Day 9: Your dream house

Since I've never actually bought a house, I haven't put a whole lot of thought into what my "Dream Home" would consist of.  I watch a lot of HGTV, (and when I say "a lot" I actually mean a ridiculous amount) and have seen a few things that I would love to have in my house. One thing I have learned is that I am not a fan of the modern style. In both decor, and the home itself. Instead of a brand new construction, I would much rather have an older home with charm and history.

The thought of a brand new, move in ready home is....well, boring in my eyes. Call me a weirdo, but I look forward to being able to remodel each of the rooms as I see fit. I don't look at an older home and think "work," I look at it and think "opportunity" and "potential." Yes, I realize this is coming from a girl who has never purchased a home, and hasn't been put to the proverbial test as of yet, but I can't imagine my mind changing. Don't get me wrong, I know the chances of having some major problems are much higher with an older home: i.e. structural issues, electrical problems, mold, etc.. I don't want it to turn into one of these situations:

 But my feeling on the matter is that if the home has good bones, the cosmetic stuff can be fixed and modified as you go. My husband is a web designer, but thank the Lord my daddy is a skilled carpenter! :)

Because I haven't put a lot of thought into all the details of my dream home, I decided to include some items I want in my dream home.

Kitchen

I'm not going to lie, the kitchen is the room that overwhelms me the most. Between the flooring, the appliances, the cabinetry, the back splashes, and light fixtures, that alone is enough to make my head spin. And that's not even the half of it! There are way too many options for me to choose exactly what I would want before the time even comes, so here are just a few details about my future kitchen I would love:

To say I hate white walls would be putting it very mildly. White walls are my kryptonite. However, in the kitchen I do like the idea of white or off-white cabinetry, minus the white walls of course. Of course, I would have to distress them to give them that "worn" look. (I know that when my dad reads this, he will shake his head and curse me for "Ruining a perfectly good piece of wood!?" I will simply remind him that he is my father and he loves me. He has to!) I also love the idea of painting the inside of the cupboards in an accent color! How much fun could you have with that?!

Somewhere along the HGTV road, I was introduced to the farmhouse sink. It was love at first sight. This sink screams my name. (Listen closely, you'll hear it!) They have them in the standard porcelain and even stainless steel, but I'm pretty sure the copper sink is the sink for me. It is reclaimed (which I LOVE,) low maintenance, and copper is even naturally anti-bacterial! Sign me up.

Of course because I had a copper sink, I'm a freak and would need to have copper or brass knobs and pulls for the cabinets. That, ladies and gentleman, is about it for my kitchen wish list at the moment. Altough the possibilities are endless for my "must haves," I'm fairly positive what I do not want in a kitchen, and that is:

This. Although it's a very nice kitchen, it's not for me. Not my style at all. From this kitchen, I don't hear it calling my name, I hear, "Someone else!" :) 

Bathroom

Ever since I was younger, and my friend Tiffany had a claw foot bathtub in her bathroom, I have wanted one. I don't know what it is about my personality that draws me directly in to anything vintage or retro, but I just can't get enough! Again, thanks to HGTV and Bath Crashers, I was introduced to a style of tub I never even knew existed! I would like to introduce you to Jessie's future Bathtub:

Isn't she beautiful?! Like the first bathtub there ever was ;) This style interests me more than a claw foot bathtub, I think, because I wouldn't have to worry about maneuvering a mop under this bad boy. It's a modern spin on a classic idea...and I dig it!

Ryan, bless his misguided heart, tends to be drawn towards the modern looks. This could pose a problem for us. However, throughout the duration of my online hunting, I think I have found a perfect solution to our sink/vanity debacle:

This beautiful piece actually began its life as a dresser. Some brilliant mind re-purposed it, and turned into this gorgeous vanity! I immediately fell in love. I don't think I would like this particular one, as I would much rather have the option of a double sink vanity. But it just shows that if you are willing to think outside of the box, even just a little, you can do amazing things! To satisfy me, we can have a re-purposed dresser that I can turn into exactly what I want it to be. To satisfy Ryan's modern taste, we can have the modern sink and fixtures. I think it mixes perfectly!

Our Bedroom

Recently, I have started projects to decorate our bedroom. Our bedroom still looks as though we just moved in...and we've been here for 2 years. I thought it was time to create a space to call our own.

Last summer, my friend Stephanie came to pick up some antique window panes I was giving her to turn into picture frames. We began talking about the projects we were currently doing, and projects we wanted to do in the future. She mentioned the idea of turning an antique door into a headboard for her bed. WHAT?! You guessed it, I was immediately hooked. My dreams died when we got a king size bed: I thought the door wouldn't be tall enough to reach across the whole bed when you turn it onto its side. Recently, the flame was re-ignited when I found out that it does fit! I got an old door out of my parents' home (that was built in 1903!) that was no longer a functioning door, and am starting the re-purposing process! (Stay tuned for a later blog entry including pictures!) Eventually, it will look similar to this one, but BETTER! (Call me conceited if you'd like, I prefer to look at it as driven haha) The color scheme I would like is gray and mustard yellow.

These are a few other ideas I like as nightstands. You get the idea here: If I wanted my house and its furnishings to look like everyone else's, I'd shop at Ikea. I want something different for our home. Something I helped create.

Jaylinne's Bedroom

Naturally, when Jaylinne gets old enough to choose the decor and style of her room, I will let her run with it. Who knows what that is going to look like!  I'm hoping that as the years pass, she will inherit some of my thirst for  re-purposing and re-finishing, and we can build a dream room for her together! As previously stated, I won't force my style upon her, but one can only hope that her style will guide her to something similar to this:

That's about as far as I have delved into the adventure of dreaming up my idea of the perfect home! I'm sure there are lots of people out there who disagree with my ideas, I'm just hoping one of those people is not Ryan! Here's to hoping....