Designing your own home
Jeneane Beaver is one of our amazing designers who has assisted many of our clients take their vision of their new space and bring it to life. This time it was her turn to make her dreams come true for her own family. She shares some of the details behind her choices and what it was like to design her own home.
“Home” is a story of who we are and a collection of things we love. Since I began working for Walker Woodworking in 2008 straight out of design school, I have been assisting clients with building their homes. Looking at house plans and pouring over architectural details has always intrigued me so when it came time to work on my own plans, I had a good idea of what I wanted to create for our family.
A Family Inheritance
We were blessed to inherit land from my grandfather and grandmother towards Cherryville. An idyllic spot for our 3 kids to enjoy running barefoot towards the creek on lazy summer days. We decided to build behind my parent’s home, further off the road on a hilltop with the back of the house facing the west for perfect sunsets atop the trees. I designed the home with that view in mind for my large window at the main sink. I knew I wanted an open concept plan for our living room, dining, and kitchen and the plans evolved from there. I started drawing out the plan with our GBD design software then passed it off to an engineer for final structural detail review, to ensure all load bearing would work as designed.
Beam Edwards and Brooks was the contractor we partnered with for our build. I have worked with Tony Brooks on many projects and I knew the quality of his reputation for building without cutting corners would be an asset for our forever home. Since the showroom of Greenbrook design opened in early 2018 I have been assisting clients with their design needs beyond just cabinetry so I knew I wanted to incorporate products from many of our vendors into our home.
Designed with purpose
Construction went well and our cabinetry installation started in October of 2021. With the kitchen being the heart of the home, I designed the space with good flow for cooking/prepping and lots of storage. Walker Woodworking did an awesome job of crafting our cabinetry specific to our space. I knew I wanted a large island unobstructed by appliances or a sink. The island has seating for the kids and overflow for when we have guests. It also has hidden charging stations for them to tuck their tablets inside and not see a bundle of cords hanging out. I used a mixture of colors, with the base cabinets we did a stained quarter sawn white oak, for wear and tear with three kids and for cleaning purposes I knew I didn’t want painted base cabinets. To lighten up the uppers we did painted inset cabinetry in SW Alabaster- a true creamy white with no yellow undertone. The plug molding and lights underneath the upper cabinets as well as the lights inside the glass uppers are the details that bring the kitchen to life.
The kitchen quartz countertops are Montauk and we used a mixture of backsplash tiles from Crossville brick lane series and Daltile for a gray contrast to the lighter tops. Both are easy to wipe down when messes occur. All of the custom storage features make cooking and cleanup a breeze. The utensils are directly under the cooktop as are the pots and pans, with spices in a pullout beside. The silverware drawer divider is directly across from the dishwasher and our everyday plates are just above. Another key consideration I planned was the coffee and toaster station. I drink coffee each morning but I didn’t want to see the coffee pot sitting out on the counter always, so I planned a bi-fold door with a hidden compartment to hide some smaller appliances as well as our pile of bread to keep my counters clear. The Galley Sink at the window provides me a great view when working and makes prep work flow seamlessly.
Into the living room I designed a TV console and floating shelves that match the stained kitchen finishes. We painted the accent wall evening dove to make the stain pop and accented with décor and artwork from the GBD showroom. I knew I wanted drawers for all the kids art supplies and some file storage for our needed family documents as well. The dining table was purchased through Greenbrook Design as well and the lighting I selected from uttermost brand through the showroom.
Family history
The powder room cabinet is a very special piece to me. I wanted to pay homage to my grandpa since they worked hard to keep their land in our family. He was a carpenter by trade so I requested that walker build me a furniture piece vanity and mirror frame using his barn wood for the fronts. They used slats from a barn door from his property to create this one-of-a-kind feature. I love the distressed look of it and the way you can see where the hinge straps were. The Walker employees truly knocked this one out of the park in bringing my vision to life in this room.
The east section of the house is our master suite. I designed our master closet with a washer and dryer inside, so I would no longer have to carry laundry all over the house. The entrance to our shower is directly through the doorway to the closet. A gun cabinet was a nice addition for my husband and the flexibility of the hanging spaces by Walker Woodworking means that our storage can change as our needs might change in the space. Walker also built a TV console and dresser for us in the master bedroom in an alcove I designed.
The tile flooring in the master closet and bathroom was sourced from Florida tile. The colors are perfect and we love our spa bathroom in our master retreat. Our master shower features a quartz topped bench and the accent wall of the Crossville Arizona brown making it the perfect place to unwind at the end of the day. The dark Cabico cabinetry has ample storage for all of our towels and toiletry products. The sphinx quartz countertop gives a great contrast to the dark stain.
Upstairs for the kids we used Cabico cabinetry as well. In Evan’s bathroom I wanted a masculine look so I used dark accents and a moody tile from Florida tile in their sequence series for his shower and main floor. The cabinet is stained alder which accents nicely. The girl’s bathroom features classic white and grey tones surrounding their bathtub with Florida tile Honesty series. They each have their own niche at the tub with a glass grey accent. The lights and mirror I sourced from uttermost along with the hardware from Schaub provide the touch of glam I wanted in their bath.
