Help me plan my new house!

[insidevoice]

I'm excited.  We've signed the papers and now we get to start planning what to have IN the space.  We will be largely starting from scratch. 

So, help me plan- pictures and inspiration appreciated. The house is a decent size- not huge, but comfortable.  

First, I need to figure out who goes where.  There are two bedrooms upstairs and another two downstairs. The master bedroom is upstairs.  I am thinking of putting the kids' rooms downstairs- this is also where the den/playroom is.  The upstairs second bedroom would be a guestroom/office.  DD would have her own room, and the two toddlers would share.  DC #4 will be arriving in December (s)he will share our room for a couple years anyway. 

Next, I need to envision furniture.  We won't be moving ours, but will instead be selling it and replacing on the other side.  I'm struggling to come up with a good way to use the space.  It is largely an open floor plan with the kitchen flowing into the dining area and the living area open to both.  I am planning to commission a harvest table with benches as a centerpiece for that part of the house.  It would be used as a workspace for art projects and crafts, as well as a dining table for most meals.  It's one thing I have wanted for ages, but have never had space for.   Sadly, this is all I know I want.  I have absolutely no inspiration beyond that. 

So, please please please inspire me and give me some good examples of peaceful spaces or creative uses of space in a house.  I have about month to plan. :P

[carmel23]

I guess I would say that although you have a month to plan, you may want to wait and see what it is like in the space first, if you aren't sure at this point...

[MovnMama]

Honestly, I need some pics or a diagram or something to help get u going on this. Is there any visual cue you can provide?

[cocoanib]

How many square feet are the rooms you are wanting help with?

Do you have pics?

[skreader]

Just a couple of thoughts...

If you are committed to having separate floors for sleeping, put the toddlers in the big bedroom upstairs & your eldest in the second bedroom up there. Have your bedroom and the office-guest room on the Ground Floor.

That way, you can send the kids to bed and you and your DH will have the run of the kitchen, living room, etc. w/out having to worry about whether or not your activity might disturb the children's rest.  For me, it would also help me feel safer, that the kids would have to go past my bedroom to go to the kitchen or out-of-doors.

re: furniture etc.  as pp said, some dimensions would help with suggestions.

[insidevoice]

I'm going to have to upload pics. :P  

My thoughts about using the upper floor for us, and lower for the kids is that it's a split level and the kitchen  and living room are on the main (upper) floor- the den, smaller bedrooms, IL apt are downstairs- to get outside, they have to come upstairs. They are used to sleeping with me at night so we need to gradually work towards having the toddlers in their own room.  However, I will be having #4 in December and would like them in their own space by then so they can sleep through the night with minimal newborn interruption.  I thought about putting them in the second upstairs bedroom, but I feel like that invites night waking if the new baby doesn't sleep well at night and I wind up pacing the floor for hours. :/  I'm stressed about the sleeping scenario to begin with, so I'm probably overthinking it. 

I'll try to post some pics tomorrow- I appreciate any and all feedback as I am thoroughly overwhelmed (and excited!) We are currently in about 750 sq ft in a 2 br and will be moving into about 1800 sq feet. 

[zoebird]

living with nothing for a while is great, if you can handle the minimalism.

we lived only with our bed and a dresser for over a year, and now we also have a table and chairs and a day-bed for the lounge. we know, at this point, that we need some shelves, but are doing ok without them.

then, design blogs.

i love emma's design blog, which has a lot of scandinavian minimalism. from there, there is a list on the right hand side of her favorite blogs, which are many of mine as well.

but, i admit, i love stark minimalism. less is awesomest for me. your table and benches, beds in the bedrooms, and little else, would be paradise. :) well, that is my paradise. :D

[insidevoice]

I am leaning towards moderate minimalism.  I have a daughter who is only comfortable when she is completely surrounded by stuff, so it has to be less stark than I, alone, might prefer.  DH will largely adapt to whatever I create.  I think we're going to go with the absolute minimum to start, then add in things as we find a need for them.  I DO want to do some interesting things in terms of decoration, but I'm not even sure what I want there yet... much of it will be thrifted or found in small markets because I'm not really a pottery barn kind of person in terms of decor (much to my mother's chagrin....)  

[zoebird]

our stuff is thirfted. pretty awesome. i'm having trouble finding decent used linens, so i'm going with new, and rather higher-end stuff. for towels, i need microfiber because it's so wet here a conventional towel doesn't dry. my mother is getting those for my birthday. and then i'm buying linens for the day bed that are new, also, just because I can't find anything. Except vintage wool blankets, which btw, are fab-u-lous. I never knew I would love wool so much. I practicaly live on wool here. I worship sheep these days, it seems. :)