Home with a View: Transforming Values in House Hunting

Hello. I’ve previously shared several posts on TodayHouse about my experiences remodeling a 30-year-old apartment. This time, I’m introducing my new home and hosting my fourth online housewarming party.

The new house I moved into faces south. The front is wide open, so it gets a lot of sunlight. I prioritized a good view when I was house hunting. I felt that a step beyond interior design was about view. In modern terms, it’s a “view hotspot.”

I had remodeled my previous house to match my taste, but I didn’t want to stay home all the time. I wanted to go somewhere with a nice view and, if possible, enjoy a beautiful view from a nicely decorated accommodation. These feelings have once again changed my values about a house.

Whenever I visited good hotels or resorts, the city views or natural landscapes I saw from the rooms always lingered in my mind and became good memories. So, I focused on whether it had a good view and faced south when looking for a house. I also thought it would be nice to have a park or mountain nearby where I could occasionally walk.

However, finding a house that perfectly met my conditions was like finding a needle in a haystack. I think it was summer when I was looking for a home. My husband and I seemed to spend every weekend looking for a house.

This is the house we found after all that searching. It’s located on slightly high ground. The living room is wide open and faces south, so it’s bright all day. On clear days, you can enjoy a beautiful sunset. In the evening, you can see a dazzling city view when the lights on the building in front are turned on.

You can see a forest from the studio on the opposite side of the living room, which shows different appearances in all four seasons. Since moving here, I’ve taken many walks along that forest path. The view can’t be changed, like interior design. Since it is somewhat limited, its rare value makes the “view” essential in interior design.

Floor Plan

This house consists of three rooms and two bathrooms, and it’s about 1067 square feet.

Before

The house was well-maintained and clean despite its age. There are always parts of such houses that are too good to be completely repaired. We decided to renovate the living room and bedrooms and partially reform the storage area and the kitchen veranda.

We generously set aside a month for the renovation since it’s about 1067 square feet, but I think we should have set aside 2-3 months for additional construction and improvements after moving in.

Overall Concept

When I came to see the house, from my brief idea, I saw the direction of the sun and the amount of light, and I thought that if I used a wallpaper color slightly toned down from white, I could create a warm space with a buttery light.

I used an ivory tone for the wallpaper and chose a beige color for the door that is toned down from the wallpaper. I removed the flat molding from the ceiling and chose a beige tone similar to the door color for the baseboard so that it wouldn’t be visible. I recommend negative molding for those who want a clean interior. The atmosphere changes a lot depending on the presence of ceiling molding.

I think I compared and contemplated the colors with several sample chips that looked like the same color for about ten days to decide because colors determine the overall atmosphere of the house. If you hang a painting on a wall where the sun shines well, the saturation of the painting becomes more apparent. When the sunlight passes over the painting, the shadow on top creates another painting, allowing you to see an exciting sight every day.

Entrance

Let’s start with the entrance. Initially, when you opened the front door and entered, you could see the bathroom right in front. So, we installed a middle door to avoid that.

The middle door was made of clean wood, and wooden bars were inserted so the inside would not be visible. The entrance is where good energy flows in, so it’s said always to be good to keep it clean and tidy. So, we installed a shoe rack, umbrella stand, and sensor lights on the raised floor.

I installed the shoe rack to the ceiling and the umbrella stand shorter and decorated the space between the entrance and the middle door with pots, frames, and diffusers so that it wouldn’t be boring.

Living Room

In the case of the living room, I wanted to secure as much view as possible, so I made the window as large as possible for a residential house. As I mentioned earlier, since the house gets a lot of light, I chose a slightly toned-down ivory color for the wallpaper instead of white.

We decided not to have a TV in the living room, naturally leading to more conversation time. So, I usually relax while chatting with my husband. I also enjoy staring out the window since we don’t have a TV. On sunny days, I take many photos of the house, and on weekend mornings, we often sit side by side at the window in the living room and have meals. We’ve been watching many movies and overseas dramas using a projector recently.

Kitchen

We decided to use marble instead of tiles in the kitchen for a unified look. I’ve always liked the look of Blanco marble, and I’ve collected a lot of references over the years. Based on those references, I think we chose a pattern and color that we like.

The marble was installed high up from the countertop to the wall, wrapping the furniture and walls in a “U” shape. The same material was used for the island table and shelves. Blanco marble is resistant to stains and easy to clean, and we’re enjoying its beautiful marble patterns.

We’ve already tried a white + wood kitchen, so this time, we decided to go for a different feel with a sand-gray kitchen that highlights the matte marble. During the day, it has a beige tone, but as evening comes, it transforms into a charming gray tone.

We did something special with the lighting design. The downlights handle the overall brightness, and we installed indirect lights to shine onto the upper wall of the shelf. We installed cute circular wall lights on the wall, one on each side, so from a distance, it looks like the kitchen has eyes.

We installed the Astep model 2065 light from Denmark as a highlight and a pendant for the kitchen. It was a product we hesitated about because there were so many counterfeits, but we couldn’t resist its beautiful proportions and chic black lines, so we had to hang it in the kitchen.

This was our first time purchasing a North European product directly overseas, and the packaging was excellent. Even though Black Friday was coming up, we received the product in just a month, which was very touching.

One change from the previous kitchen is that we no longer have upper cabinets, and the island table is bigger. We’ve compensated for the loss of the upper cabinets by using the lower cabinets compactly.

Since I’m not good at organizing, I put all the appliances inside the lower cabinets, and we’ve installed outlets inside the cabinets through electrical work. Major kitchen appliances like rice cookers, microwaves, ovens, and coffee machines fit perfectly inside the lower cabinets.

Bedroom

The bedroom was one of the areas I paid the most attention to during the renovation. In particular, the balcony door in the bedroom was something I’ve always wanted to have. I’ve always wanted to try a door with a lattice window, and while deciding which room to put it in, I saw the bedroom with its plentiful light, just like the living room. I knew immediately that this was the place.

The construction was completed just as I had imagined, and I was delighted. The door has also received a lot of love on social media.

In the afternoon, the light and shadows come in beautifully. Even in winter, this room was warm with all the windows open. So we did insulation work with an external window, and the inside balcony door was made a bit special.

We chose a simple bed frame without a headboard. The bedside table can sometimes be inconveniently small when reading a book or drinking tea in bed. So, instead of choosing a type with a headboard, we made a shelf on the back wall and put bedroom items that are frequently used on it.

In terms of paintings, I prefer adding a point with comfortable colors. And while I don’t strictly follow Feng Shui interior design, I often refer to it. It’s well-known that yellow paintings or paintings of water, like lakes or seas, are related to wealth. In the bedroom, pink paintings and green mountain paintings in places where people gather are said to symbolize love and harmony.

Even without connecting it to Feng Shui interior design, hanging a painting with clear hues indoors gives the space vitality and brightens the surroundings.

Bathroom in the Bedroom

The bathroom in the bedroom is a space where I was a bit greedy.

We added a shower booth to the space with only a sink and toilet. We used gold color, which we hadn’t used much before, and we also paid attention to storage by creating storage spaces here and there. It’s also the only place where we used a sliding door.

A House That Comforts the Heart

Due to COVID-19, the time spent at home has increased. My favorite time at home is when I open all the windows in the morning, ventilate, and clean. That time is just 10 minutes. It might sound out of the blue, but I hope for a good day during that time.

I like the freshness of the stale air in the house going out and fresh air coming in, and I feel a sense of accomplishment when done with pushing the vacuum cleaner. On days when I don’t exercise, I feel a little less guilty because I moved my body while cleaning, even if it was only for a short time. Morning is the start of the day.

Starting the day with a clean and good heart while hoping for a good day makes me want to feel that way again the next day, so I diligently take the time to ventilate.

I believe an excellent house makes you feel at ease when you enter. There are certain houses that, despite being old, give off a familiar and good feeling. This house gave me a harmonious and warm energy from the first impression, which I liked. Just as some people are magnetically drawn to each other, I think houses also have a specific character that attracts people.

I consider it a great fortune to have found such a second home that draws me in, and these days, I live with gratitude for my house.