Designer Wannabe

When I was a young girl in school, my dream career was any one of three: writer, interior designer, or fashion designer. I ended up making a living from the first, but I still have a love and passion for the other two. Possibly because it appeals to the artistic, creative side of me. I am also obsessed with home and garden or DIY shows and blogs. I study them like you’d study for your master’s degree. Between that and my project management skills (that I get paid to use daily), I think I’m qualified to be the general contractor and interior designer – of sorts – for my mom’s condo upgrade. Bwahahaha!

Now that my mom’s in the retirement / assisted living facility, we’re working to clean up her condo to rent it out. (Rather, I’m working…she’s funding it.) Mom’s condo is just fine as it is, really, and if all you do is fix a few things (like the broken shower faucet) and replace the carpet and blinds, she can get a nice little income from renting it out, simply because of it’s location. It’s downtown in a hot little yuppy waterfront neighborhood and overlooks a marina and Lake Washington. However, it’s kind of stuck with a lot of late 80s, early 90s décor. Namely, a lot of brass fixtures and Hollywood lights.

A lot of what I can do will depend on just how much money my mom wants to or can spend. It’s all an investment so I think it will be money well spent. I’m working on creating a spreadsheet that incorporates everything I think would be great to do – even the not so necessary stuff. This way, mom can pick and choose, give me the $ to spend, and I’ll go shopping and get it all done.

I’m having fun going to the big box home improvement stores and looking around. I’m learning so much about door knobs, recessed lighting, bathroom fixtures, cabinets, shower tub enclosures, and more. The challenge is coordinating everything and getting it done. I’ve already got a painter who is painting the walls a soft beige (“Natural Wicker”) with a cream trim. (Have I mentioned yet that I HATE eggshell finish? Why oh why did I let myself get talked into it? To touch it feels like touching chalk and it makes me itch. Yuk.) The carpet needs replacing, but we’re not yet sure if we’re going to do all carpet, like there is currently, or if I can talk mom in to some hardwood flooring in the living areas and kitchen.

Here’s the kitchen sink. Mom has excellent taste – these are Corian countertops that she installed 15 years ago and they still look brand new. Did you know that you can replace just those little rings around the bottom of the sink for about $25 each? You bet we’ll be replacing those with a pretty brushed nickel finish, along with a nice new faucet.

Kind of like the one I just installed in my house. All by myself. Isn’t that so pretty?

It might be a bit of a challenge to replace all the brass fixtures here, so we’ll see.

This cabinet is my challenge.

It’s a really solid base cabinet, but the drawer fronts are boring and have an angled edge instead of handles. Very dated. I’d love to have it stripped and either stained or painted a darker brown – almost a mahogany or espresso brown. I’d like to have the drawer edges shaved off and nice brushed nickel handles installed. 

And can anybody tell me if oak cabinets are still “in”? These too would look awesome stained a bit darker brown.

That little refrigerator has to be replaced, and I’m hoping to find a little beverage refrigerator instead. Something like this:

Dreams. Ideas. They all will look fantastic, but it all boils down to what the budget is and that I don’t know yet. I’m pretty good at doing things on a shoestring too, if need be. The biggest challenge however is finding the reliable and quality contractors to do the work and do it at a reasonable price.

Stay tuned!