NEW DIGS SERIES: MUDROOM DESIGN

I believe, without a doubt in my mind, that the mudroom will be the most utilized room in the house and it will also probably save my life.  Or at least it will keep my from literally going insane.  I cannot wait to have a room dedicated for keeping mud and dirt at bay.  The dogs and kids routinely come in the house covered in mud after playing outside and my contractor husband is knee deep (if not neck deep) in dirt most days.  My almost 6-year-old is so excited to have a "mudroom."  He thinks it's a room for us to have mud fights in.  I think I'm in trouble.  I started calling it the "cleanroom," but it hasn't caught on.

Here's the floorplan:

I wish I would have labeled the drawing, but the giant "X" you see is a dog wash (slash kid wash, slash husband wash).  The four rectangles on the other side of the room are cubbies.  Here's the design board for the mudroom (I'm finally getting photoshop, by the way, so I can finally make real design boards):

I'll be using the same cabinets as the base cabinets in the kitchen, the light fixture you see is one I'll be using above the sink in the kitchen.  The knobs are the same as the ones I'll use in the kitchen too.  Flooring is where I'm stuck.  I'll either buy a dark tile and install in a herringbone pattern or go with the encaustic tile if budget allows.  The encaustic tile is like $17.99/SF or something like that (ouch), but I love it so.  It's not too big of an area to tile, but if our budget is blown by the time we get to tiling the mudroom it's out.

NEW DIGS SERIES: POWDER ROOM DESIGN

Just a quick post for today.  The powder room is on the main floor of the house centrally located between the living room, kitchen, den and office.  It's a pretty small room and will have just a pedestal sink and toilet.  I want to do something fun on the walls and will probably go with wallpaper.  The mirror shown I have in our current bathroom and I'm taking it with me.  I love that thing.  The big chunky sort of rustic wood totally appeals to me.  Anyhow, here's the design board for the powder room:

I had originally planned on doing a wallpaper with a blue design, but for some reason when I put everything together all of the ones I looked at seemed a little much.  I really like this one shown by Serena & Lily.

NEW DIGS SERIES: KIDS BATH DESIGN

The space we have for the kids bath is really nothing exciting.  There's a tub, a toilet, and a vanity.  A single sink vanity at that.  I had originally designed the bathroom so that there were two sinks (one for each kid) but Brent (my husband) nixed that right away.  His argument was that when his family built a bigger house when he was growing up they put a double vanity in the bathroom that him and his sister were to share.  He said that there was NEVER a time that him and his sister were using the bathroom at the same time and that's really only the reason to have a double sink.  Why waste the space with a sink when you can have more drawer storage (which is what you really need with kids).  Seriously, kids have a lot of $h*t!  It truly amazes me how fast we've outgrown this house.  When it was just me and Brent and the dogs it was perfect.  Then came along one little monkey, things got a little tighter...then another little monkey, and man we're squished in here for sardines.  I joke a lot about being cramped and it's true but we manage.  It really could be much worse.  When  you have a small house you learn to live small and I really like that way of life.  I don't want to have a bunch of junk around that I don't need or want, but at the same time I need more room for the basics...like toilet paper.  Also, my son collects a lot of rocks, shells, and sticks and I want to encourage that.  We just need somewhere to keep everything.  Oh wow!  How'd we get here...I was talking about bathrooms.

Anyhow, I want the kids bath to be super casual and relaxed, not too precious.  A little bit cottage, a little modern, a little rustic.  Here's the design board I made up for this room.

I want a little bit of the same feel as the master bath because the rooms should flow.  But in this room I want black counters and white floors instead.  I absolute love the leather strap mirror.  White hex tiles instead of the black, oil rubbed bronze hardware and lighting, and rectangular white vessel sinks.

I like the neutral/black/white scheme because it will grow with the kids.  We can add colored towels and fun artwork and change them out through the years as the kids grow.

NEW DIGS SERIES: MASTER BATH DESIGN

I keep going back and forth about the feeling I want the master bath to have.  At first I wanted to use marble tile in the large shower and on the floor.  Then I thought about the yellow/orange colored soap that my husband absolutely has to use daily and how we would end up with yellow stains all over the marble in our shower.  First off, let me show you the plan for the master bath:

Here's the elevation view of the vanity:

You can ignore the cabinet codes at the bottom.  And the sconces I've shown are going to be a different style.  The cabinets will be shaker style.  I don't think I mentioned that in my kitchen post, but all the cabinets in the house will be the same style...varying only in color.

Here's the look I'm going for in the bathroom:

I like the black hex tiles on the floors, subway tile on the shower walls, white paint, and cabinet color is tbd.  I'll either use white painted cabinets for the vanity or maybe a medium brown stain...warm or grayish...I'm not sure which direction I'm leaning but I definitely think the room needs some warmth with all the black floors.  Some sort of wood has to go in here. Cabinet hardware will be oil rubbed bronze, faucets and lighting will be vintage brass.  Countertops will be the same marble or light quartz that will be in the kitchen.

Here's a super messy design board showing all the materials/hardware I've picked out for the bathroom:

I'll probably put some sort of furniture on the empty wall...maybe a small wooden vanity with a seat?  Maybe a slipper chair?  I guess it all depends on what I have room for.  I'm so excited for this room.  Right now we live in a 1,000 square foot two bedroom home and the word cramped is an understatement.  The four of us share one bathroom slash laundry room and it's a pain in the rear.  To have a separate master bathroom is going to be h.e.a.v.e.n.  Oh, and the separate toilet room...awesomeness...just keeping it real here.

NEW DIGS SERIES: KITCHEN DESIGN

The kitchen is probably the room I'm most excited about for this new house.  I want it to be gorgeous and totally reflect my style.  The kitchen is open to the dining & living rooms so the layout was a little bit tricky.  I wanted a gigantic island so that our family of four could all sit down and eat at it together.  In our current home we all eat at the bar, but it only seats three...I always end up on the other side with my knees up against the cabinets (no overhang on the kitchen side of the bar).  We rarely use the dining table (usually because it's covered in the kiddos works of art), but hopefully that will change in the new house...more on that later.

Here's the kitchen layout:

The doorway that you see leading into the kitchen is from the mudroom.  I'm thinking of putting in a sliding barn door.  I have no doubt in my mind that that door will be open at all times, so why not make it look cool.

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You can view my last post to view the kitchen layout with respect to the first floor.  Here's an elevation view if you're looking at the wall with the range on it:

I wanted this wall of the kitchen to be as symmetrical as possible.  I love open shelving but don't think I could live with a kitchen with only open shelves for uppers...I really need the storage space.  The base cabinets are all deep drawers.  I love using drawers for storage.  I wish I had more in my current kitchen.  Here's a view of the refrigerator/sink wall:

 
I really want to use dark grayish blue lower cabinets and white uppers.  The opens shelves will be reclaimed wood.  Countertops will be either Carrara marble or some type of whitish/grayish quartz.  Here's a few pics:

Appliances will be stainless.  I'll be using a 42" counterdepth refrigerator and a 36" gas range.  I want antique brass knobs/pulls and faucet.  The lighting will be either antique brass or oil rubbed bronze.  Oh, and I will absolutely have an apron front sink.  The flooring will be the same wide plank oiled oak that will be used in the rest of the house.

NEW DIGS SERIES: HOUSE PLANS

We're building a new home!  Building this place is a long time in the making and we're going really slow with the construction process.  You know the whole saying "a shoemaker's wife has no shoes?"  Well, a contractor's wife has no construction.  The hubs is so busy in the summertime working on all of his paying projects that the house gets little attention.  We're hoping that snow starts falling late this year and we can get a roof on before that time comes.

I designed the home.  I've had lots of time to think about the layout of the house.  My husband puts quite a few limitations on me when it comes to design when he's the builder.  He's a dirt guy, not a house guy.  He can build a house, but that doesn't mean he wants to spend several extra months in the construction process because I decide I want dormers, a hip roof, or 45 degree angles (gasp!).  So, the design is super simple and should be easy to build. 

The main floor is an open layout kitchen, dining, and living room area.  My office, the den, a powder room and the mudroom will also be on this floor. 

The second floor will consist of all the bedrooms.  Master, kids, and guest room.  

My absolute favorite house style is craftsman.  As simple as this house design was I really wanted to give the exterior a craftsman look.  We'll be using craftsman style windows, doors, tapered posts at entries, and brackets on the gable ends.





The next posts in this series will get into all the fun decorating/materials selection part of the house design!