The Craft/Computer/Sewing/Bathroom...the Multipurpose Room I Guess!

Before...

 The downstairs bathroom when we bought our home incorporated a shower.  It wasn't clear what the purpose would be.  In some ways I can see the value in having the shower, especially with an unfinished basement, however, we knew it would serve little to no use in our current situation.  It had a linoleum floor and maroon formica countertops.

We decided to remove the shower to make room for a craft room of sorts.  The original idea was to have the room exclusively for sewing.  We were going to build in a desk and office work station in the family room.  That became cost prohibitive, so my craft room became the logical place to put the computer.

We actually enlarged the space in the room by removing a shallow china closet that was adjacent to the dining room and framing it into the craft room.  We stoppered the shower plumbing at the floor level.   

This a view into the room before we cut the window.  

I knew the room wouldn't be nearly as desirable without a window, so we added the largest window we could in the space 3'x4'.   Light makes the biggest difference in a home for me.  This window lights the entire back entry hallway.  What was once a dark corridor is now filled with light, also helped by the addition of a 3/4 glass door to the back yard.  

Afters....

I can sit at my desk and look out one window to the backyard and look out the door and see out my bay window into the front yard.  This visual and light connection from front to back is one of the best things about my home.  Made possible by the shallow depth of the home and the open floor plan.

Number one love of my Multipurpose room...close to the action but hidden away! 

We agonized over the connection between my "multipurpose room" and the half bathroom.  Because of the location of the electrical outlets and the very small footprint of the "bathroom" part of the room, I was concerned about a door making both sides awkward.  I thought a pocketdoor would be the solution, but there was some venting which could not be moved and the door would have taken nearly 6 inches of space, where space was at a premium.

However, I was also worried about the awkwardness of not having a door.



In the end we decided to leave it temporarily open and connected and worry about adding a door later.  It was a good decision.  Clearly in a new construction we would have planned things differently but the connection is rarely an issue.

I love this room.  It is one of the most used places in the home.  We have all our mail sorting, bills, homeschooling junk, schedules...The desk is big enough for 2 chairs (I just can't afford to buy them now;) ) so 2 people can work comfortably at the computer.  It is an excellent station for homeschooling.  The kids are very close to the piano and kitchen (in other words all of the action) but we can still close the door to hide mess and for acoustical privacy.

After we moved into the house, we realized one very large blunder.  We had not switched the door swing.  It swung into the room and blocked the drawers and the printer.  It had to be changed immediately.  Eventually I would love a wireless printer I could hide somewhere, but for now it's fine.

It is phenomenal how useful a space that is 6'8" deep and 8'4" wide can be!

Kitchen Snuggles. Is that Possible?

Kitchen Window Seat  

       Yes!  One possibly more unusual item, I felt was essential in my kitchen was a cuddle spot for reading.  As the hub of family life I wanted a place directly in the action, out of the action.

 This has to be our family's favorite single or double snuggle spot in the house.  We have a super soft blanket just wrapped around some foam, until I get around to sewing cushions.  In the mean time it is a luxurious snuggle.  The seat is 25" deep and 54" long, so there is plenty of room to curl up with a book, or the morning newspaper.  I added a soffit, corbels, and arch to enhance the feeling of enclosure.  With your feet off the ground you become entirely out of the "work way."  It is a perfect place to be right in the action, but out of the action. The large window lets in lots of natural light all day, but indirectly, so it never becomes uncomfortable or glaring.  A peek at Mt. Timpanogos and the back yard are just added perks.  Finally below the seat are 2 gigantic drawers.  One is filled with books and quiet games, the other with pillows and blankets.

Another fun aspect of the window seat, is it allows Emmett and Berkeley to be in on the action without pushing and banging around stools and chairs.  Our toast supplies are in the adjacent cupboard.  The two little munchkins love to stand on the window seat and help Ellery and Callista make toast.

Kitchen Remodel: Before and After Part 1

Kitchen Before

"Hearts and Jewels" or "My New Kitchen"

It's cliche but the kitchen is the heart of my home.  It is the organ circulation and life.  It pumps and throbs about 16 hours a day.  But it wasn't enough to be the heart, I wanted my kitchen to be a jewel too.  For those 16 hours a day spent in my kitchen, I wanted light and beauty.  I knew this house could provide that.  I had a vision the first time I was invited in.  Natural light pours in from four directions.  My kitchen is the crown jewel and the heart of our home.  

Kitchen After

Acting as the sole designer I poured over my graph paper drawings, ipad architectural apps, home design books and the houzz blog.  Every kitchen I walked in and worked in, I kept mental notes of what I loved and what they lacked.  I thought about the way I cook, when I cook, how I want to cook when I have teenagers.

Each walkway, cabinet, countertop, fixture, appliance, and line of sight, I took into consideration.  Would it be spacious, functional and beautiful?  I literally went through hundreds of iterations until I felt I had designed my perfect kitchen for the space I was given.  For the way I function, my taste and our family's needs it turned out like a dream.

Kitchen After

I created a list of everything that was most important to me and set out to tackle it.  Creating the list was a lion share of the project.  That said, implementing it was a colossal undertaking.  Here is what I came up with in no particular order:

Kitchen Hit List

• Large, high quality appliances

• A snuggle spot

• Large work surfaces, including a huge butcher block cutting board

• An Island

• A pantry

• Flow:  It was critical to me that the kitchen be able to handle a large number of people comfortably, and for me to be able to function with the children close yet not under my feet.

• Classic Beauty:  To be completely honest, I really wanted it to look pretty and classic.  I spend all day in the kitchen.  We do school in the kitchen, eat, and cook, this is where my life happens.

• Tons of Storage

• Two Separate Work Zone

•  Light:  Natural light, zone lighting, and nothing dark.  The last 2 homes I've lived in have been very warm, woodsy and rustic.  I love that look, but I was very ready for a change.  Given the outside of the house and the floor plan, I chose a colonial, cape cod feel for the home, but I think a definite contemporary flare came out as well. (I just could not resist the clear and chrome bar stools!)

Office Before it Became Kitchen

Kitchen After

The kitchen at first posed a bit of a challenge for me.  It was only 14 ft long and 12 ft wide.  I knew right off the bat I needed 2-3x that amount of space.  On my ipad I moved the kitchen to every location on the main level imaginable.

In the end, I left it centralized in its current location  but completely redesigned the work triangle. I removed the dropped ceiling, knocked out the wall adjoining the office, and widened the opening to the family room from 9ft to 18ft wide (load bearing but worth it).  The result was a dramatic increase in size.

I'll go through the nitty gritty and how I conquered my "Kitchen Hit List" in the upcoming posts.

Whew...Alive and Back!

Wow.  Whew.  Whoa. What?

I'm not really sure which of those words best describes the last 4 months.  Probably they all do.

Best news...we are in our new house, we made our deadline of August 1st (with one toilet and a shower), barely livable but we did it.  As of now, we are just about done.  There are random mirrors and light fixtures missing, but school is underway and life is back on track.

Original
Some of the curb appeal issues include the overgrown landscaping, dated dual-color  scheme, the orange brick, misplaced and proportioned shutters, very worn windows, a hidden entry, and the dimensionless east wall.

I will slowly but surely show you the transformation of our home.  For now, when all is said and done, I feel like I am living in my dream home.  I love how everything turned out.  All my hundreds of hours spent designing, redesigning, drawing, and combing the internet paid off.

Midway through: the brick is painted, the carpet has been removed, the hedge trimmed, bushes removed.  The windows are not yet replaced, columns, windows and front door are not yet replaced and trimmed.  

Lights replaced, new windows and trim.  New pergola, flower boxes, shutters and borders.  We added significant visual weight to the smaller windows on the garage side of the house on the bonus room.  The pergola and flower boxes ground the house and give the long flat surface dimension and interest.  The trim serves to further break up the monotonous space.  We painted the garage door the same color as the brick and siding to blend it into the house.  Replacing the door was not in the budget at this time.

We did not stay in budget (about 20% off), but we did stay on schedule which was a phenomenal accomplishment.  I tried to get all our subs to salute me and call me "General."  Some of them got into it, others didn't think it was that cute.   General contracting is definitely not for the faint of heart.

Front Door Then
 It was very awkward inside the front entry.  The door was built too close to the stairway, so the door would not open completely.  To solve the problem we replaced it with full-light double doors. They added light and beauty to the entire house and solved the inoperable front door issue. 

Front Door Now
  We beefed up the columns, and reduced the number, to proportionally match the house and open up interior views.  We removed the carpet from the porch and coated it with a concrete restorer.  The long term plan is to cover it in slate.   We added crown molding and trim to the door to add interest and visual weight.  I would eventually like to add some trim to our bay windows, but I am not certain of the right way to do it yet, considering the brick ledge on the bottom.

However, we made it.  There were no trips to the pool this summer, but somehow we all survived and are not worse for the adventure.