Cabinets, Shelves and Windowseats

The conversion of the dining room into a dual- or multi-use space entails, in part, the installation of some cabinets for hidden storage, shelves for "books and looks" and a window seat.  The window seat alone serves three functions in my mind.  These are:  1) Storage.  I'm hoping I can get my vacuum cleaner in it so it's one less thing in the closet;  2)  A seat for a dinner guest when the dining table is fully extended; and 3) help soften the dining room look that's normally all hard surfaces.

As much as I would probably never sit in a window seat, I've always loved their allure.  They just look like a place one would want to hang out, relax and read a book.  If I had this view, I might never want to get up.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the dining room from last season's Sarah's House.  As much as I loved the room on the show, this is the first time I've noticed the drapes hang in front of the window seat.  I like that detail.

This is one big wall of cabinetry but I love the cloud-like cushions on these window seats. 

Love the fabrics and colors on this window seat.  I'm secretly attracted to the balloon shades too.  They're often very opulent but they don't feel that way in this fabric.

I decided to sit down and sketch out what I'd like to do but the perfectionist in me wanted to see everything in perfect scale.  I don't have any design software so I used Microsoft Excel setting up each of the cells to be a perfect square.  I used each square as an one inch and I just blocked out the space for each element I measured.

I'd like the shelves to be backed with some kind of beadboard but not the traditional and ubiquitous Home Depot kitchen cabinet kind of beadboard.  I think a house the age of mine would have had something handmade and unique.  Maybe just a V groove between boards.

I'd like the cabinet doors to be inset and very simple so I can use a cabinet latch like this.

I had these kind of latches on the circa 1920s kitchen cabinets in my last house.  They were painted a hundred times but they still worked and I loved them.

I'm kind of infatuated with Farrow & Ball's color Arsenic.  I love the name and the color is just too much.  

I'd love to paint the back of the shelves in this color but I'm not sure it's a color I pull off.  But that challenges me so I'll give it a try.

I just bought their "colour book" and I'm really loving the colors.  They're perfect shades for an old house.  Arsenic is a spot-on match with the paint on this old stool I keep in the kitchen.  I'm already migrating from the reds I was adding to the house last month to the blue and green hues that I love so much.

To get this project in motion, I saved my Excel diagram to a .pdf and emailed it off to my contractor Sam.  A few days later, I noticed that he'd stopped by because something I bought on etsy was sitting on my kitchen table.  It's so nice to have a relationship with a contractor you trust to have a key!

Sam has a design background so he usually does work on the computer before he starts building.  A few days later, I got this measured elevation back by e-mail with an estimate.  There were a few conversations back and forth about materials and scope of work before we agreed on a price

The plan is in motion and I'm very excited!

But before he can start, there are a few things that need to be done.  I need to clean out the dining room,  take down the drapes, strip a few of the old hinges I bought to use around the house so they can go on the closet door.  I also notice the rug is going to be too big.

It's been a busy weekend.