Last week, I told you about my dream bedroom, and mentioned a bit about my dream kitchen. Well, it is full-on today! I'm going to show you the entirety of The Dream House--straight out of my daydreams.
I always love seeing other bloggers' dream house posts, and I've been wanting to do my own version for a while. Since the nesting instinct seems to have kicked in during the last couple of weeks (the baby will be making his grand entrance any day now), I've been obsessively looking at all of the images I've collected for The Dream House. It was tough to narrow down my favourites for this post! It really helped me to focus, though, to get a clearer picture in my mind of exactly how it could all work together.
First, let's start with the exterior. I love the classic American style of a white house with black shutters. I also really like cedar siding, grey with black shutters and white trim, and dark grey with white trim. Here in South Australia, these styles are a rare sight. (I've never seen cedar siding here, probably for fire safety reasons, I'm told.) Brick dominates the housing styles where I live, so I think it might be more doable to paint the brick white or grey and add black shutters.
Also, for the exterior, I would love to have a white picket fence and a blue front door.
These windows are so pretty. (I'd want to have fly screens, though!)
Upon entering, you'd walk into a light blue entryway with a beautiful console table or dresser, a mirror and/ or artwork, and a lovely pendant light. Maybe a bench or chairs would be in the entry, as well. I'm thinking of painting the inside of the front door black, or possibly white.
In the lounge, I'd like the walls to be white or light grey. The floors in the lounge, as well as in the kitchen, dining room, study, entry, and hallways, would be dark wood floating floors, maybe in a walnut stain. It would be lovely to have a fireplace. I really want to arrange the furniture in a U-shape around the TV, to keep things social and cozy. I want to do an art collage on the wall behind the TV. Other elements I'd love to have would be a fabulous bar cart, lucite coffee table, and a gorgeous rug (these things are obviously meant to happen in several years' time, when our little one can be trusted near breakables and nice things!). Lighting in the lounge, as well as everywhere else, would be on dimmers, to have a wide range of options for various moods, times of day, and so on.
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Onto the kitchen, the heart of the home, where I would spend a lot of time, since I love to cook and bake... I love white kitchens, as you may know by now. I would like the walls to be pale grey or white. This also goes for the dining room, which I'd like to be connected to the kitchen, ideally. Since I'm dreaming, let's say I'd have a six-burner gas stove top, dual electric ovens, and a huge refrigerator, all in stainless steel. There would be a massive island, wrapped in marble. Blue and white china would make very nice accent pieces. I've started to collect such things already. I would love to have a spot to sit and look at recipes, do the weekly meal plan, write shopping lists, and so on, like the Ikea desk/ cupboard shown. A breakfast nook would be really lovely, too, along with a view of the garden.
As for the dining room, I would love to have a spacious room with white French doors leading onto the garden. Like I said, the walls would be white or pale grey, like the kitchen. I love the look of a black ceiling (so striking!), but I would only do that in the dining room if it was totally separate from the kitchen, and the ceiling was high enough. Our new dining set has a huge dark wooden table, which can seat up to 10 people, and white chairs. We have eight chairs, so far. I'd love to get two Ghost chairs, for the ends of the table, as well as for use as extra seating in the lounge, when necessary. One wall in the dining room would have Cole & Son's "Woods" wallpaper, which is my all-time favourite wallpaper pattern. I'd set an elegant sideboard against that wall, and hang a mirror above it. The finishing touch would be a beautiful chandelier hanging over the dining table.
Moving along, let's take a look at the main bathroom. I always like serene white bathrooms, but the image of the bathroom with black walls is really stunning, too. I also like the look of a black vanity in a white bathroom. Brass hardware would look quite fabulous, I think.
If we would have the luxury of having a powder room, I would love to use a gorgeous wallpaper in there. I think a small space, like a powder room, is the perfect place for a bold wallpaper, because it won't overwhelm, as it might in a larger room (unless only one wall is done, of course).
As you know from last week's post, the master bedroom would be a sophisticated, romantic retreat, with subtle lilac walls, and a shimmery wallpaper accent wall behind the bed. The floor would be a dark wood. The bed would have a dark grey tufted headboard, preferably a bit taller than average, to lean against comfortably, for reading in bed. There would be a fabulously huge and organised closet, painted grey. I'd want a beautiful chandelier, pretty mirrors, and gorgeous fabrics. I have a vintage print by Alberto Vargas, which I'm going to frame and hang in the bedroom. For some Old Hollywood-style glamour, I would love to have a mirrored vanity and an elegant chaise longue or small sofa, to sit on. Lovely accents, like vintage glass bowls to hold jewelry, and a pair of beautiful bedside lamps, would add some pretty finishing touches.
In the en suite, I would love to have dual sinks and a huge shower, to have plenty of shared space. Marble looks amazing, so I'd love to find something that looks similar. I'd like the floor to be a dark grey tile. I'm picturing a pale pink orchid, for a hint of colour, and lots of softly filtered sunlight pouring in.
For the study, I'm dreaming of a deep blue room, just like this one, with gorgeous built-in shelving. My partner loves this look, as well. This would really be his space, but I know I'd enjoy reading in such a beautiful blue room.
My ultimate dream-come-true would be to have a room of my own, an office/ studio, for painting, sewing, blogging, and other creative pursuits. I would give anything to have the space (and time, money, and energy!) to get back into painting and sewing. At least I can daydream about how my office/ studio would look.
It would be all-white, including the floors--except, perhaps, a pale pink accent wall, since that would be the only room G would allow to be pink, other than the girls' bedroom. I would absolutely love to have the studio be in an attic space with a white vaulted ceiling (I'm obsessed with vaulted ceilings, especially white ones!). There would be a simple white desk, fab white pendant light, aqua tufted sofa, inspiration collage, and super-organized cabinets, shelving, etc. for art and sewing supplies. I'd also throw in some colourful cushions, gold accents, and vintage pieces, to keep it cozy and pretty, not just purely functional.
Next we have our little boy's room. For his nursery, I want to do a woodland theme, which I posted about before. When he's a bit older, I'd like to do a blue and brown look in his bedroom, maybe with wide stripes on the walls, and/ or some cool wall decals. I want our son's room to be a fun yet relaxing space, which he will truly enjoy being in.
My partner, Glen, has two daughters who stay with us every other weekend, so they share a bedroom at our place. They both love pink and turquoise/ aqua--as do I!--so I'd love to do their room in those colours. They have matching twin beds with bedding in those colours already. Again, I would love if we could use an attic space with a vaulted white ceiling. Attic bedrooms are just so charming.
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| *** Once the girls are older, I think we'd turn their room into a guest bedroom. For this, I'm picturing a serene space with pale aqua walls, lovely bedding, and elegant accent pieces. |
It would be fantastic to have a family room, to have space where the kids could play, watch movies, and be creative--a space in which we could all relax and have fun together, which would be separate from the more adult-friendly lounge. I'm envisioning this room being more colourful than the other rooms in the house. I'd love to have a chalkboard wall, teepee, and a big world map in the family room. I have a small collection of globes, which could go in there. I'd like to collect more, over time. Since I'm American and Glen is Australian, globes and world maps are quite special for us, reminding us how far we have come, to create a good life together. That is exactly what I want to remember, when we spend time together as a family.
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Let's not forget the laundry room. The walls would be painted in Tiffany blue. That way, doing laundry would seem slightly more glamorous! I'd like to have a linen closet, sink, drying rack, and counter space, to be very organized. A little chandelier would be cute, too. (G would roll his eyes at that idea, I'm sure!)
Last but not least, The Dream House would have a conservatory or sun room. While this sun-filled room might not be entirely practical in the hot dry South Australian climate, Glen and I still daydream of having one. We would certainly be able to enjoy using a conservatory in autumn through spring, and maybe even in summer, if we could add some shade with curtain panels. A sun room, with a roof, rather than a glass ceiling, would obviously be more practical. All I know is, we both love beautiful conservatories and sun rooms. Ours would have white French doors (I'm obsessed with them!), a lovely table, a lounge setting in blue and white, a hammock big enough for two, some greenery, naturally, a birdcage (without birds, since we are cat people), and a view of the garden.
That concludes our tour of The Dream House. I hope you enjoyed glimpsing into my daydreams as much as I have enjoyed sharing them with you.
Stay tuned for a look at The Dream Garden, coming soon!
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