Dream This Home

Building and Maintaining your forever home.

Built-Ins make a Home

by //

9ebc25047d315053c07d31abfa97b258

I happened upon a fabulous cabinet maker recently while helping a dear friend with a major remodel of his childhood home.  I came in a bit late in the game and the kitchen had already been designed and was being built.  Good thing he was a great cabinet guy!

2c3fc5c75f7c4fa7dd711fdbb9af81c6

A great woodworker’s craft shows in their attention to details.  This seems obvious, but it truly makes a difference when everything is installed.  If the craftsman offers advice on what it takes to get the job done right (the first time) by recognizing issues that may arise during install, you’re in good hands.  A pleasant personality is an added bonus.  Picture existing sloped floors in a remodel that are not going to be leveled off.  You need a cabinet guy that will account for the height differences that will occur BEFORE the units go in.  Nothing holds a project up like having to send things back to the shop for adjustments due to oversight and then having to reschedule another install day…  Who pays for these delays???  You do.  In pain and frustration.

I have designed a bunch of built-in units throughout the new house which will hopefully make the spaces stand out.  The master bathroom cabinets for one, but the big showstopper will be the built-in entertainment, fireplace, bookshelf combo which will live in the double height space of the living room.  I can not be more excited to finalize the design of that monster.  I’m thinking of a black unit flanking and built around a gas fireplace.  I still don’t know exactly how I’m going to explain how Santa comes down a non-existent chimney come Christmas time… but that’s another post for another day.

Built-ins can visually upgrade a home from looking like a spec house or a rental to a bespoke haven.  Pieces that are made specifically for a house should never look like an afterthought.  Talking through the design phase with a skilled craftsman will ensure that function and appearance blend perfectly.  One can potentially build around bought units to make them look built-in which may save money in some cases, but a custom bench seat made to store toys, or a shoe storage cabinet that needs to be a certain dimension, or that odd space under the stairs that must double as a mud hall and storage?  Those I leave to a professional.  One that will respect my desire for beauty and function while offering the creative touch that a bought piece just can’t accomplish.  Collaborate with the right master builder and your built-ins should just disappear into the fluid language of the space.  I’m looking forward to my one-on-ones with the cabinet maker we select.

-K

Living room built-in stunners.

Built-in beauty in utility and functionality.

 

What’s Your Home Style?

by //

604bdfd14b15b92719cc6a091cd88131

Someone recently asked me what my ‘style’ was in regards to my personal home.

I was stumped.

I replied with ‘warm contemporary’, just to get an answer out and one which I thought was what I represented, but after the fact, it was a disingenuous reply and I felt guilty. Not necessarily to the person who asked me, (because they were probably just being polite) but to myself.  In all honesty, my house right now is not very cohesive in any ‘style’.  It’s kind of a mish-mash of inherited, found and bought pieces that live side-by-side out of necessity.  The question would have been a lot easier to answer had it been phrased as: “What do you want your personal home style to be?”  Because that I can answer in a jiff.  I want modern architectural lines, boho-eclectic accents, a simple monochrome color palette with a bit of whimsy and a dash of glam.  And above all, I want it all to be organized!  That should have been my answer from the get-go.

But what exactly is that answer?  That’s not a style!?!

But actually, it is.  I can visualize spaces in this unique ‘style’ that I have in my head. That’s what makes it a ‘style’ unique to me.

Your home is just that.  Yours.  There is no need to conform to one specific ‘style’ to make it feel homey.  Nor do you have to stick to one specific ‘style’ throughout to create cohesion.  I personally think mixing things up makes for great conversations at dinner parties.

Whether you live in a mac-mansion or are furnishing a rental, isn’t personal styling unique to you, what counts when creating personal spaces?

I thought long and hard about what ‘style’ in a home stands for and it’s this: inspiring individuality for those who live there.  Encouraging each family member to make the spaces their own and feeling good in those places created.

It may not be a simple thing to actually do…  But discovering one’s personal style involves working out your own sense of what is beautiful or meaningful and then applying it to the larger canvas of your home.  It’s your little piece of how you perceive this world, so you go fill it with whatever speaks to you and whatever makes sense in your head.  May you dare to be the curator and enjoy the journey of exploration!  You shouldn’t feel like you have to do it overnight or buy everything from one store.  Heavens no!  Shop around.  Look at things and sleep on the decisions before finalizing each purchase.  Dream up each lovely vignette and make them a reality.

My personal style means little to anyone but me and my family and that’s exactly the ‘style’ I like.  I pair my likes with my husband’s likes and even incorporate what my children enjoy.

Modern, Boho-eclectic, monochromatic, whimsical, glam?  Great!  Sounds weirdly perfect to me.

-K

Get Crafty

by //

0bb135315f9a4400372dbc308fd88b12

In my dream scenario, I have a craft room with a locking door.

I’m a DIY, crafty type and I have crafting supplies coming out of my ears.  My husband calls me, “grandma,” whenever I bust out a knitting project on long drives and plane flights, or when the sewing machine gets pulled out to whip up some silly project I found on Pinterest.

Right now, I admit that my crafting stuff has found it’s way to various baskets and bins throughout our house and garage.  It’s all organized, but lackluster in space function.  I want it all in one accessible locale but the sheer volume of crap I own makes that impossible.  I do quite a bit of obsessing over how I will organize it all in the new house.  I already have a few ideas in mind, but find myself late-nights scouring the internet for more.  Hmmm, “how to organize and hide tons of craft shit in a small space?”  Hit Enter.

5830487e08572b8cc3139d1879c00ece

All-white-working-corner-with-a-lot-of-natural-light-home-office-design

Rustic-and-boho-inspired-interestin-home-office-design

Our 3rd floor mezzanine is designed as a small flex space that lives above our new kitchen and is open to the living room below.  I fully intend on making this space mine, all mine.  If my husband thinks his home office is going up there, he needs to fight me for it, because I have every intention of making it mommy central. Besides, he runs a construction business!  No legit business should be run out of a craft room!  How professional would it be to look over plans whilst pushing aside knitting needles and gift wrap?  The entirety of my lovely collection of yarn balls and fabric scraps, 20+ pairs of scissors/cutting tools, my sewing machine, pens and paper stash will be organized (somehow) to a tee.  He better just be grateful that it’s all going to be up there in one place and that I’m not proposing to take over the guest bedroom… though that may be a good idea?…  It will have a privacy lock on that door…

No.  Focus.  The husband needs to get his own office elsewhere. I’m dreaming up my craft area on the darn mezzanine.  No more of this going out to the garage for the sewing machine, then back to this drawer for my rotary cutting tool, then reaching up onto that shelf in the closet for the cutting mat and back to the garage for the fabric bin.  Then cramming it all onto the dining table, kitchen counter and living room floor to make -whatever project I’m making.

In the new house, my crazy projects can be contained to one floor.  My little mezzanine crafting floor!  It may not have a locking door, but I can still hide up there and be my nerdy, crafty self without disrupting the rest of the house.

Claim, then design your nerd space.  Put a coffee machine in it, then get crafty.

-K