All posts by Sarah @ 702 Park Project

Keeping Our Guests Clean

September 25, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

The bathroom in the back of the house just off the office will be the main guest bathroom for overnight guests. We are going for a very classic look, with some upgrades for comfort.

Here’s what the bathroom looked like before:

And then the corner sink and wall were ripped out, and the exterior door was closed up:

And now, the tub and toilet have also been removed, and the vinyl floor has been pulled up:

So basically, it’s just an open room right now. Can you tell where the tub sat on the floor in this photo? ;)

Now that we are basically down to a blank slate, this is the layout we are going for:

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Picture this…the entire bathroom floor will be tiled in some sort of black and white pattern. The gray line on the right in the floorplan above indicates a “curb” that we will be adding to the floor. It will be about 1-2 inches tall and will help to keep water from running all over the bathroom. A clawfoot tub will be converted into a shower, and that side of the bathroom will include tile on the walls as well. We were hoping to use the pedestal tub that was already in there, but realized that water can easily get trapped under the base and cause mold and mildew. So a raised clawfoot is better. We will also be using the 1926 pedestal sink I picked up a few months ago.

We will hang a tension rod from wall to wall in front of the shower to hold the liner and shower curtain. There will also be a drain in the floor under the tub.

All in all, it’s a pretty simple set up and shouldn’t be too complicated.

For flooring, I prefer a simple black and white tile. Here are some of my favorites:

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For the wall tile around the shower, I think we will just go with simple white subway tile. It always looks clean and classic.

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So what do you think? Would you like to be a guest here?

Photo sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Getting Colorful

September 24, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

A while back, I picked out some color choices for the interior of the house. As I’m sure you can guess, I’m a total amateur when it comes to paint, so I just pointed to pretty colors–after narrowing down the general color family I was going for. But since we’ve decided to do a paint and primer in one instead of just tinting basic primer, the colors ended up being much more bold than we wanted.

Imagine my surprise when I went over to the house one night last week to discover a cotton-candy-pink living room!! Yikes! It was way too pink, even for me. So we kind of had to go back to the drawing board, and since this task landed on the day of my surgery last week, it pretty much all fell on Charles. But he did a fantastic job of sticking with the color families we had decided on for each room, but finding much lighter colors.

[Quick side note: who names these colors?!?! Some of them are so corny–um…Moment of Promise? I have wanted to be the person who came up with nail polish names for a long time, because they’re always so fun. Maybe I should dabble in paint naming as well!]

By the way, they redid our formal living room in a beautiful barely blush color called Moment of Promise. It’s really pretty, and looks fabulous with the ornate white fireplace!

My parents came in town for a post-op visit on Sunday, and my dad somehow got roped into painting color swatches on the walls with Charles. (Actually, he says that he loves to paint, so I didn’t feel too terrible!) After they painted for a while, Mom and I headed over to the house for my “first big outing” and to check out the colors. Here’s what we’ve landed on so far…

Because our painter likes to work with the local Glidden store, and because we really had no preference, we decided to stick with Glidden for both our interior and exterior colors. We still are undecided on a few rooms (dining room, kitchen, butler’s pantry, laundry room, master bath), but these cover most of the house.

All trim, for now, will be pure white. We’d love to get down to the original wood trim, but that’s really just not feasible, so we thought white would help the house to look fresh and airy.

Kitten White- This is our main “off-white” that will be used throughout the house. It’s a good mixed between gray and taupe…and color that we dubbed “graupe.” (Doesn’t sound molestor-ish at all, right?)

kitten white

Kitten white will go in the foyer, stairwell, downstairs side entry hall, and upstairs main hall. Since almost all rooms are connected to these areas, we wanted to go with a very neutral color that will go nicely with the other colors we’ve chosen.

Wilton Blue– This beautiful gray-blue is the perfect mix of airy and cozy for the family room/den. It has enough blue in it to not be too dark and dreary, and enough gray to not be too bright. As the main room to watch tv and hang out with friends, we wanted this room to be comfortable and inviting.

wilton blue

Snowbell– This calm, serene color will be used in our master bedroom. It’s a lovely pale blue (NOT Carolina blue!!!), with a hint of lavender. I love it because there are so many bedding and rug options to go with it! We also plan to use this color with some white tile and cabinetry in the downstairs bathroom off of the den. It complements the Wilton Blue perfectly!

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We are still trying to decide if we want to continue this color into the master bathroom and closet. I think that we should leave the closet white so our clothes don’t end up looking different in the closet than they do outside of it. What do you think?

Fresh Cut– We got this color to try out in the dining room. The room was painted green before, and the tiles in the fireplace are green, so we just wanted to see how that would look. Green may look fine, but this color was way too minty for our taste. We think something a little darker with some more gray in it might work better. But when we put it in the upstairs guest bedroom, it looked perfect! That room gets a ton of sunlight, and the green just looked so natural in there. So we are going to keep it for that room.

fresh cut

We are still very torn on the dining room. Still thinking about wallpaper for the upper half of the room (above the chair rail), but that will have to come later, after we get a feel for what will look best in there.

Artic Night– We decided on this for the office. As you know, we want a dark, masculine office with lots of leather and wood. I was leaning more towards a dark teal, and Charles more towards a hunter green, so we met in the middle with this navy and I think it’s better than any other color we could have chosen! I’m in love!

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You can also see into the master bedroom from the office, and we think that the Artic Night and Snowbell will really go well together.

Del Mar Shores– We haven’t actually settled on this yet. We originally picked out a very light coral color for the second guest bedroom, but it turned out to be a lot darker than we had hoped, and just looked like salmon. And not in a good way! So we unanimously nixed that real quick. Although I have never been a fan of yellow, it seemed that a house of this era could stand to have just a hint of yellow somewhere.

del mar shores

So we have picked out Del Mar Shores for that bedroom, since it isn’t overwhelmingly yellow. Hopefully we can get a swatch up this week and decide on that for sure.

Alright let’s hear it…what do you think? (Keep in mind that the pictures don’t necessarily do the colors justice, and they often look very different depending on the light!)

All color pictures are from My Perfect Color.

A Heavenly En Suite

September 23, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

If you’ve been following along, you know that we are planning to turn the old apartment kitchenette and pantry into a master en suite. It is incredibly rare to find a closet larger than 2′ x 3′ in an old house, much less a walk in! And you can forget about a large, luxurious bathroom. Older homes just weren’t built to accommodate what we consider “must haves” today. We’re so spoiled! But lucky for us, the back half of the upstairs was turned into an apartment some time ago, leaving us with a large “kitchenette” that is no longer needed. Which means, with a little imagination, we can create our dream master en suite!!

Here’s the general layout now. For your reference, the kitchenette is about 15′ x 13′, the pantry and closet area in total is about 15′ x 8′, and the bedroom is about 15′ x 15’8″.

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Here’s the plan… we will knock out the pantry and master closet walls, creating one large space in between the bedroom and bathroom. However, we will leave the right wall of the current master closet and insert a pocket door to save space. We considered leaving this room open, but we thought it would be nice to be able to shut that room off if for some reason we have guests up there and it’s super messy!

You can see how large this area is, thanks to my fabulous model (he’s 6 feet tall).

Then we will wall in where the pantry door and master closet door are currently. By doing this, we will basically have a closet that is about 10′ x 8′.

We are still playing around with several layout ideas for the bathroom, but we know we want a double vanity, large tile shower (preferably with two shower heads and a bench), the pedestal tub from the current guest bathroom, and a separate water closet for the toilet. The chimney in the middle of the far wall can make things a little awkward, but by closing up the pantry door, we create a long wall there, so it’s workable. There are lots of options, we just have to decide which one works best for us. More on that later.

Anyway, here’s a basic layout of what we’re going for:

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While we’re still figuring out the bathroom layout, I’ve pretty much narrowed down my favorite ideas for the closet (of course…I’m a girl with way too many clothes and shoes). I would like there to be plenty of hanging room, because Charles and I both would prefer to hang up most things; but I’d also like to incorporate some drawers, as well as shoe and jewelry storage. Here’s what I like best about a few closets I’ve seen lately.

Ok, this is pretty much perfect. I love the elegant white built-ins, with plenty of hanging space, but also lots of drawer storage. I love that there are cubbies above for bags. This one is especially appealing to me because we also have a full-size window at the very back of the closet (I didn’t include it in the floorplans above).

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I love this one sort of for the same reasons. The glass doors make it look even more resplendent. I’m also in love with the valet bars for displaying outfits and the lighting with drum shades.

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Being able to close cabinet doors like this helps to keep everything looking neat and tidy.

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I’d love to do a lacquer dresser like this under the window for delicates and jewelry. So glamorous!

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I could go on and on. If you’d like to see more ideas that I love, feel free to browse my Master Suite Pinterest board!

The Changing Seasons

September 20, 2013Categories: Guest BloggersSarah @ 702 Park Project

Today’s guest post is from my brother, Jason. We are about as close as siblings can be, and we even lived together for a while! Jason was blessed with what my family calls the “flowery” language, and has always been a tremendous writer. Enjoy his thoughts on living in NC, the changing seasons, and the memories we all cherish.

So my sister and her husband are now proud homeowners and have plunged themselves headlong into the arduous and exhaustive task of renovating a house to be their home. No starter home for these two, just a big old foursquare that will easily accommodate their every ambition; a house that will resonate with the personalities of those who hold it dear.

This morning as I walked out into the street and drew in the first hint of Fall air, I became instantly joyful at the thought that cool weather was just around the corner. We have been blessed with a mild summer and for the first time in a while, it seems that the seasons have truly presented themselves to us, each in their own distinct way. One of the joys of living in the South and having four real seasons, as opposed to the eerie perma-tan of somewhere like Florida, is the fact that it provides our memories with a distinct backdrop that truly helps us develop a sense of place.

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Sarah and Charles moving down east is, in a way, an extension of our roots in the areas in which our families have always made their homes. From the football shaped hospital of Wayne County to the water line of Carolina Beach, we know this area well. It makes me happy to see my sister establishing herself in a town that we knew well as children, if only for the remedial stop for fried chicken and barbecue at Wilber’s. The expansive fields that draw out the landscape between Smithfield and Goldsboro and Kinston and Dover bring back a nearly ethereal remembrance of the seasons. I remember distinctly driving to New Bern to visit family on cold mornings, surely to celebrate Thanksgiving or Christmas and being always elated to see the men coming out of the woods to their trucks, if they were lucky having something to put in the freezer. I also remember stopping at Dairy Queens on blistering days on those long stretches of road to spend “ice cream money” our Pap always gave us. Having lived in North Carolina my whole life, I derive a keen sense of joy from the association of the changing seasons with very real places and people.

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{a very little Jason}

One of the grand opportunities afforded to Sarah and Charles is the ability to see their house take shape over what is looking more and more like a full four season rotation. When they finally move in to their grand old home, they will already know it, Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall. I’m sure with each falling of the leaves or sprouting of spring buds, they will have a distinct memory, some fond and some that will hopefully sweeten with time. It is my hope that they spend many seasons in their beautiful home down east, each year creating memories that build upon years past. I couldn’t be happier for the two of them and look forward to celebrating many seasons with them, especially the most important one, football season!

Also, check out Jason’s girlfriend’s post about their home and love for cooking.

Have a wonderful weekend! :)

HAPPY FRIDAY

{If you would like to be a guest blogger, please comment below or email me. Thanks!}

Hit the Bricks

September 19, 2013Categories: RenoSarah @ 702 Park Project

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that we are amassing quite a heap of bricks.

Charles and I agree that we don’t really like the commercial grade sidewalk leading up to the house now, and would rather do a more attractive path. Since we have so many bricks, we thought it would be cool to use them for a sidewalk. I especially love these:

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And here’s where we’re a little undecided. We have an absolutely fabulous mason who has done a beautiful job with our cheek walls so far. (We just learned that’s what they’re called…we’ve been calling them the “porch arms.” We keep it sophisticated around here.) He is using cinder blocks to stabilize the inside, and then laying new bricks on the outside. The curves are just perfect. He really is an artist.

Now that we have such beautiful brick work, we can’t decide if we want to paint the brick white to match the brick columns and foundation of the house, or leave it unpainted as sort of a feature. We plan to add a brick face to the concrete steps, and will most likely treat them the same way as the cheek walls. The path from the street will be unpainted brick. So what do we do? Paint the walls white, or leave them alone? What about the steps? Opinions needed, please!!

Dressing the Walls

September 18, 2013Categories: DecorSarah @ 702 Park Project

What are your thoughts on gallery walls? Personally, I’ve never been a huge fan. They have always seemed so busy to me, almost like a “filler.” I’ve always preferred a larger piece (like this) that means something to me rather than a ton of little prints.

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But there’s a couple of problems with the “single large piece” approach… 1. With 14 foot ceilings, it’s got to be a big ass piece of art to not look miniscule on the wall. 2. Um…art is expensive.

So the more I think about it, the more I start to lean towards the gallery idea. I’ll admit it is a great way to fill a space without spending a lot of money. And there are still plenty of beautiful and meaningful smaller pieces out there. (For the record, I’m not a huge fan of family photo gallery walls…just not my style.) Eventually, I’d like to migrate back towards the larger statement pieces, but I think a gallery wall would be a good stepping stone. And let’s face it: we can’t afford the big art and we’re not going to just have bare walls for the next 10 years! So on that note, here are a few posts of ideas and inspiration that I like:

Jen from Made By Girl had a great post a couple weeks ago with her tips for creating an attractive gallery wall. I, of course, love her use of gold, black, and white in her own office.

Emily Henderson did a post a few months back about creating a focal wall, in which the gallery idea was one of the options. Bonus: this one even includes a video!

After reading this post by Sam from The Peak of Tres Chic, I realized that all gallery walls do not have to be the same. There are tons of options for making them look more interesting and dynamic.

I also found this useful arrangement chart for when I’m just at a total loss on where to start. (Yes, I know it’s in a foreign language, but you get the idea.)

Jury’s still out on whether or not I’ll try to incorporate one of these into the house. Luckily there’s still plenty of time to decide!

So what do you think? Yay or nay?