Design Your Brand New House

On August 28, 2010, Brian and I headed over to opening day of a local new home development....and bought a house. We're not impulsive, I promise. We had been house-shopping for about 9 months, and unfortunately kept running into short sale after short sale after short sale.....so without going into all of the tedious details, we finally gave up on short sales and bought ourselves a shiny new house.

Isn't it beee-you-tiful? ...ok, sure, that's just our lot, but it has so much promise! The model home was almost exactly what we wanted.

Almost.

You see....I sort of have an obsession with food -- with cooking, and with eating. The model featured a spacious kitchen with one giant, pantry-shaped flaw: the pantry. Don't get me wrong. I love storage. Organization absolutely makes me giddy. But function is paramount. I repeat, FUNCTION is paramount.

I'm not sure what the architect was thinking, but he/she certainly wasn't a home cook. Talk about a serious lack of counter space! The pantry wasn't even very large inside. Where are you supposed to do your prep work? Where are you supposed to queue up your ingredients before they hit the stove? Sure you could use the island, but if you're buying your dream home, why not get exactly what you want?



If you are shopping for a new home, don't limit yourself to the preset "options"and upgrades presented to you at the design center. Get in early so you can make modifications to the plans for your home before it's built, and make it EXACTLY. WHAT. YOU. WANT.

{dreamy sigh}

Brian and I shared our desire to completely remove the pantry with the design center representative, who immediately replied with, "Hmm, now that's a good idea. I wonder why they decided to put the pantry there...."

And the rest was history. A few thousand dollars later (well worth the expense!)...and the pantry was gone!

We watched our house come to life over the coming months.

We left notes for each other in the kitchen.

We tested the stairs.

We let the dog test-drive the backyard.

Finally, the day arrived when our house was finally ready. Remember that awkward pantry from the model?

I sure don't! I don't even miss it. :)

(our house is the reverse of the model, in case the pictures below confuse you)

We made up for the pantry storage by purchasing an Ikea closet unit, complete with pull-out drawers and plenty of shelving for easy accessibility. We installed hardware that matched our kitchen cabinet hardware to create a cohesive look.

Cheers!