August Fields

boy bunk room – part two

the boy bunk room is taking shape!  we decided on a 4 person bunk unit.  if we ever needed more beds we could put another bed or bunk on the perpendicular wall. 🙂
below you can see the beginning stages.  mdf board was mounted to the back walls.  i had to pick out a mattress at the mattress store so the builders knew what depth the beds should be (these are fit for a 9″ deep mattress).  also, we decided on xtra long twin mattress’ since we’re dealing with boys here….and if this is their bed for life (in this house) we wanted to give them room to grow! 🙂
finished bunks before paint and fixtures! 
as you can see we designed the bed based on the one i had seen on the traditional home website.  
you can see that here. 
the kids giggled and laughed when they first saw them and immediately clamored to the top bunk. 🙂
keeping with the desire to allow reading and the joy of reading around every nook and cranny of this house we had little shelves built in (for books!) with an outlet (for alarm clocks, ipods etc.)
each unit will have a stand alone sconce as well (see below) that will allow for individual reading at night.
we’re planning on having the bunks painted in benjamin moore’s fieldstone color.
  
on the opposite wall is a window seat with bookshelves.  boone is on top of the world thinking of all the books he can have in his room now.  that little man (he’s 5) can read like it’s nobodies business! 🙂
okay….so orange has been boone’s favorite color for the past year and a half (before that it was goldenrod)  isn’t he funny?? 🙂 🙂  since it’s a pretty dominant color we’ll just be…..well….accenting with it. 🙂  
i found the lamp at goodwill for $7.00.  love it.
this fabric is amy butler and is called…..are you ready?  
august fields!!!! 
 i’ll be snatching a little bit of this up for accents on pillows or something.
thanks to my friend holly mathis for finding this line for me!
this adorable john golden print doesn’t have orange in it but when i saw my friend 
shannan at flowerpatch farmgirl had it in her little man’s room, i was smitten.
he has a shop on etsy and when i purchased my print he was having a buy one get one free sale!
the other print will be going in the playroom….but more on that at a later date 🙂
these are the sconces that will go by each bunk, on the back wall.  mr. daddy and i love the idea of being able to read at night then reaching over and turning the light off….versus having to climb out of the bunk to turn the light off.  i think this definitely promotes reading and provides good light to each individual. 🙂
lights are from here.  push button on/off switch was mr. daddy’s idea.  🙂 

boy bunk room – part one

image from here
when we originally had our house designed we decided on 5 bedrooms upstairs.  master plus 4 more.  
at that point we had four children.  then i was blessed with pregnancy and another baby 🙂  we shuffled various ideas around on how to ‘divide’ the kids into the planned spaces.  every time we had the conversation it was never settling.  and to tell you the truth, even when we had four children and they each had their ‘own’ space i was just………well, so so with the whole idea of them each having their own room.  
i remember wondering what it would be like to share a room growing up, as i always had my own.  my husband shared a room for all but 2 of his years at home.  and really, we need to know how to share space throughout our adult life so why not prepare our children for that?  in college you have a roommate, when you get married you have a roommate 🙂  at work, often you have to share something…space, copy machine, phone etc. 
the other issue that i always dread dealing with (even in this house) is:  when the baby is old enough how  will we RE arrange the rooms???  
so throughout the planning process, our having our fifth child, we came up with a logical solution for our family:  
Bunk Rooms!
one for the girls
one for the boys
it solved all our room dividing problems and more! 🙂  
1. the rooms will be much larger since we’re combining the spaces. allowing for more bookcases, which was always on our ‘wish list’. 
2. each room can have one large bathroom versus a smaller jack and jill style bathroom.  
3. when the little dubs is old enough he can go into the ‘boy bunk room’.  no questions.
4. Lord willing, when we have more babies, and they’re old enough to move out of the nursery, same as above….if the little munchkin is a girl she’ll join the girls in the ‘girl bunk room’ …if the little one is a boy, he’ll join the boy’s in the ‘boy bunk room’….no more agonizing decision making!
5. the bunk rooms will help prepare the children to know how to share their space! (there is plenty of room around the house if they need alone time!)
6.  another bonus… hopefully the children will continue to talk through their struggles since they won’t be able to slam their ‘own’ bedroom door shut  🙂
amen.
i will be posting sequels to this and cover bunk choices, decor, layout, lighting etc. 

house update: trim, wood floors, tile

i have lots and lots of pictures to share!!  so many changes are happening at the house.  tile is being installed, wood floors laid, crown moulding put up, and built-ins are getting started.

master bathroom….starting to take shape….
and more recently.  windows trimmed out, carrera tiles starting to go down….
boy’s bathroom.  i am standing in the bunk room looking into the bathroom.  
the hallway entrance is to the right.  
straight ahead is the tub/shower alcove.  square, glossy, grey tiles.
on the floor:  tiny white rectangle tiles with grey grout.

the nursery.  this will be one of my favorites to finish up 🙂  i’ll be posting more about it later!
oak floors are down.  they will be sanded and finished (painted white!!).  
board and batten up. 
this room will eventually transition to something else when we are no longer 
needing a nursery 🙁
school room.  built ins are almost done!

mud room.  we went with a dark slate with dark grout (my flash is deceiving you).  
we are very pleased with the way this has turned out!
side porch.  the door will be varnished so it will have a little pizazz. 🙂
the crown moulding is going up in the family room.  mr.daddy was in charge of this…
and i will say i am very pleased with his selection!

bonus/family room above the garage.  this is the room i think we will spend a lot of time in!
the window is looking out to the back of the house.  the stairs on the right go up to the hallway.

this is a walk thru “fort” that we are doing for the kids…but they don’t know! 🙂  
it was dead space so we decided to utilize it as a playhouse.  
obviously they see it when we go to the house but 
they just think it is for storage.

okay….last picture 🙂  the siding is starting to go up.  we went with hardie cement board.
this is the stock light grey.  since there will be a final color coat painted later
we will be able to tweak it a bit if we want.  i’m thinking just a teeny bit darker….
thanks for looking!  
i will say overall the process of designing and building a home is going very well!
i’m pretty sure i would not want to do it again,
but that is just because it is such a long process.  
i always hear so many negative stories about relationships or drama that can 
happen while building a home.
i would like to be a positive voice and say “we love it!” 🙂
thank. you.

building a house = mess!

yikes! this is what i walk into when i visit during the day.  i want to sweep and vacuum and organize and say….get your saw out of my kitchen! 🙂  
seriously though, our builder and all the contractors have been really good about sweeping up, stacking the scraps and throwing away the garbage.  i just have to keep it real though and show you what your house will look like in the middle of trim work. 🙂  
below is the kitchen.  sunroom on the left, family room straight ahead.
below is the school room. 

“old door” shopping for the school room

i embarked on an adventure in search of an old door to hang in our new house for the school room.  it’s one of those ideas that i’ve had in my head for a long time and when i would come across old doors i’d say “oh, that one would be great” or “love that!”  but never actually made the purchase.

well the time has come.  the trim carpenters are working in the school room now and needed a door to be able to case the doorway.  sometimes i just need a deadline.

i went downtown to a salvage store because i knew they had a “basement of doors”. literally.  take a look.

 this picture times five should give you a pretty good idea of what i was up against.

thankfully, they were organized by type.  i wanted one with glass. so i went to the “door’s with glass” section.

there was this one.  gorgeous.  divided glass, panels, super heavy.

another one, very similar.  sooooo pretty!

hmmm….then there was this one.  single pane of glass (which is what i wanted). not rotting away (bonus).

this one went home with me!  can you see all the pencil scribbling on the right side?  it was meant to be for the school room.  once i clean it all up, i’m sure some day the pencil scribbles will be back. 🙂
i also really like how the glass is set a little lower than you typically see.  the door knob is set lower too.
i picked out some old black hinges, screws and door knob.
so here is the new old door to our school room!  i would love to add some etched glass title to the glass.
maybe “school room” or “school”.  we’ll see 🙂