Happy weekend! We’re so thrilled to have Shannon here with us today giving us a tour of her gorgeous modern farmhouse home. Grab a coffee, sit back and enjoy!
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Hello At the Picket Fence readers! My name is Shannon and I’m an interior designer, author and one half of the creative duo behind the DIY and design blog, AKA Design. I’m honored that Vanessa and Heather invited me to share my home with you today. Hello and welcome!
This is actually my family’s fourth house in the last ten years. I know, all that upheaval and moving sounds dreadful, and truthfully it’s not my favorite thing to do. But because we live in one of the most expensive real estate areas in the country, we’ve had to slowly work our way up to this house. It’s been an adventure fixing up houses, that’s for sure! (You can see our other three houses here.)
We’ve lived in this house for less than a year, but we’ve already made much of it our own with a lot of paint and hard work. (Before the Holidays last year, I think I lived in my paint clothes five out of seven days a week.)
Entry and Dining Room
Our entry and dining room used to be mauve and lacked any character until we painted the walls a nice neutral white, called Eider White by Sherwin Williams. (Don’t mind the gold stands under the seashells – they’re getting a coat of black paint shortly! I’m also considering sanding down that dresser/buffet to see what’s underneath the yellowy-cream color – what do you think?)
The entryway is wide open to the dining room, which houses our large Restoration Hardware dining table, some pretty decor and plenty of room to seat family and friends. (See how we protected the RH table’s delicate finish here.)
We also added all the trim and the coffered ceiling. (You can see the before’s here.)
As I mentioned, our home is very open concept, which is one of the main reasons why we bought it. From the entry you can see all the way to the kitchen!
Kitchen
When we bought the house the kitchen was a standard builder’s grade kitchen – from 1999. The island was tiny and the colors were slightly mauve or pink. We participated in the One Room Challenge this spring and made over the whole space.
The island was lengthened to about nine feet, integrating loads of organized storage and plenty of seating space. The countertops and lower cabinets were also extended along the back wall to incorporate a coffee bar and mini fridge as a beverage center. And we removed most of the upper cabinets (save for a few by the fridge as pantry storage) to make way for one of my favorite features – the big chunky open shelving, which we made ourselves.
Every morning is a ‘pinch me’ moment because the kitchen just functions so much better than it did before and it actually looks like it belongs with the rest of our decor now too.
Part of the reason for integrating the style of the kitchen with the rest of our decor is because the kitchen is wide open to the living room.
Living Room
Our living room is the most used room in our house and that Ikea sectional gets a lot of loving from kids, guests, our dog and family.
I know a lot of people would hate the TV over the fireplace, but for us it simplifies the space – by putting the two together there is only one main focal point to the room. (The gold vent covers on the fireplace will be going black soon too. And the flooring will eventually get replaced so we’ll be rid of that weird tile jut out and all the gold trim. Can you tell I’m not much of a gold fan? #grewupintheeighties)
The TV/fireplace combination also allows us to maximize seating in the rest of the room. Which is necessary with our large extended family, frequent guests and hosting a small group regularly!
There are of course several more rooms in our house, but with three teenagers living here, not every room is tidy at the same time!
Source Lists & Where to Find Items From Our Home
You can find source lists for our house here:
Or you can SHOP OUR HOUSE here.
I hope you’ve enjoyed peeking into our home. If you’d like to see more, I invite you to visit our blog, AKA Design, for more photos of our house plus hundreds of decorating ideas and DIY projects you can make for you own house!
Lovely , we’re did you get the brackets for your shelfves in the kitchen and what are the length and width og the boards
I love Shannon’s beautiful home – and her blog! Thanks for taking us on the tour!
I love your new kitchen! Goal accomplished; the look is very cohesive with the rest of the space, I love the light walls. Are they white? I have northern to eastern light and am looking for white or light beige that that doesn’t turn greenish. I could even go the right neutral very light soft yellow. I don’t want to do gray because the skies are overcast much of the time. Any suggestions.
Would you have a rough sketch of the layout of your downstairs? Your decorating is wonderful!
I love the black and white photography, and the way it matches your cushions and upholstery.
I love how you put the hardwood on your kitchen island!! Your house looks so comfy cozy =) Just LOVE!