Who knew that building a house would involve so many details. It was so overwhelming, but in the best way possible. I enjoyed every second of it. I’m so happy to start with a fresh blank slate and can’t wait to begin decorating. Is there any better way to spring clean that sell your house and start with a new one ;) We’ve worked so hard for so long for this moment with baby in our new house, and we really couldn’t be happier!
Get ready for full on pic overload – Pinterest inspired details, mixed metals, herringbone backsplashes, and a Restortion Hardware look for less!
About a 100 feet of our property is on a lake, so I really wanted to go with a lake meets cottage theme for our house. I want a comfy cozy home that is inviting and entertaining. The decor will eventually feature lots of candles and throw pillows. I LOVE transitional design – mostly traditional bones like our brick fireplace that will stand the test of time with touches of contemporary pieces, such as glam lighting, that can be switched out easily when they become dated. I also wanted a few rustic touches since we live on a lake.
I ended up going with a mixed metals theme inside the house of dark rustic bronze and super light and shiny chrome, so I thought I’d continue the high contrast in colors outside with a light gray blue siding and nearly black front door and garage doors. I thought the look turned out light and airy and I can’t wait to add a couple of dark wood rocking chairs on the front porch.
I had no idea that these Minka Lavery Crossroads Point
As you walk into the foyer you will be facing the living room and kitchen. Down the hall, my office is the first door on the left, a bar leading into the kitchen is on the right, and past those doors on the left is our garage, laundry room, and upstairs to the bonus room. You can also take a right from the front door to get to the basement.
The view from the foyer of the living room, kitchen, dining room, and screened in back porch. The open floor plan is perfect for entertaining. We had a housewarming party and John’s first birthday last weekend and there was plenty of seating between the island bar, the dining room, the outdoor table, and our new living room sofa. Pardon my husband’s ugly chair. It will be replaced soon lol.
If you followed along throughout my building process, then you probably recognize my favorite feature of this entire house, the white painted tongue and groove and beams ceiling. It was inspired by a pic I found at Pinterest and when we started designing our space, we thought, why the heck shouldn’t we go for it?!?! It was our most expensive upgrade, but so worth it. It captures the lake cottage feel I was going for perfectly. The trim guys did an amazing job and said it was fun to work on a ceiling other than coffered or tray. I’ve only had popcorn, so this is above and beyond amazing to me!
Another shot of our white painted tongue-and-groove and beams ceiling with a bronze chandelier.
Here’s a shot with the camera’s focus on the back porch and yard. My Chesapeake extending outdoor table came in, but we’re still waiting for the chairs. It gets a little buggy in Florida, so we love that the porch is screened in so we can keep the french doors open and catch a breeze. It makes the room seem so much bigger when we’re using both spaces. We have a yard full of beautiful oak trees and Spanish moss that lights up in the sunset. That chaise sofa, seen here at Instagram, has become my fav spot for blogging.
Most of my ideas for the house came from Pinterest or Houzz (I highly recommend their email newsletter). I would actually have the idea first, and then search both of those sites for a match to what was going on in my head. This brick fireplace and mantle is exactly what I wanted to add a bit of rustic traditional charm to the place. I thought it all went well with the tongue and groove ceiling. I gave the trim guys this exact mantle pic and they matched it up so perfectly! Pardon the childproofing bumpers I added to the brick the second we moved in lol. The door on the right leads to our bedroom hallway, pics below.
Moving on to the kitchen, the 3 bronze pendants above the island were the first thing I purchased for the house before we even started building. I knew I wanted rustic, so the bronze was perfect, but I also wanted a house where a fancy candlestick would fit in, so we mixed up the metals by adding in chrome doorknobs, faucets, cabinet hardware, and chrome light fixtures. All white cabinetry got bronze hardware, and all other cabinetry throughout the house {brown and black} were dressed up with matching chrome knobs and pulls.
I thought the kitchen may turn out to be a super hot mess because I didn’t have samples of everything to compare to one another. We went with a quartzite countertop {super stong material} in Super White on a black island, Absolute Black granite in a leathered finish over white cabinetry with bronze glazing, bronze hardware on the white cabinetry, chrome hardware on the black cabinetry, a white Asian Statuary marble {which I think is actually a carrara} for the backsplash in herringbone and subway tile to coordinate with the island, bronze lighting, and a chrome faucet and pot filler. Wow! That was a lot to fit into my brain and try to imagine it all going together. Somehow I think it all works :/
I picked up these black swivel ladder back barstools because I loved the shape, but I didn’t like the cherry seat, so I painted them black.
The island is a combination of pics I found at Houzz and Pinterest. I love the super deep hop-up bar, traditional legs, and molding around the base. The guy that installed our cabinetry was super excited about our island, which is a huge compliment to the design we picked out.
Black cabinetry, chrome drawer pulls, chrome cabinet door knobs, and Super White quartzite island hop-up bar countertop.
We wanted a bar hop-up so that we could hide the dirty dishes in our sink, but we also didn’t want our countertop broken into two shallow pieces so we asked the builder to make each level as deep as possible. We had our housewarming party catered from a local barbeque place, so the countertop was perfect for the buffet line. Because of the depth of the hop-up, we needed legs rather than corbels for support, and I love the way it turned out!
From this angle, you can see the kitchen, the bar pass through {bar at right, walk in pantry at left} the foyer hallway if you had taken a left from the front door, and then my office.
This backsplash was an idea I had and of course, I found a great example at Pinterest via Houzz. I hear that in design, you are supposed to repeat elements, so this herringbone backsplash behind the pot filler is repeated in our bar space, pics below.
In my attempt to repeat elements, but make the bar a little different and more modern than the other spaces, I repeated the herringbone backsplash from behind the pot filler, and then went with a black-on-black look with the Absolute Black leathered granite seen in the kitchen over the same black cabinetry used for the island and the chrome hardware. I think it turned out so fun! This was actually a butler’s pantry that we turned into a bar with the wine fridge. Directly across from the bar is the walk in pantry and it all passes through to the hallway outside my office.
This is a close up shot of the Asian Statuary white herringbone marble backsplash. If you follow me on Instagram, then you’ve probably already seen the three decanters and the cupcake plate I picked up a while back from a flea market in Georgia and the backsplash in our “wine and keys” party pic the day we closed.
If you turn around directly from the bar pass through, you will be in front of my office door, which shares a wall with the front door in the foyer. This is probably the space where I have really gone from one extreme to another mixing contemporary and rustic pieces with my wood x-legs desk in a Tuscan finish and the super sparkly chrome chandelier.
The table in the corner on sawhorses will be my photography set up for all of my product and food pics. The window space is perfect for tons of good natural lighting.
The x-legs desk and the white bookcase are both from Pottery Barn Teen. Their pieces are perfect for smaller spaces, are much more affordable than Pottery Barn, and certainly don’t lack in style.
The white geometric open sides bookcase, based on a vintage original, will be my “to-do list” housing all of the products I need to review.
I’m crazy about the pull doors made of wood and glass. I really wanted a glam office with hints of rustic pieces, so the doors just add one more sparkly glam touch to the mix.
My desk is in the center of the room directly under the chandelier for a little bit of drama. I also thought that would free up the corners of the room for storage and seating. I’d like to add a chaise or lounge chair to the empty corner so I can relax in my own space while I blog. I’d also like to do layered rugs in this room – a room size rug filling most of the space with a smaller rectangle rug over that under my desk.
This is the staircase leading to the upstairs bonus room, my husband’s office. To the left is the garage door, to the right is the laundry room, across from the stairs is the drop-zone, and I’m standing in the hallway with the bar pass-through behind me. I love the stained stair steps, post, and handrail.
This is my husband’s bathroom upstairs. I’ll show you his office/bonus room when he gets it a little more put together. I went with a more masculine look to this bathroom with a black and gray “pebbled” granite, black mirror, black cabinetry, black cabinet hardware, and a chrome faucet.
In the living room, to the right of the built-ins was a doorway that then leads to this doorway. This is the hallway to our bathroom {first door on the right}, then walk in closet {second door on the right}, and then the bedroom.
Going clockwise, my husband’s vanity is on the left, then the tub, then my vanity, then a small room for the toilet, and then the shower on the right.
I need a wide angle lens. It was so hard to get a lot in these pics when I only had so much room to back up into each space.
We’ve gone for mixed metals in the master bathroom as well. The white cabinets have bronze glazing and bronze hardware, and then we went with chrome for the faucets, lighting, and all other bathroom hardware. The bronze and gray in the tile pull it all together nicely.
The his and hers chrome hooks right outside of the shower were much better than a towel bar.
I love the glass shelf for additional storage in our insets. We have two shower heads, one on either side, and then a rain shower head above.
I have yet to use that tub. I need to find the time!
This is our master bedroom. I can’t wait to get in here and start decorating! I love the 3 picture windows above the bed. They literally give us a different beautiful “picture” all day long!
In this room, we have tray ceilings and french doors that lead to a balcony overlooking our backyard and lake.
Master balcony overlooking the backyard and the lake. We hope to stain the deck and add a bistro set.
This is a pic of our guest bedroom. Between our kitchen and dining rooms, there is a small hall that leads to the guest bedroom, a bathroom, and John’s nursery.
Again, I really need a wide angle lens so I can fit more of this bathroom into one shot. It turned out to be my favorite bathroom with the traditional medium brown wood cabinetry and contemporary chrome hardware and lighting.
Glass walk in shower with bench seating.
A reflection of my puppy on the guest bed.
This is John’s nursery. Now that he is a 1 year old big boy, I think I’m going to switch this room up all together. I have lots of fun ideas!
John on an impromptu walk {which is why he’s pantsless lol} in our back yard, discovering pinecones and trying out his brand new shoes!
The only other spaces I have yet to show you, because they need a little work is our upstairs bonus room {my husband’s office}, the laundry room {maybe it will be “Pinterest-worthy” someday} and our unfinished basement. If we have a second baby, then the guest room will become a nursery and we’ll finish off the basement as a “guest suite”. I can’t wait to start decorating. Lots of pics on that coming soon I hope :)
