When I'm lucky, I can be outside cross-country skiing and enjoying the pleasures of winter. However, I have spent a good deal of time indoors. That's given me an itch to make some changes. The floor plan of our home is challenge.
When we moved in the kitchen looked like this:
Almost impossible to tell but the wall immediately on the left is drywall floor to ceiling.
So here is how the kitchen/dining room look now:
To balance all the cupboards and knotty pine on the right side, I added the knotty pine wainscotting to the left wall and the fax tree :)
The picture doesn't do it justice...it is really warm and wonderful. The stools are covered in elk hide. Someday a new dishwasher! The back splash is copper.
We are looking at the kitchen from the other side of the room where the dining room table is.
From here:
The kitchen is just to the right of the picture, the dining table to the left. Bedrooms are straight ahead and the living room is 2 steps down behind us.
Here are a few shots of the dining room table area. This is important, because this is what I want to change:
The shot here is the dining room table just up the steps from the living room. The window to the left has a gorgeous view, and the only real view from inside the house.
This is looking at the dining room from the kitchen. This is what I'm thinking...move the dining room down into the living room (more about that later) and make this a parlor area?? I'm seeing three to four club chairs facing each other like a conversation pit, with long drapes on the window...move the china hutch you see here down into living room area (more later). Not a huge area here and need to leave room to easily move from this area into living room. The rug here is 8x12.
I'm standing by the wood burning stove here so now you can see how this dining area drops into the living room. The kitchen is to your left.
Okay...
So, now I moved the dining room table into the living room to try this out.
From this view you see the dining room table (though the lighting is terrible in this shot). I'm standing where the table use to be.
We have a 26 foot living room!
Now I'm at the far end of the living room where the fireplace is. If you look close you can see the dining room table on the other side of the couch. I think placing one of the couches across the room helps divide this long space in to two areas. HOWEVER, this room feels a bit like a runway because the knotty pine boards are running vertically and so is the room. All the weight feels like it's on one side (because it is?) . You see one door on the left, and then another a bit further down.
I need to figure out how to add weight to the left side (left side from this view). Before we go further, know that I am going to take the desk out of the 'hole' at the far end by the dining room table and move the buffet you see along the left hand wall into that space and move the china hutch from the dining room where the buffet is now. (Whew, kind of hard to take this all in!) I think the china hutch will help weight the wall because it is tall and heavy. I also think I will add knotty pine wainscotting to this wall (as you saw in the kitchen) but only on this stretch between the two doors. I also think I should paint the wall a darker color.
I have a new blog friend...Kirsten (!) and she has shared a paint color with me..."Twig Basket" , so I'll be getting a sample to try.
I found Kirsten through her blog:
http://kirstenerickson.blogspot.com/
So...between adding some texture and color with the pine and paint...that might help get rid of this long stretch? Other suggestions? My girlfriend suggested I put the small club chair that you see now, and that is why the buffet is off center and so is the picture. What do you think of the chair?
So...leave the table here?
Now...you have to get really visionary for the next step....
Picture three (and ultimately maybe four) of these chairs...
Okay...not this one. It's nearly $800. and that's way over budget (but boy do I love it!)
So picture three, and perhaps four, of these chairs:
Up where the dining room table was configured in a circle together. Now the following pictures are really going to mess up the vision...
I tried this with some dining chairs and bench, etc. just to get a feel, so be creative with me...
Ignore the table you see in the left hand corner (it was in the living room and I just didn't have anywhere to put it when we were moving things around.) In this picture note the valance. All wrong. I will put long drapes that go to the floor. I'm thinking a reddish color??
Obviously, the furniture I am using here is all wrong (note table again that won't be here), but was trying to get a feel for it. You can see a bit of the cow skin rug here. I hope to use that here.
It's essential that whatever I do, it blends with the kitchen.
I will eventually need to replace this window with one that sits lower. Always more to do! Not sure how much room there will be, but would like to have a small table of sorts in the center of the chair grouping. Maybe stumps, perhaps an old ore cart...have to see how much room there would be.
Now....get creative with me again. Since I'll be moving the china hutch to the other room (I'm standing directly in front of the china hutch to take this picture). What if I bring that big ole desk that I don't really like, up to this spot, paint it black and then red over that and sand it??? I measured, it will fit here.
Thoughts???
BIG QUESTION!!!! Do I go for it, and try the parlor idea, or should I put the dining room table back and forget this???
For those of you wondering what was in the living room where I moved the dining room table...the round table you see up in the kitchen area.
Here is picture where you can sort of that area before I moved the dining room table.The pictures were taken at night. Oh, and the leather chair is dividing the room rather than the red couch.
Ah yes, I know I need to have different living room furniture...just can't afford that right now. And while the living room furniture is random, it is comfy!
In this shot, you really see what I mean about the 'runway' effect. I can also see that in the future, having the tv hutch gone and using a shorter console stand would be better. The tv hutch breaks up the view of hte fireplace. Sigh....
Back to the big questions:
1. Do I move the dining room table and create a 'parlor'?
2. How do I add weight to the one side of the living room?
3. Any and all suggestions for anything at all!
Now, before I sign off, this blog was really devoted to my garden. So if you looked at the previous posts you saw it in bloom. Here it is now!
I have plans brewing in my head and on paper for spring in the garden! Hopefully the snow is a protective covering for those hardy perennials at 9,200 feet!
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