two cabinets than lose it on all of them. Actually, I just remembered: When we bought ours from Home Depot, we were able to change the original order later, even after the deadline, and still get the discount, because it was an addendum to the original order. </p>

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<p>OK, but to get a microwave above the range I will need to buy upper cabinets. Need cabinet above the range to box in the microwave. </p>

<p>I have designed the cabinetry for a 36" stove which is a much higher cost for the stove. Searching for a downdraft version at a decent price will limit my ability to find a good deal. But I’ll try!!! We’ve got plenty of crawlspace under house for the downdraft venting.</p>

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<p>If you add a cabinet above the stove to accommodate the microwave, could you continue the upper cabinets along that whole side … ending with a diagonal end cabinet on the upper (and maybe the lower?). I know these have less usable space, but would this feel less confining?</p>

<p>Will the location of the refrigerator allow the door to open freely against the wall on the right side? I’m thinking also about whether it will be difficult to remove produce drawers for cleaning.</p>

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<p>Have found a galley style kitchen that is similar</p>

<p><a href=“Historic House - Traditional - Kitchen - San Francisco - by BCV ARCHITECTURE + INTERIORS | Houzz”>Historic House - Traditional - Kitchen - San Francisco - by BCV ARCHITECTURE + INTERIORS | Houzz;

<p>Note the open windows on one side and no upper cabinets anywhere. I think I am going to postpone ordering uppers until I can figure out more important things</p>

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<p>Cb, I adore the galley kitchen in the link!!! Upper cabinets… I can really live without them except one that houses bowls and plates and cups. All the other uppers do is store crap that I rarely reach for. Have you considered putting in at least one glass front upper cabinet to have less colored wood on the top. You can do frosted glass so the stuff inside is not visible. </p>

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<p>Oh, love that kitchen CB. Can you flip yours around and do a window that opens like that to the courtyard?</p>

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<p>Look at this extra storage!</p>

<p><a href=“The Kitchen Storage Space That Hides at Floor Level”>The Kitchen Storage Space That Hides at Floor Level;

<p>CB, I think you could consider embedding pebbles and seaglass or just pebbles in the fireplace surround, as they did in the beachfront cottage on Houzz. They used blues, but many pebbles are a soft grey and beige, and you could add some clear or pale colored glass “pebbles” too. It would not need a smooth background and would hide irregularities. In addition, it is sort of a bridge between an Arts&Crafts period look and a modern one. You could add a mantel or not. I think it would look really cool. </p>

<p>I must have missed something. Where is this laundry going?</p>

<p>I don’t know how you can bear to sell Napoleon and Josephine and their guards! :)</p>

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<p>FINAL KITCHEN DESIGN</p>

<p>Here are the changes that I made to the final design:</p>

<p>Eliminated uppers for now - will rethink after I can get the stupid old disgusting refrigerator out of the room and put up some lumber to ‘visualize’ the cabinets in the space. I have been waiting 2 weeks for SDGE (electric company) to come pick up the refrigerator. They offer a $50 recycling payment for old working refrigerators. The most appealing thing to us is that they will get it down one flight of stairs for free!!! They do not know what they are in for :slight_smile: I would’ve paid THEM to haul that thing down the stairs and away from here. I wiped down disgusting stuff and mold from the outside so they don’t refuse to pick it up! Another part of this glamorous job.</p>

<p>Courtyard Wall
Changed size of stove from 36" to 30". 30" is most standard. I searched gas ranges and realized that a 36" is close to $3,000 more than the standard size. That’s $3,000 more spent and I can guarantee that it will probably not really get me $3-4k more in sale price. </p>

<p>Added a very custom microwave shelf pantry with two cool drawers - one of the drawers is going to have an inset that can be used to ‘land’ things coming out of the microwave, or they can land items coming out of the microwave onto the counter. It is going to be at countertop height which I think is just perfect for truly using the microwave. Since I spent so much money on the tall pantry I probably do not really have to purchase the microwave - buyer can purchase the one they want.</p>

<p>Adjusted sizes of the base pull out shelf cabinets on the left and the right to accommodate the stove size change and the wide pantry.</p>

<p>View Wall
Lost the pass through window</p>

<p>Moved trash pull out cabinet to left of sink. Long discussion about whether I could move sink location, but it’s very important that the sink be centered under the window. The views from this room are ‘toward the left’ so I want to keep sink anchored on the left window. </p>

<p>Added 18" standard shelf cabinet (only plain shelf cabinet in whole kitchen) to right of dishwasher with drawer on top for silverware. I think it is a good sink work area design, scrape dishes to left into trash, load into dishwasher to right of sink. When emptying dishwasher, silverware in drawer on right and we can put plate holders in the top drawer on other side of kitchen or to the right of the silverware drawer. </p>

<p>Had to remove custom set of shelves at end of this cabinet run to make room for trash pullout to left of sink. If we get everything installed and it feels like there is enough space, I can build some custom shelves at the end of these cabinet runs.</p>

<p>Ordered nice end panels for the end of the cabinet runs that face dining area</p>

<p>Pricing:</p>

<p>Total cabinetry - $9,600
Tall pantry was expensive $1,500
Pebble Grey finish $1,130
Plywood Box Upgrade $1,400 (I want to have full wood cabinets, no pressboard boxes)
Drawer design upgrade $350 (drawer fronts are usually flat and I wanted to have the shaker detail in the drawers also)
Delivery $250</p>

<p>I received a $2,100 discount so full cost was $7,400 before taxes. Believe it or not this is the most that I have ever spent on cabinets for any project so far. We will have to see if it pays off</p>

<p>Toe Kick drawers - these are a fabulous idea. However, they are very expensive from Kraftmaid. Would probably add another couple thousand to the kitchen. I’m not sure it is anything that buyers will notice. We don’t seem to sell houses at Open Houses. They sell from showings with their buying agent at odd hours of the day. Short of opening up all the toe kick drawers and leaving them open all the time - no one will even notice this detail. Hopefully they will walk into the house and kitchen and just be Wowed by the views :)</p>

<p>New design loaded to photo group</p>

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<p>Note on opening pantry doors and refrigerator doors. We are putting 3" of filler on the wall side of these cabinets so that the doors can open fully.</p>

<p>In the galley kitchen photo from Houzz… we are going to build a deck on the view side of the house. It will have a French door entry from the dining area. I love those folding style windows in that picture and would like to have those installed in the kitchen with that nice pass through design. However, this is on the North side of the house and will get some weather coming against those windows. The windows will not be opened much in winter time (or at least we all think it’s winter here when it gets below 70)</p>

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<p>Have loaded some side view pictures of the fireplace so you can see the challenges. </p>

<p>Very minimal space to add any tile to surround and not ‘overlap’ the brick arch </p>

<p>Current structure is like a big box on the wall. We will have to live with this and design tilework over this box</p>

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<p>@coralbrook, I think I understand what you mean, but if the views are “toward the left,” wouldn’t you want the sink on the right, so one can look through both of the windows toward the left? By putting the sink on the left, one will only be able to see toward the left a small amount, but can see to the right a great deal. </p>

<p>I like the microwave/cabinet combination. Great solution.</p>