Warning: This is not a picture heavy post but if you want to know why we designed things in the new casa the way we did then you will enjoy my "list of must haves". If your gonna build it you have to think this way right?
Most of us have done it....If your one of the relatively few people on this earth that are lucky enough to own a home you make it work just like it is but probably often wish it was different. A little bit bigger here, a little less wasted space there, or an extra bedroom when baby #3 surprises you with their pending arrival. You know what I think is cool about thinking that way? It typically makes you get creative! Yes we should probably just be content with the abundant blessings of having a home period. I am and yet at the same time get some kind of thrill out of making a space work better for our family(which is what we usually do). If you have been to this little corner of the blogosphere before then you might think that I'm on a big thrill ride at the moment then with all the building and such. You might be correct!
I thought I might take you on a tour of our thoughts about the space we are trying to accomplish. I mentioned in a previous post that we can't build anything under 2400 square feet in our neighborhood. That restriction in itself helped us iron out some thing but little did we know we would end up going to 2800 square feet just to fit in all the spaces we were looking for.
So here is the master list if you will:
4 bedrooms...we have 3 kids, the girls will share a room and we will have a guest room for family visits
Office..we have the intention to do some fun "working for ourselves" stuff and intend to be organized
Good size laundry room..Every mom's dream right? We have fit in a 10 x 10 spot just for me;)
Windows in the Laundry room...Sigh...
Playroom..or what my husband like to call the "family room" because he doesn't like the thought of it being a room devoted to the kids.
His and Hers closets in the master..Didn't get those but did find a way to separate our closet for the same "feel"
Double sink for the master bath
Windows above the sinks in master bath..love me some natural light(not the beer;)
Frameless shower..
Separate Tub and Shower in master..No jetted tub please don't want to clean it.
Double sink and Jack N Jill bath for the kids. Is it natural to want 3 sinks so no one is arguing about who spits first while brushing?
Large long island..was originally 8 x 4 and changed to 8 x 5.
Dining area instead of dining room..We knew we wouldn't use a dining room.
Dining area long enough for my score of a 10' table...Crazy? Maybe
Dining area surrounded by windows that could maybe even be a sunroomish area one day? We shall see.
Back door that doesn't open near the kitchen table..drives me bonkers. The door hitting the chairs and the table or for that matter the people sitting at the table.
Symmetry..front door lines up with back door, island lines up with fireplace, two doors on either side of back wall of the kitchen...You feelin me? Or are you seeing my weird side show through?
Good size pantry..but not too crazy. (would you believe I snuck a window in there too) Might as well be a cheerful place!
Double oven
Gas range (this means we have to add a propane tank since we will be country folk and don't have gas lines)
Double stainless Apron/Farmhouse sink
No hallways...Why weirdo you might ask? To me they are a waste of precious space and $$. We are talking price per sq foot here and it adds up quick.
Pocket doors to save space. If I could put one somewhere I did. I think we only ended up with two though. One into the pantry and one into the playroom.
Powder bath. Don't want visitors to have to see how gross the kids bath is now do we?
10 Foot ceilings in the main areas..We started with vaulted in the great room area and 10 everywhere else and ended up with 10 in the great room and 9 everywhere else. Can't have it all.
8 foot doors! This was a big one for me. 8 foot doors bring a whole other feel to a space.
Solid core doors..we have kids, they are loud. Sometimes I love that sometimes I don't. And they feel nice too;)
Tall baseboards and substantial trim. The substancial trim will have to be added by us later.
Not too grand master bedroom. We felt like it was wasted space for us.
Not too grand kids rooms. I may think I was wacko for thinking this way someday but we don't want the kids to "live" in their bedrooms. We are taking the approach of "you sleep in there" we all play in here.
"Mudish" space. We couldn't do a full on mud room but there is a space to drop our junk right inside the garage door.
Oh that reminds me..We did not want to have to walk through the laundry to get to the garage and vise versa. It's always annoying to try to get through a tiny laundry room with bag of groceries or arms full of screaming kids from the garage.
Workspace in the garage for the hubs..Couldn't do a 3 car garage but added a nook for his tools and hobbies.
Ok that's enough..I'm sure there are more things that we considered but at this point I'm beginning to sound like a lunatic to myself so I'll just let you follow along and pick up on my quirks as we go.
It's a bit intimidating to think you may build it and not like the space planning. I am just hoping we didn't cram to much in there!
Most of us have done it....If your one of the relatively few people on this earth that are lucky enough to own a home you make it work just like it is but probably often wish it was different. A little bit bigger here, a little less wasted space there, or an extra bedroom when baby #3 surprises you with their pending arrival. You know what I think is cool about thinking that way? It typically makes you get creative! Yes we should probably just be content with the abundant blessings of having a home period. I am and yet at the same time get some kind of thrill out of making a space work better for our family(which is what we usually do). If you have been to this little corner of the blogosphere before then you might think that I'm on a big thrill ride at the moment then with all the building and such. You might be correct!
So here is the master list if you will:
4 bedrooms...we have 3 kids, the girls will share a room and we will have a guest room for family visits
Office..we have the intention to do some fun "working for ourselves" stuff and intend to be organized
Good size laundry room..Every mom's dream right? We have fit in a 10 x 10 spot just for me;)
Windows in the Laundry room...Sigh...
Playroom..or what my husband like to call the "family room" because he doesn't like the thought of it being a room devoted to the kids.
His and Hers closets in the master..Didn't get those but did find a way to separate our closet for the same "feel"
Double sink for the master bath
Windows above the sinks in master bath..love me some natural light(not the beer;)
Frameless shower..
Separate Tub and Shower in master..No jetted tub please don't want to clean it.
Double sink and Jack N Jill bath for the kids. Is it natural to want 3 sinks so no one is arguing about who spits first while brushing?
Large long island..was originally 8 x 4 and changed to 8 x 5.
Dining area instead of dining room..We knew we wouldn't use a dining room.
Dining area long enough for my score of a 10' table...Crazy? Maybe
Dining area surrounded by windows that could maybe even be a sunroomish area one day? We shall see.
Back door that doesn't open near the kitchen table..drives me bonkers. The door hitting the chairs and the table or for that matter the people sitting at the table.
Symmetry..front door lines up with back door, island lines up with fireplace, two doors on either side of back wall of the kitchen...You feelin me? Or are you seeing my weird side show through?
Good size pantry..but not too crazy. (would you believe I snuck a window in there too) Might as well be a cheerful place!
Double oven
Gas range (this means we have to add a propane tank since we will be country folk and don't have gas lines)
Double stainless Apron/Farmhouse sink
No hallways...Why weirdo you might ask? To me they are a waste of precious space and $$. We are talking price per sq foot here and it adds up quick.
Pocket doors to save space. If I could put one somewhere I did. I think we only ended up with two though. One into the pantry and one into the playroom.
Powder bath. Don't want visitors to have to see how gross the kids bath is now do we?
10 Foot ceilings in the main areas..We started with vaulted in the great room area and 10 everywhere else and ended up with 10 in the great room and 9 everywhere else. Can't have it all.
8 foot doors! This was a big one for me. 8 foot doors bring a whole other feel to a space.
Solid core doors..we have kids, they are loud. Sometimes I love that sometimes I don't. And they feel nice too;)
Tall baseboards and substantial trim. The substancial trim will have to be added by us later.
Not too grand master bedroom. We felt like it was wasted space for us.
Not too grand kids rooms. I may think I was wacko for thinking this way someday but we don't want the kids to "live" in their bedrooms. We are taking the approach of "you sleep in there" we all play in here.
"Mudish" space. We couldn't do a full on mud room but there is a space to drop our junk right inside the garage door.
Oh that reminds me..We did not want to have to walk through the laundry to get to the garage and vise versa. It's always annoying to try to get through a tiny laundry room with bag of groceries or arms full of screaming kids from the garage.
Workspace in the garage for the hubs..Couldn't do a 3 car garage but added a nook for his tools and hobbies.
Ok that's enough..I'm sure there are more things that we considered but at this point I'm beginning to sound like a lunatic to myself so I'll just let you follow along and pick up on my quirks as we go.
It's a bit intimidating to think you may build it and not like the space planning. I am just hoping we didn't cram to much in there!
1 comments:
It's bound to be a home you LOVE since you've put so much thought in it! I'm with ya when it comes to adding windows everywhere...love that you'll have one in your pantry.
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