Houzz anyone supposed to get anything done with this app?!

www.houzz.com

If you haven't been here yet, you've just discovered the biggest time waster since Facebook! 

I am OBSESSED with this app. It's also a website, but the app is way better. You can search pretty much anything design related and then scroll, and scroll and scroll thousands of pictures for hours. I currently have 13 "ideabooks" with hundreds of photos for inspiration.

I even have an idea book dedicated to just stairs! 

Houzz is the reason I change my mind frequently.
Houzz is the reason my budget seems WAY too small.
Houzz is the reason I almost max out my data on my phone every single month...
You get it. 

But Houzz has also helped us narrow down a style for our house and give us an opportunity to visualize it. The look we're going for is kind of a combination of rustic/contemporary. 

We want reclaimed, wide plank flooring for warmth like these:

These are actually the floors in my Dad's cottage. Reclaimed Hemlock from area barns. I want them! But they're not exactly fitting into our flooring budget. I will find a way to get the look of these floors! If anyone knows of any barns coming down, PLEASE tell me! I'll come remove the barn boards myself if I have to!

We'll take a few beams too for the fireplace :)

We were going to go with the standard stone to the ceiling look until I found this picture.  I don't want the beams to be stained, just natural, reclaimed, hand hewn beams. 

This idea actually saved us a bit of money. Stone is not cheap and neither are masons.  I always like when we "save" money. Too bad it always gets used up somewhere else! 

So there is a bit of the rustic now onto the contemporary. We are planning on using a fairly plain, square trim painted white (the walls will be a white/gray) and integrating bright colours in unusual spots like our kitchen island and interior doors. Our furniture is also pretty contemporary with square arms and legs. 

I don't want to give away too much too early (mostly because I'll likely change my mind when I see something else I like on Houzz) but... Here's a sneak peek of our island colour!  I really hope I don't change my mind on this one because I LOVE it! 

Benjamin Moore - Icy Moon Drops

The rest of the kitchen cabinets will be a classic white. It's a little risky using colour like this on such a major focal point, but I can't resist!