Today I’m revealing the floor plans for the Whitney House, one of my many dream homes that I hope to share here on The Made Home.
The house is 2,840 s.f., 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and features a small but very cute 415 s.f. guest apartment with a private bath and kitchen. It’s important to me that my dream home have a separate space for long family visits, an opportunity for extra rental income, a convenient office location, or just a great place for Jack to live when he’s older. Because isn’t it totally adorable when grown men live with their mamas forever? And isn’t it normal to always have freshly baked cookies in the kitchen for the kids, even if they’re 28?
Well in my dream, normal looks a little different.
It looks like:
A large fireplace surrounded in aged limestone.
A kitchen large enough to accommodate an antique farm table that can seat 10.
An entire wall of bookshelves, maybe even with one of those ridiculous rolling library ladders because, hey, why not?
Skylights over a clawfoot pedestal tub.
And a walk-in closet with french doors and a window. Oh, I guess I mean, “Dressing Room.”
Yes, in my dream, my clothes aren’t shoved into a 24×36″ closet, but instead have a whole room to themselves. *wink*
Anyways, let’s get on with the tour. Here’s the main level plan.
The plan has many features of an old Saltbox house, which inspired this home, including a simple box shape, a central front door, a multi-sided fireplace, and a Hearth Room. Walking through the front door, you are immediately greeted by the large stone fireplace that is visible from all four sides. The side that you see when you walk in would have a unique decorative niche recessed in the stone, for a little charm and also a functional place for setting down keys, etc. There is also a good sized coat closet on the right. This house boasts lots of good storage space, both in closet and dressing room form.
The entry floor would also be stone, which would extend into the living room as the fireplace hearth. That faint line across the living room shows the flooring transition between stone and hardwood. The living room is centered around the gorgeous fireplace and would also have some type of wood beams on the ceiling. An entire wall would be floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
You then walk into the Hearth Room. This could also be a formal dining room, but I don’t feel like I would actually use a separated dining room much. Instead this would be a room for casually gathering with the family. It would be for drinking coffee in the morning in front of the TV, playing the piano, or relaxing with a good book (read: iPhone) in front of the fireplace at night. There would also be built-in cabinetry with glass doors for display.
Off the Hearth Room is a small office nook separated by double pocket doors. This would fit a desk, a comfy chair and more bookshelves.
And then there is my favorite room in the house, the Kitchen. Don’t we all love a big kitchen in the heart of the house? The two things I love about this kitchen is that 1. instead of a central island, there is a large antique farmhouse table in the middle that the family can gather around or I can sit and prepare at, and 2. the main stairs come down into the kitchen. I imagine little kids in their pajamas waking up to the smell of bacon in the morning and running down to find a table of banana pancakes and me in the best of moods.
Isn’t dream world amazing?
Off the kitchen is a small laundry room, powder bath, and back door. But, now I’m thinking that I might prefer to put the washer and dryer inside my gracious master closet, where it will be closer to all the bedrooms. Then I’d turn the laundry area into a little mudroom with a bench under the windows. Yes, I think that makes much more sense.
Before we go upstairs, let me jump to the guest apartment for a second. It’s a simple and small space, but great for one person. It has its own entrance, which opens into the kitchen and living space. Wrap-around counters would work as kitchen prep space on one side and a work-table or storage on the other. A sofa probably wouldn’t fit well in this room, but a dining table would. I was thinking a sofa bed could be placed in the bedroom. The bathroom doesn’t have any natural light unfortunately, but it can fit a linen cabinet. Built-in’s, moroccan tile, and a farmhouse sink would make this quaint apartment utterly adorable.
Okay, let’s go back into the house, grab a snickerdoodle from the kitchen and head on upstairs.
At the top of the stairs is the hallway. Go straight and to the right and you’ll find the first bedroom. It’s a pretty standard size bedroom, but it has good closet storage and 3 windows. It’s also close to the bathroom, which would be outfitted with a mixture of vintage and modern fixtures, obviously. Then there’s the second bedroom which is great for kids because it’s a bit smaller and has some fun features like stairs with a landing and a lower roof which results in a lower ceiling height in areas, as well as a walk-in closet where kids could hide and play, and built-in cubbies underneath the “Loft” stairs and roof eaves.
On the other end of the hall is the door to the master suite. The bedroom is a nice size and easy shape to furnish. I think you could easily position a king-size bed on either of the two interior walls. I imagine some pretty wall treatment in here, either a wall covering or wood panel moulding and wainscoting. And maybe a unique ceiling light fixture. Down the hall and through the double doors is the private quarters for my garments and frocks and such. Man, this room alone would be fun to design. I’m thinking an antique Persian runner on the floor, a pretty mini chandelier on the ceiling, wood shutters on the window, and a highly organized wardrobe system, of course. Again, I think I would double this closet as a laundry area too, perhaps with a stack washer and dryer. And wouldn’t this room also make a fantastic nursery?
Finally, the master bathroom; the focal point being a beautiful pedestal tub, highlighted from above by skylights in the vaulted ceiling. And the separate shower would also have a skylight. I love, love, love skylights in any bathroom. I haven’t given too much thought to the finishes in this room yet, but I can tell you it would be sunny, warm, and glorious.
The last part of the house is the small loft up in the attic. It’s under the gable roof and would make a great play room, study, or ooooh, I know, a little yoga studio.
So there you have it. That’s the tour, folks. Thank you for taking a peek into a place that I would personally love to call my home one day, and thanks also to Whitney for fueling my imagination and satisfying my need to continually design and create and dream.
In future posts in this series I’ll share more of my ideas for each of these rooms as well as drawings for each of the charming little details that would make this house extra sweet and special.
Have a great week everyone!
3 Comments
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