Design Style for the Hoarder House

With the hoarder house finally cleared out, it was time to start thinking of what direction we would take this renovation.  I’m a big believer that the house should tell you how it wants to be decorated… But, let’s be real: that’s just a high-falutin way to say that you should complement the architectural style of the home.

Even though I have mainly focused on the disgusting state of this house so far in these posts, I want you to know that I actually am super in love with it.  The original portion of the house was built in the 1950’s out a mail order kit, and the interior was clad in real California redwood.  It has a true mid-century design with every ceiling being angled to the roofline and each window going floor to ceiling following the roof angles.

In the early 2000’s the previous owners set out to make a large addition to the home.  They did a beautiful job of integrating the previous kit house in with the addition, from the outside you would never know it wasn’t all built at once.  The addition added around 1500+ sq footage to the home, nearly doubling the size. On the inside, I think they did a beautiful job, my only slight critique is that the windows do not match the style of the windows in the original home.

But, they are actually nicer windows since they open and I still quite like them.  There are so many windows in this home, it feels like you can see right through it! This picture from the listing of the home is about 20 years old (I know because there is still grass). What I just can’t get over is how it feels like it’s brighter inside the home than out because of all those windows.

And then the property should also influence the interior of the home.  This house is set on an acre of overgrowth. Seriously there is no other word for it.. (I take it back, thicket, brush, or dense forest would work too).

Basically there had been no landscaping done to the entire property for nearly 20 years. The vegetation was so think that you couldn’t walk around the home, and even the windows were stuck closed by the brush that pushed up against them. We will eventually clear the woods out some to have a yard, but right now it feels very cabin-in-the-woods-esque.

With all of this in mind, I am feeling some combination of the following words…

  • Mid-Century Modern (as the main architectural style of the house)
  • Chalet (which sounds like a fancier word for cabin)
  • Organic (it needs to reflect its surroundings)
  • Scandinavian (for a minimal, white washed vibe)
  • Fanciful? (because this house deserves to have a little fun, some playfulness!)
  • Any others I should include??

I have a pin board going of different pictures that feel like they embody this style:

In scrolling through Pinterest and day dreaming about how I want this house to turn out, I stumbled across a home designed by Cortney Bishop that I feel like truly embodies the spirit I want our home to have.  There is a separate section in my pinterest board just for this house.

I first saw this on Damask & Dentelle. The article describes the home as color done right: “a bright white canvas on which interesting (and less than obvious) pops of colour tell a story.” I love how everything is done in white/light neutrals and then pattern/color is infused in every space to bring it to life. The patterns are so organic too! And they can’t necessary be traced to a certain design style (although individually I get a sort of tribal vibe), when taken collectively they are just eclectic. Another thing that strikes me in this home is the lighting, it seems to always add the slightest touch of whimsy to the room.  There is a fair deal of pastel in this house and muted colors, which I am surprisingly digging as well.

Now, I would never set out to recreate or copy this look (heaven knows this is wwaaaayyyy out of my league anyway), but you know how some people say they have ‘spirit animals?’ The animal somehow embodies the essence of who they are? I just want this to be my ‘spirit house.’ 😉

So with this as my inspiration, one of the first decisions made was the flooring. Let me just first say that, yes, there was some hardwood flooring already in the home. But, it was 3 different styles and only covered less than a quarter of the total floor space in choppy little areas.  We decided that it would not be worth it to piece it all in and try to match the 3 different styles (don’t worry, it got recycled in a really cool way, more on that in another post). Plus, we are living through a ton of construction nastiness… and the last thing I need is experience the sanding and staining of 2,000 sq ft of flooring. We were getting the pre-finished stuff FOR SURE.

I knew from the get go that I was feeling the scandi white-washed oak look.  (Which is definitely out of my comfort zone, by the way).

Photographer | Via

In our last home we went with an engineered hardwood in a medium tone. It was very pretty, and we got lots of compliments on it. But, it always bugged Jake that it creaked.  So, I knew in this home he would want something beefier than 3/8” thick, at minimum it had to be ½” this time. And thicker invariably means more expensive.

I browsed the internet for the right fit and almost immediately stumbled upon this flooring from Floor and Decor:

LifeScapes Light Gray Oak Wire Brushed Solid Hardwood

For real hardwood that thick, the price was great! I now realize that it’s priced well because it’s not grade ‘A’ lumber since it has knots and imperfections throughout it. But I actually like a bit of rustic in my floors, and the whitewash over it takes the rustic factor down a notch.

So we ordered a TON of it. And it cost sooooo much money.. !!! But, it will be going throughout the entire home and setting the stage for the design.

What do you guys think? Do you like the floors? Any other word suggestions for the design direction of our Hoarder House?

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