...big tour of the little house

...coming to you in segments. Starting from the beginning.

Our Broadmoor house was built in 1945. When we started talking about moving, the only thing that got seven-months-pregnant me excited was new construction. No random holes in the floor of the basement filled with sand (sure, it might be where the sump pump once was...or where they put the bad children), no metal shower stalls, no wondering about the electric behind your walls.

We found a town we liked.

We found a lot we liked.

Itty-bitty-widdle baby Charlie is standing about 75 yards in front of where our porch is now.

And then it was time to find a house. We quickly learned that building up was less expensive than building out. I have always loved cape cods, but a lot of the modern cape plans have master bedrooms on the first floor. Which not only makes the house wide, but I also liked the idea of having our bedroom upstairs where the kids would be.

We didn't want a big house. We wanted a house that we would use every room, every day. We wanted an open living area with few walls. We knew we didn't need any formal spaces and that we needed lots of closets since we have a high water table and a basement wasn't an option.

I looked at approximately 3,289 plans. No joke. I still remember the night I was sitting at our kitchen table on Broadmoor and found this:

Look familiar?

You might notice that we flipped the plan. Having the garage on the left worked better for our driveway and, if you must know, our septic system.

We made more changes to the plan - most notably closing off the "dining room" to make a playroom for the kids (which will probably be Ken's office in the future when the kids move up to the bonus room, which is now Ken's office). We added a mudroom off the garage. We made a lot of those doors pocket doors. We bumped out the whole back of the house by two feet and added a screen porch off the eating area.

And we got to this:

Getting closer. We added windows, made the shower big. Huge, in fact. Moved the mudroom door. But the biggest thing was the change to the kitchen. The more I thought about it, the more I didn't like the layout of the kitchen. There was no window. I loved my window in my Broadmoor kitchen. And my beloved farmhouse sink would be totally hidden from view. And there was something about it that felt closed off. So we came up with this (what I call a modified-galley kitchen):

It was time to build a house.

Comments

[Steph H]

I feel like I have been waiting YEARS for these house tour entries. Which might be a slight exaggeration, but you know, whatever :)

[Steph H]

and question: How many trees did you need to remove? And did they remove them after the house was up? Was there a reason for that? You know, just in case we ever build our own house :)

[Michele H.]

i love house tours and am looking forward to this series of posts:)

[Heidi S.]

It is nice to see the sunny yellow door (and some grass)!

[melanie]

interior designer mel loves this. :) also love that yellow door. :)

[Brooke]

Such a lovely house and a lovely story. I believe every kitchen sink should have a window. I have one to the front and one to the side of the sink. How does the 'floating' (is that the correct term?) bench work for you? I'm adding that to my wishlist but have never lived with one.

[Barb]

Loved reading this!!

[dana a.]

your house is beautiful! love, love, love the porch:) i hope one day i will be able to design a house too!

[emily (justem)]

That last picture just makes me want to venture to you house, knock on that awesome yellow door, and come right in and make myself at home! ;)

[betsy]

It's so beautiful Laura! And the decisions you made - were wonderful!

[Elizabeth]

It's lovely : ) I wish I could come visit you in it. My dream for home building is to build something from The Bungalow Company. Oh, how I love those plans...

[sharon]

its just beautiful. As is the yellow door!

[gabby]

i LOVE how you documented this!
xoxoxo.

[mary]

so excited to see the whole thing, inside and out:) no pressure at all though - but HURRY UP!

[AshleyM]

Wow! How fun! My husband and I are considering building new construction and it seems like your process went so well! Interesting about building up vs building out. I have terrible knees (and I am only 29!) so we will have to build out; good to know though as it is something to consider.

[mom]

And don't forget to mention Ken's masterful kitchen design! What a versatile guy

L,M

[Becky Trump]

So much fun!!! Your taste and interior designs are lovely and so you! I'm so glad we get a tour :) Thanks for sharing!

[Keshet]

Oh, it's the sweetest house! So excited for this tour!

[Davinie]

Love the little house in the big woods, Laura. Wow. I just put two and two together on that one.

[Lisa Webb]

wow...sooo different to our houses in Australia.. it is like a dream home to me. Well done and congrats on SC xxx

[Irma P.]

Congrats on your new house! We are just in the midst of building our own 'dream home'. This time around I made sure every room will be utilized - no 'formal' anything ;)

[Maria]

Your home is lovely! I can't get over it. It's beautiful. BTW, if I ever have to pick another floor plan (other than my room at the nursing home), it will be too soon. It's SO HARD, nearly on the same level as naming children.