Can a big breakfast nook replace a dining room? Should it?

Should we plan a little breakfast nook in the kitchen for a quick bite with the dining functionality of the house augmented elsewhere with a dining room?

-or-

Should we have a big breakfast nook that can double as a dining room and just ELIMINATE the idea of a separate dining room?

How do you do it? Do you use your dining room? Do you double up?

This one below would also be a great place to serve the breakfast rush. I can just imagine feeding the kiddies oatmeal here, having coffee with friends, having friends hang out while I cook.

This one below is so cute and peaceful. I can totally imagine sitting here for cuppa tea or coffee after the morning rush. This are tiny, though, and would definitely require a separate dining room for holidays and special occasions. But maybe that is good to have? I do love dining, but a whole extra room just seems like a waste of space.

These next two are beautiful and could do double duty as dining rooms. I love how how bright and airy they are, with the vaulted ceiling, the multitude of windows and the french doors leading directly to the outside of the house.

We have a big local family with big family parties...I'm thinking a breakfast nook like this could accomodate everyone, and maybe we just eliminate a dining room? What do you think?

I started collecting these photos way before I started blogging, so if you know where they are from, please let me know, so I can cite the source.

Dream Kitchens

I have collected these photos as inspiration as we think about what we want in a kitchen...

This is my absolute favorite kitchen, designed by Eleanor Cummings, of Houston, and featured in House Beautiful. I love almost everything about this kitchen, especially the iron stove hood, the big window with dark panes and a big arch, the limestone countertop, the shiny drawer pulls. Every room needs a little bit of shine! How cute yet subtle are the iron cow and pig?

This kitchen below, featured in Southern Living, has a totally different vibe, but I still love it. It's much more casual, humble and earthy. It still has a staircase leading into the kitchen, exposed ceiling beams and a wooden island with shiny pulls, although here the pulls seem to have lost some of their shine. Turquoise really works here for an accent color. I like the tall door with the transom light above. I like the simplicity and casualness of this kitchen, although the practical side of me wonders, where are all of the cabinets? Where would I store anything?

Oh, white kitchen, how I love thee? This kitchen was designed by Susan Dossetter and featured in House Beautiful as well. I love the sink looking out to the window. I love the double basin farmhouse sink. I love the polished soft silver sink fixtures. I love the shiny pulls and the crystal knobs. I love the marble countertop. I like the variation of width in the cabinets. Would it still look this white after Little Man tore through? I wonder...

OK, this one is from a house in San Francisco that was featured on Hooked on Houses this month. I love the brightness, the symmetry, the variation in height of the light fixtures. It looks like a good working kitchen and also one that makes entertaining easy.

OK, so I don't love the style of this kitchen (below), but I do love the layout. I love the stools that face the island. I love the separate work areas. I love the sitting area/breakfast nook in plain view of the chef. And I love all of the light coming in.

This (below) is from Southern Living. To me, this looks like a good working kitchen. It looks easy to move around in and accomplish things. This is important to me, because cooking is my creative release. I also like it because you can serve breakfast, still be working and talk to those sitting in the banquette. I think there is a window into the other side (which I think is a dining room). So you can open it if you want to socialize with guests, since everyone always wants to be in the kitchen at a party -or- close it if you just want to put your head down and get the cooking done without guests nosing around your dirty dishes.

This backsplash is perfection. This kitchen was featured on House of Turquoise this month.

I L-O-V-E this hutch.

and this one...

and this one. The interior design below was done by Betty Burgess and featured in Veranda.

...and these wide saddle stools, for my wide saddle.

We need help!

What is your favorite kitchen in the world?

What do you look for in a kitchen?

What is your favorite part of your kitchen?
What could you not live without?
What do you hate?

The Luxury of Baths and Closets

Even though we generally want a small house, a generous master bathroom connected to separate walk-in closets is my dream and the one thing on which I will not compromise.  It would be a luxury that I would soak up into my bones like sponge and savor all day.  The one time my husband and I went on a date this year, he laid on the bed and watched me get ready while I chased Little Man around.  The romance is officially gone.  I long for the day when I can get out of my luxurious bath, put on a bathrobe and sit in privacy in front of the vanity to primp and then head to the closet to get dressed without ever going in my bedroom. 

I love the simple elegance of this bathroom.  I think it is by Gianetti Home (Velvet & Linen).

Look at all of this light coming in through these continuous windows.  Also, check out that hot (and totally out of my price range) copper tub.  I love clawfoot tubs, with or without the apron.

This bathroom is done by Eleanor Cummings and featured by House Beautiful.  How funky.  What an uncoventional use of space and color!  The wood in front of the bath rub and the shutters make it look so rustic, but the combination of the arch with the courageous use of color add personality.  I find it to be romantic and fun.

This is Goran Visnjic's (Dr. Luca Kovak on ER) bathroom.  I love the color.  Can you tell that purple is my favorite? I also love the Mediterranean feel, with the colorful tiles and iron in the windows.  Would it blend well with rural Pennsylvania? Maybe not.  I swear I was meant to live on the Mediterranean.  I love the arches, the wrought iron, the beautiful glass tiles.

Now this - this would blend.  This is the genuine authentic real thing.  With the clawfoot tub, clapboard siding and billowing white curtain, this bathroom would totally fit in the house I grew up.

I love this too (below).  This is from Trina at A Country Farmhouse.  She renovated this house, and it is absolutely an inspiration.  She has such attention to detail.  Everything from the fixture on the wall, to the wainscoting, the hexagon floor tile,  the air grate, the clawfoot tub, and the victorian table.  I am pretty sure my mimi (grandmother) had that foot stool.

This is also from A Country Farmhouse.  She really has a way.  I love the privacy shutters on the bottom half of the window.

Still from A Country Farmhouse.  Check out the walk-in closet with vanity at the end of the wall.  Armoires and dressers work in the place of built-in cabinets for a lot more charm and authenticity.

From a practical viewpoint, the natural light coming in (below) where you do your make up has to help with the end result.  ( I need all of the help I can get - I am terrible with make up!).

This walk-in closet is a dream.  You should know my existing closet is so narrow the hangers don't fit with the door closed - it's at most three feet wide and eighteen inches deep.  I dream of a bathroom that I can walk directly out of into a closet like this to choose what I am going to wear.

By the way, From the Right Bank has a great post today on renovating her closet. 

What is your inspiration for a master bathroom and walk-in closet? 
What is your favorite bathroom?
Your favorite closet?

Bedroom Inspiration

I can totally see this vignette as I walk through the door into the master bedroom.  By the way, does anyone know where these curtains are from?

Gypsy Purple

As you walk a little further, you might find something like this:

or perhaps a vaulted ceiling? I find the painted boards charming.

or painted exposed ceiling beams?

I love this use of space.

Another Eleanor Cummings design that is absolutely stunning.  Perfect.

If we lived in Texas, we would have this:

House Beautiful

If only we lived in Greece, then we would have this:

Or in New York City, we might have this:

House Beautiful

Simple beauty.

House of Turquoise

Hot hammered headboard.

House of Turquoise

Pottery Barn perfection.

What inspires you in the bedroom?

By the way, I started collecting these photos a long time ago and don't have the sources for some of the images.  If you can help me with some of the unsourced images, I would be grateful.  Thanks in advance.

Daydreaming about Porches

When I am stuck in my 10' x 10' living room on a beautiful day as Little Man is taking a nap, I start to imagine what I would be doing in our new house - curling up with a good book and a glass of wine on the porch. 

I think we are going to do a wrap around, which will lead to a screened-in portion in the back, which will lead to an outdoor patio, with partial trellace (more on that later).  For the Love of a House has recently inspired me to not limit my porch envy to just the first floor.

This one is from Haven Homes.  They are the modular company we were considering.

Love, love, love this one.  Looks like a screened-in porch with french doors leading to the regular porch, which is wide enough to dine. (not sure where I found these next few.  I started collecting a long time ago, way before I ever imagined writing a blog about this whole experience...sorry for not referencing).

Love the white wrought iron detail on the porch here.  This is what I think we are really going for. 

I like how wide this porch is and also how the porch roof is angled, adding to the private feel.

I can just imagine reading a good book here.

This is the upstairs porch from the blog, For the Love of a House.  Ella is checking out the great views.

What a great screened-in porch below.  I can just imagine sitting here with a bottle of wine and a friend.

What do you like best about a porch?