Home Design

Today they are going to start building our house in Lincoln. I am thrilled! There are a few things I want to do before we move in...

• Paint the oak cabinets in the kitchen white and add knobs
• Paint first floor
• Install fireplace mantle
• Install tile work around fireplace

With that said, I have a few decisions to make. I have been thinking a lot about the design and floor plan of the house. Some people ask what kind of style do I want to use throughout the house and my answer is always-"I don't know". I think I know now. I want my house to be contemporary/traditional. One might say "those are opposites" but I want to mesh the two. I want a cool, hip, clean look but I also want to be comfortable and have a soft "I live here" look. Since the first floor is so open I need each room to flow. Having similar looks but different feels so that you know you're in a different space. My mother in law has given me several decorating books in the past couple of weeks and I think I have found my inspiration room. I found it in a Better Homes and Garden book called "new decorating book". This book has wonderful ideas and beautiful rooms. I found one that I fell in love with. It is a picture of a living room with a fire place. It has a soft green color on the walls with white trimming. The fire place has different shades of green glass tiles surrounded by a beautiful white mantle and built in media cabinets on either side. It has wood floors and splashes of bright and soft greens throughout the room. I am going to try my best to re-create this room with a few changes to work with what I already have. I think I can carry the room color into the kitchen and dining room area and darken the shade of green for the den.

I have been on the look-out for the tile for the fire place for some time now. I want the tile I choose to determine the wall color so that the shades of green will play off each other. Here is a picture of a 12x12 glass tile sheet that might work. It has a few more shades of blue in it than I would like but I think it might be a good start. Let me know what you think and if you know of a good tile place.

I found this room on HGTV's website. It is a room similar to the inspiration room I found in the BH&G book. I like the wall color but the fire place doesn't have the tile that I think will make the room.