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jamaneault

What doesn't need help?! My bathrooms, my kitchen, my laundry room.

jamaneault
10 years ago
My house is from 1979 and it totally looks it. We've been trying to update slowly. Did a lot of painting, updated the appliances in the kitchen but would love to knock out some walls, get rid of the wall paper all over the house, get rid of the havrest gold, powder blue and avacado green in the bathrooms, add a nice tub to the master...so much to be done and not enough money, time, and talent to do it all myself.

Comments (10)

  • Melanie Parker
    9 years ago
    Best of luck!
  • doedoechachacha
    9 years ago
    Good luck!!!!!!! You can always go for the "shabby chic" look, and mix the old with the new. I saw walls and floors are always the most important and can dramatically change a room. If you can't get new tiles, then recaulking them will help. Otherwise, I suppose Pinterest is your best friend as they have more DIY stuff! Laundry room may be the least important because your guests don't really see it... though keeping it clean, and maybe adding some wallpaper could do wonders. My mom says that the bathroom is the most important because your guests actually go in there and judge you by how nice it is (I don't know how true that is... But that's what she thinks).
  • colorsrme
    9 years ago
    Yep, when you see the need for a total redo, it's overwhelming. If you are thinking of structural redo, just do that first and focus on the elements it directly touches that have to be redone. Don't worry yet about other rooms. Also, getting colors right in the biggest area might be helpful as it will help you start to align the colors in the smaller areas.
  • PRO
    PPF.
    9 years ago
    From July 2013
  • PRO
    Angela Navarro Art
    9 years ago
    We bought a 1980 house last year that needed some work. Best money spent: remove popcorn from ceilings and all texture on walls. Changes the house completely. I love color on walls but now with no texture crisp white looks amazing.
  • flowergardener5
    9 years ago
    I agree, it can become overwhelming looking at the big picture of the entire house so just concentrate on one room at a time and think it all through very carefully if you have difficulty deciding....it would probably be helpful if you posted some pics of your "dilemmas" so that others have a better visual and can possibly give you better "helps". Our home is closer to 200 yrs. old then 100. We spent 2 yrs without stopping doing the restoration of the complete house and yes, it was VERY overwhelming. We've been in it now for almost 40 yrs. and I can honestly say that I DO enjoy re-doing and redecorating. We focused on all the bathrooms first to give them all an update because they seemed to cost the most $. Our kitchen I have always loved and the only thing I've ever changed in it is the wall color. We'll be watching for some pics of your current "room" re-do....have fun though!
  • Liz Moore
    9 years ago
    We bought a 1970's Brady Bunch home and really changed everything. Most effective: removed pressed wood trim and doors and put in wide white trim and white painted doors, removed cottage cheese ceilings and had all the walls/ceilings skim coated before painting, put in can lights and other more contemporary lighting...no bulky wooden fans with globe lights. Our kitchen had to be totally redone - it had a harvest gold peninsula with patches in the formica. Yikes. I think the "hardscape" things mentioned above are more critical than the rest of it because you can change paint and wall paper and even carpet/flooring...but if the background is still 1970's it won't feel any different. For my personality - its very difficult to not have it all done at once.... so I empathize. No big solutions to that. I wouldn't worry about the blue and the avocado first. Retro is OK for a while!
  • apple_pie_order
    9 years ago
    Old post.
  • prt13
    9 years ago
    Cash flow made it impossible to deal with all the ugliness at once so I, too, have had to deal with green fixtures - I found an essentially black wallpaper with touches of the green in it and used a sheer black shower curtain with a liner and black towels [of note there is a 5ft x 3ft wundow] & shutters for the window- for the pale blue ~ paint white or white with a tiny blue tinge and use dark blue accents- for the harvest gold a deep chocolatey bronze