Category: Our Home

We are officially under contract (again) for our custom built new home!  There are still a few hoops to jump through, but it looks like everything will come through finally.  And since I know everyone will want the details here’s what I have for now. The floor plan we chose is called the Calypso – a 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch style. We chose a ranch style for several reasons:

1. It’s easier on my husband’s knee after his joint replacement.
2. Our dogs sound like a herd of elephants going up and down stairs. (So won’t miss that!)
3. I despise cleaning stairs after having lived in 2 story homes most of my adult life.
4. We like the look and flow of a ranch style better than a traditional 2 story.

This floor plan appealed to us because it had several features we were looking for:

1. A dedicated studio/office space for me (not one of the bedrooms) near the main entrance so clients won’t walk through our whole house.
2. A large kitchen with an open concept for entertaining
3. A formal entry way without the other traditional ‘formal’ rooms that are wasted space to us.
4. A 3-car garage for both our trucks and ‘toys’ (the UTV mentioned here and my ’55 F-100)
5. A laundry room.
6. Space for large furniture and large dogs.

We looked for almost a year and half before finding this plan and it still wasn’t exactly what we wanted, but it was acceptable as it was built.  Unfortunately, it sold before we were able to put in an offer.  So we contacted the builder and told them we wanted the same house, just on a larger lot.  It’s been a long haul to make everything come together, but we are almost ready to begin construction!

Here’s a ‘tour’ of the house we walked through during the final stages of construction.  I’ll note the changes we are making per the modified floor plan above as we go along.

The third ‘bay’ of our garage will stick out to make it a little longer for the hubby’s BIG truck.  Rather than a shingle roof we will have a metal roof, likely in a brown color depending on what exterior colors we choose.

The laundry room will be laid out the same way with a dryer, washer and sink along the wall with the cabinets.  Rather than tile we will be using a new flooring product that is scratch proof and water proof throughout the whole house.  Yes – I promise I will do a post about it very soon. 😉

Again, no tile in the kitchen due to the whole house flooring.  We will also be adding a corner pantry with a solid door.

Because we are adding the corner pantry the fridge will be moved a little farther down the wall here to add back in some of the counter space we will loose in the corner. Our kitchen island will be farther out, making the inside edge even with the laundry room wall.

Our fireplace will be done in the same style, only in the corner.  We are foregoing the french doors seen leading into the studio/office area because we plan to install sliding barn style doors like these later.

My studio will have wall-to-wall desk space for photo editing and crafting like this on one side with open space for backdrops on the other side.  I’ll decide which side the desk will be on once we see how the house is positioned and light comes in.

This is where the sliding barn doors will sit when open.  I still have to figure out how to do the doors and the wall-to-wall desk, but I’m sure we’ll come up with something.

The formal entry, which will have the same flooring as the rest of the house rather than tile.  I plan to put a dresser closer to the front door like I mentioned here, with a bench next to it.

My current plan is to make one closet ‘our’ coat closet because we have LOTS of coats thanks to the Alaskan weather, while the other will be for guest use.  Depending on how that works out I may convert the one closer to the door into a mudroom/bench area with hooks like this where guests can stop to take off or put on shoes and coats.

I’m not posting pictures of the bedrooms since they are the typical empty ‘box’ and the bathrooms will be reconfigured a bit from how they were in this house.  But this gives you the basic feeling of the house.  I can’t wait to share more details as we choose finishes, light fixtures and more!