Home accessories: Renovation Diary--Mid October 2013

Nerves of steel are required if you are renovating a house.

If you've remodeled, you automatically get five bonus points, a hug, and chocolate.

The first time we saw the house, I imagined wooden shutters, and Will imagined

a tear-down.

He's a football obsessed physician, the type of guy who wouldn't know a corbel from cheesecake (and has no desire to learn the difference). He shocked me when he demolished the front porch.

"Something's missing," he kept saying. "Something's wrong."

Shutters would help, right?

Will had zero interest in selecting paint colors, thank heavens. So I got to work.

I'd secretly longed for a light, airy farmhouse feel.

I dusted an old shutter and tested BM's Stratton Blue. It looked great in the shade.

A little coastal in bright light.

I had more paint pots in the garage, so I tried SW Intellectual Gray and Anonymous.

I chickened out.

I was smitten with the tone-on-tone look on the right.

Will thought it was bland.

I posted photos on the blog and Rattlebridge's Facebook page.

Some people liked the darker gray; others preferred the lighter.

Timberlane Shutters had sent a color sample sheet. I tried several itty samples. Then I saw this photo on their website. The shutter color was a mossy green.

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Timberlane sent a mossy green sample. I liked it, but I was afraid to commit.

What if the green looked wrong? I didn't want to repaint brand new shutters!

In June, I tested gray-browns: SW Warm Stone and SW Griffin.

Again, I sent a shout out to bloggers. Everyone liked SW Griffin.

The shutters arrived in mid-October, along with detailed instructions.

The carpenters installed one shutter, then asked me to take a look. As I walked up from the side, I thought: too much brick is showing.

But I was wrong.

A lot goes into the installation of functional shutters. When closed, they

must cover the window. And, these shutters are heavy.

Next, I had to decide about the shutter dogs.

No! Not another decision!

And if I wanted the shutters to be aligned perfectly straight with the windows or to gently fall back against the brick. I loved the old fashioned "falling back" look.

The bottom windows now have shutters.

Do you remember Will's porch?

I showed him a photo of designer Mary Carol Garrity's corbels.

I found something similar at the local builder's supply.

While we're waiting for the corbels to be installed,

We painted the ceiling Haint Blue and added dentil trim.

Here's a peek at our new interior doors.

This was another difficult decision. I went back and forth between 7' and 8' doors.

I saw a few examples in person.

Eight foot doors and a nine foot ceiling.

Eight foot doors and a ten foot ceiling.

Seven foot doors and a nine foot ceiling.

Eight foot doors and an 8-1/2 foot ceiling.

I chose JELD-WEN 8 foot doors and refused to second guess the decision,

which is my second favorite activity, the first being eating peanut butter fudge.

The rooms seem so airy. Even Will loves the new doors and stopped talking about For Sale signs.

The opening to the dining room was enlarged to an 8 foot opening, too.

Though I like black interior doors, I decided they weren't right for my house.

However, that doesn't mean I'll go with creamy white paint. :-)

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The Saga of the Kitchen Clock continues.

Chocolate is required before you proceed.

Lots and lots of chocolate.

You can find a recap HERE.

Meanwhile, the kitchen was primed (that's why it's extremely white).

I tried to color the rest of it with wonky Photoshopping.

What to do.

A clock was featured in the inspiration photo.

My kitchen has a lower ceiling and a smaller range hood. But I just had to try a clock.

I began with a 22" inch round clock.

The carpenters built a "prototype." No trim or frills.

They couldn't make the housing smaller, fearing the clock might not be secure.

Even though the prototype wasn't to scale, I sort of liked the idea of a clock.

I liked how the round clock echoed the arched window.

I found a smaller clock at Ballard Designs.

Now, I had a Goldilocks dilemma.

The scale is much better...almost in the Goldilocks zone.

The design was close. But not close enough.

My knock-off Photoshopping resembles Cool Whip, but it helped me

see how the clock housing might look when it's painted.

Still, something was wrong.

Houston?

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We have a few problems.

The carpenter was reluctant to add curves to either side of the the wooden housing, fearing each swoop will be too low and reveal things that we'd like to hide, like the hood vent.

Another problem: the existing base of the clock housing isn't fully integrated into the trim and hood.

When I got home, I studied the photos. The housing above the top curve of the clock can be made higher, from 4 to 10 inches. That would help with the scale and allow for curves.

But the bottom of the housing needs work.

Each little tinker costs $$, so I'm trying one more time.

Then my cabinet maker, Jimmy, will build a clock housing, so that it's better integrated with the hood and trim.