Entryway, Stairs and Flex Room
Right when you walk in the front door to our home, you are met with a long hallway (25') long. I like to call it the runway. Some might think this is a lot of square footage to go just to the entryway, and it all fairness, it is, but this doesn't have to be wasted space. Check out the 'What to do With Awkward Spaces In Your Home' blog post about how to design spaces just like this.
The entryway then leads you to a dining room, which we now use as a flex room, and the stairs. We loved the open concept between the flex room, living room, breakfast room and kitchen. This is a spec home so we researched plans from the builder and found that the original owner must have done some upgrades, otherwise, there would have been a column right in between the living room (where the baby blue wall is) and flex room. I honestly think that would have been a deal-breaker for us, having a column between these two rooms. It may sound silly, but it's the truth. We think it would have broken the whole feel of the space
Flex Room & Living Room
Yep, the column would have been right where that curved archway is. Right in the middle. Nope. The open flow between the flex room and living room is incredible and was a huge selling feature. The flooring however and baby blue wall, had to go. Check out the posts on our 'Process of How We Chose Our Flooring' and 'Designing and Painting the Baby Blue Wall'. There is so much daylight that floods this space in the morning which I am in love with! I am a big morning person, so the fact that I get to see the sunrise in this room, just makes my day! What was also amazing about this home is the electrical package that the original owner put in. They added downlights in the common living areas and kitchen and have electrical outlets everywhere. If we ever move, it will be hard to find another house where we have gotten so spoiled with electrical.
Living Room, Breakfast Room & Kitchen
I've always dreamed of having a home with an open concept like this one. Living room, then Breakfast room, then Kitchen, all in a row. It has made entertaining so nice and easy to be able to talk and interact with everyone who is over. In our rent house, we had maybe 5 linear feet of countertop space to prep and cook meals on with minimal cabinets and drawers. When we moved into our home, we were blown away at how much counter, drawer and cabinet space we had. We haven't even filled all of the drawers and cabinets yet, and we are adding more (see post about 'Future Beverage Area'). There is so much space and we are so grateful for all of it. We have added cabinet pulls on the cabinets to add character and practicality (see post on 'Cabinet Pulls'). I'm also a big fan of two entries / exits into a kitchen like ours has to keep from having a traffic jam and for people to move freely. All in all, it checks all of the boxes for what we were looking for!
Utility Room
The utility room has so much potential for storage and can serve as a combination mud room as well. The flow leads right to the garage and it's close to the Owner's Bedroom so we don't have to walk across the house to do laundry.
Upstairs
The upstairs is just one, big, open room with a half bathroom. Talk about the possibilities! We could easily fit two more bedrooms up here if we wanted to. This area really sold us because of the flexibility that it has. The bathroom on this level could easily be converted to a full bathroom (since doing plumbing work on the second floor of a home is easier than doing it on the first floor since you don't have to cut into the slab). This level can also easily transition with us as our family and our needs grow. Right now we are using it as a gaming area for Travis and a work area for me.