Pages

Sunday, February 6

Showhouse Stuff!

We live quite a cocooned life really, so as we have been thinking about our future home improvement plans we thought we would visit a couple of show homes to get some basic ideas and to see what is happening in the big world of DIY. In June we will have lived here for 20 years so we are totally out of touch with what is available now. Now I know showhouses are very modern and basic - our house was built in 1956 so we don't want it to look like a showhouse (as if) but there were elements we saw which we both liked.


 

Excuse the colour issue here - not sure what's going on. We both liked the layout of this kitchen/diner. The picture above was taken looking straight at it, and then I turned to my right and took the adjoining wall - you can see the wall cupboards continuing. This layout would be similar to what we could do in our kitchen - but through the doorway would be our utility room leading out onto the patio.
 

The downlighters are something we want throughout the downstairs of our house.
 

We loved the pull out cupbards
 

the lights under the units were quite something!

 

We are having a shower fitted above the bath - the lights were colour changeable - we liked that idea!

 

We liked the french doors - the front of our kitchen overlooks the front lawn - where we get the sun on an evening - an ideal place for a BBG and sitting area! We liked that idea. To the right you can just see Jon's arm - behind him was a door leading to the utility room - in our case the door would lead to the snug where we would just have a wall mounted TV and sofa.

 

We saw a few wall-mounted TV's and modern fireplaces - again, something to think about!

 

We looked at 4 showhouses - the idea of having a bold wallpaper on one wall seemed to be the in thing, but as our walls are to be re-plastered we will just be having emulsion - however I do fancy stepping outside my comfort zone of magnolia and experimenting with some colour! I quite fancy an aubergine chimney breast!!!!

At one showhouse we met another couple It just so happened the chap was an electrician - so he gave us his number and we'll be contacting him this week to come round and give us some quotes. He works in a lot of modern houses so he had knowledge of the latest kit AND can get a great discount!

All in all a good day. I feel focussed.

15 comments:

  1. Sounds really exciting! It's great to come away from show houses or store displays feeling that you've been inspired . . . and the electrician was an added bonus :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love to get ideas from show homes :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. jabblog
    Yes definately an added bonus! lol!

    CherryPie
    yes - we both were really inspired as we felt the layout was so like ours.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great way to get ideas - Im a big fan of a feature wallpaper, as well as being quite the in thing its also a lot cheaper than papering the whole room!
    Cant wait to see what you go for x

    ReplyDelete
  5. I really LOVE your idea of aubergine on the chimney wall. A solid deep colour on one wall is very "in" here, too. I still want to get new kitchen cupboards or at the very least, have them painted white. Hope you get everything you want! :D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Itching to go for colour here after only five years of cream. Go on be bold you can always paint over it if it doesn't work!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Always fun to look around show homes, especially if you are thinking of renovating, and even better if you can envision the ideas in your own home. Sounds like you had a super time and came back with great ideas...and an electrician.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I really like the white kitchens that seem to be about at the moment, with the wood tops, nice and bright and clean-looking. I hate the black kitchen tops that seem to have been around for ages - you can never tell if they're clean or not!

    And I know you're looking at the decor rather than the furnishings, but oh my god that dining table set!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a great way to get ideas. I'm sure that's given you a lot to think about.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I was going to say exactly what Jo said - great idea. And meeting a tradesman is a plus too!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Visiting show houses to get inspiration is a great idea. I have a pull out larder in my kitchen and it is THE MOST useful cupboard!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Some good ideas there Denise.
    We have one wall with a bold pattern on it, it's over a traditional brick fireplace and really looks good.
    The background is a gunmetal grey and it has large Chrysanthemum heads on rambliing branches with soft leaves.
    Interspersed within all of this are birds sitting on the branches and butterflies fluttering around on the backdrop of the gunmetal grey, It may sound surreal but I absolutely love it...We got it from B@Q, Denise, well worth a look!

    Di.xx

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ah, exciting times, eh? You seem to be getting a good picture of what you like and are firming it up in your mind - what you plan sounds wonderful, I can't wait to see the finished result!

    ReplyDelete
  14. How exciting! A recent visit to a neighbours cottage has me buzzing! Looking forward to seeing what you do xx

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bold wallpaper is definitely in. We're planning on doing the lounge this year but I'm not sure about even a chimney breast is huge flowers!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your comments, always nice to know somebody has taken the time to let me know what they think.