Thursday, October 6, 2011

Dream House Inspirations

Now that things are winding down for the year on the farm and the frenetic Summer hay season is coming to an end, my husband and I are starting to think about our dream house, again. We're probably not any closer to actually building it, but at least we have enough time to talk about it, now!

The planning stage of any project, for me, is so fun. I've pinned a lot of ideas on Pinterest, but I'll share a few here with you.

Entryway:

Image: Meggielynne

All of the paneling is very grand, too rich for our taste, but the dark/white stairs and large, open, balcony entryway are quite nice.


Image source

This entry is so full of natural light -- quite beautiful.

Image source

This is actually how I usually envision our entryway; full of light, leading right to the light/dark stairs.

Under the Stairs:

What to put under the stairs? Storage is most practical, but these are other ideas...

Image source

Gimme a book and a I'm there.

Image source

I can't decide if this is brilliant or insane. It would be a great place for a bathroom, but it might just be too cramped in there for visitors to feel... er... at home.

Mudroom:

My husband often comes home from the farm quite covered in the good earth (i.e. dusty dirty muddy). A mudroom entry would do wonders for my floors!

Image source

The coat hooks are too close to each other to be practical and there's not enough room for muddy boots, but the beadboard paneled walls and ceiling along with the sidelight window door are a beautiful way to design a mud room.

Image source

What a mudroom! With a sink, it'd be just about perfect.

Dream Kitchen:

A dream mock-up I made on Ikea's kitchen planner

White cabinets, lots of (butcher block) counter space, and an island with a sink and dishwasher in it are some of my housewife hopes. I don't think wood floors in the kitchen are such a great idea (the number of times my dishwasher has leaked) but they sure are pretty.

Here are a few more kitchen design inspirations:

From: Things That Inspire

French doors to the back porch are beautiful. The crown moulding is lovely and the open dining room space is bright and cheery.

Image from: Black Eiffel

The tile color on this backsplash is beautiful, as is the crown moulding above the cabinets... not to mention the six burner double oven SubZero gas stove.

Image: This & That

I really love both the faucet and the stain on this butcher block counter. I'm paranoid about water on wood and despite 30 coats of seal I could never feel comfortable about having butcher block counters next to a sink, but for the rest of the kitchen (away from the sink) I really like these counters.

Image: unknown source via Pinterest

Again, butcher block over white cabinets with a nice faucet and lovely crown moulding.

Image: Brylane Homes

Peel and stick backsplash! Doesn't get much easier, nor much prettier.

Front Porch:



A wrap-around porch is one of our dreams. Our acreage has a beautiful view of the river and porches are great gathering places.

Image: Flickr

This is just beautiful. The flowers, the ferns and the furniture are so lovely! The deep porch would be wonderful for entertaining.

Image: Bourbon and Barbour

This is a rather shallow porch, but I do really like the shutters on the house and the lantern above the door.

Living Room / Living Spaces

Image source

Image source

Outdoors / Backyard / Gardens

Image source

This is actually a do-it-yourself project, and my husband and I think we can do it. He likes it, too.

Source unknown

The firepit is do-it-yourself, too, and not terribly expensive. The rest of it is quite a nice 20 year plan dream.

Image source

Leading to my milking barn, of course.

Image source

Maybe a little juvenile, but I like it.

 
Image source

In my dreams I'm a master gardener too, of course.

So what is this place going to look like from the outside? Well, in my dreams, something like this:

Image source

Tell me about your dream house! I need more inspiration.

22 comments:

  1. I love so many of your ideas!  While I haven't gone nearly as detailed as you have (and am avoiding pinterest like the plague for the time-consuming potential!), I do have a favorite house plan that just talks to me. 

    http://www.eplans.com/craftsman_house-plans/HWEPL01570.hwx

    Here are the highlights for me:
    * Walkout basement design is perfect for our sloped lot in Wildwood. 
    * Large open floor plan for living / dining / kitchen.
    * Screened in porch off the kitchen and second story living area. 
    * Upper and lower porches for enjoying the outdoors.
    * Master on same level as the living area.
    * Guest / kids rooms on a lower level where when we live there alone we won't need to cool or heat the space.
    * Ample storage downstairs for canning / food storage / perhaps a root cellar. 

    Some limitations:
    * Would really like one more bedroom / office.  With 2 kids now, a guest room, and needing an office, we're already a room short.  Since we're planning to homeschool, a dedicated room for all that entails would be lovely, preferably on the upper floor.  Maybe get rid of the formal dining and make that an office?  Joseph works from home and would need dedicated space for that.  The other option would be to use the space above the garage as a large home office (too removed to be the homeschooling area). 
    * Small laundry room.
    * No mud room.  As you mentioned, would be great to have dedicated place that's for dumping the dirt / dirty clothes / etc when coming inside.
    * Would want a dumb waiter from the kitchen / hallway upstairs to the storage down below so I don't have to haul aforementioned canning and food items up and down the stairs all the time. 

    I love your dreams though!  They don't need to be short-term to make them worth thinking about ... keep dreaming!

    Emma
    City Roots, Country Life

    ReplyDelete
  2. My dream house has a library which doubles as an office for my husband. 

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow...so many of these ideas would work with the floorplan I made up for you...cool!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is all FAB! I really need to start pinning things like this:) We have this crazy idea to buy this delapidated Victorian and turn it into a dream home. We really want to make a master suite with bedroom, sitting room/library with a fireplace, and a master bath. In theory I like the idea of a powder room under the stairs, but you're right, it might be too cramped. I am also a fan of built-in benches (really I like built-in anything) with storage. And mudrooms. Oh man, there is so much good stuff out there...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh golly, a dumb waiter would be awesome between the laundry room and bedrooms, hehe.
    Root cellar -- YES!
    Homeschool room -- YES!
    Reading over your ideas, we have a lot of similar dreams :).

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ah, a library/office. Excellent! :) My husband and I probably don't need an office but we do need (want) a schoolroom/library!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I entirely credit you with the slanted island. I never would have thought of that but I LOVE it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I know! Oh, but Eva, Pinterest is a dangerous place. I didn't even know I wanted a conservatory, a craft room, a music room, and a tea and crumpets room until Pinterest convinced me I needed them, hehe. Thankfully my husband has a much cooler head than I and pared the dream floorplan down to necessities.
    Renovating a Victorian house sounds AWESOME! To see the beautiful possibilities in a place and then make them happen, how thrilling! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Haha...just one of many space saving devices to get what you want in minimum Square Footage! I could totally see the reading bench/nook under the stairs in the Basement...Homeschool Area? Also the stairs to the upper bedrooms just the way you like it, dark on white. The window seat built into the living room Bay window. Angled counter separating the kitchen from the dining and french doors from the dining to the back deck or porch. Plus I already have the mudroom back next to the kitchen and main floor bathroom. Okay, I am patting my back so firmly that it's beginning to get sore, hee hee.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The_Extremely_Bearish_BearOctober 8, 2011 at 3:50 PM

    WOW!!!  I love it!  In your spare time, could you dream one up for us too?  :)  Gosh, this got me thinking for the first time about having a little place of own.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the under-the-stairs reading corner... but I really think you have to nix that bathroom idea.  Isn't your husband rather tall?  During our house-hunt my 6'6" husband opened my eyes to all kinds of bathroom-qualities that my 5'1"-self would never have dreamed to consider.  They all center around space-issues & the many "fashionable" features which make bathrooms feel like tombs to tall people.   I'm sure your husband could fill you in with his own set of details.  Meanwhile, go for the reading nook -- its charming!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yes... but an expense!  We almost got ourselves renovating a house from the 50's (so not nearly as old as Victorian) and realized the upfront (UPFRONT, mind you!!) cost would be 20k MORE than already needed for the down payment, closing costs, etc.  Um, not possible for a young couple with young kids!  So... realize those older homes can have MAJOR electrical, plumbing, foundational, and structural issues which you often MUST fix... not to mention the $$$ that then go into interior updating.  Just sayin'...

    ReplyDelete
  13. I can't even breathe right now.... I'm still in heaven just soaking in these pictures.  I want it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Gladly :-D. Isn't it fun to dream about these things? :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. hehehe, the first thing my husband said when he saw that picture was, "But I would bonk my head!" :) I did remind him that he'd have a nice tall shower and plenty of space in his master bathroom, but it did make me realize we couldn't have any tall guests use our cupboard bathroom :).

    ReplyDelete
  16. I guess if you have the means (or a lower selling price) it'd be super fun :)... but also good to remember that older houses might have worse issues than dilapidated shutters.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Indeed :). Groundbreaking could be years off, but I'm keeping my eyes open now for steals on various elements.

    ReplyDelete
  18. well at least you'll have taken the leg work out right??lol 

    ReplyDelete
  19. Yeah I kinda like that idea better myself :)lol

    ReplyDelete