The Urban Farmhouse Vision ~ Plans For Our Dream Home

 

 

Welcome to the plans and visions of our future dream home.

Specifics:

• situated on 5 acres just 10 minutes south of Saskatoon
• 3200 sq ft (2400 sq ft main floor, 800 sq ft second floor plus  undeveloped 800 sq ft basement not included in sq footage)
• 10 foot ceilings in house area
• kitchen, pantry, 3 pc bathroom, mudroom, livingroom & office on main floor house area
• 40' x 40' indoor pool room with 16' x 32' swimming pool
• 2 bedrooms, 4 pc bathroom & walk-in closet with laundry on second floor
• front covered veranda entire length of house
• 3 dormers at front of house (2 above pool & 1 in master bedroom) and 1 dormer in back of house (in 2nd bedroom)

We have worked very hard on coming up with this unique idea for our dream home. Since living in Texas with a swimming pool, and enjoying that lifestyle, we decided that an indoor pool in our home makes complete sense. Not only is it great for entertaining, which we love to do, but it is also great for surviving these crazy, long Canadian winters. It's going to be a paradise party all year long and we can't wait to share it with family & friends.

The name "The Urban Farmhouse" suits our vision perfectly since we are going to combine vintage farmhouse style with new and unique urban touches. It will be the perfect balance of old meets new, which is the best style for us.

Our inspiration for the exterior is similar to this. The house will be white board & batten siding with a galvanized  tin roof. For those not familiar with board & batten, it is where your siding runs vertical, instead of the traditional horizontal you see on most houses, which creates clean, classic lines.

The inspiration for the entire interior of our house came from Chip & Joanna Gaines at Magnolia Homes in Waco, TX. Chip & Joanna are from HGTV's show Fixer Upper, have completely remodeled an old farmhouse and turned it into a creative masterpiece that has truly inspired us. No drywall what-so-ever, which is the look we will be creating. We will be using shiplap on walls & ceiling throughout the entire house, as pictured above. We will also be carrying the white interior them throughout our home, as they have done. To see their complete remodel, click here.

Part of our kitchen inspiration came from Chip & Joanna's kitchen and the other part came from the photo above. We are incorporating one wall in our kitchen that will pretty much look exactly like this with 2 upper cabinets and the rest being all windows. All cabinets will be white with a white concrete farm/apron sink and traditional concrete colored countertops.

Above are drawings of of our exact kitchen. The gas stove will be the larger 36" size and the fridge/freezer combo will span 5'. There will be no upper cabinets on that wall as we will have ample storage space in the pantry. We are tossing around the idea of doing a brick feature wall on the side where the stove & fridge are, with floating shelves for décor.

The kitchen will have a large 8' x 5' island. One side will be standard counter level with 3' deep cabinets underneath for storage and the opposite side will be table height, 2' deep table space and will be used as our daily eating area. The cabinets in the island will be white while the table/eating side will be created using an upcycled table.

I am extremely excited about the pantry! The inspiration came from the above photo except we've decided to place the sink and window at the end and have the cabinets, both upper and lower, run the entire full 14' length of the room. In our current home, we have no pantry so upgrading to a 14' one makes me extremely happy!!

Above is a drawing of what our pantry will look like, including a spot for the microwave. The cabinets in the pantry will also be white and we are considering having them go to the ceiling since our ceilings are 10' and we can get another full set above the existing set, which will be installed at traditional height. The coffee station will also be the pantry.

The vision for the pool room is mostly in our head, but this inspirational photo would be as close as we could find. We will not be having a glass ceiling (as pictured) but the room will come to a peak in the middle and there will be plenty of natural light coming in from the two large dormers above the pool and from all of the windows we have planned for that space. The pool will be salt water (not chlorine), will be 8' at the deep end and with the room being 40' x 40' total, there will be a large space that will house eating tables, entertainment area with TV and possibly an indoor play space for kids. Walls will also be white shiplap and flooring will be concrete. The bathroom for pool use is located close to the pool room so there will be no need to walk through the house with a wet swimsuit. Great thinking....I know!!

We've had many people ask how we will control the humidity level in the house? Don't worry, they make a big a$$ air handling system to prevent warping wood, mold, mildew, rust and other problems.

We've also had people show concern when it comes to the safety of children & the indoor pool. Rule #1 is that all children must be supervised by an adult every moment they are in the pool area. Every moment! We will also ensure the pool room is closed & locked up every night to prevent night walkers & early risers from entering the pool room without the supervision of an adult. And when the pool is not in use, both day and night, we will ensure the pool alarm is set as an extra precautionary measure. There are a wide variety of pool alarms available if you'd like to check them out here. We are leaning towards this one.

This photo is a great inspiration as to what the balcony to the bedrooms will be like. The stairs will go up through the house beside the kitchen and will take you up to a balcony overlooking the pool area. From there you will enter each of the bedrooms. As in the picture above, the kitchen area will completely open up to the pool room to create an open concept from the pool room to kitchen. At night and during times when the pool area needs to be separated from the rest of the house, that large opening will close completely with sliding glass doors.

The inspiration for Brielle's room came because we wanted to eliminate a bunch of small rooms/spare bedrooms for house guests. The solution is one larger bedroom that she can use as a regular bedroom, with built-in double/queen bunks to house multiple guests/couples when needed. With the planned 4 beds in her room, a pull out cot in the master bedroom (for Brielle when we have company using her room) and a murphy bed in the office on the main floor, we should be able to sleep 11-13 people comfortably. And since we are building this house for everyone to enjoy, we encourage visitors. Brielle will also have a walk-in closet in her bedroom.

The master bedroom will be connected to a large walk-in closet with a washer/dryer, which will then connect to the master bathroom. Brielle's room will also access this bathroom from a separate entrance. The master bathroom will have toilet, large vanity, shower & free standing/claw foot tub. I envision a delicious chandelier above the tub.

As of yet we do not have an actual start date because we are still waiting on quotes from a couple of contractors. This is a large, costly project and in order to be able to afford it, we have opted to have Rhonda take care of managing the contractors and will be doing a good portion of the work ourselves. It's how we can make this work within our limited budget, yet get what we want. We are also going to upcyle and use recycled materials where we can for both character and to save costs. I know that with our hard work, determination, experience and vision, this dream home is going to be above and beyond what we ever imagined.

I hope you choose to follow us on this journey. It's going to be an exciting time!! Have a question or comment? We'd love to hear from you.

Visit our Houzz.com Ideabooks here.