HOLY COW!

Will you look at this?? A Life's Design posted, what seems to be, the perfect kitchen inside a perfect house today. The house is called Monkey Cottage and is located in Sun Valley Idaho. This kitchen HAD to have been done by Christopher Peacock. Behold...

See that over there on the right of this photo? See it?? I think I finally found our fireplace inspiration!

This room is great inspiration for our large breakfast room that will be off our kitchen:

Bathroom Alert! Bathroom Alert! Freestanding tub under a window! I'm all over it. But ixnay on the marble floors. Too much etch factor in a bathroom...

Personally, I would've painted the master bedroom's walls a soft blue or soft blue-green instead of what looks to be white. But that's just me.

White Kitchen & Entry

I'm looking at options for kitchens with the range on the window wall since this will probably be our longer wall. This will give us the option of putting the sink in the island. This is a great kitchen. I love the hood and the windows flanking it. It gives me some great ideas. Still pondering!

Traditional Home

I know I've posted this photo before but I came across it again and re-fell in love with it. The dutch door and the turned stairs with the storage...it draws me in every time.

Blueprint Bliss

More fireplace ponderings

Maybe it's because it's actually been cold here in Louisiana or because our current home doesn't have a fireplace, but I can't get this out of my mind.

I threw out my "issue" of sorts to my mom. She and my dad built the houses I grew up in so they kind of know what they're doing. The first thing she said was that we have two fully available walls with windows so why not try to get window light from both walls and put that fireplace on the back wall flanked by windows:

Keller Williams Realty

Nest of Grand Traverse

House of Turquoise

Artktecture

 Country Living

 Southern Living

Then the TV could be in builtins on the far wall that faces the kitchen, leaving some of it open for windows and light to filter through. Brilliant!

TV, Fireplace & Built-Ins - Oh My!!

Well, the hubs and I are already having a disagreement on the built-ins in the upcoming build. He's envisioning the TV over the fireplace like this:

 Classically Modern Nest

His reasoning:

1) The TV will be in the middle of the built-in wall so viewing will be optimal for everyone.

2) The TV will be higher so everyone in the room can see it better.

Now, I think the rooms above are lovely. And certainly no offense to anyone that has a TV mounted above the fireplace. For some people I think it works wonderfully. My reasoning for not wanting to do so:

1) Our living room's actual seating area will be roughly the same size it is now (around 17x18). I do not like to crane my neck and look up to see the TV. Our current TV is at eye-level and is the perfect height for viewing. 

2) His point 2 is invalid because our great room area will also be roughly the same viewing distance and everyone can see our TV at its current height just fine...even from the sink on the back wall in the kitchen.

3) When you mount a TV over the fireplace, the heat shortens its life and voids the warranty.

4) Our current TV is a 55" LCD and can't be mounted. We will have to buy a new mountable TV just for this purpose. No big deal as we'll have to buy him a new TV for his "man" room anyway. But still...

5) I would like the area above the fireplace to be a place to decorate and to be a focal point. Not a TV.

So the real point of controversy (to me) is whether, the TV being slightly off centered (his #2 point) is a big deal for people. Something to think about.

I haven't been able to find as many photos of built-ins with the TV NOT over the fireplace. But here are some halfway decent examples:

Frank Shirley Architects

Mahoney Architects and Interiors

Sullivan Conard Architects

 M. Eric Honeycutt

Fabric covered bulletin board

I made this bulletin board over a year ago. I had commented over on Chic Coles about it and thought I'd post it here. I'd always wanted a cute bulletin board for our kitchen but never could find one in stores that fit the bill. I looked around on Etsy and found some fabric I liked and found the bulletin board and ribbon at a local craft store. I can't recall how much ribbon it took...not very much. I painted the edges of the board white, cut the fabric to fit and used spray adhesive to glue the fabric down. I then cut strips of ribbon to fit along each edge and hot glued it down so the fabric seams were covered. The whole project was very cheap and came out super cute (I think so anyway!!):

Another kitchen but not totally white!

My reasons for posting this kitchen from Greige are three-fold: 1) The layout looks like it will work in our upcoming build somewhat. Our windows will be on the shorter run and I'm not sure I want the sink on that wall as it will make my back to everyone else. I like that they put the range there and flanked it with windows. 2) Of course there's marble and white (even though it's not predominantly white 3) It's fabulous!!

I have no idea if this is from the same kitchen or not. My reason for posting this picture (also from Greige) is because 1) We are planning on having a bar in our home and these cabinets just gave me a whole new direction to go in and 2) WOW!!!

I'm really liking this bookcase from A Life's Design. I also like the windows in the room. Such a nice, neutral, calming space. But the bookcases are so lovely...

Also from her site, was this photo. The room looks similar in size to what our breakfast/dining area will be in our home. I like the simplicity and the elegance of it...

Jan/Feb Lonny!

Saving these for the inspiration file...

The home's entry is so nice and bright and cheerful yet neutral and elegant at the same time...

This family room is just lovely. 

I love the blue in this bath. It's Benjamin Moore Calypso Blue.

I know I'm all about a white kitchen but this one is STUNNING. The cabinets paired with the wallpaper makes for an amazing combination!

Just a little reminder to myself that I'd like a small reading corner in our master bedroom (though sadly, mine will be without the lovely Hermes throw).

Stairs & New Plans

We had our second meeting with our architect yesterday. Now the tough decisions have to begin. I'm sitting here with rough sketches trying to figure out how everything we want to fit in this house for only four people is quite a bit bigger than we wanted it to be. Perhaps we should scale down on the front porches? But what about the rest. This is hard already.

I'm also trying to figure out some things about the stairs and the entry way. I know I've posted stair photos here in the past. Those were mostly for aesthetics. Now we have to talk location and functionality. Because the lot is only so wide, one configuration has a straight staircase. I've always had a turned staircase in my head. Turned stairs. Period. But the floorplan completely changes if we turn the stairs. There is the option to move the staircase from the entry toward the living area of the house. But I've always thought of a staircase near the entry...not BAM in your face but somewhere close.

I wonder if this would work as an option instead of the turned stairs that are more u-shaped. At least I could show our architect the bottom of the stairs to see if that's an option. I like that it's not facing the front door...

 Oliveaux

Here are some stairs in the living area. It's not bad, just not something I'd ever thought of before...

Traditional Home

I love this entryway from Sarah's House...

 Sarah Richardson

These stairs are lovely from Cote de Texas. I don't know how passe by these before!

 

What a great wet bar posted by Blueprint Bliss today. Love love love! I've been gaga over white cabinets for a while now but this is something to think about. Maybe a taupe gray shade instead? Hmmmm....

 

Flourish Design + Style  via Hinkley Lighting

Picture that bar with this kitchen only tweaking the bar and island to a taupe/gray shade instead (and tweaking the hardware too). Pretty no? 

Things that Inspire (design by Jim Howard)

 The next few photos are going to be from Things that Inspire. I came across a post of hers that was contemplating various marbles. It was a fabulous post that contained some great inspirational photos of white kitchens with marble also. Here's another great one with many aspects I love. The marble is apparently Calacatta Gold although it looks like it could be Carrara or even Statuary because of the softness in appearance. But I'm no expert! The counters, hardware (something other than binpulls, which I fear may end up feeling awkward to my DH), backsplash, awesome vent hood and living room facing sink in the island are all right up my alley:

 Kitchen design by Mick deGiulio

The backsplash is a bit cool for me in this kitchen (source unknown) but I do like the feel. I like the window over the sink and could even deal with a side-facing sink in this case:

Holy cow, do I love this kitchen! I've never been one for a solid backsplash but it really works here. This kitchen has it all with a bumped out window to boot!!

The below kitchen belongs to Lori Tippin. It's very subtle but beautiful. The marble she used is Crema Delicato:

Another beautiful kitchen that used marble. This particular marble is called Calacatta Oro. There's not one thing I would change in this entire kitchen. I love everything I see. I wish I could see more...

So that's it for today! Hopefully I'll be able to post more tomorrow. Life sometimes gets in the way...it's funny that way, no?

Sink bump out

I love the way this window is bumped out in one of the GardenWeb poster's kitchens. This kitchen looks fabulous all around actually: