At first I thought he was kidding but quickly realized that he wasn’t.  I was shocked.  Isn’t that part of the fun of having a baby?  Getting to create a space that’s just for the little one?  A space full of soft things, light colors, and sweet smells.  A space that is soothing and comfortable so that you don’t mind spending hours upon hours sitting in it.  A space that just says “baby.”

I’m glad we are having this talk now because it gives me plenty of time to convince him.  But first I need to start getting ideas.  (I found all of these rooms on the HGTV site, just click the link in the title to visit the site.)

FAIRY TALE

First we have the fairy tale-themed room, complete with ribbons, a chandelier and a customized mural.

It’s not quite my taste, but it’s very pretty.

CONTEMPORARY/TRADITIONAL

This one is a little more my style.  Still fancy, but I love the colors.  The pink and the brown contrast beautifully and it is a nice mix of traditional and contemporary.

Very pretty room for a little girl.  I especially love the small details like the art work on the walls and the lovely drapes on the window.

MODERN

This room is a study in geometric shapes and matching colors.  It is definitely very cool, especially if your taste leans towards the funky.

I’m not a 100% sure about the ceiling and the matching wall, but at the same time I find myself strangely drawn to it.  Definitely a great space for a little boy.

PRETTY IN PINK

I have to say that out of the rooms I looked at, this one is one of my favorites.  While I’m not usually a huge fan of pink, I love how they combine it with the lime green, it makes it feminine yet unique.

ELEGANT

What a great use of color in this simple and elegant room.  You don’t often see a green this dark mixed with dark furniture for a baby’s room, but it seems to work.  The monogrammed wall as well as the border running under it is a nice touch too.

SERENE

This one is probably my favorite room so far.  I love the colors because they are so calming yet not too bland, there’s just enough color to make it interesting.

Something like this would also match the style of our house, and it looks comfortable, which is definitely important.

So we may not need to convert our spare bedroom to a nursery right now, but it’s fun to start thinking about our options.  Or, in my case, to start convincing my husband of the necessity of a new look for the nursery.  Hopefully by the time we need it, he’ll be on board.

What do you think, is a nursery overhaul necessary?  Which style is your favorite?

So we recently took a little trip.  We spent three days driving to a few separate places so that we could either check them off the list, or move them to the top five.  Our first stop was in Boone, North Carolina. Now if you’ve never heard of Boone, don’t worry, you’re not alone.  My dad apparently attended college there when he was but a wee lad, and I still hadn’t heard of it.  

It’s actually a very pretty place in the mountains in the western part of the state.

This is the main part of town.  As you can see, it’s a little small.

Which is why we enjoyed our visit, but then scratched Boone off the list.  Not that we have anything against small towns, we just want a place that’s a tad bit bigger.

Next we made our way two hours south to Asheville, NC.  We had visited the area back in March and spent a day at the Biltmore Estate, but had not taken time to visit the area.  

First I have to say that the drive to the area was amazing.  THIS is why we want to live in the mountains.

Beautiful, no?

We made our way around the city which, I am happy to report, is about four times the size of Boone.  

There was an interesting mix of the old and the new.

Asheville even had the things that I definitely want in a town: a Target, a mall, and grocery stores a plenty.  I was very impressed.  So impressed that we decided to check out the residential areas.  We saw some houses on the mountain and thought it looked like a good place to start.

So we headed toward the mountains, or hills, if you’re from the West.

We didn’t know where we were going, we just knew we had to head up, so we kept driving until we were surrounded by trees.   And then we started to see houses.

The houses up here were amazing and the view was incredible.

And that was before we found my dream house.

It was in a neighborhood called Grove Park Cove located high on the hilltop.  

It had everything we wanted (at least from the outside).  Lots of space,

and great neighborhood.

The only thing we didn’t like was the price tag.  At $2 million, it’s just a little bit out of our price range.  Oh well, maybe we’d have to go a little further down the mountain.  Like at the very bottom.  

Of course we could go for a smaller house like this one.

It’s not as big, so it’s probably not as expensive.  The only problem is, I’m not a fan of the stilts.  There’s something a bit unsettling about having a foundation that’s basically a few poles.  But it seems to be a popular thing in the mountains, so maybe it’s not unsafe?

Hmm… I don’t know.  I think I’ll stick with a traditional foundation of cement and stones.  

Overall, it was worth the drive and we loved the area – it is definitely in our top five.  The town was the right size, the residential areas were promising, and the mountains were amazing.  

Even Oscar seemed to like what he saw.

Then again…

Maybe he was just humoring us.

What about you – what area(s) is on your list?  If you could move anywhere at all, where would it be?

I dream about these things often.  So much so that it’s probably not healthy.  Some might even call it an addiction.  So when my husband suggested that we attend the Virginia Parade of Homes last weekend, there was no way I could say no.  This was my opportunity to see, in person, these things that I usually only admire from afar.  

The home I am posting about today is one of the first that we visited.  If I dreamed of a modern-style house, it would probably look like this:

This home was a tear-down.  In other words, a completely different house stood where this one is now.  The builders came in, tore down the original house, and built this environmentally friendly, custom-made home for the new owners.  The owners who, incidentally, just moved in this past August which explains why some of the rooms weren’t completely decorated.

After taking off our shoes, we walked in and were immediately greeted with this view.  It took my breath away. 

The wood floor was stunning and the fireplace, made of stained cement, was gorgeous.  Those double doors open to a large patio and then a huge back yard complete with an open fire pit for cold autumn nights. 

Back inside, this is the view of the living room from the opposite side of the fireplace.  You can see how it merges with the dining room (which is beside the front door).  I’m not usually a big fan of huge, open spaces in homes as they often seem like a waste of space.  But this room felt warm and inviting, and instead of feeling wasteful, it felt light and airy.

Directly off the living room was the kitchen.  The two rooms were seperated by this large metal staircase. 

We walked into the kitchen first.  It was everything I could do not to drool, which would have been most unbecoming, not to mention messy.

While bright green is not my color of choice, it worked because the space is so large.  The wood cabinets (with glass doors, no less) matched the wood floor perfectly and the stainless steel appliances were sleek and modern.  And the lighting – the lighting was fantastic!.

In the picture above please note the sliding doors on the right.  Those doors opened to the outside patio which was really just an enclosed room.  It had wood floors that were made to withstand outdoor climates and a ceiling fan helped control the temperature.

I think this picture of my husband shows the look of amazement and wonder that we both felt. 

Looking into the kitchen…

Here is the view from the kitchen as you look into the living room.

Next, we climbed those amazing stairs and headed to the top floor.

The small landing gave us a great view of the main floor.

I couldn’t get enough of this view.

After finally leaving the landing, we made our way to the first of the bedrooms upstairs, one of which was this geometric little yellow number.  The windows are really unique and all, but I couldn’t help thinking, ”where do they get dressed?” 

On to the master bedroom, which was unique in its own right.  Check out those high ceilings.  Even my husband (all 6′8″ of him) wouldn’t hit his head on those!

And finally, the pièce de résistance – the master bath.  Oh my!

Can’t forget the shower!

We left the bathroom and made our way back downstairs.  There was more to the house that I didn’t take pictures of – a basement with a huge family room surrounded by huge glass windows, an upstairs office with its own bathroom, and of course the enviable walk-in closet.  The whole thing was simply amazing, pictures do not do it justice.

I tell you, it’s a double-edge sword going to these home shows.  I want to see the beautiful houses that we can’t afford so that I can get ideas for the future.  But I don’t want to see the beautiful houses that we can’t afford because, well, we can’t afford them. 

It’s all good though.  If I had to choose to either have my “fix” or go without, I’d choose my home fix any day!

Now I want to hear from you – what’s your dream home?  Would it be modern or traditional?  Colonial or ranch?  What features do you dream about having?