Going into this project and having lived here in the house for four years already, we felt very comfortable with how our life flows around the house. We have made conscious and thoughtful decisions as to where we want what we want, how we want it there and why. I'm no designer, that´s for sure! I've welcomed the help of so many talented friends who have given me input from the lay-out of the floor plan, to the specifics of materials, and finishes. I am so blessed! This has been a team effort from the get go. So without further ado:
Kitchen - before
The kitchen is not 100% done. There is trim to be installed, appliances to be hooked up, and a few "patch-ups" that need to be done. But the bulk of the transformation has taken place!
This after picture has been taken from a slightly closer vantage point. As you can see, we took out the wall, made the kitchen longer. Past the fridge there is a door to a pantry, and we opened a "window pass" of sorts into the dining room.
We have a large family, and the kitchen is such a central part of our life. We wanted a kitchen that would allow for several of us to be in there at any given time without being in each other's ways. Here's to many happy years of cooking together!
This space holds so many memories. It served as our bedroom when we first moved in the kids slept in the adjacent room. After that, we turned it into our family room with the adjacent room being the school room. Then we turned it into a dining room (a year ago this Christmas). Finally, it served as living room (both spaces, pretty much). It was tricky to know what to do, since even though it had the most beautiful wood finishes from the whole house, it was very inefficient when it came to heating. We knew it would require a major make over.
These next pictures get a bit trickier to show, but I'll do my best to explain:
We took the fireplace out, closed out that door and turned it into a window. The room was divided in two right between the window and the door to turn into two different spaces.
This is an older picture before the sliding pocket door was installed. This is a pantry & utilities space that will also house a stand up freezer.
The other half will be a small study for Ben (this is also an older picture) accessed from under the stairs.
Since we moved in the house, we have only had the one bathroom. We knew we were going to need another one downstairs sooner than later, so we made it a part of this project. Our guest room was rather large, so we decided to shorten it and add the bathroom right next to it for easier access to our guests. That part of the house is separated from the hustle and bustle of family life offering our guests a little bit of privacy but the bathroom is still accessible without going through the guest room.
Every single wall has been painted in Homestead Parlor Taupe. How did I make this decision? Well, Ben called me to tell me that the contractor was at the paint store buying paint for the kitchen and bathroom and what color should he tell him to buy... (I hadn't yet even browsed ideas for wall color!!). I have this color in the living room, I have really liked it so I figured it would be a safe choice! As simple as that!
Now we move on to the dining room and the larger space that will house our "living" areas. We have not used these spaces since moving in. This is what took the worst of the fire and for the first two years was completely gutted (which is why we still sort of call it "the gutted room"). It was only two years ago that the sheetrock was completed, but we opened up what used to be multiple rooms. In addition, we also removed a second set of stairs that used sit on top of the access to the basement, so until we could come with a smart idea to still access our basement without a gaping hole in the middle of the room (and the finances to make it happen), we couldn't really use the space. We're looking forward to what we can do with this space in the (now, finally!) near future!