I discovered a great, free, easy to use home design software and have been going crazy with it. You can check it out at http://www.floorplanner.com if you like. We are in the very earliest stages of building a new house. So early, in fact, they haven’t even started digging yet, but you better believe I’ve spent hours designing the inside! I’m really excited about this because #1 I’ve never had a house built before with all the specifics I would like. It’s got 9 ft ceilings on the main floor and in the basement (which we’re finishing ourselves), it’s got the modern farmhouse black cabinets with white countertops, it’s got the beautiful sunroom with all that natural light. It’s got a living room and a front den room. That’s the room I’m the most excited about because it’s going to bey writing space. I hope to pen many a novel in there. Let me show you what I’m thinking.
This den is neat because it has that breezeway through it from the foyer to the kitchen. I would love to paint the breezeway wall a deep charcoal gray and hang our two large family tree posters there. When you first enter from the foyer there’s my simple dark wood desk with my laptop. Hanging over it will be my antique world poster framed grandly. The rest of the walls I’m thinking of going with agreeable gray which actually looks more warm and tope-ish than gray to me. In the corner will by my record player on a stand with storage for my records. For some reason the windows didn’t translate right in the program but it’s a large picture window. I found a really great vintage looking leather armchair for my reading chair and next to that is my beautiful dark wood coffee bar John got me for Christmas, because I’ll need lots of coffee when I write. Above that coffee bar is going to be my ancestry gallery wall. I have many great photos from my mom and dad’s sides and would like to get some of John’s family in there too if I can and then scour antique stores for some really unique vintage frames.
And to top it off we’re going with some industrial finishes like the pipe curtain rod and the wood and ironwork ceiling fan. I want this office to feel very warm and inviting and cozy but also like you stepped back in time, like back to the 1940s. I’m in love with it already!
The agreeable gray will be carried into the living room and the charcoal will wrap around that stair wall. We’re thinking a nice big gray sectional, possibly with a chaise. Bring in some warmth and color with the pillows. The coffee table will be wood and iron industrial style, same as the console. I’d like another armchair because we plan to put in a really cool electric fireplace I found.
On either side of the fireplace will be mantel height black bookcases. Above the fireplace will be the TV mounted and I would love to frame that out in a matching chunky wood so it looks like art. Across from the couch on the charcoal wall will be our black cubby hole bookshelf laid long ways with alternating pop up bins and books. Above that will be a large industrial style clock. John really love the light farmhouse gray floors so we’ll do that throughout and use a warm tope or tan or brown rug under the coffee table. And the fan will be wood and iron industrial again to tie in with the fireplace and den.
The dining room is simple. We have these columns with separations and I have been toying with the idea of wrapping those in wood to match the fireplace but not sure yet. Carrying the agreeable gray into the dining. It will go nice with the wood and iron farmhouse table we have with the bench. My favorite part is the industrial bookshelf wall!
It would look something like this. I would love the roller library ladder but so far they are all stupid expensive so not sure on that yet. We have a lot of books but we also have a lot of games, which we would most likely play at the table so I thought putting those on the bottom shelf would look cool. John thought it might look cluttered and junky but I think displaying games and books as a collection is awesome. We’ll see.
The sunroom we will carry in the agreeable grey because it’s, well, agreeable. Off white curtains instead of gray. We have a nice light natural woven rug. And I have a sleek modern gray Ikea couch I’ve had since high school that’s in great shape so bing bang boom, we got a sunroom. We might keep the keyboard and a guitar or two up there as well because if it’s just a room for sitting I feel like we won’t use it much. The sunroom comes with a fan and I’m not sure if we’ll keep what they give us or not. I assume it’s just a white fan.
Originally I had wanted white cabinets with a black countertop but it was an expensive upgrade so we got the black cabinets with the white countertop and I’m so glad we did that instead. If you’re having trouble picturing it, here’s a good example.
Our kitchen is not huge but it is open to the dining which makes it feel huge. Not a lot of bare wall space but what there is we are going to do white subway tile.
Maybe down the road we’ll play with open industrial shelving but for now just black cabinets. We are going to buy a black island with white countertop that has bar seating too. Stainless steel Samsung appliances, I think. I would love a series of black hanging lights over the island but not sure if we’re electrically set up for that or not. We had discussed doing a snake-like track lighting system for tons of light.
That could be cool too and would definitely brighten it up. And on all the windows I would like natural woven Roman shades for that farmhouse feel and warmth. Across from the kitchen will be that stair wall I want to paint charcoal gray and that’s where I want to put the command center. It will have a large calendar and vintage mail holders and some decor and maybe a chalkboard menu planner. John has a weird fetish for mail. He collects it and only goes through it like a few times a year so it piled up and I would love to have a place besides the kitchen counter for it all to be organized. These are bills, these are coupons, these are family and friends letters, get it?
And there you have it, my design ideas that I’ve been obsessing over for weeks now. I cannot wait to start putting it all together. John has done equal if not more work planning his awesome basement to finish that will include storage room, theater room, and office/gaming room for him. I get to help with that and get my hands dirty for the first time doing some home construction!
Bestselling Author 