The Mad DIVA Renovator: 2012

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Landscape work continues

So we are not keeping count on this phase of the project but we are finally making some progress.

I have been diligently looking at plant choices with my dear friend Willa who has the patience of a saint while i make my selections. I like the more modern structured plants...combining that with our tudor home will prove challenging.

I had the side steps from the sunroom redone and they look gorgeous...

Tilo got busy and removed all of the bushes in the back and front that we wanted to replace. Everything was gone in one day. I had some guys come and remove the stump so we now have a truly BLANK canvas to work with...

We will gain some more grass in the back and have some small shrubs and vines planted along the new fence when it gets installed...

The front yard is more challenging in terms of style of plants, layout, etc..

We plan on raising the retaining wall at the right of the driveway up about 18" to level out the front yard, add a modern fence on top and then plant away. Anyone got any ideas of how to get rid of the HUGE deformed tree in the front? It is out of place and does not fit with my new aesthetics.....I want more of the modern Japanese looking gardens...

Fence people are here today installing a new wood fence all the way around the back yard and along the front left to replace the Ivy covered chain link fence....last bit of ivy left in our yard is now gone!

I will post some plant ideas...open for comments or experience with anything I post!

Monday, August 13, 2012

We're BBAAACCKKKK

It is time to post teh "final" pictures of the Family Room 9ft sliding doors - Tilo's dream that started the whole first floor renovation! And also the final kitchen pics after teh disasterous glass backsplash install to the new modern white subway backsplash.

This weekend we launched our attack on the landscape! We have a lot of planning to do and budget calculations but we are ready to start...we will insall a new fence around the yard, put stone on the rear side door landing and steps, redo the driveway and retaining walls in the entire front yard, redo all of the plants/bushes/trees in the front yard, build a parking pad for the jet ski and POSSIBLY add a screened in porch off the back that would connect to the existing deck and the sunroom. As you can see there is once again LOTS to do. First we will plan....then we will price it out, and finally we will cut back to what our budget will allow :)

Enjoy the pics...

The Internet Cafe

The 9ft doors..they slide together to form art. The picture is a microscopic view of Vodka!! Check out www.BevShots.com...

The sunroom - family room. The large window on the left will eventually become a door to the screened in porch :)

A close up of the art work...

The Family Room - Sun room in it's entirety...white, clean and crisp wiht a splash of gray metallic.

The final kitchen...took off the green glass backsplash and went white and simple...

We love it - can not even remember what the old house was like! Now it is on to the exterior...more money, stress and headaches but in the end we will love it I am sure!! Check back with my in 2-3 weeks for exterior ideas, photos and posts.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Some cool ideas and great resources

Thought it was time for some more informative info for those watching for "Help" tips...I want to share some trends and resources that helped me achieve my look at our home....

Big trend right now in kitchen backsplashes is using back-painted glass. I researched the topic, the sources, the how tos and found that most agreed that the 2 top manufacturers of back-painted glass were GlassKote out of Australia and US Color Glass out of ATLANTA, ga. Little people in my area realized that one of the main material sources was right in our own backyard and they even do their own installs upon request. I contacted them and had them do my kitchen install for a fraction of the cost as most glass installers. UNFORTUNATELY the color I selected - which was one of their standards (they have like 20+ standard colors including metallics), did NOT work with our space. I will attach pictures here so you can see how beautiful the affect is. In the photos the color looks like the chartreuse i wanted and needed it to be, but in real life with my lighting it was mint green 90% of the time which was not "funky enough for our space. I had them remove the glass off the walls, but left the knee wall piece. Glass is a GREAT alternative as a backsplash because it is EASY to clean, no ugly dirty grout lines like with tile and it adds a modern pop for those looking to go more modern....

Above you can see the contrast between my chartreuse chairs and the almost mint green glass.

Expensive lesson I had to learn...Make sure you get a large sample of the glass before fabricating it all. You can not get a feel for the color from a 2x3" piece of glass. In choosing back-painted glass you have the choice of standard glass or pure clear glass called starphire. Starphire will allow the color you choose to come through 100% as is, standard glass gives everything a greenish tint (too much so in my case). Surprisingly, the cost of back-painted glass is comparable to doing a tiled backsplash.

Another trend for modern homes is the glass filled fireplace. We did this as a DIY project. There are several websites where you can buy the gas burner, fill material, glass chunks and away you go. It is not cheap but it adds that wow factor in a modern space. I will post more pictures once we complete ours. We our materials from Moderustic.com, but Blazingglass.com and diamondfireglass.com all had great prices. There are easy to follow instructions. Our install took a day. We are adding some stainless steel to cover the old brick interior to finish it up. I think you get a lot of bang for your buck with this upgrade.

Last trend idea is shopping at Etsy for unique art and decor pieces. For those of you not familiar with Etsy.com, it is a shopping site that showcases hand-made unique pieces from art to furniture to clothing & jewelry. These are true artists who simply haven't yet hit the "BIG time, mainstream, sales outlets" but who have amazing often one-of-a-kind pieces. The prices are unbeatable because you are buying directly from the artist and/or craftsman, cutting out the cost of a distributor, sales team and store overhead. I bought my Powder room signed canvas art piece from Charlen Williams who is featured as an "Etsy artist" at West Elm this month!

I also plan on having another craftsman make me an AT sign in turquoise for our internet cafe, It is Eddie from EdiesLab on Etsy and he is right here in Atlanta, ga!!

Etsy is really a great source for ecclectic as well as traditional pieces for your home or personal style. I love the idea of supporting local people and artists just "doing their thing".

As the furniture, doors and art pieces arrive, I will post more pictures. We plan on tackling the fence and trees in May and then we will have some downtime until fall. Stay posted..

The ALMOST Final Interior Results

Well after a year and 4 months, we are in and living comfortably. Most of the furniture pieces have arrived and I have even managed to buy one art piece! We are waiting for one more chair that had a 4 month lead time, on a funny piece of pop art for the "Internet cafe", on the Ginormous 9 ft sliding doors for the family room, and on the tile for the kitchen backsplash. Other than that we are in! Here you go...

Our new Front porch MINUS landscaping..

Our First Floor interior spaces.....TaDa....

Notice the greenish glass on the peninsula - I actually had it all over the kitchen walls and had it immediately removed...ONE big mistake I made...I had the mint green kitchen which did NOT work. Going back with white in the next few weeks...

This is out "Internet Cafe" space...

Our dark and sexy Powder room with my new piece of art waiting to be hung....

The Family Room - Sun room combo. Still missing the leather side chair and the doors. Our 9ft doors will hang behind the sofa. Tilo has an artwork on mount on the doors which will add a POP of color to the space. Don't you love the SHAG rug!! IS it 2012???

This is Tilo's project - creating a glass fireplace. The insides will be stainless steel and the flame will burn up through the glass!!

The sunroom..minus art and an all glass coffee tables. More to come...

This is the "Bar Area" in the connector hallway from the kitchen area to the family room area. Mirror just went in today.

This is our new family space...cook, eat, and surf the web all together.

And lastly the eat in area - My first table for 8!! Very exciting!!

The weather has been perfect and with me quitting my job, I was able to get most of the things done including the back yard garden...

NEXT up - PHASE 3 - the landscape / hardscape. YES I am a gluton for punishment!!!

We will have a new wooden fence installed around the entire garden, new trees planted between us the and the neighbor to our right, a new driveway, new granite stone walls around the planting beds in the front yard, and new modern steel handrails everywhere. Most of this we will do in teh fall....Stay tuned....

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

SIMPLY Progress Pics - nothing more, nothing less

Rather than another B--CH session, I thought I would just share pictures of our new spaces..we are getting there....I share them only if you PROMISE to ignore the chaos of drawers adn stuff laying around waiting on it's permanent home!! :)