The Good
I know you’ve all been wondering… Well, we took your advice and, after performing some financial contortions, we went ahead and had the hardwood floors finished before we moved in. And I love them. Bloody love them. Take a look and you’ll see why…
Also good: the kitchen floor, which is done in the kind of lovely big cream tiles that I would have chosen myself. Perfect!
And the gas cooker. There is something just very, very right about cooking on gas. After 15 years of using rubbish electric rings, I am so glad to hear that click-click-click-vooosh as the gas fires up!
And finally, the porch. This picture was taken as I sat comfortably, rocking gently back and forth on the porch swing. That’s the apple tree you’re seeing on the end there. Oh, and we’ve got rid of that rather naff bamboo blind. And the rolled up carpet will be gone this weekend.
The Bad
Ok, now, we’ll start off gently. The fridge is bad. It is old and unloved. The door handle is falling apart — I’ve never seen a padded fridge-doorhandle, but this one is padded and all the padding is falling out. The door seal is held together with duct-tape and the even the shelves have been duct-taped in place. Last night, one gave way and the milk, orange juice, and cider all came crashing to the ground. M has retaped it back in place but, man, this fridge is in bad shape!
And now, onwards to the kitchen itself. Ladies and gentlemen, look carefully at those cupboards. Count them. Imagine trying to fit everything you need to feed a family of four in them. Because that’s it. That’s all there is to my kitchen. Think about fitting in all the plates and cups and bowls, all the knives and forks (anyone spotted there is no utensil drawer?), all the food, all the cleaning supplies, the microwave, the toaster… When we looked around the house, I remember thinking that there wasn’t much counter-space, but I just didn’t clock that there is NO cupboard space at all until I started unpacking. Look at how the dishwasher is positioned so that you can’t even get to all the corner space to the left of it — all that storage space is completely inaccessible!
Now, to be fair, there is a small pantry cupboard that you can’t see — it’s about 18″ wide and runs floor to ceiling, and I’ve got most of my food jammed in there. And we’ve bought some freestanding shelves to go in the space just right of where I was standing when I took this picture. But even still, this is a very badly designed and very small kitchen.
It will be rectified.
The Ugly
Behold, the family bathroom! Behold the original 1940′s decor! The daring pink and blue colour scheme! The classic tile (which covers the every wall, even the corner behind the door jam — what did they think people were going to do in this bathroom?!?)! The very blue bath! And the original blue bathroom accessories.
And lo! You can follow this bathroom in its journey through the decades, as it gained a 1980s faux marble sink (in a lovely fawn colour, such a bold statement against the pink and blue) complete with backstage-bare-bulb-lit vanity unit, and then some not-quite-matching blue floor tiles in the mid-1990s, and finally the very modern white low-flow toilet (which is very nice, but matches absolutely noth-thing). Oh, and the occasional random quirky cream tile where one of the pink ones had to be replaced. Mmmmm…. and the old mold marks on the grouting that will not come off no matter what I do to them.
Yes, it is ugliness personified. And altogether, it creates a mishmash so vile that I have an overwhelming desire to rip it all out with my bare hands that almost borders on a panic.
M, being a bloke, sees absolutely nothing wrong with it. It’s a bathroom and all the plumbing works. What is the matter?
He doesn’t need to understand. He just needs to follow my instructions and fix it. Soon. Every morning I start my day standing groggily in a hot shower, trying to rouse myself to consciousness — and when I do, I open my eyes to find I am swathed in a pink-and-blue cocoon that gives my tender early-morning nerves an unmerciful jolt. And, really, no one should have to suffer that if it can be at all avoided.
And the I just can’t decide…
And here we have the same 1940s bathroom loveliness… the classic sink, the same matching accessories (why? why a toothbrush holder in the powder room?), the same insane all-over tiling (how much spraying did they expect?!?) and yet…
And yet, I can’t decide about this. I think I almost like it. Almost… I mean, I have to say that it just doesn’t feel right when you’re bent over cleaning a red toilet. Toilets should not be red. And I’m not sure I’m keen on the college-team colour scheme-ness of it. It does look like some football fanatic has been let loose in the decorating aisle… But, it’s… ok. It’s got a certain charm. A certain… I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t bring myself to hate it in the way I feel I really ought to.
And M is over the moon with it. For some reason, he loves this bathroom. He spent the first day we were in the house using this toilet exclusively and then skipping about afterwards singing, “I’ve got a red toi-let! I’ve got a red toi-let!”
I don’t pretend to understand. It must be a man-thing. But I don’t mind. I almost… like it…?
Ok. This one stays.
Stumble it!
This was a fun read! Did you know they make an epoxy paint that will go over glossy bathroom tiles? Works like a charm and no need to rip everything out and retile — it’s just a lot of elbow grease while painting.
Love your floors! I have hardwood floor envy.
That was quite entertaining – from the beautiful floor boarding job to the scary pink and blue bathroom – argh!
I’m sure it will all look great once you have given it a face lift.
Looking forward to seeing the progress.
is it sick that i kinda like the pink and blue? and i *really* like the red and grey!
I can barely type for all the shaking and giggling I’m doing over the image of your husband singing “I’ve got a red toilet.” But, I just love your hard wood floors. I’m sure in time everything will be just how you both want it.
I love the red toliet. I think that bathroom looks great. Just change the floor to match a bit more. As for the kitchen, well that will be your first real remodel and think of what you can do with it. How fun when its done.
I love the wood floors. Glad you did them.
Its yours. How fantastic is that. Its THE reason you moved to the states. You did it and you guys should feel very proud of yourselves. Kudos.
Thanks guys for your comments! I’m am so chuffed to be able to show off my new house!!!!
Queen — thanks for the heads up on the paint. But… I think if we pained over them, they’d still feel pink and blue to me. They’ve got to come out!!!
Jen — yes, it is sick. It is very wrong. I think you need to sit down and spend some time with yourself thinking about this before it gets out of hand.
NCMrsD — I know, he had me in stitches as well. I never thought I could like a red toilet, but that’s the moment I started to like ours.
Butterfly — I just have to put the record straight and say that we didn’t move here in order to own a house. We moved because we were living off M’s wages and my savings (redundancy) combined, and the redundancy money was running out. We had outgrown our house, but couldn’t afford to rent a bigger one — and we couldn’t even afford the one we were in without the redundancy money. Our only choices were for me to go back to work and put the girls in daycare, or to move. It would have been unlikely that I could find a job in our rural area that paid enough after taking out childcare costs, and we felt if we were going to move to a new area away from M’s kids anyway, we might as well move to the US, where he’d make more, my parents were, and we could buy a house.
This is something that we both often forget, and M drags it out and beats himself up about it when he’s feeling his lowest. He says to me, “How could I leave my kids just to buy a house?!?” And then we really have to sit down and remember the whole situation, and remember it was a lot more than just buying a house. So, given that we forget it all the time, I just felt I needed to say it here as well.
But yeah, the house is ours, and that feels great. I love the floors and the porch, and all sorts. And… sorta… even the red toilet!
My business partner is a decorator on the side and I know he would say to leave the basic decor in those bathrooms and capitalize on their quirkiness – play up the 40′s – 50′s theme. We went to visit some people who had one of those pink tiled bathrooms from the 50′s and they asked his advice – he said leave it, spiff it up and decorate around it. It’s unique, it’s different, and it can add to the charm of the house. I seem to remember a ‘grout pen’ that you can use to touch up around the tiles. I think the house looks very charming and comfortable – the kitchen may not be ideal but you will soon adapt – at least until you can tackle a full remodel. The porch looks wonderful. I think your family will enjoy the house. It seems very ‘homey’.
I feel for you on that bathroom! For the pink tiles, I would suggest getting some tile paint at lowes. There is a kit that will make them all white and it may make it bearable for the time being! Best of luck!
Great house! I like the red toilet too.
I have about 1/2 of the cupboard space you do so I definitely feel your pain there.
I agree that you can pretty up the bathrooms and really capitalise on the 40s charm. I LOVE the red bathroom, but agree that you should change the floor to suit it a bit more. And there is loads you can do with the pink/blue to tie it together.
Fridge and kitchen though, I am with you.
PS The floors look mega-fab.
The hardwood floors are stunning!
I think you will need to make a trip to IKEA for some solutions for that kitchen until you get the chance to remodel it. I don’t even HAVE a kitchen yet, but when I do it will be a wee one like yours.
What is that drawer to the left of the sink? Can that not be the utensil drawer? You could always get a free standing island with additional drawers and space underneath for storage. It looks like the kitchen is big enough for something decent size. You could keep the cabinets in the kitchen, but remove the hardware or even remove just the doors and replace them with something else. Your pink bathroom reminds me of the one at my mom’s house, the one I used when I lived at home. Her home is a 1950′s ranch. I hated that color, but I loved, loved, loved the ENORMOUS mirror. That red bathroom is cute too. You could have a party and decorate that one with kitschy 50s Christmas ornaments. You’ll have plenty of fun redecorating. Love the hardwood floors.
Oh yeah, another thing. A lot of people are putting the microwave over the range/oven/cooker. Take down the exhaust hood and see if you can get an electric outlet in the cabinet above the cooker. That’s what I did. Fortunately my cabinet already had an outlet.
I’m de-lurking here! I have been reading for a couple of months now, a friend passed it along to me because I just moved back to the US from the UK with my N. Irish husband and one year old son. She thought I might find some similarities – though you were in the UK much longer than I was (only two years here… but it was enough for some major culture shock upon return to the US!).
I felt the need to de-lurk because I can so sympathize on the storage issue in your kitchen. We have TWO cupboards in our kitchen now excluding the one under the sink which really – you can’t put food or dishes there soo its really just cleaning supplies. Above the counter we have dishes, tupperware, appliances, glasses, kids stuff, etc. Below we have half the amount of space for pots and pans, cutting boards, etc. All our food is on one shelf at the moment in an open pantry near our backdoor, and we have finally received the rolling shelves we ordered to put it on permanently. I can’t even imagine who designed these kitchens! Honestly… Good luck with your renovations!
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