In the summer of 2016 we started building an open concept raised bungalow acting as our own general contractors. We pretty much finished everything by the fall and were able to settle into the house before Christmas. The problem as an owner builder, when you also live in your house while you work on it, is projects don’t always get totally completed. So to keep myself on track with what still needs to be done, I’m going to take you on a tour of our home. I’ll give links to everything we’ve done so far, and list what we still have left to do.

 

 

Open concept raised bungalow House Plans

To begin with, let me show you our house plan and property. For this house build, we were our own general contractors and hired sub-contractors for some of the work. We bought 30 acres of land near Lunenburg, ON. almost two years ago. Most of the land is treed, except for about 2 acres in the front corner.

This is where we plan to build our house; this area is a little bit higher and will provide some natural drainage (picture from google maps).

We built a 1650 square foot open concept raised bungalow with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, on 30 acres of land in the country.  This is the front view of our house plans. We wanted a raised bungalow because of the bigger windows in the basement. We will eventually put bedrooms in the basement and want it to be bright living space.

This is the left and right sides of the house. We will do stone on the bottom 4 feet of the front and sides of the house, and siding for the rest of it.

And the back of the house. There will be nice big windows from the living room and dining room, and a covered deck.

And this is the floor plan. We wanted a big mudroom/laundry room off the garage before entering the house, and also wanted an open concept living area. We tried to keep it simple with three bedrooms. One thing that we definitely wanted for this house was an ensuite and a walk in closet. We thought about our house plan layout for probably a year, and came up with this design ourselves. We found someone local to draw them up for us, then got the plans stamped by an engineer.

Mudroom

Between the front hall and the garage is the mudroom. We wanted a large area we could use as a drop zone for all the kids clothes and boots, and hide it all away behind the pocket door. I built some benches out of furniture I had around the house, painted some apple crates for shoes, and hung hooks and baskets on the wall.

Front Hall

Going through a pocket door from the mudroom is the front hall. The front door is mainly used for guests to enter. All that’s left to do in the front hall is paint the trim and doors, and I’d also like to find a way to add a little bit of color.

Living room

Up the stairs from the front hall is the open concept living area.

I can’t show you the entire living room though. It’s a well used room, and I just can’t be bothered enough to clean it to take a picture.

In the living room I made some industrial curtains rods from pvc pipe, and I dyed some IKEA curtains a shade of pale blue. Left to do is to paint the trim, and hang some art.

Kitchen

Behind the living room is our l-shaped kitchen. We opted for dark wood shaker style cabinets, a white quartz counter, and a mixture of black and pewter finishes. There are a few things to finish in the kitchen, including the crown moulding, baseboard around the island, and then tile the backsplash. Throughout the house we did a mix of high and low end light fixtures to keep us on budget.

Dining room

The dining room is at the back of the house and has large windows that look out over the yard. I made the curtain rods and dyed the curtains to match those in the living room. And you guessed it, we still need to paint trim.

Covered deck

We finished installing the handrail on the deck just before it got really cold last fall. I did a pretty fancy diagonal pattern with the deck boards that I think turned out quite well. We have big plans for this back area (who knows when or if it will ever happen, but it never hurts to dream). In the spring of 2020 we extended the deck to meet with the above ground pool.

Main hallway

The main living area is connected to all the bedrooms and bathrooms down the main hall. This is the most finished area in our house. I did this hall makeover as part of the spring one room challenge, where my whole plan was to install and paint all the trim and doors in the house. We did finish installing all the trim in the house, but I ran out of time and didn’t finish painting it.

Main bathroom

We finished off the main bathroom last fall. We tiled the shower ourselves using large white subway tile. That was a big job and nearly broke me. The vanity is a dark grey, and we have a white quartz counter with shiny chrome accents.

Girls bedroom

The girls bedroom is another room that is pretty much finished. Originally I painted three walls the same color as the rest of the house, but added a bright pink accent wall. There’s a fun mix of colorful furniture that I painted, including this toddler bed. A few years later though I repainted the room a soft pink to match the light blue bunkbeds. 

 

 

Boys bedroom

In the spring 2018 One Room Challenge we finished the boys bedroom by building a loft bed with a reclaimed wood desk underneath.  This is now my favorite room in the house.

Master bedroom

We finished up our master bedroom in the fall of 2017. It went from a bland and boring bedroom to one that is colorful and fun.

Here is our bedside table makeover

We also have a large walk-in closet that we customized to maximize the storage space.

Master bathroom

The last thing I showed you from our bathroom was our plans for tiling. The bathroom is pretty much done, but there’s a few more little things we need to do before we can say it’s finished.

Basement

We still need to finish the stairs down to the basement to match the stairs going upstairs. In the basement we will eventually build a wall between the furnace area and the rest of the basement. We would also like to put in a bathroom, two bedrooms, and a living area. This is a long-term plan, and we probably won’t even think about it for five years.

Outside

There is so much landscaping to do when you build a house. There is a lot to do and I’m sure it will take a long time to get a nice looking property. We also did some stamped concrete on our front step, and I planted a wildflower meadow at the front corner of our property. Outside we still need topsoil in some areas, and I’d like to plant flower beds at the front of the house. If you want to find more outdoor ideas, click through my archives.

That’s it for this open concept raised bungalow house tour, thanks for visiting!

 

FOR MORE OF OUR HOUSE TOURS CHECK OUT THESE LINKS:

• 2nd house: New raised bungalow
• Flip house
• Third House: Outdated slit-level
• Fourth house: Owner builder bungalow
• Rental Property
• Cabin in the woods