Gilded

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January 27, 2016 by: Erin Catlin

New House + New Design Opportunities

I am so excited that my family is starting a serious house hunt in Chicago! We have moved from Minneapolis to New York City to Chicago (downtown + northern neighborhood) in the last four years and are exhausted! Oh yeah, did I also mention I had two children during all that craziness!? We look forward to settling down and creating a more permanentesque home. Since my husband and I first moved in together around nine years ago, we have lived in high-rises, low-rises, condos, apartments, single family, multi-family, student housing, outdated and brand spanking new homes. There have been great things and not so great things with each living environment. For our current situation, a single family home is the best solution. We also want it to be outdated. This might be surprising to some, but I really want a home I can design into a vision of perfection for our family. I am estimating the whole process will take two-three years. It sounds like a long time, but the end result will be a home that visually appeals to us and functions seamlessly for our lifestyle.

We are hoping to hire skilled tradespeople to do most of the renovations. I am a strong supporter of hiring experience. Working in the interior design industry has demonstrated what a remarkable difference having a skilled and experienced person working on your project can make. I am sure we will have many situations where the cost will be too much and we will need to construct temporary spaces/solutions. I am crossing my fingers it will all work out!

The first stage of renovating a home (besides buying said home) is programming. What do we need? What do we want? I dug out old floorplans I sketched for a previous home we lived in to see what I was craving five years ago. What we wanted then is pretty similar to what we want now. Our interests dictate a lot of our home wants:

  • gourmet cooking + baking
  • outdoor living
  • relaxation
  • working from home whenever possible (husband)
  • gaming (husband)
  • executing artistic endeavors (me)
  • wild free-range playing (toddlers)

See my working list of home requirements for our lifestyle below. I can guarantee this list will be continually changing until the very end!




Besides gaining space and the freedom to renovate, a new house will also give me the opportunity to challenge my interior design skills. I love a good construction project! There is so much researching and gathering that must be done to construct a fantastic, efficient design… then, once construction starts, everything blows up as you encounter issue after issue! It is a continual problem solving extravaganza until that very last piece of furniture is placed. I love it! I can’t wait to get started! Now… let’s hope we can find a home that can house this heavy list of requirements!

More from my site

  • Modern Efficient Laundry Room Before + AfterModern Efficient Laundry Room Before + After
  • Lobster Boil Son + Father Joint Birthday PartyLobster Boil Son + Father Joint Birthday Party
  • Kitchen Quartzite/Dolomite/Marble Stone Slab SearchKitchen Quartzite/Dolomite/Marble Stone Slab Search
  • Lifestyle ArtistLifestyle Artist
  • Children’s Play KitchenChildren’s Play Kitchen
  • Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon) Birthday Party Version 2Le Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon) Birthday Party Version 2
Creative Table Runner Placement
Bold + Beautiful Valentine’s Day Luncheon

Comments

  1. 1

    Grace says

    January 27, 2016 at 4:32 am

    I like the sounds of a guest bedroom in the lower level with a sauna, spa and wine cellar! Very cool and exciting!!

    Reply

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Hi!

I am Erin and I love the design process: ideating, developing, actualizing. It is exhilarating! Having three sweet babies shifted my career from interior design to designing for my family & friends!

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