General design examples for Jeff
Although the house is weird, this library is GREAT. The shelves have excellent proportions and the top trim is a great middle ground (and the baseboards work too). The clean yet not spare look of floor with books, white shelves and simple fireplace is what we're looking for. I love the way the top shelf runs the periphery of the windowed wall, too. Let's consider doing this instead of windows above the french doors.
This is more the look we are thinking: narrower shelves, plain but classic trim above and below, allows for multiple types of furniture. I would absolutely do something like the wild chairs in a relatively clean, traditional space. As long as they aren't accent pieces per se. These work in the room.
This is very intriguing. It's quite contemporary but clean and not bulky-looking. The trim may be a bit too simple (or lack of trim), but the cabinet height is nice and looks great in the built-in with books next to it at the same height. Something like this that's a bit more "classic" would be awesome.
I have mentioned wanting some tiny degree of trim on the shelves in the library; this is too much. This to me looks like modern house trying to replicate Oxford library, with the arched window and drapes and oriental and ladder and heavy wood. I don't like it here. I'd love a ladder in our library but it's a small space and likely makes zero sense.
This is probably the look for our dining room, or slightly simpler. The baseboard molding is too busy.
Wainscoting too simple. Crown molding could be okay but it looks a bit small. The chandelier looks cheap.
This is, however, too simple for the dining room (and too high with the double layer).
This wainscoting has too much degree of detail for our dining room.
This is precisely what we don't want the library TV built-ins to look like, i.e. trite and boring traditional.
This room is too simple-looking for our new house. I really don't like beige and brown toned furniture.
The molding is clean but I don't like it reflected in the fireplace as well. It appears to work with the top of the bookshelves behind.
The window trim and baseboard molding are too simple.
The crown molding on this is way too ornate. The stuffed chairs aren't interesting enough for their size, and I really dislike that white cabinet. The white rug adds to the lack of interest.
I worry that standard crown and baseboard molding are - again - boring. The square doorway trim is too detailed. To me this house looks a little too "done" with all its beige tones.
The trim around this window is too ornate. The bricked fireplace is unattractive and the floor is way too light.
The crown and baseboard molding are not bad - classic and not too detailed - but the room is very boring and the window trim is too plain.
This wet bar shows the mirrored back effect, although (a) I think the shelves are too widely spaced and (b) I think we should aim for an L-shaped shelf, so there is stuff going on on the right side as well as straight-on. It also looks sort of washed out as all white and mirror.
We've been pondering the wet bar. One thought is to put the top half of the wet bar behind cabinet doors (the back of the top would be mirrored with glass shelves, sort of the look shown here. When opened, I imagine it looking like this.) This is the other option - place a recessed cabinet in the upper space behind glass doors. Would we be able to do a dark cabinet in a room with otherwise white shelves, since it's a bar and different from the rest of the room? We think this is great looking. The trim over the archway and the baseboard molding are nice too.
Nice clean cabinets; the drawer pulls are too large but are nice. The translucent glass and metal frame are bad.
We like these very large flush mirrors with lighting on the sides/middle. Whatever happens, we don't want protruding mirrors or medicine cabinets. I like the walnut, although I would prefer more glossy finish (sort of what you see in on the paneling in nice cars).
Do we have space for a contiguous shelf extending from in shower to side of tub, such that we will be able to place things on it on the tub side?
Here is another example of the look we're going for in the dining room: simple wainscoting and dark walls. The crown molding is probably too ornate. I don't like the chandelier at all but I like the look with the mirror, and I like the chairs.
This molding is clean and classic without being either too traditional or too contemporary.
We envision the dining room painted a cobalt or darker grey, and would consider painting the ceiling the same as well. The molding and baseboard molding are a degree or two more detailed than what we're looking for. I like the mixture of elements in this room but it's too much - the red hassocks plus oriental plus weird chandelier plus blue plus odd standing lamp is stressful. We like this chaise for our living room as a piece between the two seating spaces.
This room is not great overall. However, this is the sort of simple, classic wainscoting we will be looking to put in the dining room. As for the rest: the french molding above is too much. The furniture is too matchy-matchy for my taste, I think the white lamp is bad, and the art/sconces are too teensy-weensy for me. It just doesn't hang together nicely and it isn't remotely interesting.
These shelves are a bit thinner and more sophisticated looking, although the general look remains a bit too spare and square. We will want some additional trim/molding at the top of our shelves. We both really like the bottom extra-tall differentiated shelf for art books/photo albums. This bottom look would work well on the two sides of the built-ins with a closed cabinet for stereo/TV equipment in the middle.
Crown molding is suitably sophisticated yet simple. It blends in well with bookshelves. However, the shelves themselves are slightly too thick and clunky-looking, and the bottom trim is too simple. I do like the shelf over the wide doorway very much. I wonder if this could be worked into the library.
This is sort of the feel we want for the library.
Q