Advice please. Dtr is rehabbing a house built in the early 70s, wants "farmhouse" style.

[CTyankee]

I never heard of this style. Is it the same as the general "country" style house?

The 70s panelling, flooring and cabinets are pretty awful. Since the house is a bit remote (actually in a pasture area), the farmhouse style "sounds" good to me.

What does a farmhouse style look like? I'm envisioning a porch with a swing. What kinds of colors and fabrics go best with this look? Do you find the actual items at flea markets?

I'm going to be helping her with this project in late April but I'd love to make some suggestions to her beforehand...and you guys are the best!

Thanks for any advice you can give...

[Warpy]

1. If it's a ranch style house, it's easy

Just build a porch across the front of it. The swing will help, but any old sort of rocking chair will do, too, to make it inviting. Hanging baskets of flowers in the summer are designer, coffee cans painted white and planted with geraniums along the rail are authentic.

The same advice sort of goes for a two story house, porch across the front. It would work OK on a Cape Cod saltbox, but it wouldn't be particularly Currier and Ives country.

If it's a split level, tell her to forget it. Nothing will look proportional with one of those things and she needs to work with what she has.

Furnishings for country houses can be as plain as country pine thrift shop finds and as fancy as Victorian. The whole idea is to keep it eclectic and stay away from matched sets in furniture stores.

Fabrics can be gingham, plain muslins, plaids. It's a mistake to overload the place with flowery stuff, it gets cloying. Let the flowers be real ones, fresh or dried, in bowls or recycled old coffeepots or the like. Samplers and wall quilts can work for art, along with primitive prints.

Country done right can be a hell of a lot of fun. Country done magazine style with matchy matchy furniture and florals everywhere is gut wrenching.

That's my 2 cent's worth. <plink, plink>

[CTyankee]

2. I don't really know what style this house is, except maybe "beach" type

(it's not actually ON the beach but in a beach area in NEw England, so you could describe it as a salt box variation). It already has what appears to be a wrap around porch and I think they're all covered (portico style...I've only seen photos). I'll try to get a photo and show it to you. It has nice high ceilings with wood beams which she will keep, of course.

Some of the furniture she bought from the previous owner who had had the place since it was first built and became too old to enjoy it. Said furniture is not very fancy at all, a kind of "shabby chic" but without too much "chic." Dtr got some pretty nice quilts from Home Goods for the kids beds but I think the oldest girl wanted something a little more modern for her room (ah, 14 year olds!).

The real problem is the ugliest green kitchen counters you ever saw, in addition to the ugly wood panelling in the living area. She might paint the counters but get some help on the panelling (sanding and painting has been suggested). A really pale green or light green verdigris would probably be OK on the wood cabinets but I don't know what you can do with counters and she is not considering granite, of course.

I am so pleased she is using a 5x7 handpainted tile I got in Portugal last October that has her last inital letter on it, for the front of the house. The tile is in a very typical Portuguese vine motif (azulejo, but not complicated as some are), in soft blue on white background...I think it's going to work pretty well with the overall "farmhouse" design!

[Warpy]

3. Laminate counters are cheap to replace

I know because I've done it. In my real farmhouse in New England, I had ugly knotty pine cabinets that I knew wouldn't take paint well because of the style (and knots), so I put in matte dark brown Formica, both as an attempt to work with instead of against them and to hide schmutz. I wove a long throw rug out of old bluejeans and put that on the wide pine plank floor to reduce the amount of wood everywhere and by gawd, it worked.

Painting laminate can be done, but the result will only last a few years and has to be treated very carefully to do so.

There are a lot of new patterns out there, including a fake leather I'd have been sorely tempted to put in had it been available along with granite patterns that are quite convincing from a distance. The only caution I'd issue there is to stay away from glossy laminate, it's for people who don't cook and shows wear rather quickly in kitchens that are used.

The great thing about New England is how well you can do in junk stores as far as country furniture goes. Fine antiques will cost you half your appendages plus your first born, but you can still pick up country oak and pine reasonably, especially if you've discovered paint stripper and Minwax and are willing to work for the final result. Take a class in weaving cane seats and you're all set.

The thing to remember is that what characterizes the real farmhouse is that people who live in them and farm have little money and have to make over and make do. That's what gives the best of them their essential charm, one reason I cautioned to stay away from matchy matchy furniture.

[CTyankee]

6. A problem I see is all the slider doors on that house.

I hate sliders. Had enough of them in the 70s and wanted no more. Any good advice on sliders? Do you think they are horrible, too. Or maybe there is an aesthetic there I am missing?

[Warpy]

7. If you're talking about sliding glass exterior doors

you can replace them with French doors or case in frames for regular doors, with or without glass and/or lights on the sides.

If you're talking about sliding mirrored doors on closets (ugh), you can replace them with bifold doors pretty easily.

[CTyankee]

8. exterior doors...not sure about the closets.

I happen to LOVE French doors but isn't it expensive to take out the sliders and put in them in?

Bifold doors can be pretty on closets, IMO. OR, maybe just take OFF the closet doors, hmm? It is a beachy type house...

[Warpy]

9. French doors, like other doors, come in quite a few different grades

Sliders are cheap, one reason everybody did them in the 70s. They look cheap, they tend to leak, and they're hard to secure against thieves.

Class costs. However, it might not break the bank if you're willing to go with composite frames instead of wood, large panes instead of small ones, and the like.

I tend to prefer keeping the closets shut off so I don't have to look at the mess within. I lived in too many Victorian places in Boston where the closet was a shallow, doorless affair with hooks because a rod wouldn't fit and got sick of always seeing a mess. Those closets worked well back in the bad old days when one had a set of work clothes and some Sunday best and that was it, that kept things tidier. I'll have to get used to it again if I manage to get to Mexico, but I'd have the doors here, if only so that people can't see I'm rivaling Imelda Marcos in my search for comfortable shoes.

If there are multiple tacky doors to replace, it doesn't all have to be done at once. The problem with any project is staying within budget and the biggest budget buster is impatience.

[eleny]

4. Whenever I hear "farmhouse" I think of this type of kitchen sink

[CTyankee]

5. Yeah, that sink is a new variation I've seen the last few years.

The beadboard beneath the sink is a nice touch too.

I kind of like this style...it's pretty eclective and that's good. You can do simple things and it looks good...too bad the 70s killed so much authenticity...what happened?