The design

Haven't had time to blog - I've been spending lots of time on-line trying to research sinks, faucets, lights, and refrigerators. It's exhausting!

Well, since we are 41 days away from completion (may have to adjust that date!), we obviously have a design.

I had gone around and around with what to do with our floor plan. I had thought about knocking down the wall into the dining room, then using that space and current kitchen space for a long, narrow kitchen. But we use our dining room A LOT, so I didn't want to lose it. We don't use our living room that much, so I thought about moving the dining room to the living room, but I didn't want to completely lose all the living room space. The living room space is too big for just the dining room (12x20), plus I was concerned about re-sale (way, way down the line, but still this would be a very permanent decision). But I couldn't fit both the dining room and living room without it looking weird (I have a huge picture window in the living room that made the space awkward to split in half).

What I finally decided on is what I call the 3-way compromise. I'm opening up the kitchen to the DR and the DR and half of the kitchen wall to the LR. I'm building a "buffet" area for more storage along the half wall.

We will use the living room a lot more with this design, and I think that's a good thing. I'm giving up my little "nook" in the kitchen where people used to hang, but I am hoping that the LR will now be the nook, and people will be much more comfortable, and more people can be in the space. In addition, with it open to the DR now, we have that space as an extension of the kitchen. Everyone tells me that it is going to feel much bigger.





The reason I call this a "three way compromise" is because 1) I'm not really gaining any cabinet space - and I thought I was actually losing counter top square footage, but it turns out I am gaining it - but I'm not sure if it will be as usable as my big peninsula is today. We'll see. 2) I am losing 3" in the dining room and giving up having a "room" that is separate from the kitchen - it won't be formal and you can't block it from the kitchen mess, and 3) I am losing precious wall space in the living room where I already lose space to the big window, and the fireplace. I am still trying to figure out where the Christmas tree will go this year . . .

But, now that the design was finally decided, I started to get really excited . . .