Creating Cottage Style

Help with accessorising my lounge?

CreatingCottageStyle — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:58:00 +0000

I have a small lounge with a victorian bay- not been decorated long but i want it to have a cosy cottage feel, without changing the carpet/sofa. its kind of dull pink at the minute with claret accessories- fed up with them
We have a chimney breast so could paper either recesses or just chimney or both? could i use say a patterned paper then a pin stripe etc in the recesses?
The sofa is cream
the carpet is beige/brown/pinky colour – depending whats on it but neutral enough.
I could paint, paper(prefer some paperto warm it up)
Its the colour i,m stuck with – i like laura ashley kind of decor- not sure how to make it look cottage style though – quite like the cable knit cushions too so any ideas would be helpful.
Oh its a 3 seater and 2 seater so how would i arrange the cushions? how many the sofa has 4 matching cushions also.

Thanks

old wood floor seems to be growing uneven since Summer. Why? What to do?

CreatingCottageStyle — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:26:24 +0000

I live in a 100 year old cottage which I am renting. Certain areas of the hardwood floor in the kitchen seems to be spreading. (The kitchen is probably 25 square feet guesstimate) There are about 8 gaps that I am noticing now, the largest being about 1/4 of an inch between wood slats. And also, I can tell that the elevation of the floor is subtly more uneven than before. It almost feels like there is a bubble under the floor.

A friend said that since that is a very old house, that humidity plays a big role in this, and something like this can happen as the weather gets colder. Another possibility, is that right off the kitchen there is a porch, which had joists repaired earlier this summer, and I was thinking that maybe if a measurement was off by a little bit, it would cause the beams under the floor to settle. And it is an old beat-up kind of place. That is part of the charm to it, like a cabin in the woods..

I was also told by the landlord that the last person who lived in this place caused some water damage, when he allowed the pipes to freeze and burst last winter.

All of this combined, I am not sure what I am looking at here. Is this going to result in a major floor repair? Should I inform my landlord about this?

thanks

I need suggestions on installing a kitchen back splash in my summer cottage.?

CreatingCottageStyle — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 18:17:56 +0000

I would like to install a back splash in my kitchen that is cheap & still looks good. It would have to be washable. Any ideas would be appreciated

What type countertop/sink/faucet/appls will go best with slightly off-white kitchen cabinets /bronze hardware?

CreatingCottageStyle — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 01:28:46 +0000

I am redoing my kitchen. All my cabinets are painted in White Dove (Benj Moore). The walls are pale sage green. The knobs and pulls are oil rubbed bronze. My floor is ceramic tile that is a mardi-gras style with pale green, beige, taupes, plum, little bit of muted blue…..floor not my style, but I am going to keep it for now and eventually lay a wood floor. I also would like to know what you think about a hammered metal backsplash. Our style is traditional/cottage. Help!!!! I appreciate any input you give.

Colors schemes for entire house?

CreatingCottageStyle — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:14:51 +0000

I am getting married in March and my husband and I will be moving back into my childhood home. We are going to do a basic re-do for all of the paint and flooring in the house. It is a three bedroom, two bath, with a great room, kitchen and mud/laundry room. We are both into country/cottage/rustic decor. I have been given some navy blue tile to use in the guest bathroom…I was thinking maybe to do a nautical theme in there. Other suggestions for that would be WELCOME! I am not a huge fan of nautical, but it was the first thing that popped into my head with blue tile. Anyway, for all the other rooms, we are completely open to suggestions. Thanks so much!

Is it easy enough to install a ductless range hood?

CreatingCottageStyle — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:39:25 +0000

I have an old cottage and a very low budget. We "renovated" our kitchen a couple years ago but never installed a range hood and the cabinets above it get very greasy. I don’t want to deal with the hassle of running ducts up the wall (the stove wall is opposite a bedroom), through the attic and out the side of our house, so I’m considering ductless.

Do these work well? Or even pretty good? I’d be happy to just avoid the grease above the cabinet. I have a large ceiling fan and a window right next to the stove, so its not so bad. I’ve also considered an old style pull chain vent model that just sucks it out the side of the house. Can you even get those anymore? Our house was built in the 20s, so I’m sure it wouldn’t look out of place.

My only concern is electrical. Can I run a wire from the range hood to the stove outlet? I’ve dabbled in simple electrical stuff, but I’ve never run a new wire. Any advice would be great, except please not "call an electrician!!" …..they’re too much money! If it seems to dangerous, then I’ll just use the ceiling fan more often….if its simple enough, I’ll give it a shot.

Thanks for any advice!
Thanks very much for the advice, I think I understand the procedure…. I have a double outlet next to my stove, plus the outlet behind my stove which my stove is plugged into. Can I hook up a wire to the outlets by my countertop? Its only about 3 feet tops, so it would be the shortest connection. I’m not sure exactly what the confusion was regarding the stove outlet and extension cords…I might have used the wrong words in my question. I plan on hardwiring it, I just wanted to know if it is okay to hardwire it to a nearby plug. Sounds like it is….? Seems really simple though! I bought 50 feet of 14-2 NM B with Ground. I hope thats the right stuff! Attach to fan, hook up fan to cabinet, run wire through wall to plug, hook up to plug (gotta check my wiring book for specifics on that one) Does this all sound about right? Thanks so much!!!

Please help me pick kitchen Aid stand mixer Color!!?

CreatingCottageStyle — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 09:11:14 +0000

ok so i’m having a horrible time deciding on what color i should get for a kitchen aid stand mixer.. i live in a duplex so this will not be the place i spend my whole life in hehe i’m in my late 20′s.. and my kitchen has white cabinets white fridge and the countertops are like a dark blueish green with dark navy or black specks it’s soo hard to tell.. they are kind of weird haha… and on the walls they are an almond type white color and the lower half of the walls are a country cottage greenish color but i know if i ever moved i would not keep that green color scheme and i plan on having my mixer for a very long time.. not sure if i want to go with the stainless steel colored ones i feel i may get bored with them but I do like warm colors and homey colors and do like the cottagey feel of a kitchen.. like i love the white cabinets that i have and i like a light airy feel.. I want something that would look good now in my kitchen but if i moved i want it to be neutral enough where i don’t have to get a different color scheme.. i was wondering what the almond color would look like but i don’t know if it will blend too much with the white cabinets and almond walls.. thanks for listening to me rant and if you have any suggestions thanks so much!!
here is the website with all the colors

http://www.kitchenaid.com/flash.cmd?/#/product/KSM150PSER/

How do I match my kitchen floor color?

CreatingCottageStyle — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 15:46:36 +0000

We just moved here and my kitchen is great except for the floor. The cabinets are maple stain with stainless steel knobs, and a stainless steel countertop with stainless appliances. There are two windows and we get plenty of light during the day. The walls are white, with wainscotting that was painted, nearly halfway up the wall, and we re-painted that a soft neutral brown-taupe. (It’s Beachwood from Canadian Tire if you want to see it.) I found a vinyl floor the exact color of my trim, the style is smaller tiles, and they are textured a bit with slightly darker taupe thrown in. DH says we should go for a darker color, but how will that look? It won’t match anything in the kitchen. Is that ok? The floor he likes has more of a gray/brown look with textured stone tile vinyl. It just doesn’t seem to match the trim, but he says it will accent it. I’m going for a warm cottage feeling to soften all the stainless, and the trim color goes well with it. The vinyl I picked really blends with the kitchen and trim. What will look best?

Building upperfloor extensions?

CreatingCottageStyle — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:22:33 +0000

I’m thinking of buying a property in Norfolk. The kitchen is an extension in itself but I need to build another floor on top of that for a bathroom and bedroom. Permission was granted for this sometime ago but has now lapsed (I don’t know when). Are there any pitfalls ahead that I should lookout for?. The kitchen ext. is 25 years old. It’s not a listed building, but a 200 year old cottage.

How to decorate my open concept house?

CreatingCottageStyle — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 16:09:24 +0000

I want to tie in red into my kitchen, dining room, and living room which are all open concept. The kitchen has LOTS of cabinet space, medium stain, tiled floors that are tan, brownish with hints of red (also in dining). My kitchen table is a medium to light oak table. I currently don’t have chairs for the table so I was thinking of buying red parson chairs. My living room set is cottage. I have a large checked couch with red, yellow, green, blue and two large red chairs with white distressed coffee tables/end tables and I saw going to accent with seashells etc. How do I tie this all in? Red is my main theme, what else can I add? Especially in the dining room…