Those of us who spend too much time perusing shelter media all have our own freakishly out-of-reach home improvement desires. One friend of mine wants to line the walls of her lightwell with vertical gardens. Another has her eye on a gorgeous, WAY-too-expensive crystal chandelier on 1stdibs. Yet another wants a perfectly functioning, perfectly adorable old Wedgewood stove.
Of course, such unrequited longings can be painful. But why not indulge a little daydreaming now, during the season of giving and receiving? If a herringbone floor is ever going to magically materialize in my living room, it'll probably be as a Christmas miracle.
Share your own impossible home improvement holiday desire below. What's the herringbone floor of your own wish list?
(Images: This is Glamorous; Booli, via emmas designblogg; Nuevo Estilo, via Under a Paper Moon; Wood and Wool Stool; SFGirlbyBay)
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*swoon* I am really loving those first two- no clue why, but really, really like em!
My impossible home improvement wish is an actual 'home' here in LA. Priced out of the market even with the downturn. I know EXACTLY what i would do with a place of my own!
I've been fantasizing about a new rug for our family room/living room. We definitely can't afford a new one but I scour the internet looking for a new one every day! Crazy!
I would kill for a herringbone parquet floor.
My Christmas wish is for some generous elves to remove our home's popcorn ceilings..........
Soma. Santa, bring me Soma. Santa, it's not important that it costs as much as a small car, I want it!
:(
http://www.architonic.biz/imgProSat/kettnakersat/SOMA_09.001.2_br.jpg
Everything I'm lusting for right now is "boring" but precious to a city dweller.... washer/dryer, covered parking...more space
Though I don't have a "christmas" wish list (not christian) - I do have a wish that feels as though it has been insanely out of reach lately, and that is that my partner would find a job that makes him as remotely happy, and pays even half what his previous job paid. All the little things, like dishes, paint for the bedroom, a dining room table...those would come in time, I know, were the topic of "which bills will we pay this month" not so pressing.
Ooooh. New carpet for my bedroom. Or hardwood, even better. I could afford carpet but it's a rental and I might be moving this summer anyway. It just doesn't make sense.
House elves (JK Rowling, Harry Potter books). I NEED a house elf. Imagine coming home to a clean tidy house,dinner ready, laundry done etc. AND they can do magic- what's not to like? If I can't have a house elf, how about a miniature pet elephant. I was thinking about 12-15 inches tall. How lovely would it be just sitting on the sofa and feeling a little tug at your leg, then lifting it up onto your lap, its little trunk curling round. Or coming home, and seeing the little chap running down the hall towards you, trumpeting away, with its tiny trunk in the air. Or down at the beach, playing in the sea. Oops, sorry, imagination overload.
A smooth ceiling. I can do a lot with sandpaper and spackle on the walls, but I have some combo of plaster, spray texture and maybe even silly string on the ceiling of my old home. The ceilings are too low to put new sheetrock over them...but no one's come up with a way of smoothing them out except to completely rip them out...sooo not going to happen.
I want a bathroom on the third floor, tucked into the eaves. Does not have to be big, just elegant.
Wow - those floors are fantastic!
I want new floors too: Radiant heated terrazzo that extends out to my wee balcony.
I'd also like new aluminum-framed double-paned glass casement windows and french doors, a new kitchen and new bathrooms completely tiled floor-to-ceiling in Heath tile, please.
Is that too much to ask?
I wish for a new roof. The one I've got is very near the end of its life and saving for a new one isn't going so well.
And this is really, really impractical, and not at all air-shed-friendly but I would love to add a working chimney, and then I would get the Tweed Victorian cast iron, wood-burning fireplace. I guess adding a wood burning fireplace to an existing house is pretty much unheard of, isn't it?
I'd like someone to install cork flooring in my condo.
Santa, please bring me a modern (but not too modern as to stick out too much in our Arizona cookie-cutter stucco house) outdoor wall sconce to replace the hideous flood lamps we've got going on outside. Oh, and the kids want a puppy. ;)
When I wake up on Christmas morning, all the wall to wall would have been replaced with beautiful black linoleum, oh and also my neighbors would have hitched a ride with Santa and relocated to the North Pole. Happy Holidays!
Antique tin ceilings in the living & dining rooms.
Or, the motivation to begin the process of remodeling our hideous entranceway.
My very own "original condition" 1960's Eichler. If Santa is the Universe...I am putting it out there.
Dear Santa, If I were gifted that sofa, I'd be perfectly happy and never, ever ask you for another thing...except maybe world peace. :)
Floors. I would love floors. Due to budget constraints I've been living with the cement slab foundation as my floor. During the summer, it helps keep the main living area cool. However, in the winter - Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Failing that one, how about fixing the upstairs. It just needs the bathroom wall to finish coming out and a new one put in its place. Then some new sub-flooring where the current one is rotting.
Also on my house-wish list: A new hot water heater and a dining room table.
Adorable vision, Edinburgher. I've never dared to dream of miniature versions of enormous animals. Make mine a hippo.
All I want Santa to do is fix all the cheap/lazy renovation decisions made by the builders who "flipped" my 1950's-era condo before I bought it a few years ago. Like, install me a new condo-matching front door that doesn't have a giant crack down the middle and isn't covered in wall spray texture (for real). Also, install a ventilation fan in the bathroom and laundry closet and refinish the wood floors to get the massive splotches (of cat piss?) out.
Also, if you could soundproof the walls to a level where I can't hear the neighbors' entire conversations at a normal speaking volume, that would be just stellar.
A garage. It is not even halfway through December and I am already sick of the snow after the first blizzard. If that is not in Santa's budget this year, a dishwasher (which would require a partial kitchen remodel) would be nice. I would also like the gorgeous Ann Sacks tile floors that the previous owner installed torn up and reinstalled with radiant heat underneath. One can dream.
Built-in bookshelves. Wahhh
An upstairs dormer with a cute little two piece bath.
Triple the size of my teeny bathroom, please, and then install a shower and a soaking tub.
A fan in the bathroom would be nice, so that the bathroom doesn't constantly look like the walls are bleeding . . .
Dear Santa, since you're delivering miniature animals can I have a little giraffe?
Also I could use a new bathroom. Nothing too extravagant. Just remove the wall between the WC and the bath. Take away the old claw tub, remove the window, put the plumbing into the wall, install a skylight over the new 6 foot bathtub with frameless glass door (no shower curtain for me!). Can you bring a mirrored sink w/ vanity and maybe leave some Carrera basketweave mosaic tile in my stocking?
Thank you Santa! I promise there will be some awesome cookies waiting for you!
I'm not Christian, but I love Christmas and prezzies (but not elves; elves scare me). So being that Santa has magic powers and all, I'd love him to pick up my ginormous Oakland loft and plop it down in the Mission district in SF (complete with 2 car parking). Guessing that's not gonna happen, I'm excited about my dad building me a zataku for my dining table. Zataku is a low Japanese table for eating. Oh yeah, and anything from www.emeryetcie.com
non carpet floors in the bedrooms.
A heated driveway so I wouldn't ever have to shovel the darn thing again!
And ditto on the de-popcorning of my ceilings. This comes up enough here that someone could make a mint off inventing an easy DIY system for removal. Maybe even with an infomercial - "Just spray, spread and BAM - smooth ceilings!".
If I invented it myself, I could probably afford that heated driveway and kill two birds with one stone...
custom made upholstered banquette built in my kitchen!! I am desperate for one :)
julianne moore's house in The Single Man that was just release here. Go see the movie major eye candy.
still drooling over those italian linen panels from the amsterdam sugar loft.....sigh. how much would i love to hang beautiful drapery in my bedroom? a lot.
i'm not so picky. i could take discount linen...and i only need maybe four...alright, six to be safe. in an oatmeal-y beige color.
it's definitely way ahead of the pony on the wish list.
What I really really want - a fixer upper with good bones and enough money to pay someone to renovate it the way I want.
Barring that, I'd take a master bathroom in the current house. I'm tired of having one teeny tiny bathroom and trying to get ready for bed at the same time as the husband.
Dear Edinburgher: I like the cut of your jib. I'd like an elephant too; maybe a hippopotamus as well to keep him company. The cat will LOVE it. :) D'you think they can be litter trained?
My wish list: soundproofed walls or quieter neighbours, non-concrete floors, new drapes, better lighting fixtures, stylish furniture. And a house elf.
Dear Santa: please fix my cracked and crumbling plaster walls. I'm tired of looking at the cracks and seeing animals (like looking at clouds). XOXO I left cookies for you and a carrot for Rudolph and I've been very good this year. :)
Continuing on the l'il animal theme, I would looooove a pygmy hippo of my very own (that would be happy living, you know, inside and stuff...)
Barring that, Santa, please send me some Neil Kelly kitchen cabinets for the price that my insurance will pay to replace (had a flood from above, kitchen currently waiting to be rebuilt).
I am completely fixated with herringbone floors. The stain would need to be quite dark, however.
I love herringbone parquet but in lieu of being able to afford it I got amazingly cheap amazingly realistic herringbone parquet lino which doees the job for the moment - to the great surprise of everybody who told me I was crazy. However I I would still love the real stuff.
I would just like restoration hardware to fulfill my dinning chair order. I just found out that my order was cancelled because the chairs are not available. I guess things could be worse, its just that I've been looking for dining chairs for about a million years now.
A garage... so I can work on my motorcycle in a dry, covered, temperature controlled, area.
Oh, or mid-century bed.
ooo, or the floors refinished
or, wagner 3-legged chair.
or, a Franklin cat tree
or, an eames lounger
oh oh! or...
A rebuild of half our foundation? And while we're at it, maybe raising the house a foot or two (or digging out the basement) so we can actually stand up down there.
My impossible wish is for chandeliers, dripping with crystals for the main rooms in my house. At present they are not affordable on my budget, and I have the most functional lighting for the price I could find. I say, bring on the chandeliers and bring home my own little Versailles!
Dear Santa. More than anything, I would like an instantaneous hot water heater so I can have a shower longer than 5 minutes, and maybe even a proper bath. You can have my tiny 50L electric hot water heater to make warm water for your reindeer.
On the practical side, a new hvac system and an installed dishwasher. on the frivolous side, i'd love a new mattress and a fabulous rug for the bedroom! might as well throw in some way to magic away the chips in my marble saarinen table. that is so painful to see!!
I would kill for a herringbone parquet floor.
Ironically the parquetry would make mopping up the blood easier too!
Dear Santa, I would like to move the toilet so that I don't have to climb over it to get to the shower. That is all.
I just bought a 1920's house and I would love to get rid of the drop ceiling in the living room and get it back to the original beadboard ceilings. I would love an aga, new countertops, and a new sink in the kitchen, and I would love to somehow force a second bathroom to fit in my house.
The curtains I can see in my head to suddenly appear, perfectly hung, in my living room and both bedrooms.
And a closet on the first floor that doesn't take away from my square footage.
My herringbone floor wish this year is for a herringbone floor for the living and dining areas of my brand new home!
My wish is for a remodeled and expanded bathroom with a soaking tub and separate shower and two sinks. Why not dream big?
Strangely I've been fantasizing about a herringbone floor too, mass hysterical fantasy perhaps?, others on my list: radiant floor heating, a new Wolf range, a soaking tub.
I want not only a herringbone floor, but for all my walls to be painted white, rather than the deep-saturated matte hues I was into 5 years ago when I bought my condo.
A summer palace. Or a winter palace -- I'm not picky.
marble kitchen countertops for me (white please) and a litter robot for my cat.
A plumber to move the pipes in the closet without charging a crazy rate so I can fit a normal size washer & drier in there.
I would love to sell my home in the Hamptons, I am currently trying, and take the money and build an off grid home. A big gift to myself and the environment
I would love to recreate and live in the home Fallingwater, but with closets!!!Or find stock plans, so I don't have to spend millions to have a Frank Lloyd Writeish designed home.
where the heck is THAT RUG from?! that's in the photo above, i mean. it looks amazing, at least from what i can tell in that brief snippet of rug.
anyone?