
Yesterday, we officially placed the order to build our house on Bainbridge Island. I’ve been thinking of this as a 2.0 kind of project because the new house is very similar to our old one, but we’re taking this opportunity to make some changes that better fit where we are now in life. For example, when we designed our first house, we were still very much in Baby Mode, so I wanted the kids’ bedrooms close to ours. Well, it was only a few years later that I was wishing they weren’t quite so close! So now the kids will have their own space in the basement and we’ll be two floors up.
Another thing is that we’ve never had a place with enough seating for all six of us to lounge around. Someone always has to drag a dining room chair over or just ends up on the floor. So we very intentionally created a great room with space for plenty of comfortable seating. It’s an unusual design because it has the fireplace tucked away at one end with a “reading chair,” rather than the more common center-of-the-room location with the furniture arranged in front of it. The piano will be next to the fireplace, so I think it’ll be a cozy and aesthetically-pleasing nook.

I have to admit I like thinking about floor plans more than I do paint colors and decorating. My “design” process is to find something I like and then recreate it as well as I can. So right now I’m looking for images, like the one at the top of the post, that capture the mood I’m hoping to create.
What’s your design process? Do you need a visual to get started?
Fun to see the layout! Hope you have fun doing what you need/want to do.