Wednesday, January 9, 2008

What can (we) do for (Brown)?

We bought a house this summer, as many of my faithful readers know (both of you!). 8-) We called the place "BROWN: Jewel of the Seventies." I would like to share a couple of pictures to emphasize the point, or at least to prove the name.
This is our kitchen "before". Note the BROWN cabinets. Note the floor, which we designated as "psychadelic cabbage" green. (Did I mention this house was built in 1973?)



And next to it is "after." Did I mention that it's really nice to have relatives who are cabinetmakers? And a spouse who likes to do home repair along with his Aristotle musings?

Other interesting aspects of the house included a guest room and bathroom covered in (brown) exterior redwood siding. And the main bathroom has (yes, brown) paneling with pheasants on it along with an avacado green tub and toilet. Zoinkies! I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. (Along with our effort at taming the seventies!)



And....dark brown paneling on the walls in all the hallways. Brownish-gold paint in the study. Brown exterior. Brown roof. Brown grass. (OK, that can't be helped. We're in a drought!) The halls are still brown - it is terribly difficult to prime and paint old rough paneling, and even harder (and more costly) to rip out and install drywall. The study is now a bright white. The roof has new shingles (reddish brown, maybe? The color was called "desert tan," I think) And this spring we are repainting the exterior a light tan with brick red shutters and doors. It will go well with the stonework that covers the lower third of the exterior.
Slowly but surely, we are persevering in eradicating all vestiges of seventies decor from the house, and - if I do say so myself - the house would thank us if it only could talk!

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey -
The after pics look great. Were you able to change out the green toilet/bathtub? Up here in NC, there's a company called Rebath that will install a new tub over the old one - just a thought (if you need it!).
I enjoy keeping up with you through your blog!
janna

Zana said...

Yes, indeedy, my handyman philosopher replaced the toilet, and we hired a guy recommended by the local paint store to repaint the tub. He basically sandblasted the acrylic down to the undercoat, and then used a super-polymer paint to repaint it white. It only cost 300 bucks, which was way cheaper than bathfitters or something like that. Wow - counting you that means I have three readers! Cool! ::grin::

Shane Hendricks said...

Looking better! Hey, you should keep some 70s in the place...we came from the 70s after all.

Zana said...

We're keeping the paneling in the halls, and have preserved some of the original bathroom in the closet. And the redwood siding is being turned into planters to go around the pool fence. That's about as far as I could go in keeping the seventies around. I *really* consider myself a child of the 80s anyway! (haha) There was just WAY too much polyester in my life during the 70s for me to remember that decade with too much fondness! {{grin}}

Shane Hendricks said...

True. But I have some great 70s memories too...some of the music was pretty darn good. :-D

Unknown said...

You did WAY more than I ever would have to keep any resemblance of the 70s around! I'm with you on the polyester. I know you had this phase two - those horribly huge glasses from the 70s! YUCK! I personally blame those glasses for my low self esteem (today)...

Zana said...

Well..... it's not really that we're "preserving" it... more that it's either A) too expensive to hang new drywall or B) hidden in the closet where no-one can see or C) redwood does make lovely planters!! {{{grin}}}