As most of you know by now, we are in the midst of building a new home. It is currently under construction, and visiting the site has become almost a daily activity for R and I. In order to find inspiration for what we wanted the space to look like, I spent countless hours scrolling through Pinterest, combing through magazines, and trying to put a name to what type of style we were going for. This week I wanted to share some inspiration for the house, as well as walk you through how we made some of the design selections based on that inspiration. It can be really overwhelming to make all these decisions, and I am by no means an expert, but I think reading about someone else’s experience can be helpful!
Our current home is very neutral. It has lots of grey and white which was a perfect clean slate for us to start out in. Now that we have been married for almost 5 years, we have figured out how to combine our individual styles. We are so excited to make this house our own because we have the opportunity to customize it knowing this is somewhere we plan to be through the next several seasons of life!
Overall, neither one of us like clutter or busy spaces. We like to keep it minimal and clean. I definitely prefer a more modern vibe, but I wanted it balanced out by some warmth and color to make it feel homey. I think it’s easy for ultra-modern spaces to look stark and uninviting, but I think we are well on our way to achieving the vibe we want.
Kitchen
This was the first room I had a clear vision for. When we made the decision to build the house, I immediately hopped on Pinterest. After what felt like forever and seeing a lot of the same thing, I came across I’m not a major cook or anything, but due to the layout of this house, the kitchen is such a focal point. I really wanted it to have that “wow” factor. Our current kitchen is all white and grey, and I was ready to switch it up with a more moody vibe. Plus, once I made the decision to commit to this idea, the rest of the house started to come together. The photo I drew my inspiration from is below!
In contrast to our cabinets now, I decided on an ultra dark blue for both the cabinets and the island. After going through several paint color options, we decided on Queen’s Navy by Spectrum. To add some contrast, we decided to go for some beautiful white quartz countertops with some subtle grey veining. The backsplash is still up for debate (we’re waiting on quotes), but we have it narrowed down to a gorgeous white tile as seen below, or carrying the countertops up the backsplash for a more seamless look. We also opted to do champagne fixtures and hardware for a fun touch! Our final selections are laid out in the photo below!
Primary Bathroom
I get a lot of inspiration from the incredible hotels we’ve stayed in over the past few years. For our primary bathroom, I wanted to emulate the feeling I had getting ready in the bathroom at our bungalow at the Hyatt Andaz Scottsdale resort. I loved the clean finishes and natural elements making it feel warm and spa-like.
The primary bathroom is one space I decided not to go super bold, but instead something timeless and beautiful. We spend the beginning and end of each day here. Because of that, it was important to me to create a space with a fresh feeling. To do that, we repeated the same white quartz from the kitchen, as well as chrome finishes like in the inspo bathroom we loved. To warm things up, we chose a medium grey floor tile, as well as a light-medium stain on the cabinets.
For the shower, we chose an elongated, white glossy subway tile with matte grey hex tiles on the floor. I cannot wait to relax and enjoy this space after it all comes together. You can see the selections we made below!
Utility Room
I am a firm believer that any room dedicated to doing chores should be beautiful and fun to be in. That’s why I decided to go for some bold green cabinets in our utility room! Out of all our paint decisions, this one had me the most nervous. I was leaning toward a true forest green rather than the sage that is so popular right now. During our meeting I realized that all of the photos I found were of rooms with tons of natural light. Our utility room won’t have any windows at all, so I had to keep this in mind when choosing the perfect color.
To do this, I took a handful of paint samples into the bathroom at the design studio. I held them up to the wall to see how they looked in artificial lighting which was super helpful! The favorites I had chosen ended up being way too dark for a room with no natural light. I chose something that was a little brighter, but still a true green like I had in mind. We eventually chose Arugula by Sherwin-Williams. You can see it paired with the tile and other selections we made below.
I will say, I felt like I had come more prepared to the design studio than I thought I was. Once it was all said and done, the only thing I freaked out about was the green paint. I ended up going to a Sherwin-Williams store to get a paint chip to reassure myself we hadn’t done something crazy. In the end though, it’s just paint and if that’s the worst decision we make, then it’s easy to fix.
I don’t want to spoil all the surprises, but I am excited to continue sharing things about our process. It can be overwhelming, but it’s also a lot of fun! If you are in the same situation or thinking about building a new home, I encourage you to enjoy the process!
As always, thanks for reading and being a member of the PBW community. I’ll be taking some time off for the holidays, but you can expect big things in the new year!
