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SHARED BOY BEDROOM IDEAS

Read on for ideas on how we are designing our future home to incorporate a shared boy bedroom for our three sons. These ideas can be useful for anyone whose children share a bedroom.

As a family on the journey toward minimalism, it only makes sense that the design of our future house, Arrow Hill Cottage, would reflect our desires. Because of this, we have been striving to build the least amount of square footage necessary for our large family to feel comfortable. One minimalist technique we are implementing is shared bedrooms for our children.

I wrote about the design of the shared boy bedroom in a previous post, when things were still very conceptual. Since that time, I have worked on structural drawings, determined window sizes, and fine tuned the overall floor plan. At this point, I feel fairly confident about what will be built.

The upper floor of our cottage will have three total rooms. A shared bathroom off of the hallway, plus a bedroom for each gender. One for the girls and one for the boys.

Our three boys are currently 11, 9 and 7 years old. They share a room in our rental house and enjoy it. However, we know that as they age they will be looking for more privacy and personalized space. Because of this, I designed their room so that it can grow with them.

THE ROOM LAYOUT

This is the floor plan of the room. Overall, from edge to edge it is 28’0 wide x 13’9″ deep. The room is vaulted at a high point of 11’5″. The ceiling slopes from the vault all the way down to the floor.

Generally speaking, the room is divided into two different zones. The center core area will be common space, shared between all of the boys. In the image above it is the space with the large window and the grown man figure ‘for scale’.

In the lower sloping portion of the room, along the outer edge, will be private sleeping nooks. One for each boy. The nooks for our younger two boys will feature twin mattresses, while our oldest son will have space for a queen sized bed.

CENTRAL ‘COMMON’ SPACE

This is the view of the room as you walk into it from the hallway. The center space is about 8′ wide, but seems much more spacious because of the vaulted ceiling. I plan to keep this portion of the room very simple and neutral style-wise, with furnishings that can grow with the boys.

As you can see in the right of this image, the younger boys sleeping nooks are a bit more open to the center space. The larger nook is more private and is tucked behind the wall on the left.

On one wall of the common space, I envision a large dresser painted in a bright color. Above it, I would like to add a gallery of photos of the boys and some fun art pieces – such as this, this and this.

Because the ceiling slopes all the way to the floor, I want it to be covered in a durable material. Perhaps whitewashed pine boards, for example. This application could add texture and visual interest as well as provide a durable surface.

Looking back toward the bedroom entrance, you can see the closet door to the right. This one closet and the dresser will be shared by all the boys for their clothing. I imagine as they grow they will eventually be in generally the same size, at least for shirts and socks. This will help cut down on the amount of items they will need to store.

PRIVATE SLEEPING NOOKS

Although this is a shared boy bedroom, I wanted to be sure to incorporate a semi-private are for each boy to retreat to when he needs space from his brothers.

In their individual bed nooks, each boy has plenty of storage and places to display his personal belongings. The beds will be positioned not far from the floor, similar to platform beds – but I would like to at the very least allow for a 6 inch rolling drawer under each bed. Will perhaps try to tackle something similar to this DIY.

Each nook will have it’s own little lamp, as well as shallow shelving built into the wall studs. Barn-wood accents on the back of each of the shelves would add some warmth and extra character to the space. The partial height built in between the younger boy’s nooks will provide more storage, while the post will be the perfect spot to hang up their musical instruments. In this way, the instruments can also serve as room decor.

I imagine that each of the boys will put some personal touches in their own little nooks – with bedding, books, and accessories.

LARGER, PRIVATE NOOK

On the other side of the room is the larger sleeping nook. It will be given to our oldest son starting out. Once he moves out of the house, it will be passed down to the next in line – age wise.

As I mentioned before, this space is large enough for a queen sized bed. I appreciate this aspect while looking into the future, when our kids are all grown up with families of their own. We can see this room serving as a very nice family guest suite.

There is room for a small dresser and some art on the side wall.

SHARED BOY BEDROOM THOUGHTS

I know that some of you reading this will be skeptical about three teenage boys sharing a room. I totally understand that, and will admit that I am a tad nervous myself. However, each family uses their house so differently. For us, the bedrooms have always been used as a place to read and sleep.

In our home we allow the kids to have musical instruments, books, and perhaps a few toys in their rooms. We do not, however, allow electronic devices (computers, tvs, phones, etc). By doing so, we hope that the shared boy bedroom will serve it’s intended purpose as a relaxing space. And, if they need to get their energy out, they can always go shoot a few hoops in the basement rec room!

We are all super happy with how the room is coming together conceptually and the boys, of course, can’t wait to see it built!

PIN THIS SHARED BOY BEDROOM

SATURDAY SKETCHBOOK: POSITIONING THE COTTAGE

The building site where a new home will be constructed is so, so important. Generally, it is recommended that you don’t even begin designing your house until a potential building site has been selected – so that the house can be developed to utilize the best features of the land, and avoid the pitfalls.

We purchased our building site in 2009. You can read more details about how we found and fell in love with our 4.5 acres in this post. Through the years, as I have been sketching ideas for the cottage, I have been careful to keep the lay of the land in mind – at least conceptually. I am now far enough in the design that I need to look more closely at how the cottage will actually be positioned.

This week I spent quite a bit of time fine tuning design details – the garage placement, the driveway configuration, and where the walkout door from the basement will be. Each of these decisions were heavily based on the site.

Our site is super unique, and has some interesting challenges. These are some of the site related issues that have been guiding our design:

SLOPED LAND

I’m sure that this particular parcel of land was passed over by multiple people solely because of its most dramatic natural feature – the slope. From the roadside there is a bit of flat land, but the slope down to the pond below is quite dramatic.

SETBACKS

The red area shown in the above graphic is the ‘flat’ land. The portion of land closest to the road (shown outlined in blue) is not build-able, because of setbacks and easements. Right from the start, we knew that we would likely have a longer driveway than most because of these setbacks alone.

MANY NEIGHBORS

Our land borders quite a few properties – both on the south and west property lines and, visually, across the pond. 14 parcels border ours. While this could be seen as a major drawback, I have been working strategically on the design so that our privacy within the home is maintained.

DENSE TREES

the kids standing by one of the many large trees that will need to be removed (2017)

One of the reasons we fell in love with our building site was that it was absolutely FILLED with mature trees: oak, maple, and other varieties. Sadly, there will be tree removal when the time comes to build. There is absolutely no avoiding that fact. By minimizing the overall footprint of the cottage, we hope to remove as few trees as possible.

EXPOSURE TO THE ELEMENTS

A view from our property, looking south. Our mini van is parked on the curved portion of the road.

An often overlooked, but important aspect of home design is the orientation it has in regard to the sun and wind. Because we live in a Northern climate, our strongest sunshine comes from the south. It is generally advised in this climate that you position your home with windows facing south (both for daylight, and for heating purposes in the winter). Thankfully, once a few trees are removed, we will have quite a bit of southern exposure.

It can get very cold in our state during the winter months – and the prevailing wind direction is from the northwest. I plan to rotate the cottage so that the garage can be used a bit for protection from those strong winds.

THE IDEAL POSITION FOR OUR COTTAGE

With all of these site issues in mind, I have narrowed down the placement of our cottage. I am working on finding the best angle of rotation and also determining how exactly the driveway will function – but we are getting close!

Just for fun, here are a few 3d images showing the cottage positioned on the land.

The cylinders are place holders for privacy trees (some of which are existing, and others that we hope to plant in the future.

I worked a long time to find an appropriate position for the garage. I was sure that I wanted the garage doors to be set back from the front of the house/porch. For a while I had the garage rotated 90 degrees so that you accessed the doors from the side – but I eventually realized that this would not create ideal conditions for the driveway, making it both awkward and extremely long. The garage is now accessed head on and set to the very back of the house so that it isn’t visually imposing.

The wall of windows on the southeast elevation will let in a ton of wonderful natural daylight. It is one of my favorite features so far, and never would have happened if we hadn’t talked to our contractor about current building prices – which prompted us to make a major change to the design.

You can see from this image how the cottage interacts with the slope. There will be a bit of excavating and retaining involved in creating the lower level walkout patio.

As the weather warms up, I hope to make a trip to the land again – and maybe stake out the corners or use spray paint to get an even more visual perspective on what we will see out of each window of the cottage.

Exciting times ahead!

SATURDAY SKETCHBOOK: PLANNING AND REVISING

This winter has been brutal. Think freezing or below for months at a time. No, I’m not exaggerating – anyone who lives in the Midwest will agree.

As I have mentioned before, our family currently lives in a rental house. As part of our agreement, we pay our own utilities – which includes the propane used to heat the house. Let’s just say the propane guy has been out here multiple times already this season, and gas isn’t cheap! The house just doesn’t heat well. It’s an older home and has leaks and cracks and windows that aren’t perfectly sealed.

This winter has been breaking us down.

One day at the dinner table Craig asked me “Is there ANY way that we can build our house sooner? I am not sure I can make it through another winter like this in the rental.” My honest answer was that I really did not know. I hadn’t let my mind go there.

But I agreed to check into it, and found myself at the bank the following week – sitting down with a loan officer who very kindly told me that our finances looked good but that she needed to have some clear estimates of how much this house would cost us to build. Gulp. Time for the dreaded bottom line.

I wrote about making sure you know what you can afford in THIS recent post. Craig and I are frugal people and no matter what a bank would tell us that we CAN spend, we would never put ourselves in a position where we had a monthly payment that was too difficult for us to meet. We had our best guess dollar figure about what we could handle/month on a loan, but had not yet determined full building costs – besides a general cost per square foot number.

We called up a contractor friend who met with us and talked us through various material decisions. He let us know industry standards and which finishes he thought weren’t worth their price tags. All very good information. Then he started throwing out numbers of recent newly built houses, similar in square footage to what we had designed, and the price tags they had attached to them. GULP again. Wow. Did he really just say that? His cost per square foot numbers were quite a bit higher than those I had been working with.

Of course, there is a range – but in all honesty even the lowest priced was slightly above our comfort level.

main level of the cottage (as designed when talking to the contractor)

Finishes will play a major role in the overall cost, and so in the next couple of weeks we are going to sit down with him once again and talk through actual numbers as they relate to our project. I am already guarding my heart – and I am pretty sure that the bottom line will require some major changes to be made. I’ll be honest that I was pretty bummed for a day or two after our meeting.

The good news is that we are heeding our own advice and finding out these costs early. We aren’t just hoping that everything will come in within our magical budget number.

And, it’s also good that I love to design. I’ve already gone back into the ‘archives’ of plans to see how different ideas could be incorporated. One of the first areas we noticed that could be revised was the large vaulted living room. The elimination of that wing of the house would essentially remove 640 square feet (320sf per level: main and lower). Based on what the contractor was telling us, in ‘real world dollars’ that may be a $100,000 decision. For our family that is a MAJOR amount of money.

I went looking for how that wing could be eliminated and eventually realized that by simply eliminating the kitchen island and moving the table into the kitchen in it’s place, a large area could be opened up and re-imagined into a living room. Interestingly, the positioning of the dining table in the kitchen is a building design trend that makes sense for a lot of families.

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Though this revised living room isn’t as large as the initial design and doesn’t come with all the bells and whistles I had been dreaming of, it’s okay. It has the potential to be a lovely space, maybe even with a small vault space and extra windows in the bump out area.

main level of the cottage – simplified and reduced square footage

The other major bonus is that nothing else on the main level would have to change much, so from the exterior the house looks essentially the same, minus the extra wing.

potential revised exterior without living room wing

These are all still ideas, and until we get actual bids on construction materials for our home we won’t know if this major cut will need to be made. But we are preparing for the potential, and know that whatever we end up with will be the perfect fit for our family – in size and style – while at the same time making sense for our pocketbook.

FRONT ENTRYWAY DESIGN IDEAS

A front entrance for guests is a great feature to add to any home. It doesn’t need to be a large space, but having it laid out well is important. Today I am sharing the front entryway design ideas I have for Arrow Hill Cottage.

Although our home will have an attached garage, and our family is most likely to enter and leave in that direction, I wanted to make sure to include a straightforward front entrance – where we expect visitors to enter. I’m not sure about you, but our garage has a tendency to become cluttered and dirty far faster than any other space we own – and we don’t want our visitors to experience our day to day.

ENTERING FROM OUTSIDE

As you can see in this image, the front door will have a prominent position. Although the house is not symmetrical, your eye is drawn to the small gable above the door.

In case you noticed… yes, I am still #teamplanter, and it remains as part of the design, at least for now. If you have no idea what I’m talking about – go ahead and visit THIS POST to learn all about the debate.

The large stone pillars and double columns frame the view. I’m sure there will be some sort of feature light fixture here also, but I haven’t made any decisions on that yet. And yes, I am dreaming of a light blue bead-board ceiling for the porch. Love.

I have chosen a solid wood door. Because there will be windows directly next to and above it (transom), I felt that including a smaller pane of glass within the door itself would complicate the arrangement. The windows should provide plenty of natural light (this wall will be south-west facing)

INSIDE THE ENTRYWAY

Stepping through the door, you are welcomed with a space approximately 6 feet deep by 12 feet wide. The room is partitioned from the dining room by a pair of built-in cabinets and columns.

We will likely have our builder or cabinet maker create these cabinets and columns, but This Old House wrote a fantastic post about how you can make this a DIY project. I purposely chose to offset the built-in slightly from the alcove since the wall finish and the cabinet finish will be different. This will help eliminate a clumsy transition from cabinet to wall. The baseboard trim will help to tie everything together.

As I mentioned in this post, we have found that with fewer closets we are less likely to hold onto items we don’t need. This entry is indeed the perfect opportunity to live that theory. Because most of our family’s shoes, coats and bags will be coming in through the back entry / mudroom, we won’t need much for storage near the front entry. Instead of using the recessed space as a closet, I am opting to leave the alcove open and instead will incorporate a bench with simple hooks and a shelf above.

This alcove also lends itself to the inclusion of a feature wall. At the moment, I am thinking that beautiful rustic barn wood would serve as the perfect surprise. The feature wall will serve as a backdrop for a family photo gallery.

This post, from the blog Ivory Lane , has given me a ton of inspiration for the entryway gallery. I love the simple nature of the metallic frames, white picture mats, and black and white images.

ACCESSORIES + DETAILS

On top of the small shelf above the coat hooks, I envision some cute artwork that represents our family. These number squares are amazing.

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I also love sentimental signs and would love to work something like this into the entryway space.

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Opposite the bench area is where I envision our piano being placed. We own a low grade piano that is natural wood and wood grain veneer at the moment. I would love to paint it a soft gray color and decorate it with special accessories – such as the vintage green cottage window that I recently purchased at an antique store. I know there is some debate about painting pianos, but they make it look so easy on Pinterest, and I am really intrigued by the results.

Nobody in our family is a concert pianist, but we do enjoy having a piano to tinker around on. In this location it is available, but set aside so that it isn’t in the way of other daily activities.

For the center of the room I would like to find a special light fixture. I am thinking something with a metallic finish, probably a hanging pendant.

Perhaps something from this collection would work well.

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The floor will require some sort of durable rug that will mostly protect the wood floors. I love the idea of a black and white patterned rug.

This website seems to have a wonderful selection of rugs to choose from.

ADDITIONAL ENTRYWAY VIEWS

And now for a few more views of the entryway. First, a view from above – one that nobody will ever experience in real life. It shows the overall space well.

A view from the kitchen (standing near the stove) looking toward the entry. You can see the kitchen design in this post. The space between is the dining room, of which I am still working on designing. The only thing I know for sure is that I want to include some sort of antique hutch on the long wall.

Another room that is still a blank slate is the living room. Besides knowing that I want to include a large sectional sofa for our large family, there are still a lot of decisions to be made here. This is a view of the entryway as seen from the living room. Again, that large open space will eventually house our dining table.

I am really loving how the main level is laid out. The flow seems like it will work well for our family. In this image you can see the stairs leading to the bedrooms (up) and the family room (down). That blank spot at the landing is where the largest window of the house will be positioned. I’m excited to see the design of the stairs come together.

Maybe I will work on that next!

UPDATE: Our floorplans changed quite a bit since this was originally posted. You can see our revised design HERE.

PIN THESE ENTRYWAY DESIGN IDEAS

feeling inspired? Be sure to save this post for later!

SATURDAY SKETCHBOOK: KITCHEN BASIC DESIGN

I spent some time this week diving into the interior of Arrow Hill Cottage. With just over 18 months remaining before we break ground, I want to get as many details ironed out as possible. I figure that the more decisions that are made on paper, the less surprises that might arise during construction.

This may end up being the most well planned house of all time…. because this mama doesn’t like surprises! Ha!

First up on the detailing docket is the kitchen. I wanted to start on it first, because I know that kitchens are the most complicated room in basically any house on the block. Ours is no different. So many decisions need to be made! You can see the basic floor plan layout of the kitchen in this post. The plan is basically still the same, but some of my initial ideas about which cabinets go where have changed.

This is the view of the kitchen- standing in the dining space. It can be seen, by a long view, from the front door. The blank space you see on the right is the living room, which obviously hasn’t been detailed yet. The connection between these three spaces (kitchen, dining, living room) is great. There is definition of space but the rooms flow freely into one another.

A closer view of the space. I am loving the bright and airy feeling it has so far. I feel like your eye is drawn to the wall of windows, which was my intention. Out those windows will be a beautiful view of wooded acreage.

In fact, standing at the sink – which is a reclaimed piece from Craig’s grandparents home – there will be a panoramic view of nature. I think that this view, and the natural light that will be pouring in, will make monotonous kitchen work seem more bearable. Maybe.

Turning toward the right side of the room, I have placed the range. This is a 48″ wide Wolf range. It is far more luxurious than any appliance we have ever owned; but I have heard only great things about this brand. And, I think it looks wonderful in the space.

The vent hood above would have to be custom made by the cabinet manufacturer. I imagine the ‘pillars’ on either side of the stove to have secret pull out compartments for spices and oils. Another detail that will need to be worked out. I’m envisioning something like this photo.

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To the right of the stove is a tall cabinet. At the moment, I am thinking that the doors of this cabinet will be telescoping, and when open will reveal the microwave and pantry storage.

In the center of the room is the lovely 7 foot long island. Having a large island in my kitchen has been a dream of mine for a very long time.

I want the island to be standard counter height so that it can be used as extra prep space. I am thinking that the counter top will be of the same material as what the perimeter cabinets have – some type of white granite perhaps- but I would like the base cabinetry painted a different color to add interest and to give the island more of a ‘furniture’ look.

The back side of the island will have storage cabinets, while the other side will feature spots for seating. I have a bit of a debate going on in my own head right now. Should the bar stools have backs or not?

I imagine stools with backs might be more comfortable, but they also look a bit more clunky and may not be as visually pleasing. If you have an island with seating, can you please comment below letting me know which style of seating you have (backs or no backs), and what your thoughts are? Thanks!

Let’s just take a minute to admire the ceiling, shall we? I am really pushing for some beam elements. I’m not sure yet if they will fit in the budget, but I want to get them planned out anyway. If we can’t do them right away it may be something we add in the future.

I have not formally chosen light fixtures for the kitchen, but am kind of liking the idea of purchasing multiple ‘similar looking’ pendants and clustering them above the island. An arrangement something like this photo

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Gorgeous, right? I think it would be an unconventional arrangement, but something that might fit perfectly in the house. Cottages are known for their eclectic style, after all.

The final side of the room features a shallow cabinet and counter, which I imagine will be perfect as a breakfast bar or as a buffet during gatherings.

Our property has many mature oak trees, some of which will need to be removed to make room for the house. Craig and I are hoping that we can find someone local that would be able to mill the removed trees into boards. These boards could then be made into special items for the house itself, including the dining room table and possibly the shelving here in the kitchen.

I love the idea of using the open shelves to house pantry items that can be stored in cute glass containers, such as pasta, sugar, and oatmeal. I could also see myself storing our frequently used plates, bowls and tumblers on these shelves. We’ll see how dusty the house gets. If it gets to be too much of a maintenance issue, maybe the shelves will be for display items only.

I love how this family utilizes open shelving.

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The fridge will have it’s own little corner of the kitchen. One thing our kids are really looking forward to is the availability of crushed ice and cold water on demand. It’s the simple pleasures.

One last look of the kitchen – the view from standing in the living room. You can see the stairs off to the side, and I can just about imagine my hungry little children wandering down from their bedrooms for breakfast in this beautiful space. I am loving the design progress I have made so far!

Let me know what you think! Any tips or suggestions?

SATURDAY SKETCHBOOK: THE GREAT PORCH DEBATE

In the last Saturday Sketchbook post, I discussed the three outdoor spaces I have been working on for the cottage. I casually mentioned that the front porch may or may not have railings. Then someone on Instagram posted this picture, and it sent my mind spinning.

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Do you see what I see? Isn’t this porch just gorgeous? I had never considered using planters as a buffer between porch and ground before I saw this image; But as soon as I saw it the wheels in my head started turning. Here’s a close up of the planter boxes.

The sea of color slays me.

I tracked down a photo of this same porch, updated with different flowers in the planters. It’s a simple change that has a big impact. As someone who loves to rearrange furniture, the thought of updating the look of the exterior without lifting a hammer is really piquing my interest. Additionally, I am almost certain our cottage exterior will be all white, and a pop of color provided by flowers could really help add some visual interest.

Excitedly, I sent these pictures to Craig and asked him what he thought. I was pretty sure his reaction would be the same as mine – pure love. Imagine my shock when he texted back three simple words. Not a fan.

Gulp! Did he just really say that?! How could it be!

The conversation continued later that night when he got home from work. I used all sorts of logic to try to persuade him to come to ‘my side’ of the equation. “See how the grass can be planted right up to the porch rail? no need for expensive landscaping!” “Wouldn’t it be nice to just keep potted plants alive and not have to worry so much about weeds?” “You can change it for the seasons – bright flowers in summer, potted spruce in winter!” “The lower planters won’t block the view out of the windows!”

Not budging.

Though he couldn’t give me a firm reason WHY he didn’t like the look, he did say that it just seems to him that a porch needs railings. (*technically.. this is the architect in me speaking…per code, we won’t be required to add a railing to our front porch because it will only be about 14 inches off of ground level)

SO… I set to work on my 3d modeling program, to get a better idea of what a planter box buffer could look like at the cottage.

See how cute? I went ahead and added a few more porch details – to further the vision I laid out in this post – I even added a blue bead board ceiling, which I think would be lovely.

Pretend that you are sitting on the porch.

The view from the porch swing is my favorite.

I could probably spend all day right here. Truly.

Of course, I want to make sure and play fair – so here are a few views of the porch shown with a standard railing.

Now it’s your turn to weigh in. Help us solve this debate by telling us which you prefer – railings or planters. Please comment below!

Read more about our home design progress here.

SATURDAY SKETCHBOOK: EXTERIOR SPACES

I thought it might be fun to get the Saturday Sketchbook feature up and running again, as a way to show all of the readers of this blog the progress I am making on the design of our family’s home – Arrow Hill Cottage. The drawings, plans, and 3d models are still pretty rough – but through time more detail will be added, and I’m excited to share that progress with all of you!

OUTDOOR SPACE DESIGN

Lately the weather has been absolutely glorious in the Midwest. The leaves are turning beautiful colors, and falling to the ground, but the temps have remained steady. It really has been an enjoyable Fall season. And it has me thinking about the outdoor spaces at our cottage – where we will be able to appreciate the weather even more-so in the future.

I’ve been fine tuning these outdoor spaces; and even though I have a ways to go on developing the character and coziness of each, I feel that I am headed in the right direction!

As you can see from this aerial image of the 3D model, there will be 3 main outdoor spaces. The first is the covered front porch. I am still debating if I will add a rail or not – chances are it won’t be necessary since the height of the porch from the ground will be minimal, but I might add one anyway, just for looks.

The second space is off the back of the house – a large raised deck that I am hoping I can add a pergola to. You can see that I have only started modeling the rail (this deck will definitely need one) and the pergola.

The third outdoor area is the ground level paver patio, which will be accessible from the doors in both the family room and the pool room. There will also likely be some sort of stairs or walkway from the upper deck to the patio. I’m thinking something natural, such as stone slabs, might be the best fit here – to keep the natural landscape in tact as much as possible.

I am also playing around with the idea of creating a shed or storage space underneath the back deck area. In the image below you can see two X’s, which symbolize doors. This shed could house items such as lawn furniture, gardening tools, and mowers – and also might be a handy spot to put a kayak or paddle boards, which we would really love to buy eventually in order to get great use of the pond on the property. Refer back to the first image in this post to see the proximity of the pond to the patio.

It is so exciting to our family to think that two years from now we may be anticipating moving into our forever home! A dream 10+ years in the making is starting to feel more and more real with each passing day!

Tell me what you think – which of these 3 spaces could you imagine spending the most time relaxing in?

SATURDAY SKETCHBOOK: DIRECTION

Ok. I know. It’s not a sketch, but it’s what has been on my mind a lot lately.

I won’t go into much detail besides simply saying that I can sense this blog is starting to head in a direction that I never intended it to take…so I am going to be working over the next weeks/months to try to steer it back in line with my initial vision. The Saturday Sketchbook feature will likely still continue on, but may not happen quite as frequently, so that I share sketches I truly want to instead of scrambling to get something together just to ‘check’ the box.

Craig is my default technology person, and will be helping me make some modifications to the website layout as well, but keep in mind that we are both very new to this, and learning as we go. There are sure to be some hiccups along the way! (If you are an email subscriber you will have already experienced one! ha!)

On my letter board this week I have this quote:

And it is so, so true. I’m really looking forward to what this blog and website could turn into, but it scares me at the same time. I need to place those fears to the side and just put one foot in front of the other to make this a space that truly represents what I want to share. At the end of the day, I need to remember that the journey is just as beautiful as the destination itself.

Thanks for walking it with me.

SATURDAY SKETCHBOOK: THE KITCHEN

With all of the posts lately regarding food, I have been dreaming of a bright beautiful kitchen to cook in! So today I sat down and sketched out some ideas. They are by no means refined, but hopefully they can help you all visualize what we are planning.

First, a quick floor plan. As discussed in THIS post, the kitchen is located in a very convenient spot on the main level. It has direct access to the dining room and is just a short walk from the mudroom which will connect to an attached garage. It also is within view from the front entry – which means I will need to be extra diligent about making sure it stays clean! And in order to keep it clean and organized, the layout and function of the kitchen itself will need to be spot on.

Here is what we have so far

From the front entry you would be looking into the kitchen from the bottom of this floor plan sketch, and would see the three large windows above the sink as a focal point. That sink is something that we are all SUPER excited about – a cast iron original farmhouse sink that was taken out of the farmhouse we are currently living in years and years ago, salvaged from the woods by us, and stored in Craig’s parents shed. It is a ‘one basin’ design with a built in dish drain, and refinished it will look SO great!

The three main stations (oven, fridge, and sink) are arranged in a triangular fashion – a technique referred to as the ‘work triangle’. I can imagine that corner of the island that falls within the triangle will be a great drop zone to bridge the gap between the three zones. I am playing around with the idea of using a microwave drawer on that end of the island as well, but haven’t fully decided on that.

Near the fridge I am planning an entire row of pantry cabinets, with the upper cabinets stretching all the way to the counter. I want to keep the look really clean, and was thinking that the large doors could be telescoping (slide in and out of the way) to reveal a spot for a coffee machine and toaster.

On the other main wall will be the range/oven station. Again, I am playing around with the idea of bringing the cabinets straight down tot he counter to keep things clean. The left cabinet I can imagine housing spices and cooking oils, and the right cabinet might be the perfect spot for the dishes to be stored.

In the middle of all the action will sit the crowning jewel of the kitchen, the island. It may have a different finish than the rest of the cabinets and perhaps a butcher block island. I haven’t thought through all of the details yet, but I do know that at 3’0″ wide x 7’0″ long it will be large enough for all five kids to sit at!

Just for fun, I made another sketch of the kitchen – kind of looking at it from above. I think it shows the layout pretty well.

If you want a better idea of what types of colors and finishes (and organization tips) we are considering utilizing in our kitchen, go check out the Pinterest board HERE!

COTTAGE ROOM DESCRIPTIONS {LOWER LEVEL}

It’s time to describe the final level of our future cottage/home! If you missed the other levels, go ahead and click the links below to get caught up.

MAIN LEVEL

UPPER LEVEL

As I mentioned in THIS post, our building site is quite sloped. Therefore, it was the perfect candidate for a walkout basement. We are super thrilled about that prospect! Not only will we have great connection to the outdoors, we will also have a basement with decent lighting – which is the stuff dreams are made of. I’m pretty sure that natural daylight is one of my love languages.

Below is the layout of the lower level. Use it as a guide while you read through the descriptions, and take a look at our Pinterest boards (which are linked at the end of each room description). They show some inspiration images we have found for each space. And here comes the disclaimer…* As mentioned before, these floor plans are currently not showing any real detail – I will be working on adding detail for future posts.

Generally speaking, the lower level is laid out in a fairly straightforward way. The bathroom is stacked under the main level bathroom, with the mechanical space nearby – to cut down on plumbing costs. All of the rooms situated on this level, besides the mechanical room of course, are ‘extras’ – meaning that they are not as important for the day to day function of our family. If money runs short while we are building the house, they can be left unfinished and DIY’d or hired out at a later date.

{ELEVATOR / LIFT} Let’s get straight to the obvious. This is not a typical feature in most houses, but we felt that it was an important addition for our family. First off, we want to be able to live in this home for as long as we can – and there is always the potential that stairs may become difficult or even impossible at some point. Secondly, our oldest daughter {K} has arthrogryposis and even now stairs give her some troubles – we want to make sure that the entire house is comfortable and useful for her. We have dreams that she will one day live independently, but if that is not possible, the lower level can become her apartment. Lastly, if in the future either of our set of parents live with us, we want to provide accessibility for them. Essentially, the elevator/lift will allow us to plan for multiple scenarios – and ensures that all the awesome features of the lower level are not limited to only some inhabitants and visitors.

{BATHROOM} Probably the best feature of this room is it’s location. Located near the stairs and the lift space, it will definitely be a go-to room when the main level bathroom is occupied. It also is across from the pool room. Handy. This will be the largest of the three bathrooms in the house, and will feature both a tiled shower and a separate jetted soaking tub. (PINTEREST)

{POOL ROOM} We aren’t talking about a room that houses a pool table. No, this room will feature a pool pool, the kind you swim in. Something from Endless Pools perhaps – where the water jet provides a current to swim against. It is the one surprise luxury that we are having in our house, and it’s a useful one. Our daughter {K} will be able to do her pool physical therapy at home and the rest of our family will be able to get some good exercise as well. There will be plenty of natural light coming in through large windows and a glass door that leads out to a lower level patio. (PINTEREST)

{MECHANICAL / LAUNDRY} This space is definitely still in the idea phase. Essentially, right now it is just a large open space where all of the mechanical equipment will be housed. It is also where the washer & dryer will be located. When I was first designing the house, the laundry was for SURE going to be located on the main level. But, because we decided on a smaller footprint, some concessions had to be made. Essentially we took the space that could have been used for the laundry equipment on the main level and replaced it with the lift/elevator space. Don’t worry though, I have a back up plan if it gets to annoying to haul laundry up and down the stairs or if we need a second set of appliances. There is a large ‘broom closet’ on the main level that will be fitted with water hookups, just in case a stack-able washer/dryer is it’s final destiny. (PINTEREST)

{DEN / GUEST} Craig has been dreaming of this space for such a long time. On a day to day basis it will be used as his ‘man land’ – a place to watch a football game in private, read a book, or work on some computer programming in peace & quiet. I imagine the vibe in here to be pretty laid back and cozy. The room will have a couple of small closets and a pull out couch to accommodate guests. (PINTEREST)

{HALL} Rule number one of small house design is to eliminate hallways – and such, this ‘hall’ is more than just a walking space. It is essentially a connecting room. It will house some pretty important features. On the wall that connects to the pool room, we will design some nice computer/ homework niches for the kids. There will be high windows in this location, to allow the natural daylight from the pool area to spill in. A kitchenette will be placed on the opposite wall. Again, planning for all sorts of situations, the kitchenette will have a fridge, small sink, microwave and possibly a small cook top. Day to day it will be a place the kids and their friends can go for snacks. The hall space inspiration images are included in the family room Pinterest board, linked below.

{FAMILY ROOM} We are imagining this room as a great space for our family to kick back and hang out together. I envision lots of comfy seating and a large TV for family movie nights. In one corner I would love to have a table that can be used for arts & crafts projects, and also as a place to gather and play games. There is a set of multi-pane glass french doors in our current farmhouse that we are hoping to remove and install in the cottage. As of right now, we imagine the family room being the perfect spot for the doors. When closed, they would create a nice separate room that could double as a guest space when we have visitors. The family room will also have great access to the outdoor patio space through a set of sliding glass doors. (PINTEREST)

{PATIO} This will be located, as I mentioned, right off of the family room and the pool room. If you look at the above graphic, it will fit in the little ‘L’ shape adjoining the two. As of right now, I don’t have a separate Pinterest board for this space alone, but thought I could share the outdoor board which has a few photos of what I am imagining. (PINTEREST)

And there you have it! The entire house layout / floor plans! My next step will be to take you inside each room and add details, colors, and even furniture. I’m hoping to have the computer video recorder up and working next week to share a video. Now… which shall I detail first?!