Inspirations: the great room

It has been my intention for weeks to share "inspiration images" that have helped to guide our building process. (Who am I kidding? You're entirely right, they have nothing to do with building.) Instead, they give me guidance on the overall feel for the decor of the house...once it has been built. Of course, the images are always shared with Mr. Big, who usually doesn't have a strong opinion. Either he trusts me or he isn't too bothered. I like to think that it's the former, but the realist in me begs to differ.

We'll start this little journey with images of general living areas. Apparently many of these rooms are called "great rooms" today. When I was a wee one, I believe that they were family rooms. The purpose of the areas haven't changed so much...just a new catchphrase to entice 30-something year old suckers (like us!).

The great room will be two stories high in our house. The question of what to do with the second story can be tricky, so we're planning a psuedo-chimney effect. The television will be where the fireplace would normally go and the chimney will be covered in stone (similar to the image above). Hopefully this will draw your eye up to the second floor and fill the empty space.

I love the second, more modern image, but Mr. Big would never let me go this contemporary. The first image probably is most representative of the overall inspiration for the house, (although it is four times the scale of our home!)

Do you see a common theme here at all? It was lost on me until a friendly face pointed out that all of the images have neutral walls with dark accents. I seem to love this effect, but, I can hear the concern in others voices....kids...even though it's a ways off. Something tells me that this blog won't make it far enough for me to journal about crayon-covered walls, but I'm sure that everyone would get a good laugh out of it.

So there you have it...the inspiration photos for the great room. Our room won't be one-tenth of those above, but hey, everyone needs to start somewhere.