Home tour eye candy, part 2

Hey hey all! How are ya? I’m back with the second part of the home-a-rama tour I visited last week. I showed you the first two homes (including my favorite) last Friday, and today I have three more. Sit down with some coffee cause there are a TON of photos!

The third house was the most modern design of all of them and I actually quite liked it. It is a beautiful home:

I knew the inside would match and I loved most of the interior design as well. The front living room had gorgeous wood beams, a beautiful wall treatment above the fireplace and a really cool wood wall behind the TV:

LOVE that wall!:

Reminded me of my wood wall. A little. :)

This kitchen was the only non-white one of the bunch:

The backsplash was a little busy for me but it was still lovely. (By the way, this house had utility rugs down everywhere to protect the floors so that’s what you see in a lot of these pics.)

The basement was HUGE and I loved this little alcove with the wood planked walls:

It tied in beautifully with the kitchenette/bar area.

As you can see there were a lot of well done wood accents in this home. The outdoor porch ceiling was divine:

The modern look carried through to the outdoor furniture as well.

The master bath floor was different – the two-tone design made a big impact:

I don’t think I could do this in my home but it was perfect in this one.

This wall of bubble tile behind the tub was AWESOME too:

I freaking love that bubble tile. A house at last year’s tour had it as well and it’s so fun!

I noticed the island in the closet had a lovely wood countertop, and then when I looked closer I realized it was one a DIYer could easily put together:

Even in these million dollar houses there were little touches that were attainable. :)

The next house was the most traditional from the outside:

And definitely had the most color on the inside. The decorator mixed a lot of color and pattern throughout. The dining room was really stunning in person:

The two story family room was done full out – floor to ceiling drapes, tons of molding and a lot of patterns mixed together:

It was a bit much for me but really well done. Those two story rooms can be a major pain in the butt to decorate, and I love how they used molding to make more of a statement.

I just probably would have done one or two walls instead of all:

The coffered ceiling was stunning too:

The kitchen was traditional as well, with white cabinets and a brown and cream backsplash:

I loved the little touches like the transom over the pantry door. I love transoms and have considered adding some in our house.

The lights over the island were gorgeous:

And the outside patio was by far one of my favorites:

I’ve been eyeing those outdoor poufs at Target since March but can’t figure out where they would work in our house. ;)

I thought it was cool how they constructed a huge bench with pavers:

It was a fun element on the patio for sure.

This breakfast room right off the patio was one of my favorite rooms in the house:

Do you see the long window bench along the back? Just dreamy.

I loved how the designers used paint and painter’s tape creatively in this house. This design would take some time to get right but it makes a HUGE impact for very little money:

It’s hard to go wrong with a simple stripe – I loved the these two colors together in the basement family room:

And the basement bathroom had another simple and inexpensive stripe treatment:

The bar/kitchenette in this basement was beautiful and you can see they pulled those colors and stripes through again:

Those lights! I love them.

I liked this birch wallpaper paired with the dark wood bench seating too:

Basements are FUN – you can take chances in a space like this!

One more simple idea I loved – this “art” in one of the kid’s rooms – it’s just molding, black paint and wood letters from the craft store:

You could do names or “eat” in a kitchen (with red letters, how fun!) – so easy and cheap!

The last house was my second favorite – the outside was cottagey and adorable:

If you can call six thousand square feet “adorable.” Sure you can. :)

They did a cool transom in some of the doorways:

Lovely right? I thought that was a really cool detail.

This wallpaper in the powder room was deep and dramatic and I LOVED it:

Again, if you want to go bold a powder room is another great place to do it!

I thought the family room and kitchen matched the outside of the house perfectly. I love when a design carries from the outside in:

The detail on the mantel was just lovely.

I love the idea of using an expensive tile you love in a small dose above the stove:

It’s a great way to pull in some color – and a lot easier to change out later (compared to the entire backsplash) if your taste changes over time.

I loved how they put the area around a doorway to good use:

I think the detailed transom is a little much there – but I love taking advantage of space like that!

The backyard was another favorite – there were a couple levels and I loved the organic feel to everything:

When you walked up the stairs this outside room was open to a hearth room off the kitchen. All of it was SO beautiful:

And when you walk through the hearth room you get a lovely view of the living room we already saw:

The basement was another beauty – I think there may have been a sliding barn door in every house! But this was my favorite one: 

That’s some great wine storage too. :)

I noticed the floor and had to take a pic – they are the wood looking tile but I’ve never seen quite this finish before. It was like a distressed, linen-type look. I loved them:

I’ve seen the wood tiles before but I think I like these even more. They looked like real wood to me.

One last idea that I liked in this house – there wasn’t really a big, dedicated mud room space, so they created one with very little square footage:

Again, I loved the look of it wrapped around the doorway. Funny how you find great space-saving ideas in these huge houses!

Whew! That’s it for the tour! I believe it’s still going on this week, today through the weekend in Westfield, IN if you are interested in going. I’m a home addict and I loved walking through them. :)

**House one was designed and built by Hoss Homes and decorated by Kittles (Tom Myers). House two was designed and built by M/I Homes and decorated by Mary Cook and Associates. The final home was built by Heartwood Custom Homes and decorated by Everything Home LLC.

A touch of black

Hello there! Hope you had a GREAT weekend! The weather has been so lovely here – this week it’s supposed to get really hot for the first time. I’ve loved it so far.

So I wrote a to do list on the blog two (ahem) years ago and I just finished up one of the things on that list this weekend. Are you surprised? I am not.

Of course that little DIY turned into changing up a few more things. Are you surprised? I am not. :)

I’ve shown you the gallery wall on our stairs numerous times over the years. It’s an oddly shaped wall that I made work by hanging photos of the kids. It’s always been one of my very favorite parts of my house. Here’s an old (and dark) photo of the stairs:

I loved that saying on the wall (the best things in life aren’t things), but when we had half the house repainted years ago that vinyl had to come down. I’ve had an empty spot where that was and finally got around to filling it.

Those frames are from Michael’s and are called floating frames. The photo goes between two pieces of glass so there’s no mat – the color of your wall shows through:

Last week they were 40 percent off so I picked up one more 8x10 and a square 14x14. 

I used the square one in the middle and just printed out a quote I found online:

All of these photos are in black and white and I print them right off our home printer onto regular paper. Our printer was low on ink when I printed the quote so it didn’t come out perfectly, but I actually kind of liked the effect so I’m leaving it. I may print it again on nicer paper eventually. Or not. :)

This wall has always had photos of my son and stepdaughter, but now that the grandson is here it is time to add him to the wall of love as well:

I’m running out of space so the kids just need to stop being so cute. 

The one other small change was painting the railing black. It’s been a brown color for years but I have been craving a classic black for awhile now. And the railing on the upper part of the stairs was never painted (that to do item that I finally got to), so now they match, three years later!:

I have big and little plans for the stairs in the future – the big stuff may not happen this year but there are a few details I want to fix on the molding and I’ve been planning to restain the stair treads for years now. You can see here how red they look compared to the hardwoods:

I can’t wait to get that done! But it’s obviously not a huge deal to me or it would have been done two years ago. :)

I totally dig the black railing with the black frames – I think every room needs some black in it. It’s classic:

Here’s another look at the darker version years ago:

And how it looks now. Buh bye pink walls!:

Do you have a gallery wall in your home? I love them down a long hallway, but as I mentioned last week we have none – so this is my “hallway.” :)

To see how I made the DIY starburst mirrors go here. To see how I added the trim along the stair wall go here. And for more on how I tore the carpet off my stairs and finished them, go here. This transformation is one of my favorites and cheapest!

Home tour eye candy, part 1

Hello and happy Friday to you all! Whoot!

I went through our local home-a-rama with my boy this week and I wanted to share some of the amazing spaces with you here. First of all, can I just tell you how much I love doing this with my Bub? He loves looking through houses with me (to a point) and it makes me so happy. :)

There were only five houses on this tour so he totally hung in there and we had a blast “rating” the houses. If you are local this tour is in Westfield, Indiana and runs this weekend and next week too.

I’m going to break this up into a couple posts because there are so many pics! This first house was my absolute favorite – it was SO well done, from the outside in:

This was the view when you stepped into the foyer:

And this was the view when you looked up:

Stunning!

The office area was done in a black (or very dark gray) board and batten treatment:

Loved the trim – it was a slight twist on the regular board and batten look. And the wallpaper (that was everywhere in all the houses!) was SO pretty – metallic and modern.

There was another hallway out of the office that went to a butler’s pantry and the “mom’s corner”:

I’m developing a mild obsession with hallways. We don’t have any in our house and I love them. :)

The cabinetry was a beautiful dark gray. It reminded me of my Peppercorn bedroom wall:

Brass is coming back in a big way and the hardware on these cabinets was a lovely brushed brass – not bright and shiny. I loved it paired with the dark gray.

I thought this gallery wall was brilliant:

They blew up and framed handwritten recipes. So adorable. I LOVE this idea if you have old family recipes written by your mom or grandmother.

Every time we turned a corner in this house I swooned. This kitchen was just gorgeous:

I’m totally in to the two tone cabinets lately and these looked so classic and pretty to me. The gray was just on the taller cabinets to the side and the large island but it really gave some nice contrast. I find I’m liking this look better than an all white kitchen.

And yes, I loved the brass fixtures! :)

The table, chairs and bench were beautiful as well:

The family room was well done of course but I actually preferred the outdoor family room:

It was a lot of grey but very soothing and an AWESOME space. I’d have flowers everywhere though. :)

The basement was awesome too – I loved the idea of breaking up cigar boxes as a wall treatment:

How cool is that? The dedicated wine room isn’t too shabby either. I’d take it.

I loved the basement bathroom with the tile wall and round mirror too:

If you have a small powder room this look would be fairly inexpensive and would make a huge impact!

I think my one of my favorite spots in the whole house was this incredible little landing when you walked upstairs: 

The ceiling was amazing and those windows!! Positively dreamy.

Gorgeous right? It was a little more modern than what I would personally do but SO well done, top to bottom.

The second house wasn’t my favorite from the outside just because it was so much brown:

But the doors. The doors! I think every house had glass front doors. (Interesting that we were just talking about that again.):

This house was much more traditionally decorated and done beautifully:

I really liked the windows flanking the fireplace instead of built ins. And the ceiling was gorgeous:

Loved the details on the living room windows too:

I’m a sucker for an awesome mud room and this one did not disappoint:

There was an incredible in-laws quarters that had a small family room, kitchen and bedroom:

You could totally rent that puppy out. You know, to help pay for the million dollar mortgage. ;)

The mom room upstairs (funny how they are usually paired with the laundry) was a great space with simple rods between the cabinets for wrapping paper:

I was surprised to see the laminate counters in there but also pleased – I think laminate can look quite nice!

The basement was awesome of course but this room was our favorite:

Which is interesting because it was probably the cheapest room in the entire house – it was just cement walls painted bright colors. The ceiling (and all the ductwork and pipes) were sprayed black and then there was carpet and baseboards – that was it as far as the finishing.

The backyard at this house was simple compared to the others but really well done and very pretty:

There you go! Two of the five homes – I’ll share the others soon. Did you have a favorite room? Do you love to walk through these tours too?

Hope you have a fantastic weekend my friends!

 

**House one was designed and built by G & G Custom Homes and decorated by Hilari Goris Designs. House two was designed and built by Bedrock Builders and decorated by DJ Interiors.