Fill 'er up!

Well, it's finally time to start daydreaming about furnishings and drapes.



Because the front of the house is so tall, we had to re-imagine the concept of "drapery".  Whilst doing research on this conundrum, I came across a theatre drapery company in Chicago. I think this will meet our needs quite nicely - having heavy theatre-type drapery mounted on tracks, so we can easily slide the large panels open/closed.  They also have a terrific assortment of fabrics available in extra-wide bolts. Even if all we get is the track and rollers, it's a good start.

On the furniture side of things, I think we're going to Hemnes it up at IKEA.  Yeah, I know - it's Ikea furniture, but at least it's inexpensive,  solid wood and will match the flooring.

So, on with the adventure.

We'll start in the kitchen:

Our kitchen mockup.  Sink will be on the right side. Two Polished Bronze pendant lights will hang above the "peninsula" (sounds bombastic, doesn't it? Peninsula?) Oddly enough, Lowe's has almost this exact same display kitchen set up right by the appliances.  Although their range is on the left side, rather than the end like ours.  It was a great resource while I was trying to imagine what ours would feel like.

From one of Ross Chapin's houses - our cabs will be off white, and have this type of buffet facing the dining room.  The buffet will hide the faucet from the dining table, provide a backsplash for the sink and protect the faucet from inadvertently getting knocked around.  Like this, ours will have a butcher block top.

Courtesy of Costco - this is our fridge.  There will be large freezers in the basement, so we didn't really want one upstairs. Although this has the glass, I just couldn't imagine cleaning a giant stainless steel front all the time. So, people will just have to ignore our food!

Cabinets are off-white, with bronzed pulls/knobs.  They will not have legs like the illustration, but will be mounted on matching bases.

Square stainless steel basin - ours has a full and three-quarter, unlike this one. But you get the point.

Grohe Minta faucet with pull out dood-dad.

Bosch range, with propane conversion.

 On to the dining room.

Flooring is "Spalted Maple" throughout the house - except in kitchen (cork) and bathrooms (lino).  It's laminate, not our first choice. However, it was a cost effective choice until we decide what we really want.  We will also have to find an assortment of area rugs. Of course these are difficult to purchase online, but we'll have a good look when we get to IKEA.

Dining table and chairs. Stornas-Kaustby by IKEA. Seats 6-8.

Eileen by Kichler - I think we have the five-light. But you get the idea for dining room lighting. This light (as will most in the house) will be on a dimmer.

Living room - this space will be largely lit by the dining room fixture and indirect floor lighting:

It's not the best picture, but you can see where the stone and mantle on the fireplace will be located.

It's a terrible rendering, but you get the idea.

Cultured stone surrounding the fireplace.

Our fireplace will look similar, except our Napoleon NZ26 is square, and for the time being we'll only have the stone below the mantle.  Our mantle will be similar to this, in white (I think in off-white, matching the kitch cabs)

The Minka Aire - Artemis, in translucent, will move a tremendous amount of air in the main living space. According to all reviews, when the fan is moving, it virtually disappears.  This will be important because we have such a high ceiling that we want to move that warm air down in the winter, and get rid of it in the summer (push it out all those glorious upper windows).

Recliner by La-Z-Boy. It's a recliner! I call this pattern Spicy Amoeba.

Sectional by Sears. Has a queen size Hide-A-Bed.

Hemnes storage unit for the back wall of living room.

My favourite space - the snoozing room!

Hampton Bay Lake Alice ceiling fan/light combo.

Hemnes king-size bed. WOOT!

Two Hemnes side tables.

Both bathrooms will be outfitted the same. Both have one piece shower/tubs, and will have the same vanities.

Small Hemnes bathroom vanity and cabinet.

Laura will have the Hemnes corner work station in her office downstairs. She'd like this to be the grey/brown colour. Incidentally, this is the same colour of boy's Hemnes bed.

And finally, the deck. This is not what I imagine for furniture, but this is what I'd like to see for the deck "balusters". I really like the idea of solid, galvanized panels - keeps people safely on the deck, but does not obscure the view.