Three Areas Of Our House (And Property) That My Readers Have Designed
Last night, I was thinking about how much my readers have influenced the design decisions I’ve made for our house. It’s really pretty amazing the amount of input I get from readers, but beyond that, it’s amazing how talented some of you are. Some of you clearly have talent and expertise in areas that I don’t, and it’s been amazing to get that input and actually put it into motion (or have plans to put those plans into motion in the near future). Here are three areas that readers have influenced just in the last couple of months.
Kitchen and Walk-Through Pantry
I was really struggling with the whole kitchen idea. I knew I wanted a new kitchen, and I wanted to move the kitchen, but the only thing I could come up with was to add on a new kitchen. After playing around with several ideas, this was the best I could come up with…
And then several readers suggested moving the kitchen over to the current breakfast room and pantry area, but Jenny’s idea of turning those rooms into the kitchen plus turning the studio bathroom into a walk-through pantry that is easily accessible from the carport was absolute gold. Never in a million years would I have thought of that idea, and yet, it seems so perfect!
The Closet & Laundry Area
I actually didn’t think I was struggling with this area at all. I had a very clear vision of how this room could be designed, and it just made sense to me to line up the closet on one wall…
And then put the laundry room on the other wall…
So when Phoebe came along with her suggestions, I initially didn’t think I needed any changes. The more I looked at it, though, the more I realized how brilliant her design is. I can’t wait to get started on this room!! As of this moment, this is the room I’m the most excited about.
The Driveway
Two days ago, I was outside with spray paint in hand trying to determine how to connect the street entrance to our driveway to the driveway section at the side of our house. I was sharing on Instagram, and clearly having trouble getting it to look right. Here’s a screenshot from one of my Instagram stories. You can see how I was angling the driveway right off the street.
Here’s another look. Sorry for the bad picture. It’s a screenshot of a video, and I was facing right into the sun. But you can see how I had the curve starting almost immediately.
So once again, a reader came to my rescue. She comments under the username Sewducky, and she just happens to be a civil engineer. She saw that I was clearly struggling, and sent me an email with a description of what I needed to do (with technical terms, some of which were way over my head 😀 ), but luckily, she also sent a drawing. I can follow drawings.
I won’t say that they followed her plan exactly. Trying to get these guys to slow down and talk out a plan when they’re going full speed to get a job done is quite the task. But they followed the general suggestion, and it looks so much better than how I had sprayed it out!
The main suggestion was to go in straight with the first part of the driveway, as if it were going directly to the studio, and then angling over to meet the side portion.
It looks so nice, and I’m so thankful she swooped in to help me out when I was clearly having a hard time with it.
Those are just the big designs that readers have helped me out with. There are a thousand other small decisions y’all have helped me with over the years. I feel like I owe y’all a huge party when this is all done!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Sewducky’s timing was perfect. My sister has a driveway similar to the one you had spray painted, and I hate trying to back out of it. I’m always running over her grass. Coming in straight looks great as you pull in towards the house. You’re gonna love it!
Butler’s Pantry is definitely a win! Wish I had thought of that!
The driveway idea was excellent! I wil Re review the changes to the kitchen; but I think it works better! Your readers are great!
If I may make a suggestion, You may want to consider flip flopping the washer and dryer in your new laundry room. I know it does not freeze much in TX but I always recommend keeping anything with water lines away from exterior walls (I own a plumbing company in KS and see these disasters often). Also, if the dryer is on the exterior side, the duct will have a much shorter distance. Im sure you already know this and it was an overlook as you are very overwhelmed right now, but I did want to point it out just in case.
I’m thrilled for you! This is so exciting.
Great way to get from front to back and back to front, no sharp turns! Also, great space for parking for all who drive to your weekly gathering.
I would love to see sewducky’s drawing and concrete-nerd instrux. <3
Hello. I was wondering what program you use to create your renderings with?
And I can’t wait to see the kitchen and laundry room when you’re done!
Thank you!
I used four different ones in the photos in this post. The best one is Smart Draw (smartdraw.com). It’s very easy to use and can do most everything I needed to do for floor plans. But because I use the free version, it won’t save my plans long-term. So if I want to go back and make minor changes to them, I just use my photo editing software called Paint Shop Pro. That’s not specifically a floor plan software. It’s a photo editing software that I can use to copy and paste and make layers on a photo. So I can use it to make adjustments to my floor plan after I create it in smart draw. I also used IKEA‘s kitchen planner as well as their PAX wardrobe planner. The kitchen planner is great, but the PAX wardrobe planner leaves a lot to be desired. But I would imagine the most helpful thing to you will be the smart draw website.
Thank you!!
That has to be the biggest driveway they’ve done at a private residence. WOW, looks so good.
I love the driveway. It creates an interest point with the curves, draws you back in to a different place. Feels like “what magic is back there?” Once you integrate landscaping it will be even more enticing. In my mind anything done to make hardscape softer, more interesting is a win for the property.
One of my beefs is when so much of the face of a property is garages/garage doors, drive and the home part is recessed. I get that lots, terrain can create that plan but it doesn’t make the home more attractive, charming.
Here’s another thought since you’ve been processing budgets, costs of things, what you will do, what you will hire out. I mean all of this as support of what you choose and create for your home. We all make choices, have financial priorities…. my partner & I work outside of home, have multiple cars (with insurances, gas, maintenance), take occasional vacations away, have other outside hobbies, perhaps dine out more, etc with their associated costs. Well your home is largely YOUR life…. making it a place of beauty, interest, joy, comfort for yourselves and hospitable to guests and more in my mind defends a greater financial investment and effort. Probably measurably less than the investment in even a second car.
During covid we went from replacing an old deck to building a beautiful 20X20 porch. It gives us so much pleasure. It’s truly become the favorite place in our home…. bird watching, a meal, view our gardens, sharing with guests. The joy and pleasure, relaxation, unwinding from the day there defend the additional cost in every way for us.
Every way you improve and refine your home to achieve your sweet spot puts music in your heart.
The driveway will look great. Some might think it looks more like an airport runway! That is a lot of concrete. Find a place around back to put the trash cans. Have a professional landscape company come do your front yard now, so all the grading is going in the right direction. Your front view of your home will look like a mint!!
Your thanks to your readers warmed my heart. Four heads (or many, many more) are truly better than one. How fortunate that Sewducky spotted your driveway dilemma in real time and had a sensible, practical, beautiful solution.
Hi thanks for the kudos! It’s a crazy weeks for me work and family activities. I’m mostly glad Kristi was able to see what was needed to fit around the tree. I just saw it was a “reverse” curve. Reverse curves involves all the geometry tricks about parallel lines, but your bisector is connecting the parallel lines. So focus on the shape with the straight lines. Then add your curves on the corners to soften it. Anything with curves is tricky to place. I was honestly trying to fit the curve around the tree without making it too curvy. Getting that straight part was an added bonus.
Generally approaches that are getting rebuilt are set up to be perpendicular like this (or within 15 degrees for safety). Forks are being rebuilt into Tees. To enable drivers to see most hazards with minimal movement. If you navigate the drive, then enter traffic it’s much safer.
The driveway I learned to drive on also had a curve, on a hill. The electrical transformer was where people stopped near when they lost control. Guests would roll a tire off, slide down, panic as they approached the transformer at the bottom. It was not an easy drive. I’m not quite an official Civil engineer yet… I sat for my the Civil Transportation PE Exam this week and anxiously awaiting those results.
I definitely love the idea of having a party! I bet everyone local would love to see all your handy work in real life! Everyone bring an appetizer to share!