[Thunderbird]

You can't froget the playboy groto....

[C1ay]

I think you're asking in the wrong place. All that matters is what she wants the room to be like. Make her happy and she'll make you happy. Ask the missus what she wants and you can't go wrong.

[REASON]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

We've been together for a good long while, actually. She's been helping me with projects, but we're both looking for ideas to make the bedroom more "zazzy."

Well, that blows my theory about what you can tell from a question.

The room itself isn't bad at all, but I do need to expand the master bath and closet. They're both pretty small and tight as the house was built in the early 70s.

Yes, it is very important to expand the bathroom, not only for comfort, but for property value. If you're going to expand off of the exterior, then you might as well make it worth your while and make it big enough to accomodate a separate shower and jacuzzi tub for two. That will also serve as a benefit to your sex life (or at least it should). You guys will love a sizable walk-in closet as well. Hopefully this type of expansion is off of the back of the house where there is typically more room.

Incorporating a walk out to a deck or patio is also nice, but often there is not enough room in older houses to sacifice the wall space.

Furniture, colors, and textures should be mutually agreeable to her.

I could actually use some ideas there, too. My front yard lacks "curb appeal." I recently painted the house which helped tremendously (it used to be a flat primer gray... on stucco... and now it's a rich chocolate milk color, with white milky trim.

Seriously, do you have any ideas? Here's the basic layout:

PHP Code:

neighbor__|___F__|//My House//////|____F______| neighbor
neighbor__|      |//My House//////|           | neighbor
          |        |Dvway|                   *H*
          |        |Dvway|            *LO*   *H*
          |        |Dvway|                   *H*
          |        |Dvway|                   *H*
          |        |Dvway|      *S*          *H*
          |        |Dvway|  [MB]             *H*
++++++++++++++++++        ++++++++++++++++++++++
street                                        street
                       street
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Where:

F = fence
H = hedge (red tipped verdenia I think)
LO = Live Oak (but it's still growing and only a few years old, so small)
S = somewhat older tree of unknown variety, no flowers
MB = brick mailbox

Oooo, Live Oak. I love those. They're craggy, mysterious, beautiful, and protected if I'm not mistaken, at least on public grounds. Does it have Spanish Moss growing on it yet? It's probably still too young. Hopefully it wasn't planted too close to the house, they like to spread out. Unfortunately they don't like to grow in my part of the world, but we get Burr Oaks which are similar in shape and texture.

A couple of questions: Where is the walkway to the front door? Is there any thing you would like to screen from view? Do you want low maintenence foundation plantings only, or do you want to dabble with annuals? Are you wanting to completely start over or compliment what's already there?

I am familiar with Austin? My mother grew up there, and when I was a child we took trips there to visit my grandparents. My Grandfather lived off of Lake Austin along a slew. My uncle still owns the property. My grandmother lived just North of the airport. I remember hearing the planes all day. My son is even named after the city in honor of my mother's side of the family. My grandma didn't understand naming someone after a city, particularly when it was named from someone else's last name.

I can't believe how much it has changed since I was a boy.

[CraigD]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

We've been together for a good long while, actually. She's been helping me with projects, but we're both looking for ideas to make the bedroom more "zazzy."

The room itself isn't bad at all, but I do need to expand the master bath and closet. They're both pretty small and tight as the house was built in the early 70s.

Ah, to my relief, I gather from this post that that ya’ll are roughly in the same headspace as my wife and I, gravitating more toward a really nice master bath that chains and whips.

A couple years ago, we vacationed over our wedding anniversary at the Sheraton on the Falls, and concluded that the falls-view, extended balcony room we got was about the perfect bedroom/master bath layout. Basically, it used a large whirlpool tub with a frosted-glass accented (a tulip-ish pattern) glass wall to divide the room, with a door from the tub part of the bath into a smaller room with a WC and walk-in shower. Being able to sit in a Jacuzzi and actually look out over the falls is nice, too

Unfortunately, the only way we could manage the same arrangement in our 1950s brick rambler would make our main bath and master bedroom into mutual viewing galleries, which would be a bit weird for parties, etc. A big tub – though probably not jetted, as everybody we know that has one of them complains about the cleaning and upkeep – has been on our wishlist every since that trip.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by C1ay

I think you're asking in the wrong place. All that matters is what she wants the room to be like. Make her happy and she'll make you happy. Ask the missus what she wants and you can't go wrong.

She just wants a bigger tub. That's about it, really. I'm lucky in that regard, but unfortunately the space is entirely too small right now to fit anything larger than a standard tub.

Originally Posted by REASON

Yes, it is very important to expand the bathroom, not only for comfort, but for property value. If you're going to expand off of the exterior...

Not likely to expand off the exterior. I'll actually be pillaging some space from the bedroom itself (at least, that's what I'm thinking of doing... hence my question here... stuck on ideas).

It's an interesting layout, where walking through the bedroom straight ahead is the sink area, to the left of the sink a rather small closet and to the right of the sink the rather small toilet/tub area.

I am thinking about taking down the walls which enclose the closet and bath, bumping them out into the room about 2-3 feet, then just changing the flow of the space somehow. I will, however, likely be doing much of the work myself, so no exterior changes on this one. Budget's a factor...

Originally Posted by REASON

Oooo, Live Oak. I love those. They're craggy, mysterious, beautiful, and protected if I'm not mistaken, at least on public grounds. Does it have Spanish Moss growing on it yet? It's probably still too young. Hopefully it wasn't planted too close to the house, they like to spread out.

Yeah, they are beautiful. It's only a few years old, so not that big yet and no spanish moss. I planted it last year, and it was a bunch of three trees together, so they'll intertwine as they get bigger. They are only about 2 inches in diameter still, but almost 10 feet tall already. I have a special tree soaker hose on a timer around it to help it grow more quickly. It's far enough away from the house that it won't cause issues for at least 40 years, but close enough that it will shade the front rooms (a big plus in these hot Texas summers).

Originally Posted by REASON

A couple of questions: Where is the walkway to the front door?

It's at the top right of the driveway, where one would walk 2-3 paces toward those hedges on the right of my graphic, then turn left and head toward the front door. It's an L shape... just picture the base of the L facing leftward toward the driveway.

Originally Posted by REASON

Is there any thing you would like to screen from view?

No. It's pretty open, and the driveway leads right up to the garage, so nothing really to screen.

Originally Posted by REASON

Do you want low maintenence foundation plantings only, or do you want to dabble with annuals?

If it takes more than me mowing it occassionally or setting it up on an automatic watering timer, it's not for me.

Originally Posted by REASON

Are you wanting to completely start over or compliment what's already there?

It'd be nice to start from scratch, but I'm not planning on blowing a whole lot of budget on it. I'm just going to do "a little here" and "a little there" as time goes on.

I do like bright colors... yellows, purples, pinks... and deep greens look good against the brown house, but I need something that's easy and can survive in zone 9.

Originally Posted by REASON

I can't believe how much it has changed since I was a boy.

That it has. I've been here for about 14 years now, and it's a completely different city than when we first moved down.

Originally Posted by CraigD

Ah, to my relief, I gather from this post that that ya’ll are roughly in the same headspace as my wife and I, gravitating more toward a really nice master bath that chains and whips.

Lol... they're not mutually exclusive, are they?


This thread is an interesting one, I'll grant you that.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

I'll actually be pillaging some space from the bedroom itself (at least, that's what I'm thinking of doing... hence my question here... stuck on ideas).

It's an interesting layout, where walking through the bedroom straight ahead is the sink area, to the left of the sink a rather small closet and to the right of the sink the rather small toilet/tub area.

I am thinking about taking down the walls which enclose the closet and bath, bumping them out into the room about 2-3 feet, then just changing the flow of the space somehow. I will, however, likely be doing much of the work myself, so no exterior changes on this one. Budget's a factor...

So, here's a quick mock up.

The space between the closet and bathroom leading into the sink has a neat archway (like in the other parts of my house), but I'm likely let that go and to pull the walls out further into the bedroom and just expand it...

I just want it to flow better... maybe even seal off the wall and make the closet/sink/bath area one bigger room with one entry or something... I'm not really good at this design stuff, I just know it looks bad and needs to be nicer.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

I could actually use some ideas there, too. My front yard lacks "curb appeal." I recently painted the house which helped tremendously (it used to be a flat primer gray... on stucco... and now it's a rich chocolate milk color, with white milky trim.

Seriously, do you have any ideas? Here's the basic layout:

PHP Code:

neighbor__|___F__|//My House//////|____F______| neighbor
neighbor__|      |//My House//////|           | neighbor
          |        |Dvway|                   *H*
          |        |Dvway|            *LO*   *H*
          |        |Dvway|                   *H*
          |        |Dvway|                   *H*
          |        |Dvway|      *S*          *H*
          |        |Dvway|  [MB]             *H*
++++++++++++++++++        ++++++++++++++++++++++
street                                        street
                       street
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Where:

F = fence
H = hedge (red tipped verdenia I think)
LO = Live Oak (but it's still growing and only a few years old, so small)
S = somewhat older tree of unknown variety, no flowers
MB = brick mailbox

Hahaha.... I really suck in paint! Here's an aireal of my front yard...

[HydrogenBond]

A simple design for a sex den involves some AV. Picture this, a ceiling mounted 360 projector in a round room, with audio support to create environmental ambience. If you like the jungle, dungeon, public place, shady hotel, in the elevator, at the beach, lecture hall, concert, your old house, it can all happen. This makes it easier to tailor to taste. Once you figure out what the other person likes, you can both do some AV editing as foreplay. The playboy can make a slide show of their stock to see what works on the fly.

[InfiniteNow]

Originally Posted by HydrogenBond

A simple design for a sex den involves some AV. Picture this, a ceiling mounted 360 projector in a round room, with audio support to create environmental ambience. If you like the jungle, dungeon, public place, shady hotel, in the elevator, at the beach, lecture hall, concert, your old house, it can all happen. This makes it easier to tailor to taste. Once you figure out what the other person likes, you can both do some AV editing as foreplay. The playboy can make a slide show of their stock to see what works on the fly.

So you're basically suggesting that I build something like the below? Interesting idea which I had not yet considered. Thank you.

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by InfiniteNow

So, here's a quick mock up.

The space between the closet and bathroom leading into the sink has a neat archway (like in the other parts of my house), but I'm likely let that go and to pull the walls out further into the bedroom and just expand it...

I just want it to flow better... maybe even seal off the wall and make the closet/sink/bath area one bigger room with one entry or something... I'm not really good at this design stuff, I just know it looks bad and needs to be nicer.

How far back from the bathroom wall is that first window? Also, it doesn't look like it would be, but have you made sure that the bathroom wall is not load-bearing?