• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Anyone else doing some home improvement projects?

Christy

Angel Diva
Before you sell, you can paint everything beige, or put in a “paint allowance” if your colors are REALLY bold (i have a deep turquoise in my home office) ... But I love color and we have a lot of it in our house... there’s a deep joy in having your home be the colors you want.

The house next to me is going up for sale and the realtor is in charge of fixing it up for the owner, who lives elsewhere, and I really really hope it's anything but beige or light gray. Fingers crossed it's at least that white with black trim that is trendy right now. I too love color and yellows and blues are big in my house (our office is teal-ish, kind of like your turquoise).
 

newboots

Angel Diva
I paid a designer $300 to tell me what color white to paint my entire house before I moved in last fall.

I have friends whose house I had always admired, even before I met them. It was painted in slightly offbeat shades - nothing odd, but simply not the standard. Turns out a friend of theirs is a “color consultant” and gave them a free consultation as a wedding present. That house turned my head every time I walked or drove by!

I’ve moved away, but IIRC it was a muted reddish house with a sort of gray trim. Sounds ordinary, but in those shades it looked terrific!

I don’t know if you got your money’s worth, @Pequenita, but I hope you’re happy with the choice!
 

lisamamot

Angel Diva
I used to have a sherry colored dining room, a red living room, yellow common area, and a spa blue bedroom......you get the picture. I love color, but I don't do much of it with paint anymore. After the experience of changing from the red and sherry, I shudder at doing too much of that again.

I moved on to mostly neutral walls, although I love an accent wall. I add my color with throw pillows, blankets, art work, vases, shower curtains, towels and the such. I have bags of throw pillows/blankets in the attic and multiple shower curtains so I can change-up the look of my house to suit the season or a holiday. Decorating is such a personal thing so absolutely do what makes you happy.

Not too many big projects going on for us now, but there is always something on the list!

@Cyclone6 - unlike @diymom the green room was a no-go for me, but I like the gray; gray doesn't make me sad at all and it works so well with many different pops of color. Different strokes for different folks!
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
The price of 2 x 4's, drywall etc has exploded here too. I'm only planning on redoing the vanity top, the floor (vinyl planks) and light fixture for sure. The toilet is not great, but functions. It's a problem to clean. I looked at a new vanity and cupboard to match....$2,000. I just hate the top of the vanity, so it's going instead.

Now the cottage....that's going to take a loan...I want new floors and new kitchen. With the reno I also want a new entrance to the place. So loan or lottery win!
 

Iwannaski

Angel Diva
We had our basement finished last summer. Our contract to do it was signed in October 2019. They started May 2020. I was talking to the designer for the contractor in July, because a friend of mine was looking for estimates, and she said the prices had almost doubled since our contract for a heavy construction project like a basement (lumber, drywall, flooring, etc) because of the supply chain issues and market prices.

Husband and I felt pretty lucky.

@Cyclone6 ... obviously for you and BF, as you freshen, you will have to eat some of those frogs, but the market will have to correct in the next year or two... right!?!?!?!

Mind you, because of that, many of the old homes in our really hot neighborhood that have been updated are selling really fast - the cost to either build or buy/gut/renovate is too high! It's a little out of control and I suspect a bit of a bubble, but we're not moving for a while so no big deal.
 

snoWYmonkey

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
@Pequenita. What was the secret to her choice of whites? I am building and chose 2 different whites. Been agonizing for months and can still change it since we are a team of 2 building the house.

Staining ceiling paneling is this week's major project. Though I have done a lot wiring too.
0424211319a_HDR.jpgoutput.jpg
 

Djburrito

Certified Ski Diva
Guest bedroom #1 Before:
View attachment 15719
I call the green "two day old guacamole."

During (needs another coat of paint):
View attachment 15720
The cream color is called "shoelace."

The new carpet will be a brown-grey called "mineral beige"

Guest bedroom #2, Before:

View attachment 15721
I call the grey in this room "seasonal affective disorder."

I finished priming it today.
Our entire new place was painted this color of grey! I want to repaint with something warmer but I'm getting overruled. :(
 

Iwannaski

Angel Diva
@snoWYmonkey ... love your view. Also, impressive construction work and catcher's squat! I am NOT a designer - but I really think about color a LOT. If you have two whites, I would pick your color based on your sun exposure.... if you're north/east facing, I would do the warmer white, and if you're south/west facing, you can get away with a cooler white. With those gorgeous windows... I envision you'll have a lot of light, so you could even add in some gray/greige to make it cozy? Maybe you could find a designer and do an in-kind for ski instruction? The friends I have who have worked with those folks have ended up with really neat upgrades to their environment. Like furniture and color combos that they NEVER would have done but that really make their home cozy?

@Djburrito ... the designer for our basement had us do a pale warm gray/greige on the walls, and I love it (I did the painting to shave off some $$, DH was still a bit hobbled) ... It's Benjamin Moore Bruton White. Is the painting barrier the labor or color selection? :smile:
 

Cyclone6

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, but as I enjoyed an end of day beer in a folding chair in our empty living room, I was looking at the high ceilings and the wall above the hallway. The wall needs a pair of old-timey skis hanging above the hallway entrance. Where would be the best place to find some?
 

diymom

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Best pricing- Craigslist. Best selection- eBay. Best fun for the hunt- yard sales and estate sales. Well, those last two are probably best pricing, but definitely more of a hunt.

For eBay, good search terms are "wooden skis" , "antique skis", and "vintage skis".

If you like a good hunt, I'd say start with keeping your eyes open at yardsales and CL over the summer, and then switch to auction sites if you haven't found anything by the fall.
 

Iwannaski

Angel Diva
Also, goodwill has auctions on their website (kind of like eBay... but from different stores around the country) ...
current auctions

(iCloud is down so a major chunk of what I'm trying to do today is impaired...)

 

TeleChica

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I have a small 1-BR condo in Jamaica Plain that I rent out. My tenants moved out April 1, and I thought I was just going to have to do a bit of painting myself, but when I went over to look (had not been inside in 3-4 years) it was clear the place really needed a lot of TLC. So, new windows (long overdue), granite countertops, refinishing the floors, and painting the interior. Have spent a bunch of time finding contractors, but I managed to do it at pretty good prices. A painter we had used before gave me the names of all the other contractors, which has helped immensely. He actually gave us a really high quote (he's super busy) so I found a different painter I like. We'll see how all the work goes.

One thing I learned is that right now as busy as everyone is, it is not the time to try to hire the people on Yelp with multiple 5 star reviews. They are all slammed and their prices reflect it.

I did have the designer at the Ben Moore store recommend paint colors. She of course suggested griege colors. Not my first choice, but I think it will look really nice when all is said and done.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
I know I'm getting ahead of myself here, but as I enjoyed an end of day beer in a folding chair in our empty living room, I was looking at the high ceilings and the wall above the hallway. The wall needs a pair of old-timey skis hanging above the hallway entrance. Where would be the best place to find some?

I second @diymom's suggestions, and will add Facebook Marketplace. In the Hudson Valley I have found that Craigslist is full of scammers, but that was not the case in Vermont. (Big surprise.)
 

Bookworm

Angel Diva
We're remodeling our kitchen. I went to the Restore Store and found about 3 grand in Fireclay Tile for $150 bucks. I almost fainted. That is really helping the budget since I was all set to pull the trigger on the tile anyway. More money for skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggg
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
We're remodeling our kitchen. I went to the Restore Store and found about 3 grand in Fireclay Tile for $150 bucks. I almost fainted. That is really helping the budget since I was all set to pull the trigger on the tile anyway. More money for skiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggg
I love a deal like that!
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,235
Messages
497,602
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top