By Jove I Think We’ve Got It

Isn’t this the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in a floor plan?  I just love it.  It has everything we wanted and then some.  The bedroom suite is perfect.  It has a lovely master bedroom with a sitting room, his and her’s closets, and a great bathroom.  The 2 guest rooms share an entrance to the bathroom from each room.  They each have a walk-in closet too.  Niiiice.

The living room has the fireplace and French doors to the back patio.  Notice how the dining room has a pass-through with a Butler’s pantry and wine room.  Just lovely.  I have no idea what you do with a Butler’s pantry, but by golly, I’m gonna find out.  The only change here is to make the dining room front wall flat rather than pushed out for a window seat (yes, I thought I wanted one but with all the right angles in the house, this looked a bit odd).  The breakfast nook, family room (aka man-cave) and kitchen (aka she-cave) are fabulous.

But, take a look at the mud room and laundry room.  Aren’t they great?  Lots of room for all kinds of things.  And the garage–a 3-car garage!  We have a one-car garage right now and I am so looking forward to having all our cars covered during a snow storm, you cannot image how this garage makes me feel.  And, right now, we only have 1 motorcycle.  This shows 2 and who knows–we just might have 2 some day!  But, for now, just one.  And there is a bonus room over the garage.

Take a look and give me your feedback.  I love it.  Just a few tweaks, and by Jove, we’ve got ourselves one amazing home.

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Exterior

As soon as we’ve got a good handle on the interior (and, no, I haven’t shared that with you yet, but I will), we will need to think of the exterior.  And with that in mind, our architect has sent several pictures so we can start thinking about what we want that to look like.

Now, my desire is “mountain classic” but without the antlers.  What does that mean?  Ya got me, although I will know it when I see it.  But I think Dave seems to have nailed it by looking at the pictures he’s sent.  Below are several of the pictures.

Isn’t this stunning.  Stone, wood and lots of windows.  Oh yeah.

Lovely.

Very nice.

But, I gotta say, this one is as close to the exterior configuration of our house that I’ve seen.  This is a little narrower than what we’ll have, but the garage and front bedroom will form a courtyard like this.

Since we cannot have any exposed concrete, we’ll need to have something to cover it.  I love the idea of field stones rather than bricks.  And the wood–yuperooni.  Mountain classic without the antlers.

What do you think?  What do you think of when you hear “mountain classic?”  What would be your ideal mountain home exterior?  Let me know what you think.

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Do you have…

So, I’d like to ask some questions.  The back story is that our architect is starting to flesh out the various wings of the house.  And I’m wondering about some features.  Please let me know if you have experience with any of these or what you do about it or your thoughts.

1. We would like French doors along the back of the house, however, the only room that will have tile is the kitchen and breakfast nook.  With carpeting in the family room, living room and master suite, our concern is tracking dirt in through the doors onto the carpet.  Does anyone have this situation and what do you do to prevent too much dirt?
2. Would you put curtains on French doors?
3. Does anyone have a cook top in the corner of the kitchen?  It is a an angle to the corner of the kitchen.  I’m thinking that would be a neat configuration but does it compromise counter or cabinet space?
4. Does anyone have a desk in the kitchen?  Do you find you actually use it or is it more for show?
5. What color tile do you have in your foyer?  It is light and airy or dark?
6. Does anyone have fireplaces in both the living room and family room?  We’re thinking just the living room so the family room will be more of a “man cave.”
7. What about jacuzzi bathtubs.  Do you have one and do you use it?
8. Tankless waterheaters.  I’ve not had one.  Does anyone have one and what are your thoughts?
9. Wall colors–what is your favorite wall color?
10. Does anyone have an exercise room?  What kind of carpeting or floor covering do you have?

Let me know your thoughts.  I really am interested.

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Need I Say More?

I’m serious–need I say more?  This is the floor plan that our architect has designed.  To be fair, he did send us two other designs along with this one, but I gotta tell ya–if we don’t build this one, I will regret it.  And, like the line from Casablanca, I will regret it today, tomorrow and for the rest of my life!  I love this plan.

What attracts me to it?  Get comfy and I’ll tell you.  First, look at the lovely courtyard made by the angle of the garage and the front bedroom.  The mind boggles with ideas for this space.  Our landscape designer should have a field day coming up with designs this space.  I’m picturing sculptures (did I mention I really like sculptures?) and low-lying, fire-resistant plants (in keeping with the recommendations for reducing fire hazard).  OK, so, maybe the sculptures will come over several years, but, ooo, what about a theme of sculptures in the courtyard?  Well, maybe not, but I love thinking about this.   I will look to Theresa to design something wonderful, which I have every confidence she will.

Next, the front porch.  Yup, a lovely front porch, not just a stoop.  Love that.  And if you look to the left of the front door, along the hallway leading to the bedrooms, there is a gallery of windows.  Lots and lots of light.  That will be so pretty!  The front foyer is large enough that you know you are in a foyer without it dominating the whole place, and it opens through to the living room.  We’re envisioning vaulted ceilings in the living room.

The kitchen, family room and breakfast nook all flow together to give a sense of openness.  However, we only want one fireplace and that will be in the living room.  The dining room has the wine closet we want and I think we should go with hardwood flooring in there.  From what I understand, the wood from pine beetle-killed trees can be used for flooring and I’ve seen some of that wood.  It can have a wonderful and unusual pattern to it.  Also, Dave has incorporated the mud room adjacent to the laundry room just inside from the garage (3-car garage, btw).  And, of course, the exercise and office room over the garage.

The bedrooms are all on one side of the house.  Notice how the master suite is separated from the other rooms by the bathroom and closet.  We still get privacy without being on opposite sides of the house.  And, the other two bedrooms each has its own entrance to the second bathroom without having to go into the hallway/gallery.  This way, the gallery is truly that and guests do not lose privacy.

Off the back, the family room, breakfast nook, living room and master bedroom/sitting room will have excellent views toward the mountains.  It’s the optimal view.  Dave has sent plans for situating the house on the lot and it fits nicely.

So, that’s our house and why I like it so much.  We’ll now be working out the details for each room.  I have lots of things running through my head on this level.  And we’ve been attending open houses for newly constructed homes in our area to get ideas.  Let me know your thoughts!  As always, I’d love to hear from you.

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Mudrooms

Let’s talk mudrooms.  How many of you have them?  How big are they are what do they look like?  I can think of nothing more useful in the mountains than a mudroom.  We visited several open houses this past weekend and saw one with a great mudroom.  It has seats with drawers, hooks for hanging jackets and such and storage above.

I can think of lots of things to put in these cubbys.  First, gloves, hats and scarves of course come to mind.  But how about water bottles, boots, gardening supplies (I love gardening), bird seed (we like to feed the birds near the house so the cats have something fun to watch–and we get to watch the cats watch the birds which is tons of fun), Christmas decorations (ok, small ones) and phone books.

The floor tiles need to be hearty enough to withstand lots of clumping around from heavy winter shoes and boots.  I really don’t want it to show a lot of dirt so I’d prefer a tile that is more neutral, but we can pick the tile later.  I really like the separators.  They add a division which for kids might be nice, not really necessary for adults, but I like them and want to keep them in the design.  And I believe paneling was used for the back wall of the cubby and the dividers.

So far, that’s what I’ve seen in mudrooms.  Do you have a mudroom?  Do you have storage in the mudroom?  What do you store in there?  What kind of tile do you have?  What color did you paint it?  Send me a picture.  I’d love to see it.

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