Tuesday, April 7, 2015

1100 HER. FLOORPLAN


Interior Design - 1100 HER. FLOORPLAN



I have lived in a home with a floor plan designed just like this one. While living there I faced a few problems. One being, approaching the front door felt like you had to walk down a tunnel. Second problem was, once you go through the door there was no closet. No place to set down to take off your shoes and no where to hang up your coat. This home, (1100 HER.), needed an updated entryway. I've come up with a few ideas to solve these problems if you are faced with a similar area. By just extending the living area creating a better entryway the once restrictive front door makes for a more attractive home.
I never thought of reconfiguring this floor plan to accomodate an entry with a closet or a place to remove your shoes. I just lived with it and tried to make the best out of the situation. One way I did that was by having a coat tree for the coats. Also a small rug for the shoes and since we had our table in the dining area we would just pull out a chair. All of these were solutions and they worked.


This is one idea and I used the exisiting front porch to enclose an area to create a foyer. You'll see here that I did not completely enclose the porch which provides easier access for the door swinging out. I know that this floorplan shows the door opening in. I am sorry about that I could not figure out how to reverse it when this particular drawing was constructed. After reviewing this floorplan I think the indoor area created into a foyer would work well with the closet easily accessible a bench for removing shoes and a console table for setting down the mail and your keys. While all these things to solve the indoor problem my main issue with this home was the aesthetic appeal from the outside. Having a home with a front door indented seems smaller than others. The houses with this kind of layout already have the disadvantage of being skinny and elongated. So I wanted to solve that by having the front of the home make a statement.
In order to have the home make a statement I needed to build out beyond the living room wall. This idea of totally enclosing the exisiting front porch allows us to extend the entryway creating a foyer. So as you enter through the front door you can set down your belongings, hang up your jacket,
remove your shoes, even replace your umbrella. Storage choices are changeable I simply choose a pair of matching dressers placing them beneath the two new windows. I also choose a bench for sitting to remove your footwear, and then store them on the bottom shelf.  I have two small coral colored shelves above the umbrella stand. And a matching coral colored artwork placed between the windows.
































All these things are lovely and useful but notice how the ultimate goal was accomplished. The updated entry produces the main door with a dominating roof line, making the home no longer appear skinny and long. This technique will give this home a stronger selling point and a whole lot more curb appeal.
Connie

Monday, April 6, 2015

Silent Auction 2015

Silent Auction 2015

Thursday and Friday last week I was happy to volunteer toward the sales event off our silent auction. We have 3 consecutive years under our belt and hopefully great improvements as we continue on. All proceeds earned from this auction go to grant 4 high school students with scholarships. I love promoting continued education. This scholarship program selects 4 individual seniors from our high school, to receive monies for their college of choice.
bradshawshouse@gmail.com
Silent Auction 2015
We had over 130 items placed out to bid for and ran two raffles also. Our chairman for this event was so organized so all bidders could bid an ominously. At the close of our 24 hour auction bids were collected, some bidders had multiple items they won so those were tallied and distributed upon payment.  Everyone was able to attend and we had several attendees from our local community take advantage for this event. 


bradshawshouse@gmail.com
2015 Silent Auction items displayed.


So many items to choose from.  I was outbid for the items I wanted. We had families bid on such nice prices like tickets to the Grand Rapids Symphony, Grand Rapids Whitecaps Baseball game, tickets for a boat ride out to Mackinaw Island, a year supply of juice was donated and won from the Old Orchard's generous gift. Also several local restaurants gave 'family of 4' meal gifts. Another big hit was school supplies, household appliances, automobile items, and tools.  I am so thankful to the companies and individuals who donated to this worthy cause. 
THANK YOU
Connie

Sunday, April 5, 2015

1559 LA Home Office

http://frame.bloglovin.com/?post=4260472281&group=2288557&frame_type=b&context=feed_blog&context_ids=&blog=2288557&frame=1&click=0&user=0Hello I have this idea for the 1559 LA house. Since the living room is so long it would be nice to have an office in the North end of this room. Similar to this picture below as the current windows will be made into bay windows.



This pale blue paint has a clean but soft feeling. All office supplies can be put away into the drawers allowing for an inviting place to work. I know a carpet will be installed, however, it would be lovely to add a rug on top of the carpet to define the separation from the two area's.



Closer up you can see the expansive living room. That certainly would have room for the home office.



Visual relationships with the home office allows views of all the main rooms such as the Dining Room into the Kitchen but not alienated from the family in the Living Room. The open layout is welcoming to the morning sun and evening sun providing natural light source throughout the day.
I have not checked on this home but am confident it has the new windows in place. So consider these two window openings becoming bay windows.


And here is a view of the home office upon entering the home and facing North.
I would prefer to have a better design program that offered better looking fireplaces but at least you know one is located in the room no matter how archaic it looks. And the window options are not the greatest either. I had to build my own bay windows. That's the reason they do not have a seat on them.

I think I like the idea of having the office visible to everyone. It would make me put my things away better and cause me to straighten up the desk more often.
Connie