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I am reading this thread with interest! Keep in mind as you read this that I have an unhealthy addiction to anything HOUSE with regard to how it functions, looks and feels. 
We have a five bedroom 4700 square feet house for a family of five. We built our last house and I LOVE LOVE LOVED it! Our current house is on the smaller side of what we felt we "needed and wanted." It was a screaming deal though and had a killer floorplan for a family with three kids. We've already refinanced and the mortgage is a joke for what we have. It works but we are still making it "ours."
So far we have painted all the bedrooms and the kitchen. We have replaced the kitchen backsplash, faucets and light fixtures because they were HIDEOUS. We put in custom cabinets on either side of the great room fireplace that I designed with a few pictures from Traditional Home and a few drafts of the stain. It turned out fantastic. I'm really pleased.
The house had NO yard. That was a major undertaking. We put in a yard with retaining walls, a water feature (picture natural NW stream NOT My Big Fat Greek Wedding fountain in front yard) sprinklers, and two different kind of fences. We went over budget (of course) but it's a slam dunk. It's kid friendly and beautiful. It's made our house seem so much larger because of the different spaces and one covered area. Love it.
Projects still to nail down:
The house had a tiny (and carpeted?) dining room so I am meeting with a contractor I know and LOVE next week to contain it with some seeded glass and a door to make it an office. It will be a bit odd that our office has a butlers pantry hallway to the kitchen but we are using the space we have the most efficiently. I sold my dining room furniture (sob!) and bought a huge table (Stickley) for the kitchen since it is so large. I can fit 10 (kitchen) plus 7 (island bar) in my kitchen without any work at all. It's a good compromise.
We also need to get rid of the front doors (they are SO awful) and replace with a large 8 ft door that is more a craftsman style (wide planked and distressed with a dental "shelf" under the window) with seeded glass to match the office glass on either side of the door.
We are putting cabinets in the playroom to set up the Wii and video games and to account for toy storage as our kids still "play." Long term the TV will eventually have cable so when we are done with playing on our hands and knees we can put in a pool table that can change to a ping pong table and BANG our playroom becomes our game room with the sporting event of the weekend on the TV for older kids and adults. There is a wall we use for shooting (huge bball fan here) which will also stay long term. I had an interior designer help me with the plan complete with cabinet sketches, two options for pool table sizes that work, and ideas for wall hangings that make it family friendly plus somewhat "man cave-ish." It's a great space with a few challenges so I wanted to really nail the long term plan so as we do it gradually we don't regret our choices and need to change early decisions. (I hate that!)
We are also playing with ideas for the microwave in the kitchen. The owners did NOT have a microwave built in to the cabinets (WTF) so we have one sitting on the counter. The pantry is large. My plan is to redo the pantry with storage PLUS a counter in the pantry for coffee, microwave, and toaster. This will free up the flat surface in the kitchen we are currently using for a microwave and keep the lines "clean" of appliances. I also can free up the butlers pantry for adult beverages only and not have coffee there. We'll see how expensive that project is!
I'm excited to start and finish a few of these projects so we can throw a Christmas party this year! We did two large ones in our last location but have not done one hear yet. It should be interesting!
We have a five bedroom 4700 square feet house for a family of five. We built our last house and I LOVE LOVE LOVED it! Our current house is on the smaller side of what we felt we "needed and wanted." It was a screaming deal though and had a killer floorplan for a family with three kids. We've already refinanced and the mortgage is a joke for what we have. It works but we are still making it "ours."
So far we have painted all the bedrooms and the kitchen. We have replaced the kitchen backsplash, faucets and light fixtures because they were HIDEOUS. We put in custom cabinets on either side of the great room fireplace that I designed with a few pictures from Traditional Home and a few drafts of the stain. It turned out fantastic. I'm really pleased.
The house had NO yard. That was a major undertaking. We put in a yard with retaining walls, a water feature (picture natural NW stream NOT My Big Fat Greek Wedding fountain in front yard) sprinklers, and two different kind of fences. We went over budget (of course) but it's a slam dunk. It's kid friendly and beautiful. It's made our house seem so much larger because of the different spaces and one covered area. Love it.
Projects still to nail down:
The house had a tiny (and carpeted?) dining room so I am meeting with a contractor I know and LOVE next week to contain it with some seeded glass and a door to make it an office. It will be a bit odd that our office has a butlers pantry hallway to the kitchen but we are using the space we have the most efficiently. I sold my dining room furniture (sob!) and bought a huge table (Stickley) for the kitchen since it is so large. I can fit 10 (kitchen) plus 7 (island bar) in my kitchen without any work at all. It's a good compromise.
We also need to get rid of the front doors (they are SO awful) and replace with a large 8 ft door that is more a craftsman style (wide planked and distressed with a dental "shelf" under the window) with seeded glass to match the office glass on either side of the door.
We are putting cabinets in the playroom to set up the Wii and video games and to account for toy storage as our kids still "play." Long term the TV will eventually have cable so when we are done with playing on our hands and knees we can put in a pool table that can change to a ping pong table and BANG our playroom becomes our game room with the sporting event of the weekend on the TV for older kids and adults. There is a wall we use for shooting (huge bball fan here) which will also stay long term. I had an interior designer help me with the plan complete with cabinet sketches, two options for pool table sizes that work, and ideas for wall hangings that make it family friendly plus somewhat "man cave-ish." It's a great space with a few challenges so I wanted to really nail the long term plan so as we do it gradually we don't regret our choices and need to change early decisions. (I hate that!)
We are also playing with ideas for the microwave in the kitchen. The owners did NOT have a microwave built in to the cabinets (WTF) so we have one sitting on the counter. The pantry is large. My plan is to redo the pantry with storage PLUS a counter in the pantry for coffee, microwave, and toaster. This will free up the flat surface in the kitchen we are currently using for a microwave and keep the lines "clean" of appliances. I also can free up the butlers pantry for adult beverages only and not have coffee there. We'll see how expensive that project is!
I'm excited to start and finish a few of these projects so we can throw a Christmas party this year! We did two large ones in our last location but have not done one hear yet. It should be interesting!
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