How we chose our kitchen layout

Hey y'all! 

We are well underway (waist deep) in the building of our country home. In fact we are a little over 2 months out. There is still so much to do and it can be a bit overwhelming especially since we are building a home we have never seen. Yep, picked out the floor plan online and took it to an architect.   
So every Southerner knows the kitchen is the heart of the home, right? I have been thinking and researching for like ever to find the perfect layout for us. We all have an idea of a perfect kitchen, but I had a list of our must haves. Space was number one! Space to move around, counter space, an island with bar space, pantry space. All of these things plus more are important for us. 

Like I mentioned earlier, we have never seen our floor plan in person or even in pictures. So when we received our first quote for the kitchen and it came with pictures I was jumping for joy. Well, until I saw the pictures. The first thing I noticed was our BIG kitchen looked way too small. The refrigerator needed to be moved to the other end of the counter and the wall oven needed to be moved as well. Having two large appliances so close didn't make sense to me as well as the wall oven in the middle of the counter top. 

In the picture below, you can see the door to the pantry which was all the more reason the layout needed to be changed. Luckily we have not installed insulation as of yet. We were able to move the electrical outlets and plumbing fairly easy. 

These pictures are only renditions. Our floors will not be tile. The door to the pantry will be....yes, you guessed it. Another pocket door. The island will be different from the cabinets. We haven't quite decided. We would like to use a mixture of natural woods on the island and vent hood.

Now I am super excited seeing our plan! For me this is the fun part. The design and of course later, the decorating. I am so grateful for all of the hard work everyone has put forth. I am certainly looking forward to cooking and entertaining in this kitchen. 

Family Room ~ with or without Fireplace

Hey y'all! I hope you had an awesome weekend. I have a few things to share today. First off, word from our lender. We were hoping to break ground in August, but it will now be September as our account isn't completely set up. As I said before, I'm sure there will be surprises along our journey and that's ok with us. We are blessed just to be on this journey. We will smile and carry on. In the meantime, I will show you some of the ideas we have planned and probably some DIY projects too. 

Also, over the weekend, Kevin (my husband), suggested not having a fireplace. What?! Really? I honestly had just assumed we would have one, but now I'm looking at both options. We will have built-ins regardless of what we decide. 

We are just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina and our Winters are not terrible. Of course I probably just jinxed myself and this Winter we will have a foot of snow. 😁 We did use our fireplace a few times this year; however, not for long times. We would leave it on for 20 minutes or so and then turn it off because we got too hot. For the most part, I think it is more about the ambiance than the heat. 

                                                                 Shades of Blue Interiors

I really love both options. The picture above shows a cute little bench under the TV, but we wouldn't use it. I can see cabinets in place of the bench or just an open area. I do like the plank wall too. Either unfinished or white is very pretty. I know for sure our TV will be mounted in the center of the built-ins because Kevin LOVES TV. I'm just keeping it real folks! 

Home Bunch

I have pinned a few ideas. Farmhouse style living rooms with and without fireplaces. You can check them out here.

Let me know what you think. I would love to hear from you. 

Future Farmhouse

I'm back! As promised, I will be sharing our plans for our future farmhouse. The 'farmhouse' style has really taken off these past few years, but the truth is, it has always been my style. I love the rustic features finished off with class. I love the comfortable feel. I love mixing different woods and metals. Everything about this style makes me feel at home. 

This is the house plan that we took to our architect. The pictures posted are also from the same website (Architectural Designs) We made several changes. I'm not sure if I have permission to share our actual plan, but I will point out the changes we made.

If I were hosting Fixer Upper right now, I would call this the pocket door house. LOL! We added around 8. I can't remember the exact number at the moment, but that sounds correct. All of the bedroom closets, the pantry, laundry room and going into the master bathroom. I really wanted to have a barn door somewhere in the house, but not sure yet if that will happen.

Starting left to right, we moved the flex space (which will be our playroom) to the back of the house behind bedroom 3. The bathroom in the hall is now in the center of the 2 bedrooms and will become a jack and jill bathroom. My son's room is bedroom 3 which will be next door to the playroom. I have a feeling we may catch him in there in the middle of the night playing games. Bedroom 2 will be a dedicated guest room. 

Nothing much was changed in the living area, but the 2 french doors going onto the porch will now become one door and will be accessed from the breakfast area. The kitchen didn't change much at all either. I am already in LOVE with that pantry! I mean can you picture 11-4 x 5-0. I will be in heaven! It really is the little things folks. 

Moving into the laundry and mudroom area. We definitely made changes in this area. I don't know about y'all, but we never use our front door. We always come in from the garage so we wanted to make sure we got this area right or as my husband would say 'tight'. We cut some of the space out of the laundry room to make a 1/2 bath and a bench area to hang coats, hats, book bags, and to take off shoes. Our architect designed that area for us. The 1/2 bath and laundry will be in separate areas. 

Lastly the master bedroom, bathroom, and closet. We closed off the opening from the closet to the laundry room so that is now a wall.  Several changes were made in the bathroom as well.  We opened up the toilet area and now it will be a 1/2 wall. Regardless if we left it as a toilet closet or not, I will NOT be in the same room as someone that is "doing their business". Can I hear an AMEN?! Taking out that area gave us more room for a larger shower. 

These are our plans for now. I say for now because I know as the building progresses there may be things that have to be revised or changes that we may have overlooked. 

Here ya go. The outside of our house will be similar to this. We made changes to this as well. Starting with the columns in the front.  We removed the 2 on the end. I would like to have natural wood columns all the way down. No brick or stone. 

We also removed 2 of the windows. The one on the end is in a closet and we really didn't want a window in a closet. The other window was in the pantry and again we didn't want a window in the pantry. 

Since we don't have red clay (my Georgia friends), I would love a white house. The double doors will also be the natural wood to match the columns. As of now, we're not sure about shutters. What do y'all think? Love 'em. Hate 'em. Maybe it really doesn't matter. I think I will have to see how they look first and then decide. 

As of now, we still have not broke ground. We are waiting on power and a few others before this can happen. Stay with me as our story continues. I look forward to sharing with you all.