In September, Justin and I took a big step forward in our new journey here in Raleigh, NC, and we began building our new home in a lovely neighborhood that we instantly fell in love with. It’s the kind of neighborhood we can see Jack growing up in; the kind of neighborhood our family can grow in.
Construction is moving along and should be complete around May of next year. As of now, the entire structure is completely framed and they are under roof, but we expect a slow down in the build as the winter months approach and shipping delays from COVID impact the arrival of materials.
I will chat more about the entire home building process — from selecting our neighborhood/builder and deposits to design studio to construction timelines — later on. For now, though, I am focused on crafting customized spaces for our home (mostly because it’s exactly the creative release I need during these wild times we’re living in).
While we do intend to take our time making this house our own, there are a handful of rooms we plan to tackle immediately upon closing. One of those being the kitchen.
We’ve already been through the design studio phase and have selected upgrades and interior fixtures and options offered by the builder. While I am smitten with our choices for our kitchen cabinets, backsplash, and countertops, there were a few options (such as lighting) that we weren’t wild about. For those options, we chose to go with the builder’s standard offering (instead of upgrading at the design studio). We will upgrade those after closing with fixtures we install ourselves.
Our countertops, backsplash, and cabinets are all white and create a bright and airy look for the kitchen.
We figured these selections will give us a great, neutral base to work from.
To make the kitchen exactly what we want, though, here’s what I have in mind:
Lighting
We have a kitchen island with two pendant lights hanging above it.
I envision large, dramatic fixtures over the island and found these gold chandeliers to fill the space.
Dining Table & Seating
We opted not to have a formal dining room at the moment but can always convert the flex room at the front of the house into one if we decide to later on. Instead, we will utilize the dining space in the kitchen for daily use. We will keep our white, expandable dining table that we purchased for our previous home, but we will update our dining chairs.
I have been searching for wicker dining chairs for months and haven’t been able to find anything that truly fits my vision. The moment I saw these Serena & Lily seats, I knew they would be perfect. They are definitely a splurge (and I will be waiting for a S&L sale before buying), but since this is our only dining area, I feel justified in investing in two of them.
For the other four chairs we will go with slipcovered ones like these. We will also place three counter stools at the kitchen island for additional seating.
Hardware & Decorative Accents
To tie together the entire look of the kitchen, the brushed nickel hardware on the cabinets and drawers will be swapped for gold pulls after we close.
We also picked out a beautiful gold faucet for the sink.
Wood accents, like this oversized serving board, and a white shiplap wall will help add texture and earthy tones to the space.
I am so excited to see our entire house come together, but the kitchen is particularly special to me. It’s where we spend most of our time together as a family and finally having a space that we’ve designed 100-percent from the start, specifically for us, feels like a dream come true!
