Studio B Transformations Family Room & Deck

I never really did that much with the Family Room, the next big project would have been to replace the carpet.  But here are a few photos of the room just to give you a feel for the size of the room and the possibilities.

This is how the room looked when I saw it the first time.  Even the dark paneling could not cover the fact that it was a huge room with lots of light and an amazing view out over the golf course.

I took down those grandma curtains first and updated that light fixture.

We sanded, primed and painted those paneled walls.

The room has an intercom terminal and dedicated thermostat.  I loved the zone heating options on this house!  And of course it's wide open into the kitchen and we added tract lighting above the bar in between.

So after the paint dried I added some shelves and painted the walls behind them the blue from the kitchen to unify the rooms some.  But the dark fireplace was still too dark and overwhelming in the room.

So I carefully stained the brick and was very pleased with how it turned out. It brightened up the room a great deal, a good coat of masonry paint in white would work wonders in my opinion. And a simple mantle.  Oh it was wonderful to have a fire in there in the midst of snow storms!

I changed the window treatments to ones that showed off my ever changing collection of art glass.  The sun came through there in the evenings and just made my glass glow, I loved that!  And in the evening with guests we'd light the candles in the sconces and they looked so pretty.

And just outside the sliding glass doors is the roomy back deck.

I kept a bowl of bird seed for the guests who liked to drop by.  They were fun to watch!

I think this deck was one of my favorite features of this house.  I grew veggies and an herb garden here and made pizza and pretty much anything else on the grill.  There simply is no better place to be in the cool of a summer evening.

The listing.  Please feel free to pass this link to someone who might need a great home in the area. 
The price is low, the time is right to snatch up a great house at a great deal!

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Studio B Tranformations Bathroom

The bathroom was transformed, it took some work but check out the process:  Everything was vintage 1975! There were various colors of green in this bathroom, from the avocado tub, to the multicolored floor, to the moss green counter top… and then the gold walls.  I gave it a big face lift!

After:

I love the great shower curtain from Marimekko.
And all the gold paint had to go! I chose a shade of green that would tie the other greens together and give an updated look.
I picked out a new faucet and hardware for the vanity. (Can you tell I have a thing for fleur de lis?!) I painted the vanity and all the trim in a lovely clean ultra white. I removed the hinges and rattle canned them white. My STBX installed GFI outlets and changed the switches and recepts to white with white plates.
He also removed the old lighting and put in track lighting, with two pendants lights and some spots. I love how the glass shades echo the black lines in the shower curtain and I love the flexibility of track lighting spots.
I loved the new TP holder, just another nice detail. This room has it's own thermostat and intercom terminal.  I could listen to my ipod in any room of the house. The "towel rack" for towels, the lighting for artwork...I'm wishing I had photos of the large bathroom closet but I don't.  It is huge!


It looks nice when dressed up with some artwork and pretty white towels.  The track lighting really works to great advantage in this room.

The new bracket-less shelves lend themselves to a great collections of pretty things.

This was one of my favorite transformations in Studio B.  Now it's time for someone else to make their mark on this great house.  If you or someone you know might be interested in more info on purchasing this house, please let me know.

Happy Creating,
-Carmen Rose

Range in Motion

My old range is a smoker... if you look closely just above the burners you'll see the smoke. Even with the exhaust fan on full blast the kitchen hazes over in a hurry.

So I picked out a new one, a non-smoking model. And today my range arrived!  So... this old harvest gold range... is on it's way out...

Bye bye old stove! (Actually, this one went to the basement art studio.)  Maybe it won't matter if it smokes down there.

Here they come, bringing the new range down the hill from the truck.  (In the rain)  Don't slip now!

They carefully put it into place.  These guys were great!

Leveled it up, perfectly!  Thank you Gentlemen!  That's team work!

Look how nice and shiney and clean it is!  This is as clean as it will ever be.  Ta Da!

Looks pretty good in place... (and one of these days a new dish washer to match)

I made lunch...

*and burnt it...*

There is a bit of a learning curve here.

The old range came in 1975, this one is the 2010 version.

It's going to take some time to get used to it.

I made a toasted sandwich with black forest ham with sharp cheddar cheese on wheat with mayo... (Yum)

It was burnt, but it was still yummy!  Here is proof:

It took a while to scrub that poor lil skillet!  
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
And just for the sake of a little perspective... here is the "before" photo. 

This is when I met my kitchen for the first time. 

Yes, I fell in love with this house when it was in this mess!
*Potential!*

It's come a long way!  Here are some things we've done:

• The light fixtures have been swapped out plus some new track lighting.
• The cabinets have all been painted, the uppers are all white and the lower cabinets are gray.  I painted the kick plates black.
• I made polymer clay handles for the upper cabinets and new hinges on all plus new pulls on the lower cabinets.
• New kitchen floor in harlequin tile (one of my favorite changes, that old floor was HORRIBLE!!)
• New stainless range hood, new range and new faucet.
• Painted the walls and trim.  (I love the cobalt walls, not crazy about the turquoise so I may or may not get around to changing that soon.)
• Put art glass everywhere!  =)

And Hope has reclaimed her spot.  She's the finishing touch!
Glad to have a non-smoker for a range! 

Happy Transformations,

-Carmen Rose