The fun is beginning at the house – we officially have plumbing, electrical, hvac and… drywall! Whew, it seems impossible that it has taken us 20 weeks to get here, but that means we only have 10 left. Right now, 10 seems like nothing – in fact, when I placed my lighting order and they said it is supposed to take 8-9 weeks, I thought, wow… I love that it is “go time” for everything. The pressure is on – everything I thought I knew, I’ve change once then back again. We are meeting with the mill work salesman again tomorrow morning to make final decisions on Doors, Trim and Paneling. We had an initial meeting last week to get some price ideas, then we are finalizing selections tomorrow. Here is the 1st Floor Layout with Trim inspirations in place. Bear with me as we go through the entire first floor. This process helps me mentally organize and always proves to help me make decisions as you all (with clear heads!) help point out ideas and great choices! I realize all of the photos I’m sharing are of very fancy houses – I assure you, our house will not be this fancy. I am taking small bits and pieces from these to add some elegance and old charm to our “new” old home. As always, I love hearing your ideas and input – thanks for lending me your ideas : ) 
The above photo is my inspiration for the kitchen island top, with marble surround… final! I’ve been wavering about it for a while and keep coming back to a couple of photos that confirm it for me. I realized that it is important for me to pick out everything ahead of time, because each decision effects the other. I also like the photo above because of the paneling on the walls – the entire room is paneled. We are going to try to achieve the same thing in our new big room. Because it really is just one big room, we want to do a lot of things to make it feel cozy – paneling is a great way to do that. We plan to paint the entire room the color of the cabinetry to give the entire room the look of being built-in. This photo (above, left) is one of the photos I sent to our cabinetry maker to show how I want the shoe kick/base boards of the cabinets, and how I’d like the crown with both pieces to go along the top cabinets and wrap around the entire room. 
Another big element that we’re working with is the beams in our big giant room. We have one structural steel I-Beam that we need to make pretty, so we are adding an entire beam plan to the entire ceiling. We have only 8-foot ceilings, so our beams will only be 4-6″ deep, but 10-12″ wide. The beams going left to right will be deeper, then the beams going perpendicular will be a little smaller in scale. 
We have a fireplace in the room and I’d like to give it a paneled treatment much like this photo. We’re planning a stone surround, similar to the one shown here. This photo shows real raised paneling – very expensive. We will likely do a raised perimeter trim piece, but the big piece in the center will be flat… does that make any sense? The other option is just adding a picture frame trim in boxes around the room to give the paneled effect. I’ve got some examples below.
This is another fireplace idea that I like. I’m not sure about the box idea – it would coordinate with our windows that are a similar shape.
Here is an example of Picture Frame Moldings. We don’t have that many walls in the room – mostly windows and cabinets, so we are leaning toward actual paneling instead, but this picture frame moldings are a great look, too, for a lot less. because they are just doing the small trim piece. I think it looks good – what I’m leaning towards to save some money to spend on hardware… which, as it turns out can be pretty pricey.
On to the library – where we are going to spend our biggest chunk on paneling. Mike and I have been most excited about the wood treatment in this room – what we hope to be a really cozy corner of the house. When we were planning the design, we decided if we have such an open floor plan, we needed a quiet corner in the house that would have a snuggly feel. After realizing every photo we pinned was Pine, we decided that would be it. We like the medium color, the plain and simple feel. The salesman has tried to steer us away… but I resisted trusting my gut. Let’s hope it doesn’t come back to haunt me!
He warned us that pine can be erratic to stain – blotchy – and inconsistent in color. He recommended that we do another wood like Maple or Alder. However, my inspiration photos were consistently pine, so that’s what we’re doing. I’ve found that you have to work with people that are willing to give you their suggestions and educate you, but at the end of the day, they must be willing to do what you want them to do. There have been so many projects I’ve worked on that the ‘pro’ has told me it wouldn’t work – and it turns out just as I hoped. Let’s hope this is one of them : )
I love, love, love this photo. We are going to do a similar chair rail treatment in the front foyer that will go up the stairs. I think it will really elevate the way our house feels when you enter the front door. The trim color here is Ben Moore Navajo White, (what we will be using everywhere), with James White (Farrow & Ball) on the wall. I had planned on doing Navajo white on our walls, too, but this is tempting me to add some James White on the walls of the foyer and Hall. What do you think?
For interior doors, we are planning these 4-paneled Jeld-Wen doors. I like the proportion they give, and look leaner and taller than a standard 6-panel door. It sealed the deal for me when I spotted them in the photo above, too.
See that peek-a-boo of the dark painted dutch door going into this mudroom? I’m planning the same from our kitchen into the mudroom. The rest of the mudroom will be the home to our pantry, my studio/office and Mr. Darcy… not piles of equestrian gear : )
I want to do rows of peg boards like this to hold everything from coats and backpacks to dog leashes.
And the occasional gardening tool.
Ok, my brain is overloaded… that’s what happens when there are so many decisions to be made. I’m off to research affordable bass door knobs… any suggestions?!