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Things I’m Jonesing for in a Future House

December 9, 2015

When we finally find the house for us, Chris and I have talked about it frequently – we will spend the time and money to invest and create the house we really want. That will mean waiting longer to re-do rooms. Frequently spending more time really thinking about exactly what kind of cabinets we want, sink we want, etc. Our future home is really what we imagine spending many decades in. So we want to make the investment to create exactly what we want.

With that being said, I have spent a lot more time on Pinterest lately. In the past I have gone on Pinterest and spent time pinning things for specific projects and ideas. But now, as I brainstorm things I like, or how I want things arranged, I am finally really seeing the value in Pinterest. Isn’t that crazy? I know, ridiculous. But now with a lot going on, it’s wonderful to bookmark things. And, especially for me, creativity is a long process. It was the same when I was an art student – I would think about a project I wanted to do endlessly and revise and revise and revise in my head until I had thought about all the details and how I would fine tune it. And then, I would create it in a flurry. I find Pinterest to be helpful in the same way: I search for something and pin it as a placeholder and see if I really like it, then I’ll usually go back and revise boards about once every 2 weeks and really refine things to a point where I like everything. I don’t want to have a bajillion things pinned and forget why they meant something to me, I want these to be the things I really, really like.

I’m not sure where I should start, or if you even care, but it’s just kind of nice to share what’s going on stylistically in my mind at the moment. I can definitely tell how my tastes have evolved that last 3 years, and even the last year as I work more and more with clients. It makes me more sure of what exactly I like. ANd it’s kind of a modge podge really.

I will say the goal for me with the next house is to not take myself too seriously. I want to really do things because we like them. I have always been about function over form. That’s not to say I don’t want things to look nice, but I am all about efficiency and authenticity. But I want the girls to have KIDS rooms. I want them to look nice and go with the rest of the house, but if they want a loft, I want to build them a loft. I’ve always been enamored with the idea of having a swing in one of their rooms as well. I’d like to think we could do that. I’ve talked about it with Chris and I know he thinks I’m slightly fucking crazy and gave me a wide-eyed stare, but I really want their rooms to be a place that they love. A place in their home that is just for them and all about them. I want it to be fun and I want it to be indicative of each girl’s personality. I want bathrooms to be practical. I want kitchens to function as the hub of the house – because that’s so frequently what they are. I want our office to have space for the girls to hang out and do their homework with us too. You see what I’m saying? I want our house to be reflective of US. I think I felt incredibly tied to the idea of this house being a Storybook Home. I will confess, I absolutely hate when people make a Bungalow into a loft. It almost makes me cry. But I also wish I would have had a little more fun with the things I picked. But it was my first time in a lot of ways and I was nervous to take chances.

I want to take chances and really be ourselves. And I’m excited for that. I think that’s why I’m so eager to find the next house. I just want to create OUR space.

Now, enough talk, time for some pictures. That’s what everyone likes anyway 🙂

1. One Day Kitchen

I haven’t so much thought about layout, etc., because who knows what the fuck the place will look like. But I have thought about colors. I REALLY want to be ballsy enough to try a colored cabinet. I love me some gray, but gray and white are so trendy right now. Chris and I picked out white cabinets 6 years ago and I loved them, but I am eager to try something new. And I loooooove me some blue. It’s probably my second favorite design color behind gray. And white. Okay, so maybe my third. But don’t these cabinets look dreamy?

dark cabinets:
here
Navy Cabinets Image via Andrew Howard Interior Design:
here
Dark cabinets:
here

I’m still not into the brass hardware, and I definitely don’t want one color uppers and another on the lower cabinets. But holy shit do I lust over these blue cabinets. Luckily Chris is pretty in favor of it.

The other thing in the kitchen that Chris and I DEFINITELY want, is a secretary area

Modern Urban Farmhouse:
here

I don’t think we would actually put a computer here, but we definitely want a place where bills get written, mail can collect, take out menus are arranged…at the moment that stuff either gets put on the kitchen counter, piled in my office, on the cabinet in Chris’ office, on our pass-through, in Zoe’s hands…we just want a place where the “house administrative” stuff can happen. And where it can go. We could put it in our office, but I’d like to keep that to work stuff.

Office you say…

2. Dreamy Office

This room is VERY important to us. Maybe the second most important room behind the kitchen/living space. We run a home-based business, and I also work from home for my brother. Having a fully functioning office where Chris and I can interact and where the girls can hang out with us too is extremely important. Right now we have 2 half offices and Chris constantly uses my computer (it’s where we have Quickbooks installed). Our filing is in my office, but our office supplies are in another room. This split would also be remedied if we had a larger space. And we pine for a larger work space. I pine for an office where we can have: both computers for Chris and I, work space for us to have things laid out, a work/play area for the girls, filing, office material storage, places for samples/fan decks/catalogs, etc. Ohhhh the dream. Hence the name: Dreamy Office 🙂 And I’ve got a lot of Pins for this room going 🙂

I L.O.V.E. the dark blue on the walls in my office. I dream of painting the future office BLACK

Office color:
here

Dreeeaaaammmmyyyyy

We also need a lot of shelving storage. We have binders for bookkeeping, projects, reference and design books, catalogs, samples, inbox, etc. And ohhhhh the though of a giant wall of a bookcase just makes my heart flutter

Bookshelves, lighting, ladder:
here

And while a giant wall of built-ins is awesome, you know what is more awesome (and space saving?) a giant wall of built-ins and desks!

Family office / library:
here
Wall-to-Wall Built-In Desk and Bookcase | Home Is Where My Heart Is featured on Remodelaholic.com:
here

And I really want the girls to feel like they belong as well

Family office:
here

And filing cabinets are so boring. I like how I redid ours that we got for free, but it would be nice to have a pretty one too that didn’t feel so filing cabinet-y

20 of the Best Filing Cabinets Apartment Therapy's Home Remedies | Apartment Therapy:
here

And, of course storing office supplies could be made fun

Reuse jars for supplies:
here

I don’t need my paperclips and thumbtacks to match. But they certainly are stored in an accessible and aesthetically pleasing way. And I can get behind that.

3. General ideas

This board is just for the feel of the house and little ideas I have. There’s very little one it mostly because it’s impossible to pin ideas when you don’t know the feel of the house.

I love the idea of creating a little nook of wasted space. It has such a romantic feel

Window alcove:
here

And we have a shit-ton of books, CDs and DVDs, so it’s not like a space like that would be wasted at all.

I also like the idea of a giant cork board somewhere to just toss stuff on. We have 3 small ones in the kitchen and they’re always full of stuff

Cork wall:
here

4. Bathrooms

There are basically two things I have become completely fixated on in terms of any future bathroom(s). Patterned tile:

bathroom at Boschendal -patterned tile on the wall:
here
 :
here
More from Katie Martinez (via Bloglovin.com ):
here
Perfect floor tiles. Royal-Black-Reproduction.  These tiles have numerous names, however the most common are: Encaustic tiles, Cuban tiles, Carreaux de ciment, Hydraulic tiles, Mosaic Cement tiles, Tessellated tiles, Morrocan style tiles.:
here
10+ Sources for Encaustic Tile — Apartment Therapy's Annual Guide | Apartment Therapy:
here
Interior Designers Portfolios - Home Interior Design | Rebecca Hayes Interiors:
here

It’s not even borderline obsession, it’s like, needs to be sent straight to a 90 day rehab addiction. Luckily Chris is totally into it and sends me photos of tile he likes from time to time that’s patterned when he’s out o jobs. That would be fatal if he didn’t like it too, lol.

The other is a trough sink. And preferably a double faucet trough sink

Wow i love so much of this!! the black penny tile, vintage trough sink... subway tile with dark grout!! I want to incorporate all of these in the boys' bath.  A Brownstone in Brooklyn by Elizabeth Roberts: Remodelista:
here
green trough sink....lovin' for the kiddo's bath :):
here
Interior Fun: House Flipping - Part 3:
here

Luckily, again, Chris is totally behind the idea. And even had the brilliant idea of having the guy who has made his stainless steel inserts for his truck cast one out of metal. That would be fucking awesome.

5. I have thought of LOTS of idea for the girl’s rooms

This one will be harder. I want their rooms to feel whimsical, like THEM, put together. I think it’ll be a challenging balance, but their rooms are probably the thing I’m most excited for because it’ll be FUN.

A loft, ooohhhh a loft

I love the use of space! The closet under the stairs, the shelves, and the couch. It would be cool to have a TV on the wall so you could watch from the bed or couch.:
here

Just like you Nikki.

And the idea of some crazy ridiculous paint job gets me super excited

Modern Wall Art I just completed my most favorite DIY project... ever! My tween just got a cool new wall treatment with +FrogTape and a few colors of paint... #PaintOnTextures #ad:
here

Zoe LOVES books. So it would be cool to have a fun way to store them for her

Amazing Easy DIY Home Decor Ideas- rain gutter reading corner  {image only}:
here

And a cool way for them to display future (hopefully) art projects would be exciting

I'm very excited to share a practical and beautiful solution for showcasing all that artwork your kids create! Like so many five-year-olds, my daughter Adelaide is a prolific artist. We ran out of ...:
here

A fun dresser just makes me smile

Ombre dresser:
here

And a magnetic wall and a swing feel like just about the coolest things

so cool - thin sheet of metal on a wall to make a massive board for magnetic letters and numbers:
here
The Happiest Seat in the House by Patricia Urquiola: Thanks to @Christina Forte for the source...different color palette but otherwise the same : )  #Chair #Swing #Patricia_Urquiola:
here

Did I mention I wanted these rooms to be fun? 😉

6. And lastly, the exterior

This is totally up for whatever style the house is, but I long to go for it and paint a future house a really dark color. Lllllloooonnngggg for it

Dream house: exteriors. Paint colors.:
here

Chris has even gotten into the Pinterest game and spent an evening on my phone pinning things. Is it wrong that I found this completely adorable?

So, there you have it, where my brain has been at. This could of course all get thrown up into the air depending on what kind of house we get. And, we likely won’t be making any drastic changes or tackling a kitchen or bathroom first thing when we (if ever) move into a forever home (I wissshhhhhh). But it’s nice to have these things bookmarked.

What do you guys think? What do you hate? What are you pinning for yourself?

« Picardy Poll: To Paint, or Not to Paint Brick
Zoe: 2 1/2 »

Comments

  1. Erin says

    December 9, 2015 at 10:22 AM

    Soooooooooooooooooo many awesome ideas here that I'm actually keeping this email and labeling it "house" to go back for ideas. A few things:

    * Our "secretary" is awesome and does exactly what you say – collects mail, holds coupons, and a small set of office supplies that totally don't match (how did they keep the blue and green paper clips separate??).

    * We definitely need one of those non-file cabinets for under the Secretary. Exactly the ideas I was looking for.

    * Having 1 sink/faucet for each kid has saved SO much screaming. Must have.

    * That green tile in the bathroom with the green tub might be the most awesome thing I've seen ever.

    Thanks!

  2. Jessica says

    December 10, 2015 at 9:33 PM

    I think most of my pins are in the "someday I'd like to…" category. I'll have to have a dozen houses to get through everything I've pinned, though.

    I read something about that trough sink, though I can't remember where, so take it with a grain of salt. Since you're in the home remodeling/renovation business you might know all this already. The most popular trough sink, at least in Blogland, is the Brockway by Kohler. I guess the faucet that's usually sold with it is for commercial applications and has lead in it, since people aren't brushing their teeth at commercial sinks every day. Or something like that. But anyway, the blog I read that on recommended getting a different faucet that's for residential use. I think it was something she found out during her own bathroom remodel with that sink.

  3. Bunny @ 86n It says

    December 11, 2015 at 9:40 PM

    I will confess I'm SO sick of climbing in and out of our loft. Something to consider!

    I LOVE the colored kitchen cabinets!

  4. meryl rose says

    December 14, 2015 at 8:34 AM

    Erin – isn't that green AMAZING!? I know, the organization is a little ridiculous with the paper clips, lol. I want a secretary area soooo bad. Right now we have an old ice cream container holding checks on our pass through, lol.

    Jessica – good to know re the trough sink, I hadn't heard about that. I was hoping to get an old fashioned one and use older fixtures, so we'll see.

    Nikki – I NEVER would have thought that about the loft! Maybe we need a revise there…

Oh, hello there. We're Chris and Meryl and we're renovating home in Oakland, CA. Chris is the handy, knowledgeable builder and I'm his slightly inappropriate assistant. We've got 2 helpers - Zoe is 2 and Merritt arrived in June of 2015. Spurred by our love of renovating our own home we started a handyman, design and organizing business and now that we're both self employed we're busier than ever, but we love it!

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