As many of you know from our “Designing Kitchen and Cabinet Layouts” post, our whole house was designed around Bethany’s dream kitchen. While we made every effort to save money on other areas of the house, we were much less frugal when it came to the kitchen. Because we are so thrilled with both the aesthetic and functional results, I wanted to take the time to share pictures and explain in detail why Bethany loves her dream kitchen design so much!
This kitchen design is not one that happened by accident. Bethany slaved over the design for many months and mocked up every version and every detail using Home Designer Architectural software. Here is a screenshot Bethany took using the software and then what the kitchen looks like now in real life:
Picture showing Bethany’s dream kitchen design in Chief Architect’s Home Design software and then the final real life kitchen – it’s AMAZING how similar they look!
After playing with ingredients and ratios, I think I have come up with the bestbrownsugarmuffins ever! These are so quick to throw together, and the result is a moist treat that is yummy any time of the day. I have scaled this to make 24 muffins at one time so that we can eat twelve immediately and freeze twelve for later. You won’t be disappointed with this recipe!
Our family has always enjoyed hanging out in the family room, gathered around the fireplace. We have always had gas fireplaces but we considered having a traditional fireplace in the new house. In fact, I was hoping to have a traditional wood-burning fireplace so we could take advantage of all the free firewood we have on the property. For a variety of reasons, we ended up deciding on installing a direct vent fireplace. Three of the main reasons for this decision were: Continue reading Direct Vent Fireplace→
It has been a long time since our last post! We are actually already living in the house….I’m sitting on the couch in the living room writing this post. We got busy moving in and enjoying the house but it is still our goal to blog the entire process of building a custom home. This post will be short but it is an important element of a house and should not be overlooked. Gutters and downspouts can be an eye sore but they do help protect your home from water damage by collecting and directing rain water away from the structure and foundation of the house. Thanks to rain chains and a wide variety of colors and attractive styles, gutters can actually add to your home’s appearance. Continue reading Gutters and Downspouts→
The house is painted! We were so excited last Sunday night when we drove up and saw that the painters had put the exterior prime and paint on the house. Bethany really struggled picking out the color for the exterior but finally settled on Sherwin Williams Alabaster (SW 7008) in satin. For those of you that watch HGTV’s Fixer Upper with Chip and Joanna Gaines, this is the same color they used on the exterior of their farmhouse. Bethany picked out the color before she knew that, but that was the final validation she needed. Continue reading Exterior Prime and Paint→
As part of building our new home, we have taken on some of the components of the construction ourselves. One of the things we were not planning to do but ended up taking on is the building of homemade barn doors for our kitchen pantry. When we started looking for a barn door to fit that space we quickly discovered that we were going to have to spend $800 or more to get the look and feel we were going for. Bethany finally talked me into just making them ourselves. I had no idea how easy it was going to be. Continue reading Homemade Barn Doors→
The hardwood floors were installed a few weeks ago but we held off uploading pictures until the stain was applied. One of the main things Bethany and I both agreed about as a design requirement for the new house was that we would have absolutely zero carpet. We have a lot of kids so carpet always ends up stained, dirty, and gross. We also just love the way hardwood floors look and feel. This post has some pictures of the newly installed wood floors. The final coat of polyurethane has not been applied yet but they shouldn’t look a lot different in the end than they do now. Continue reading Hardwood Floors Installed and Stained→
Wow! I can’t believe what a difference interior trim and doors make! I was looking forward to seeing the interior doors hung and I knew it would be cool to see the trim installed but I didn’t realize all the details Bethany had planned for the trim. For example, she planned for the entire family room area to be covered in shiplap. She also requested beams to be placed on the ceilings in the dining room, main living areas, and the master bedroom. Even the doors are not the “normal” doors I’m used to seeing in most houses. For the doors she picked out a five panel farmhouse style door in keeping with the look of the rest of the house. Continue reading Interior Trim and Doors→
Its been a few weeks since the tile was installed but I’m finally getting around to uploading some pictures. Like much of the house, Bethany opted for simple colors and styles, mostly different shades of white. She did decide to do a checkered pattern in the utility room and requested to have it installed in a diagonal configuration. Continue reading Tile Installed→
It has been a while since our last update but a lot of exciting steps have been completed, including the installation of the porches and decks. The plans for the house include a pretty large deck in the back as well as a porch off of the master bedroom and a front porch. The railings are not up yet but here are some Continue reading Porches and Decks→
