Renovations--stage 1

I love renovating.  Well, I love the idea of renovating, and I'm sure I would really love it, if I had a lovely little money pit, that I could dip into when every I needed.  Alas, this is not the case.  I am going to have to make some compromises.  But luckily, not in STAGE 1.

Stage 1--my planning wish list.

Well, before I begin planning, here is a little reality check so you know what I am up against.

2 rooms (kitchen and living room) that flow into each other and when I'm done will function as 4 (kitchen, living room, craft room and bedroom)
Below are the dimensions I have to work with.

To make it easier to work with, I have cut off the last 12 or so feet of the diagram

 (this will be the second bed area)

See Below

Now, you may have noticed a lack of windows. That's because my new home is sandwiched between two stores.  I only have windows on the north and south walls (there are two windows on the south wall,--not shown--because I cut that part of the floor plan off)

As you can see my present living room is really long (35') 

I am tackling the kitchen/craft rooms first. ( I am missing playing with paper)

This is what my kitchen looks like now...long, and narrow.  I walk a million miles every time I try to do something.  Here are some of my biggest annoyances.  There is a lovely BIG window.  In fact it takes up most of the wall.  Which is nice cause it lets in all that light, but limits my design choices. 

This is my plan for the kitchen, the window runs all along the banquet seating, with storage underneath for my Christmas decorations.  The stove and sink remain in basically the same spots, so I don't have to move electrical or plumbing.  The fridge moves to the other wall (this gains be about 4' of counter)

Now let's move into the living area.  This is what it looks like now.  

And this is my plan.  

I am going to use the same cabinets in my kitchen as in my living/craft area. The bonus with using kitchen cabinets, is they have a ton of organizational features.  Because this will be a fairly visible area I want a lot of drawers, so things can easily be accessed and put away.  I am seriously thinking about installing a couple of appliance garages on my desk, to hold by cricut and printer.

List of things I NEED to remember

--baseboard heating--which means European style cabinetry, (most likely Ikea, they have adjustable legs, in a range of heights, which will allow be to mount my cabinets above the baseboards)  I really would have liked to get my cabinets local, but they don't offer what I need, so I will compromise and buy my flooring and paint local.

--lighting--I need task lighting

--overall clean, classic look.

Well, that's about it for Stage 1.  I think I have a pretty good idea of where I want things.  Next stage will involve $$$$.....and most likely some compromises.

Thanks for stopping by. Please leave a comment. I love to hear what you think.