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DH's Cape...Inside, for Emagineer

User
13 years ago

It is not totally done, and I'll have to take more pictures of the two bedrooms upstairs, and I've never dared take a picture of DH's garage or his basement, which is fully finished. Nor the floored and insulated but unheated attic.

But overall, I've covered most of his house in the set of pictures I will post here.

This cape was built in 1948, and has belonged to two families, with DH buying it in 1962 or 1963. He finished the upstairs with two bedrooms and a bath. He finished the basement. He added a single story family room to the back which measures 12 x 34 feet; and a sun porch off the south side, about 7 x 17 feet. Most recently, he turned the main bedroom into a master suite with a walkin closet, and what will become an ensuite bath. He also turned the storage room above the garage into a study/bedroom opening into the dining room. And, he also at my request laid ash Bellawood floors in the small parlor/living room and master suite, as well as rebuilding the L/R fireplace and mantle. I added the plantation shutters on the main floor windows, and painted throughout except for the basement. So this is where the house stands as of today. Hope you like it, Emagineer. I love Capes. So very homey.



























Comments (19)

  • TxMarti
    13 years ago

    Oh my, my, my! I love it. Your dh has excellent taste if that is all his furniture. I love the way it's decorated too. Is the built in cabinet, with glass cabinets above, in the dining room or kitchen? It's great.

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Marti, the picture you refer to, that is in the dining room. He built the uppers and the lowers. The lowers are the depth of regular UPPER cabs, and the uppers are even more shallow. They are good for display. The lowers are good for storage. He had the Silestone quarts counter tops of the connected kitchen continued on these lower cabs.

    For some reason, the photos I uploaded showed the other day, but today they are only shown as a blue row of text today. Can anyone see them still?

    About the furniture. The dining table and chairs and buffet were his. I bought the rest, except the sectional sofa came from his daughter....we got her old one when we gave her a new one for Christmas. Seemed like a good idea to me, since we will not have room in Mobile for a second house full of furniture when we sell up here. The poster bed in the master bedroom is a full size with really new fine mattress. Then we have THREE twin sets upstairs in the guest bedrooms, all brand new and matching frames, so we'll save those to move south....at least TWO of them will be used by a granddaughter who will start college in a year or so. Some of this furniture will be saved for her use. But, the buffet, a glass-fronted hutch going with the buffet, a couple of student desks, some big low chests, a couple of highboy chests, those are looking for new homes. Yes, we've gotten as far as choosing what we will give to family and what we will take for our use, and what will be sold or given away or even left in the house. As you see, having the garage finished for safe storage is a big deal for our future plans.

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    The pics showed the other day. Reckon I should post them in the home decor gallery? Not sure how to do that and then link to it, but I will try. I apologize but have no idea what happened to the photos. It's happened a lot recently with GW.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    13 years ago

    ML The pictures are showing fine for me. Glad you posted them. Such lovely spaces. I adore the cabs in the dinning room. So pretty. Actually all of it is warm and cozy looking.

    I am confused though. This is the house in MA right? Is the house in Alabama painted the same color inside?

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Hehehehe. Shades, this is the house in MA. The living room color is the same in both our houses. Also the bedroom colors. Both DH and I love the WARM TERRA COTTA and the FRESH PRALINE paints from Behr. My bed coverings will fit either house.

    BUT, with the new master bedroom suite in Mobile, the wall color will be different. I've chosen SMOKED OYSTER, which is a grayish lavender for that room. We'll see how that flies. The new beadboard bathroom is probably going to get a white woodwork paint, then something called ORANGE CONFECTION, which reads white until you note a faint touch of orange in it. DH chose that paint for his garden shed, and it is really outstanding. In full sun, it is white but not glaring, and in shade it has a faint tint of orange. Very pretty. I'm thinking it will warm up the bathroom yet coordinate with the grayed lavender of the bedroom. Maybe not, but it's only paint and can be changed.

    And I still cannot see the photos today. Like I've remarked elsewhere, I do not know what is going on with my computer!

  • Shades_of_idaho
    13 years ago

    LOL ML you got me on that one for sure. Laughing at myself. I really love the contrast of the cool bright white against your terracotta.

    I also love your attitude it is only paint. I already repainted our kitchen because the green was not right with the tile back splash. It is only paint and some time.

    I am not sure when I am going to start in on painting the rest of the house. And still trying to decide if it will be colors of the whisper white it already is only in semi gloss. I need washable paint here with the dogs. And maybe do the wainscot in the hall and and and. So many decisions to make.

    I think your lavender will be good with the light orange. Purple and orange are in right now. The lavender/periwinkle I used in the guest room looked gray on the paint chip not so on the wall. Still I love it.

  • prairie-girl
    13 years ago

    Just lovely! I think I've seen these pics before, but I sure enjoyed them again. I love the sunroom area - plants just make a place so homey! I also love fireplaces. I so hope I never have to live in a home without one.
    ~Missy

  • TxMarti
    13 years ago

    I can still see the pictures today. Maybe you need to clear cookies. In the master, is that an enclosed sun deck? It is so pretty.

  • desertsteph
    13 years ago

    moccasin - that is one lovely home! wow! the family that buys it will be very, very lucky indeed.

    'It is only paint and some time.

    I am not sure when I am going to start in on painting the rest of the house.'

    start after you 'practice' down here in AZ! test out that semi gloss...

    I wish I could think of painting 9 rooms (including 2 baths and a laundry room) as just some paint and time... to me it equals a lot of pain - lol!

  • Shades_of_idaho
    13 years ago

    Steph you crank up the music to help take the pain away.

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Marti, yes, the sunporch is off the master, and creates a sitting room sort of. DH likes to sit there and read.

    And Steph, thanks for the compliment on the house. I will be sorry to leave it, because it has space for everything. But at this point in our lives, I cannot deal with all the stairs, and DH cannot deal with all the winter chores. We will have less space down south, but we won't have the heavy work involved with snowy weather. All we'll have is tons of grass cutting, trimming plants, keeping the A/C working!

    But Steph, that is really all there is, some paint and time. I never get in a hurry while painting, because the process of painting is such an opportunity to think about different subjects. For DH, he will tackle a house job when he wants to think....then at dinner that night, he says what he was thinking about, and he can then discuss it. I say that he "internalizes" things. And with me, I let my mind "drift" until it looks at matters from multiple angles.
    Painting a room is sort of like a coloring book where you decide the colors and then paint neat within the lines. It used to be a chore, but now I enjoy it.

    When I finish with all my house painting, I plan to do some furniture and some canvases to hang on the walls.

  • igarvin
    13 years ago

    wow, I dream of the day my Cape can be that gorgeous. Thanks for sharing!

  • Nancy in Mich
    13 years ago

    ML, it is a very welcoming home. I love how his NE sensibilities with the cape cod and beachy pictures, mullioned windows, and slanted ceilings mixes well with your southern plantation shutters and bright colors.

    The exterior of the house is my favorite dusty blue! And I love the peachy front door with it. Really, this is my dream house (except in my dreams I have knees that work and can do steps!)

    Oh, is the little white dog peeing on the wall under the table in the upstairs bedroom a statue, or a real dog?

  • trancegemini_wa
    13 years ago

    what a gorgeous house ML. I just love those kitchen cabs and the warm colours you've used and so much attention to detail everywhere.

    In the 10th photo down you have a side on view of a fireplace (the photo where it looks like you have packets of flooring or something stacked in front of the window), are those painted bricks or tiles on the fireplace? any chance you could post a full pic of it? I just love the colours and I'm still looking for inspiration for my fp here.

    Such a beautiful house (I already have your sunporch pics saved in my inspiration folder) :)

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    IGarvin, hang in there, and one day.....it will feel right.

    Trance, I'll do a full on shot of the fireplae in the family room for you. Those are tiles I think, around the firebox and on the hearth. The hearth is raised up, which must be a NE style, because the ones I see down south are almost always level with the rest of the floor. The firebox itself is a metal lined in firebrick and it has a recirculating fan which throws the heat from the box walls back into the room. I'll post pictures in a separate thread for you.

    Nancy, you found the secret joke in the house. Oh yes, that little white dog has his leg up, and it is hilarious to me. That figure is not a real maltese but close in size and color too. You see, when my boy maltese, MoonPie, met the man who became DH, his first response was to walk across to the dining chair where he sat, and politely pee on the chair leg. So when I saw that figure of a white dog doing exactly that, I bought it and mailed it to DH.

    To make the story even funnier to me, DH had never been around dogs growing up, and he did not realize the significance of the leg not being the same as the other three...you know, not resting on the floor. So when I saw how he placed it, he had the dog balancing on three legs and the front paw was off the floor. Anyone who knows dogs knows what is happening, right? So now I have it in a bedroom by a furniture leg. These days, MoonPie and Papa get along fine, and Moon only hikes his leg on Dixie's (our doxie) toys.

    Shades, you give Steph good advice about cranking up the music. It drowns out any distractions, and you go into a private world, just you and the paint and the surface.

  • enigmaquandry
    13 years ago

    I love love love this house, I'm so partial to capes and this one is so pretty :) The sunroom seems like the perfect place to spend your mornings.

  • emagineer
    13 years ago

    I'm really late to the party. Thanks so much for sharing your pics...and they are showing up. I've had computer problems, reason for no postings. Almost asked another poster to let you know.

    Love terra cotta too...and green. Your home is so well done, what fun to see the inside. Envy here with the amount of room you have. Love the porch.

    Sandy

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Enigmaquandry, I'm partial to capes also, and never expected to have the opportunity to live in one. In the south,there is a style of home similar, with a porch all across the front, sometimes raised up high, and it is the CREOLE COTTAGE. Frequently high enough up to brick beneath it, and have some garden room below, maybe parking, and it is sometimes screened from view by lattice and perhaps even solid brickwork. Very romantic, with a wide set of steps going up to the front porch and that door.

    The sunroom or sunporch up north is the jewel of that cape. I really like the floor/ceiling sheers, pulled back to create a series of "vignettes" in front of each pair of sliders. It softens the view out the windows, and IMHO it makes the boughs of the hemlock hedge come alive when the birds, squirrels, and rabbits find shelter there. Just in front of the sunporch, I had DH create a triangular cement pad so that end of the foundation planting would sort of curl into the front yard away from the porch. I think it helps balance the HEAVY side of the house, which has the driveway and plantings going down the drive etc. Right now, I have a cement birdbath on the cement pad. A little focal point for that side of the yard.

  • traceee
    13 years ago

    Awwwwww, lovely home, beautiful. I envy people who have style and can create spaces like this - seems so natural and simple yet perfect! I love the kitchen countertop what a perfect choice.

    My favorite feature are those sheer curtains in the sunroom. Good for you - so clever. I keep scrolling to look at how simple and pretty they are in that room. Just wonderful! That's when I said Awwwwwww!

    So, you have put this house in Massachusetts on the market and home in Alabama will be your primary residence? This has been quite a process for you!

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