Decorating a Dream Home {part 1}

When an award winning builder emails you and says he’d like you to join his design team to help decorate a dream home, you don’t have to think twice! I have been a huge fan of Stephen Alexander Homes & Neighborhoods for 15 years. I had the opportunity to work on a beautiful home by Stephen Alexander called The Bridgewater. It was about to be featured in the Homearama Home Tour. Homearama is a very popular bi-annual event here in southeast Virginia, led by the Tidewater Builders Association. New home builders join in the development of a neighborhood and compete for awards in multiple categories.  Pulling together a home for this event takes a large team and I was excited to help out in any way I could. The talented designer I’d be assisting was Sharon Goodwin of award winning Goodwin Interiors, Inc..

Today I’d like to take you all on a tour of the first floor. Yep, just the first floor today! There’s just too much gorgeous eye candy to take in all at once!

The Bridgewater is a 3615 square foot Coastal Victorian Farmhouse designed by architects Retnauer Baynes Associates. When you walk into the home you’re met with beautiful hand scraped engineered wood flooring and an elegant dining room on the right. Wall paper and furnishings give the room a touch of formality, yet the board and batten walls and a sea grass rug help keep the room from being overly serious. It’s a warm and inviting combination.

Pairing mercury glass pillars and a large urn with sisal placemats and slipcovered chairs gives the room a bit a sparkle and keeps the room casually comfortable. The dining room opens up to the spacious family room.

Stephen’s homes are known for their attention to detail and especially the moldings. I love his easy take on a coffered ceiling! Oh how I want to do this in my family room. The walls are painted in Sherwin Williams SW6108 Latte and the ceiling in a very pale blue.

I don’t have a finished shot of the fireplace and built ins, but here is a shot I took while we were working on the home. It takes a huge team of carpenters, tradesmen, and artisans to pull together a home before a Homearama tour! You can see one of the workers there. It might be a bit hard to see, but I love how the back of the all the built ins are bead board. It’s the a attention to detail that makes a Stephen Alexander home so special.

Dark stained wood, natural sea grass, and industrial oil rubbed bronze finishes repeat as accents throughout the home. Repeating these elements and the color scheme helps the home flow from room to room.

The family room is open not only to the dining room but also the vast gourmet kitchen and eating area. The kitchen won a gold medal for Best in Show. The kitchen boasts a dual fuel stove,the 3 ovens, over and under task lighting, pull out trays in the cabinets, dish storage drawers down where you can reach them, an amazing 10′ island with a huge single compartment, and a 18 gauge stainless steel super deep sink with single handle pull out sprayer faucet. AMAZNING isn’t it? The appliances are by Electrolux Appliances, the hardwood floors are by Shaw Floors, the cabinets are by Merilatt, and the lighting by Progress Lighting.

Let’s take a closer look at the stone and glass tile backsplash. Gorgeous isn’t it? The dark brown glass tiles add to the dark woods and ORB finishes repeating themselves. See? It’s all in the small details. This tile is around the fireplace also.

A nice eating area with a recessed built-in looks out into the lovely backyard. Tons of natural light pours into this home.

We can’t forget the walk in pantry! Who wouldn’t love to have this in their kitchen? The shelves are over a foot deep and the overhead light turns on automatically when you open the glass doors. I love that feature. The doors are clear glass for the home show, but could easily be frosted for a less visible appearance. If you love organized pantries, but aren’t sure how to accomplish one, be sure to check out my very popular pantry makeover! It’s full of helpful organizing ideas. The kitchen walls are painted in Sherwin Williams SW6225 Sleepy Blue.

The mudroom is large and has great storage.

There is a wonderful screened in porch off of the kitchen. We spend a lot of time outside here but mosquitos love our warm and humid southern climate, so having a screened porch is big bonus. Notice the blue bead board ceiling?

Anyone want to take a swim? Cool off in this beautiful pool! This back yard is made for entertaining! Gather around the fire pit or lounge under the covered porch. I know where I’d like to spend my summers!

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the first floor today! Make sure you check back because the next post will be featuring the amazing second floor! It has an award winning bathroom!

Click here for Decorating A Dream Home Part 2!!!

**Almost all the photos you see in this post are by Jonathan Edwards Media and are used with permission by Stephen Alexander Homes, some are taken by myself and those are watermarked by me. **

Kim

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