This one is a perfect 10 if you ask me. I found the picture at one of my favorite haunts Houzz.com, and the kitchen is by Valerie Pedersen who works in the SF Bay Area.

Wow! I love, love, love it! I was searching for window seats and I came across this shot. I really love the built-in seating (storage inside would be cool). And while we’re talking seating… I love that bench seat too! The whole thing just works for me.

A Closer Look

I see much more than just the seating here though. One great thing about this kitchen is that it’s timeless. not much here is going to be outdated in five years. The white cabinets and black granite look awesome with that white subway tile wall splash.

(trivial info: traditionally, the “backsplash” was only a few inches above the counter. When the whole wall between the upper and lower cabinet was done it was referred to as a “wall splash”… not so much nowadays)

I also love the farm sink in this kitchen. To me, the whole kitchen almost has to be designed around a farm sink for it to look right. This one looks great! Great faucet too.

Great Trimwork Too

One of the other things that make this room look great is the use of “normal” but beautiful trimwork.

• Standard 5.25″ Crown
• Simple window casing
• Upgraded, but simple, baseboards
• Small Crown on upper cabinets

Some Great DIY Ideas Here

When I look at this picture, I see a list of individual projects that most beginners can handle.

• Painting – the biggest thing in this picture almost gets missed. That is a great contrast between wall color and cabinet and trim color. You can do that right now in your house!
• Light Fixture – the next step-up the DIY difficulty ladder is installing a cool light fixture. Installing a fixture is something you can learn to do with a Google Video search. It makes a huge difference (just don’t skip the “turn off the breaker” step)
• Cabinet Hardware – Maybe easier than the light fixture is to change out your pulls, knobs, and hinges. Heck, once all that is off, maybe you want to spray paint your cabinets!
• Run that trim! You can so do this! Start with the easiest thing, probably the window casing; maybe the baseboard. When you want to try crown molding, do that little crown on the cabinets first so you can figure out how to hold it upright in your saw for easy angle cuts.
• Build A Window Seat! – Once you get your skills to the point where you can run that crown, you can tackle the window seat. Then you’ll be in high-style!

Have fun!

I wrote a quick post this weekend about towel warmers, which I would say are a “luxury” component of a bathroom. And… I’ve had pretty bathrooms on my brain ever since. So I dug-up some pictures (or am I supposed to call them “images” now?).

3 Beautiful Bathrooms

Clean, Cool, Traditional

I found this bathroom inspiration at BHG.com, and it’s full of details I love.

• Tile on the ceiling is nice and the angled pattern is a nice touch.
• That brick-style tile pattern is called “running-bond“… lingo.
• I love the way the wainscot goes so high up the wall.

Plenty of room in this retreat, or so it would seem!

• I’m totally loving the built-in window seat with drawers in the base.
• And I’m loving the glass doors too!
• The trimwork around the windows is even more impressive. Very nicely done.

• And the panels on the front of the tub…if anyone talks to Rhoda, tell her about this.

Simple, Colorful, Classy

• Great Color – I really like this shade against white trim!
• Cool fixtures and hardware – can make a simple bathroom pop!
• And of course… I like the trimwork. Big base. Wrapped window!

• Nice Floor – going against the grain using wood in the bath.

Bright and Comfortable

• The shutters are the first thing I notice. I really love the way they did the window in four sections. You can open the top for light and keep the bottom closed for privacy.

• Overall, this bathroom is just really put together well. Everything works! I like the linen rack and the rug.

Hang-On to Inspiring Photos!

As a remodeling contractor and designer, one of the most useful things a client could do to help me understand what made them tick, was to give me a folder full of pictures they loved. It really helped me to come up with a design that was “just perfect!”

Keeping a “dream file” for each room in your house will help you really develop a sense of exactly what you like and don’t like so that when the time comes, you’re not forced into making a split-second choice. And if you keep your eyes on the goal, the time when you just sit back and enjoy a warm bath in a new retreat will come. No doubt about it!

Want To Talk About It?

I’m always forgetting to answer questions in the comments.  I’m sorry!  It’s not because I don’t want to, just something about the way it works, the process of getting an email, logging into the blog, navigating to the comments…etc. Plus I don’t know if you ever remember to come back and look!

Facebook is working much better to facilitate a real discussion about remodeling. I would love to talk to you there about bathrooms or whatever else you want to talk about. So far this weekend, a couple of readers have gotten involved there and I’m excited about it. Come check it out, it’s fun!

Remodeling Guy on Facebook or Follow me on Twitter

And of course, comments rock too! Have a great week!

Bath #1: BHG.com Bath #2: DIYIdeas.com Bath #3: Sunset.com

Awhile back I took a picture of a pretty room and simply pointed out the details that I thought made a real difference. I enjoyed doing that, readers seemed to like it, and my friend and cohort, The Nester, loved it. She said I should do that every week. So I asked her to send me some pictures, and boy did she! Golly gee!

She sent so many, that for the foreseeable future I’ll take a close look at them one per week…

The Nester’s Pic of The Week!

A Beautiful Traditional Little Kitchen!

Wow! So, who has heard of a vision board? This might make a good addiction (er, I mean addition) to one! This kitchen is smokin’ hot!

Here are some of the details I love, that you can incorporate into a project of any scope (just in case you decide to scale back a tad…).

The Floor

These tile floors that are made up of various sizes always get my attention (there is a word for it, but it escapes me… modular?). But in this kitchen the colors and textures go perfectly with one another.

I’m relatively certain that this is natural stone, but the fact the even I can’t say for sure is a testament to the quality of some of the manufactured products available. If you can afford it though, I would splurge on real natural stone! It’s my favorite… or one of them!

The Window

Like, the picture says is at all man!

But seriously, you can come up with ways to get abundant natural light into your kitchen. (see recent post on Bump-Out Additions)

The Island

I’m seriously in love with kitchen islands. But not just any island, I have standards.

For me to give my heart to an island it must offer one very important thing to me: A place to sit. I love islands that you can sit around.

The feel of sitting right in the kitchen and hanging out while a meal is prepared, eating casual meals there, just laughing and enjoying time with family and friends. That’s what this island says to me.

A couple of points:

• Notice the height. It’s at standard counter height (36″) or maybe a little higher. Again, we’re talking feel, but I prefer to sit at a higher table for casual meals. And of-course, it makes the whole surface a usable workspace.
• See how they used a different counter? I wish I could see this closer because I can’t tell if this is a concrete counter, a wood counter, or a stone counter? Anybody have a counter-opinion? I just think it sets the island apart and gives cool contrast to the kitchen using different surfaces. And I like the edge treatment.
• Take a look at the detailed work under the counter on the face of the cabinet. It isn’t hard to add a little detail here when doing a whole kitchen over, and it makes a really significant difference!
• See this post for more islands (Hooked On Islands)

The Ceiling

Hang on while I gather my thoughts… this kind of thing stuns me a little bit! I’m a wood nut and I love lots of woodwork in a house. I’m a ceiling nut too! Did you know that was a thing? Neither did my wife until she started to realize that one of the first things I notice about rooms is the ceiling! Ceilings are huge canvasses, so often left blank!

This kind of thing can be done on your ceiling. Any ceiling really. I wrote a post about it. (see Beam Me Up!)

This ceiling in particular has some great detail to it. Look closely and you’ll see.

One final thought about the ceiling…see how the lights are NOT symmetrical. People argue about this stuff. Some say that you should just put the recessed cans where you need them for task lighting, others (like me) say that it should be even. Same number per square, same location in each square… Who cares, right? Just thinking out loud.

A Beautiful Kitchen Overall

So, overall, if you want to set yourself some lofty goals for a traditional kitchen, this might be a great place to start!

• great cabinets
• great flooring
• great lighting
• great details
• beautiful colors
• abundant light
• plenty of work surface
• a place to sit
• and a cute little stool!

And with that we wrap-up this first edition of The Nester’s Pic of The Week. Stay tuned and see what else she sent me!

And here is my question to you…

What are your thoughts? What do you like? Any questions for me?

Just let me know in the comments!

I’m a huge fan of nice trim work! One of the reasons I love it so much is that something relatively simple can finish off a job to look a million times better.

Take a look at this room and imagine how different it would look if it had simple “drywall returns” to the windows. The woodwork has a truly impressive impact on this room.

You Can Do This!

I’m telling you, this isn’t as hard as it looks! There really aren’t that many parts and it’s all just wood that’s going to be painted.

The part around the inside of the opening is called the “jamb” or “frame”, depending on who you ask. Whatever you call it, it’s usually just a piece of 1X4.

The part that creates the pretty “picture frame” effect is called the casing. You can buy this at any building supply seller in a number of great shapes, called profiles.

At the bottom, of course, is the window sill. And this particular window is done in my favorite fashion, which sports an “apron” under the sill.

When you look closely, you can see that there really isn’t anything complicated in how this all goes together.

Do the Sill First

The sill is cut in one piece which extends from one side of the rough opening to the other. To create this look, the sill should be cut with small returns that will provide a solid place for the bottom of the casing legs to rest.

The Apron is usually just a piece of the casing turned upside down. There are a number of ways to finish the end of the apron trim. I’ve included a video at the end which shows you one of the best ways.

Miter the Top

I like the look of a cleanly done 45-Degree corner at the top. Just like this picture here. This allows the profile of the casing to carry around the window and frames the opening nicely.

Another option is to use rosettes. Rosettes are nice because they eliminate the need to do a miter cut, which is really helpful if you don’t have a miter saw! The video shows how to use rosettes, but I say get a miter saw! You’ll use it for project after project!

Door trim is very similar and if all you’re doing is replacing the casing, it’s even more simple than this window!

I have so many more great trim options to show you. I’m just starting to learn that it’s better if I don’t try and do it all in one post! So if you’re not already a subscriber, I encourage you to join The Crew by signing up for our RSS subscription or our regular blog updates by email. It’s free and then you won’t miss anything!

Here is the video: http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to/video/how-to-install-a-window-trim-141347/

So, what do you think? Ready to give it a try? Talk to me!