Here It Is, The Big Reveal...Ta Daaaa (PART 1)

I went on the wonderful fifteen month creative journey with our dear friend and neighbor, Dick P. He originally asked me to help him design his kitchen, and after many meetings over our dining table, he decided to be his own general contractor and the original house plans morphed into a different form from the original and I became his creative partner on this exciting journey of building a house and making it a home.

Above is one of my first drawings of the layout after we omitted the dining room and moved the guest rooms and bath to the basement.  I am very proud of the results and I hope you find it as beautiful as we do. 

The process was exciting and revealing and sometimes stressful but always fun. I had to find ways to discover Dick's taste, his color choices, how he wanted to live in this house etc. Since he is a hunter, I gave him several pictures of colorful birds, ducks and such. From that he selected the colors that resonated with him. He was very definite about a green that he saw and it took me quite a while to find it.

In the meantime, I would get samples and paint them on boards for him to live with for awhile to see if he liked them. It took seven different greens before I found the exact one. He told me he wanted to live with lots of color so we worked on finding the other two colors, red-orange and yellow, that would make the scheme sing.

I drew each room, all four walls, to show him what it could look like. For each room, I did multiple variations so he could 'see' what I meant when I discussed design. He could then make changes and as a result, we didn't have change orders during the actual building process. It worked for us.

Whenever we had to make a decision about design and style I would show him multiple pictures and ask me to tell me the one(s) he liked. From this we found his "style" and from there making the decisions about cabinets, lighting, fixtures, flooring, tile, etc. were much easier. I would then find the products I thought would work for his home and would give him a selection of three to five and from that he selected his favorite. Therefore this house represents his likes and style, not mine. I'll show you how I included things from his past, his loves and interests, his pictures and some furniture, etc. 

Ready for the tour? 

(NOTE: If you click on the picture, a slide show will appear and you will see them more closely in larger format.)

Here we go....

This is what you see when you enter the house. It is an open concept with no dining room but rather the table is in the center of the kitchen.

On the east side of the living room facing the front entry. His style is transitional, a modern twist on traditional with modern and rustic touches. Isn't his rug wonderful? It is called a tribal design and it brought all his colors together - green, red, yellow and black.

Dick P. is an archery hunter so I worked at placing his mounts in a way that would show them off best. These three mounts reminded me of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting so I knew they had to be on this wall above the stairs that you see from all over the main floor.

Looking past the TV and fireplace toward the entry.

From the entry looking to the east where there are 4 large windows and a glass door to the patio. The small swivel chair is yellow and sits out of the way of the view to the TV. The giraffe was brought back from Africa and the marvelous 'grandfather' clock is so modern yet so traditional and lovely in the space both is appearance and in sound.

The TV is on an old ammunition cart and the fireplace is totally modern in looks but still has a hearth so one can sit on it and really soak up the warmth. The TV and fireplace are on the south wall. The blinds are closed because it was so bright when pictures were taken.

This octagon ceiling inset contains the ceiling fan. It sits in the center of the living room area. There is green paint on the inside of the octagon which picks up the green in the kitchen and the green in the tile on the fireplace. The stained wood is also seen on the porch ceiling.

Next, meet me in the kitchen...

it's just this way, past the bear around the living room...

...on to the room that started it all! I LOVE this room. White shaker cabinets with glass insets, quartz counters, stainless appliances and the beautiful green walls. The farm sink is lovely and all this is countered by the recycled wood dining table, modern wishbone chairs and a padded bench. The bead board ceiling gives a country or cottage feel and the lighting is totally modern. And the view, oh my. A perfect kitchen. 

The west side of the kitchen holds the desk, the oven and the refrigerator. There are lots of cabinets for storage and plenty of space to move around efficiently. You can see the green paint here too above the desk. The backsplash tile has green in it and it is the same as on the fireplace. The tiles are large rectangles on the fireplace which we had cut down for the kitchen. You can see the doorway to the laundry room/mud room.

And I found this tin letter for Dick's last name. But my all time favorite is this mount of a crow!! Who mounts a crow? I guess if you are an archer, you do.

Standing guard to the laundry room and hall to the master suite, is Mercedes, the parakeet that was in Dick's family when his kids were young. I found  it on an artist's site and Dick said it looked exactly like Mercedes, so we brought her home.

This is the vestibule into the master suite. Dick uses a replica of Sadie, the old family dog, as his door stop. Come on in...

Dick wanted a camouflage comforter so we found one and carried out the green through the grasscloth wallpaper and the green silk carpet. The red-orange accents come into the bedroom to carry out his colors.

His huge walk-in closet is just to the left when you walk into the master suite. It has hangers, shelves for shoes and some clothes and dresser in the rear to the left of the bench. This is a complete dressing room. So large and nice.

You can see into the master bath which seems to be located in the woods!  

In person, the birch woods wallpaper has a three dimension effect. Very cool. The floor tile is placed on the diagonal and has a wood look in person.

This window is one of only two that faces north which saves energy. Every window has fabulous views including this one.

Onyx vanity and shower add a practical yet beautiful touch to the room. The shelf on the right is a tambour to hold his daily grooming items. It is topped with another bear sculpture.

This picture shows the onyx shower and the linen closet.

Proud homeowner, Dick P., enjoying his new home.

I hope you enjoyed the tour. Delores


PART 2 will come soon. It will show the laundry/mud room and powder room on the first floor along with the finished basement.

Welcome Back!

I've been away from the blog but I've been busy. I've helped complete my neighbor/friend's house, we travelled to North Carolina for Christmas with my three sisters, and I had total knee replacement. All is well.

Several of you have inquired as to the status of Dick's new house. Now it is a lovely home. Here are a few of the last pictures of getting the house assembled.

The drywallers in action. They created a beautiful smooth

ceiling in the open area of kitchen and living room.  The

kitchen will be getting a beadboard ceiling and the rest of 

the house very light texture.

These guys are craftsmen; it's a dirty job though

Drywall is done, painting has started. The beautiful green

kitchen and all the sunlight are stars

The red wall on the left is the stairway wall at the front of

the house. The door is into the laundry/mud room and the

hall leads to the master suite. On the right you see the green

of the kitchen.

Kitchen cabinets are delivered along with vanities etc. 

Cabinets under installation; house is coming together

Grass cloth just installed to the walls in the master bedroom

Birch forest wallpaper in master bath along with tile floor;

vanity sink and shower are onyx.

Fireplace tiles are installed. They are the large versions of the

kitchen backsplash tiles. We had them cut down so they would

work together. Where you see the octagon in the ceiling, it will 

hold a fan and not a light. 

Plumber is working on the sink etc. As you can see the 

gorgeous beadboard ceiling is in along with the quartz

counters and beautiful backsplash tile. It's coming together.

Window in the laundry room. This is a great functional room.

It holds the pantry, broom closet, washer, dryer and large 

utility sink along with a bench and hangers for the mudroom.

His home includes a finished basement. This view is from

the family room looking into the two guest rooms, one 

yellow and one red. The pendant light will hang over the

game table. The natural light is wonderful down here.

The next blog will show the finished product. I hope you like it. I am so proud of this home and so grateful that my dear friend, Dick, asked me to work with him on it. It was a blast.