I was going through the fifty-eleven-hundred* photos I have of new windows in our house, and window-themed clichés wouldn’t get out of my head – most notably the whole “eyes are the windows to the soul” one, only my brain kept twisting it up into “windows are the eyes of the soul.” Which doesn’t make sense. Unless, like, the “soul” in this botched cliché is the house. And the windows are the house’s…eyeballs?
This is what happens when you’re editing photos at 3am.
Back to window quotes – I got sidetracked thinking there had to be a better one, and found the one above which made me smile. It also felt like a much more rational (and less creepy) sentiment to settle on as I thought about life in our new house – our new house which now has windows! Here they are from the inside…
Below is our two-story entryway, looking toward the front door. This is where three of those four square windows you see on the front exterior of the house are found (the 4th is in Kate’s bathroom).
Another look at the 2nd story entryway windows:
The view of the staircase and main floor from the entryway. I love that there is so much light!
Below is G’s office which is located to the right of the entryway.
Our two-story living room and single-story dining room. (You can also see the bottom of the indoor balcony located off of my upstairs office.)
I love, love, love all these windows! Although I do have to confess…we have black exterior windows and I reeeeally wanted the windows to be black on the inside, too, but sadly it wasn’t an option for us. The only windows I could find with a black interior finish either had surrounds that were too thick and chunky (not the look I was going for) or were way out of our price range. Not being able to do black interior windows was probably the biggest disappointment for me in our building process, and definitely the biggest hit to my design plan. I think it is such a stunning look and am so disappointed that a black interior finish isn’t offered in more window lines. (Mark my words – I am positive within the next five years it WILL be!)
Below is a look at our two-story fireplace, and the windows I added up high to bring in extra light and prevent having a vast expanse of drywall up there.
Below is a closer look at our dining room and the french doors that walk out to our future screened-in porch.
Below is another shot of the dining room, with the balcony and my office pictured overhead. Behind the dining room (to the far right in the photo) you can see the window in our master bedroom.
The picture below was taken from the dining room, looking toward the kitchen. You can see the window that will be above the kitchen sink, and above that (on the second level) is the window in Kate’s bedroom. Beyond the kitchen you can see the little window in the mudroom.
A look at the kitchen from the entryway (living room to the right – see the fireplace framed out?).
Below is the laundry side of our mudroom…
…and this is the drop zone, shoes and coats side of the mudroom. The temporary door you see there is the door out to the garage. The little space in the background is the powder room (see that little white circle on the floor? That’s the hook-up for the toilet.)
Our master bedroom:
And here’s another look at our square-shaped, three story staircase. The bottom level is framed out now so this is the first look at all of the steps you can see from the upstairs of our house looking all the way down to the basement – I’m so thrilled with how it’s turning out!
A look at the two-story entryway windows from our upstairs landing/loft area:
Below is a picture of Kate’s bedroom. You can also see the up high windows flanking the living room fireplace in the background.
The photo below was taken from just outside of Kate’s bedroom and bathroom door, looking toward my office.
The view from my office, looking out toward the balcony and living room:
Below is a view of our 2nd story living room windows from the balcony.
Looking down to the living room from the balcony:
Although white windows weren’t what I was originally hoping for, the second I saw them in the house I realized it didn’t matter what color they were – they’re so gorgeous and I’m absolutely thrilled with how they look!
Want to catch up on our new home construction? Click the image below to access posts from each step of the way:
*This was a number Kate said once – sometime around age three – to get her point across to me that she meant A LOT o’ stuff. It stuck and is now my new favorite number. (Trumping the number 3 which did me proud once in a situation involving a gullible babysitter, a pissed off older sister, and finally getting to sleep on the top bunk.)
I had to Google “Black Interior Windows” and I see why you were wanting them, what a gorgeous design element. But I think white is best for the long haul and will blend in more when you have other items you want to be front and center. My spacial reasoning is crap, so you have done a great job explaining your house as each step getting completed. Can’t wait to see it finished!
BTW- your (*) descriptions are always the best!
Thank you so much, Alison! I should have linked up what I meant by black interior windows – sorry you had to Google!
Oh, please! Google and I are BFF! 😉
That’s one resourceful bestie!
I agree with Alison above — I couldn’t understand your disappointment over the black interior windows, until I saw some examples. They are breathtaking, but I do agree that white will have more staying power and be overall more neutral for the long haul.
One question, though. Is there a reason why the LR windows and the DR windows flanking the french doors aren’t level with each other? If I’m understanding your plans correctly, those two rooms will be open to one another, and it seems odd that the windows are offset. Maybe it won’t be as noticeable once there’s drywall and window treatments, but it’s something that caught my OCD eye and with all the effort your put into these plans, I’m guessing there’s a good reason. Just curious!
Oh my goodness, Julie – where to begin?! For starters, I didn’t even realize we had windows on each side of our french doors until it was time to place our window order, haha! Our floor plans show the screened in porch from the back view – not the windows – so how the dining room windows looked in relation to the living room windows honestly wasn’t even on my radar.
The other piece is that we went back and forth with the lower living room window design (I talked about that in this post) and in the end we decided to remove a transom section of windows that was originally over that lower living room window. My intention was for the lower windows to be increased in height so the overall window size would still be the same, but I think it was the original (lower window only) size that was ordered. Unfortunately none of us caught that, or noticed it in time to make any changes. Oh well! I wish those three windows were taller (or moved up), but I’m not going to light a match over it. 😀
I see, I see… Having never built a house before, I imagine it’s nearly impossible to catch every detail. I’m sure it will all turn out beautifully!
Thank you, Julie!
Love all the natural light your home will have. Just stunning. What kind of railings are you doing on your staircase?? Wood…iron?? It’s getting closer to completion and I cannot wait. It’s like Christmas. :o)
Thank you so much, Pam! I was really hoping to do an all metal railing but it was waaaaaaay out of our budget, so we went with a wooden hand rail and metal spindles. It’s turning out beautifully. I can’t wait to show you!
It will be beautiful no matter what you chose I am sure!
Thank you so much, Pam!
To be honest your post seemed pretty conceited. I get that it’s your dream house but there are so many people out there who are struggling. Is it really worth all that energy to discuss in detail your frustration about not getting black interior windows? I’m pretty sure you could just paint the trim black.
I’d love to see a post in which you teach your daughter about how grateful she should be for all you have, not how to write about you 150 windows.
I hope you are able to change your tone. You truly are blessed in many ways.
Hi Erin, I’m sorry my post came across that way for you. This is a post about windows in a series where I am detailing each step of our home building process. If you’re curious about my parenting style you’re welcome to read any of my posts about parenting, but this truly is just a plain old post about windows. I could have omitted the part about my frustrations over not getting the interior window finish I was hoping for, but I prefer to share an honest look at how the home building process doesn’t always go your way. I agree that there are FAR more important issues in the world than my windows. I also believe that if we’re truly concerned about the state of our world, one very impactful way to make it better is by showing more kindness toward each other.