# Kitchen/living room ideas?



## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Let's break this into pieces. The kitchen cabinets look to be in decent shape and have fairly simple lines. I think to start, you should think about cleaning them up, priming and painting them. I would switch out the hardware to something more contemporary. I think this would make a big difference. Next approach up the expense ladder would be to reface them but I would see how well painting works for you. 

That soffit can go. 

Everything looks rather dark and sort of gloomy to me. It may just be the pictures?

You do not have a lot of counterspace. If you are a microwave person where would you put it if not above the stove? I don't like microwaved food so would not miss one. 

That track lighting does not seem to pointing at anything? Switching it to a track system that provided you with more useful lighting is part of your upcoming lighting redo?

You do not have that much countertop space to replace so this will not be a major expense. Does the laminate really bother you though? Some sort of stone or even glass might be nice. Or something like the terrazo-ish material made from concrete and old recycled bottles is very attractive. 

Can you do a little floorplan sketch? I was getting lost trying to see how the rooms flow into each other. I use Sweet Home 3D for floorplans if you want to be more formal. It is free, open source software with a fairly easy learning curve. 

As for color? What are your preferences. We should inventory what is staying and needs to be worked around. Flooring, appliances, etc.


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## I'm no BobVilla (Apr 11, 2013)

> Let's break this into pieces. The kitchen cabinets look to be in decent shape and have fairly simple lines. I think to start, you should think about cleaning them up, priming and painting them. I would switch out the hardware to something more contemporary. I think this would make a big difference. Next approach up the expense ladder would be to reface them but I would see how well painting works for you.


I guess I would say they're in decent condition. But the doors are incredibly cheap feeling as the frame is solid wood but the panels (front & back) are 1/8" plywood, leaving a roughly 1" hollow core between them. My previous apartment had nicer. I've priced doors/drawers on various websites and I'm actually _leaning_ towards making my own replacements...be it a simple shaker style or even a raised panel. 



> That soffit can go.


:yes:



> Everything looks rather dark and sort of gloomy to me. It may just be the pictures?


No, it is the room. I mentioned in a similar posting I made in the electrical forum that this room is very dim and cave-like. I'm sure the Oregon weather was gloomy and cloudy the day I snapped the photos, too.



> You do not have a lot of counterspace. If you are a microwave person where would you put it if not above the stove? I don't like microwaved food so would not miss one.
> You do not have that much countertop space to replace so this will not be a major expense. Does the laminate really bother you though? Some sort of stone or even glass might be nice. Or something like the terrazzo-ish material made from concrete and old recycled bottles is very attractive.


It's definitely lacking counter space for a full-size microwave. It gets used roughly every other day. I could place it on a shelf just inside the garage. No, it doesn't bother me terrible, but depending on price I may want to update.



> That track lighting does not seem to pointing at anything? Switching it to a track system that provided you with more useful lighting is part of your upcoming lighting redo?


It doesn't seem to be directional and the lumen output is very low. I'm actually leaning towards a combination of recessed and under-cabinet along with adding above-cabinet after the soffit is gone. Along with something over the table.



> Can you do a little floorplan sketch? I was getting lost trying to see how the rooms flow into each other. I use Sweet Home 3D for floorplans if you want to be more formal. It is free, open source software with a fairly easy learning curve. As for color? What are your preferences. We should inventory what is staying and needs to be worked around. Flooring, appliances, etc.


I do have a simple floorplan sketch of the kitchen/living and did roughly model the room in SweetHome (but not the frontroom or rest of the house). I'm not sure on colors...and now my wife is saying she wants to do the backyard before my daughters birthday party before cabinets/painting but after lighting  So lighting very soon, maybe next weekend.

SweetHome file 6.2mb:
https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=B64469E7791E8059!219

Not to scale (re-sized to 65%)


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## Blondesense (Sep 23, 2008)

Hey NoBob,
Could you please resize that pic and shrink it a bit. 
It would make your thread a lot easier to read and would probably get you more responses.


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## Jim McClain (Dec 2, 2006)

I agree with Blondesense. In fact, just use the forum's upload system. It resizes your pictures automatically. I'm not into scrolling left and right to read a thread, so I don't even know what this is about yet, except for the title of the thread looked interesting.

Jim


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## Dorado (Feb 7, 2013)

Two things I hate are empty spaces between the top of kitchen cabinets and the ceiling and no range hood. And I prefer vented range hoods.


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## cleveman (Dec 17, 2011)

That blue color with the tan and the cabinets is excellent.

You are ahead of the curve. 

What you need to do now is get some orange going.

Remember, a genius is never recognized until they are gone.


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## I'm no BobVilla (Apr 11, 2013)

Hey, thanks for the replies. I re-sized the diagram pic to 65% but the text is still going across my screen (and yours?)...how do I fix that?


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## timkitchen (Apr 12, 2013)

The creativity of your house is really wonderful. The blue colour with the tan and the cabinets is an excellent choice of yours as it gives a perfect lighting to the kitchen. If you want smaller budget things then a full overlay door style will be perfect match because it does not conceal the frame. The idea of using Back Splashes is also effective to update your cooking space. These things will surely advance the beauty of your kitchen.


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## Pianolady (Jun 28, 2012)

Your floor looks a lot like our tile. We have black laminate counters & back splashes. Definitely a budget-friendly way to go, but I like it just fine for now. The former owner actually did this kitchen, and I appreciate the extra cabinetry to the ceiling. Not sure how you could do that without cabinet replacement though. We replaced the cabinetry hardware with stainless, which updated it a lot. Do you know if there is anything behind those soffits?










The lighting in our kitchen was horrible. We recently added recessed lighting above the counters every 5 feet or so, and it's great.


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## henrylarry6 (Nov 2, 2012)

Since you're on a budget, I would recommend using the wall stickers from WallPops. They give the room a whole new look without breaking the bank.


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## alexjoe (Jun 10, 2013)

Yes the look will change.


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