I think we should really start at the front door ’cause it’s new so you can see the whole space. Come on. You probably don’t know it, but I never really had a good entry. There was an awkward closet here.

This was a window. There was a tight door here that you couldn’t open and let people in. I never used it. Move the door to that way so there was a nice throughfare and it made a beautiful entry. I put a bench in here, some hooks, you can just hang your coat up.

And of course I added some sconces ’cause art and lighting to me was just like key. So it’s a really fun space now to let people in. It should be easy, you would think, but this floor took me quite awhile to find.

I wanted a really kind of rustic, yet refined black slate floor. So I finally found it. It’s natural slate. I had it laid in a herringbone with a double bond around the edge just to kinda frame it out.

It’s such a small space so this was like a really huge impact. And I love how, when you come in, it has that great almost farmhouse feel and feels like a slight mudroom entrance, which is exactly what I wanted.

The entryway leads you right into my open living room. Now you might remember, I used to sit right here. You saw a big oval door behind me when I would do all my videos and this was just one big living room, dining room.

The biggest change in here – the layout obviously, the furniture is the same surprisingly – is this doorway I put in. This was never here. I raised the ceilings up to nine foot because that’s what’s original in this farmhouse.

And that foot makes a huge difference by the way. In doing that, we found a beam that you couldn’t get rid of. And I realized I don’t want to. It defines the two spaces. So I cased it out in original woodwork that matches the upstairs, which is the only place in the whole house that had any original woodwork.

Now, all of it matches and it really sets it off. The woodwork for me: showpiece. Interiors are huge for me. It’s how I feel at home. You know I love to collect, you know I love antiques, so obviously I had to incorporate them any place I could.

One way was all these vintage and antique lithographs I collect of botanical prints. They’re all different flowers. You know I love to garden. And I had them framed with just the perfect look for this space.

They match really cleanly. They’re just white oak frames that match the floor and it really goes well with this English pine cupboard. I love the mix of natural kind of light tones. My house always felt kind of dark and this was a chance for me to really lighten it up and make it brighter and let more light in.

So everything kind of has those cool natural tones along with some of my favorite pieces here and there. ‘Cause like fish floats. I collect them. Why? I don’t know, but don’t they look good? I love ’em.

Let’s go into the family room and I usually back, you know, ten months ago and walked into a wall here. There was a huge wall here and I never would’ve thought about it until I really started designing the space and realized, without this wall, it’s not open concept, it’s still defined rooms, but now everything flows and light gets everywhere.

Again, I cased it in the woodwork, so it felt like it was an original opening with that really good, thick, heavy farmhouse woodwork. And now you can just come on in and everything fits easier. I can get better chairs in here for TV viewing.

A bigger small sectional here, which is awesome because I never had that kind of couch that I can actually lay down in. The biggest change in here was the TV area. There was a huge deep closet here and it kind of was just unusable space.

It had bi-fold doors that I couldn’t do a lot with. Well now, I have a built-in that is perfect for displaying a few things, it holds the DVD player, the Dish box, but also then it just has my TV right here and it’s the perfect place for it.

I used to have it on the wall, but it felt kind of like obscene just out of the middle of nowhere was this big honkin’ TV. Now it has a home and it feels really defined and it fits the space. I went slight shade darker than my woodwork.

Same spectrum, little darker, just so it gave it a little bit of an edge and set it off slightly. Guys, game-changer. Otherwise, you know me and antiques. I had a mix in a couple pine pieces, a little pine three-drawer dresser.

It is the perfect element to have just tucked away with a lamp on it. I can put blankets in it. Antique pieces can be so versatile and usable. That’s what I love about them. And of course, you know, some old texture right here with these trunks.

It was so fun to get things out and say, you know what? I’ve been collecting this for years, how am I going to use it? Traveler’s pottery: I can put plants in it. Wood bowls to corral remotes. It’s just a great space.

I love the textures, the coziness. I finally feel at home. The dining room didn’t necessarily change too much other than it feels a lot bigger. I actually have a bigger table in here than I ever have, and I can open it up to even bigger.

That’s a dream, you guys. I can have more people over. Otherwise, layout, I think it pretty much stayed the same. I do have area rugs just to kind of define the spaces and it adds that cozy texture that I kind of love.

The biggest change in here was this wall. There was a big bay window that bowed out. Now, there is so much more light with two large doors right onto the patio. These doors literally were the beginning, I think, of the concept for the design.

They changed everything. They match the two new front doors. They open up wide. They let in a lot more light, but they also make the patio so much more welcoming. So when you’re sitting here, you can see everything that’s going on outside: the different seasons, whether it’s snow, ’cause I put a tree out there at Christmas.

Yeah. Whether it’s the sun in the summer with all the green, it’s fun to have these doors now just really define the space. For me to make a house feel like a home, I had to add in my elements, my older things and things that had a story.

I love a story. Like these simple little two stools. These are both my great grandma’s and my great, great grandpa’s milking stools. They would actually use these on the farm, which let’s all think about how you had to balance and milk.

.. I don’t get it… But it just adds some great texture, a great little look, and it also has a great story. And for me, that’s what the whole point of these items and interiors in your space is. It needs to have a connection and all these things have a connection.

Even if it’s that I went to a flea market and bought it, I remember when, and it’s a moment and a memory and I love it anyway. So before we get to the whole point of this: the kitchen… Let me make sure you understand what it used to be like.

In the old kitchen, it was pretty dark and didn’t have a lot of usable space. It had a U-shape and then it had a free floating island in the middle that I brought in when I took out a built-in table that took up a lot of the main kitchen.

In the new kitchen, I opened up the wall into an existing breezeway and added a small baking room with its own wall oven, microwave, and a small island. The main kitchen has a larger stove and I put a built-in fridge in a doorway and it honestly opened up the whole room.

The island has a ton of usable space for me and looks directly into the now open doorway, right into the dining room. That was a game changer for the whole space. This is the doorway that used to come into the kitchen.

It was a lot narrower, probably about like this, and when you walked in, there was a big doorway here, too, that went out to that little entry where there was a closet. So we filled that in and put a fridge there that’s built in.

It has the fronts of the cabinets so it really recedes and doesn’t feel like a heavy fridge right there. You hardly even notice it, which I love. Coming down the line is my stove. Completely different spot as you just saw, it was on the opposite wall.

Now it’s right here. I would’ve never thought I could fit in a larger stove, which I did, with more space, have a big hood over it, and have all these spaces to put items beside it. I wanted the hood to feel built-in, part of the wall, but then I made shelves inside so I could put extra spices, my oils, my salts, my pepper, even utensils if I need them here in the stove.

It’s really a working kitchen and it really works for how I wanna use it. Doesn’t mean it’s not beautiful. I had to add in elements like a brass gallery rail to match all the finishes with a little shelf.

You can put some old cutting boards up there. I’m sure at Christmas it will change just because it always does. And these elements are all exactly what helped me have a great kitchen. Even like a spice drawer.

I can fit all my spices, not all – I have extras – but I can fit so many now, right in here. They’re right beside where I need them. When I’m ready to cook or here at the island, I can just grab ’em and go.

I love it. When thinking how I wanted it to be more of a farmhouse kitchen, it’s kind of a look, obviously, but it also means there’s not usually a lot of just upper cabinets. That kind of breaks up your eyesight and kind of looks not like a true old farmhouse kitchen.

So to change it up and give a more built-in feel, I have built-in shelves over here. They’re adjustable so I can change what I put on them. Right now it’s the perfect place to hold my yellowware collection.

Ya know I love it. Yellowware and brownware, big crock bowls. I could also put on there stock pots that I could grab and use. The top ones are high enough that you can’t just grab ’em as easily, but I’m tall so I actually can grab quite a bit.

But it’s a great place just to add some texture and warmth into the kitchen with whatever you put up there. And those little details make the kitchen. So part of the farmhouse feel was little detailed elements like a small ledge up here out of the countertop material.

I brought the countertop up about a foot and then I put a small two-inch ledge and it just has a nice little reveal and it finishes it off. So it kind of has that old washstand feel. On an old washstand, you’d have marble up and then back.

And so it kind of gives that same effect and it gives you that nice little detail that just makes it feel a little bit more thought out and put together. And that’s what makes this whole space exciting! In my old kitchen, I always hung my skillets underneath the old island that I put in there.

Well, I loved that so much, I actually added a small space that I could hang my skillets in here so I can grab ’em, use ’em on the stove. Those elements that you’re used to is what makes a kitchen yours.

And that’s what I used all over the place. Since I’m doing such neutral colors and the palette is all kind of clean and white, I needed to add some color. So this is a great way to add a little bit of color in a rug.

I can change this rug out when I need to. It’s indoor/outdoor material, so for a kitchen it’s durable and that’s what’s important ’cause, you know, I also have my little Kip around here too. I wanted some big drawers since I have a lotta kettles.

I used to stuff them in kind of a corner cabinet. It didn’t work. Now I have this peg system, so I can kind of line ’em up as I need to. And the more I use ’em, I keep changing them around to make it work, but it’s a great way to have a lot of storage in deep drawers.

And for all the finishes throughout the whole space: unlacquered brass. Right now, it looks shiny, but it’s gonna age and patina. I grew up in a farmhouse, just across the road, that had a lot of old features, like all the old brass door knobs and handles, and they have a great patina on them after so many years of use, and I can’t wait for these to start getting that too.

To have that country house built-in feel, ceiling to countertop cabinets were a must for me. I love the look. I love how it’s built-in. It looks more like a piece of furniture, which for me was so important with the kitchen.

I want it to feel like it flowed with the house and really fit into the surroundings. And one of my favorite features: I can push ’em back and have it open. So it’s kind of a slight open concept feel but without being married to it.

So I can have all my plates, my glasses, my mugs in here. I’m also able to put my coffee and my espresso machine in here. And then you can, if you’re having people over and want it more casual, low key, I just open it up, tell people go grab a plate, grab a glass, whatever they need, and it’s all right there for them.

So it’s kind of that perfect feel and it kind of is really exciting for me ’cause it’s really close to the functionality too. So I have my dishwasher here. So when I unload it, I’m able just to put everything right away, right into my silverware drawer that’s right underneath it.

So it all flows together, which works really well for me. You may notice that I’m able to walk through what used to be a wall. Yeah, my kitchen stopped here. My stove was here. This was not open. There was a small doorway with an actual door.

So it felt very tight, closed in, and dark. This is completely different. Again, a cased opening with that original woodwork. And surrounding it is all this shiplap and beadboard on the ceiling. There was a very strategic reason for that.

This, at one point in the house’s history, I don’t know when, was an add-on. It was like a side porch that they added a kitchen into. And so I wanted it to feel separate from the house. So instead of having plaster put in here, I put it in shiplap.

So it actually feels like maybe it was a little bit more raw, a little bit more roughed in, which would’ve been very normal back then. So that beadboard ceiling would’ve originally been on a porch, so it makes sense that it could still be here from that original.

I like in my head to think I’m telling a story and that this is just adding to the house’s history and the story that it tells. And that is what keeps me so excited about this. And also in opening that up, I was able to add square footage that was there and just utilize it and have a baking room.

To mirror the one that’s right on the other side of the wall here, is another ceiling to counter pantry cabinet. This is all my baking items. And I can push them out when I wanna bake. My mixer is in there.

I sometimes move it over to the island, sometimes I keep it in there. It’s really a great place to have everything I need: my sugars, my flours, my sugars for on top of cookies. So it has everything in there.

And then underneath it, I can put some cookie cutters, I can put a lotta baking spices. So I’m able to really kind of utilize the kitchen into more of a baking side and a cooking side. It’s a dream. It’s a luxury.

I can’t believe I’m actually able to use it, and I am so excited. What’s really fun over here is to make it fully functional for baking, I have a wall oven. And then my microwave is over here too, just ’cause it makes sense to put ’em together.

So there’s so much storage over here for all my baking pans, all of my sheet pans. So I can have everything over here and then I have a small island that I can actually do it on. I can roll out my pie crust here or my rolls.

I can bake my bread here. I have pound cake going ’cause I’m having someone over tonight. And underneath, the big thing here was, it’s not just wood on the second shelf. It is my countertop material. I wanted quartz because I want it to be durable, but I wanted the look of marble, which is almost impossible to find a good marble-looking quartz.

I like what I have and what I love is, putting it on that second shelf means I can take hot pans out of the oven, put ’em down there, let them cool, so I have a lot more space I can use without worrying if I’m getting it too hot or if wood would get messed up.

So it’s really usable and that to me was the whole point. This is all extremely functional and it works extremely well for what I want. To finish off the baking room, there was gonna be a big wall here.

And big walls are fine, but I had things I want to put on that wall. So I got these wonderful racks that you can hang items from. So these are brass, they will age, they will patina. And then I have some of my copper collection on here.

There’s molds, there’s cake pans. Actually I do use some of it, like, the pans I do use. But it’s a great place to put it all. It adds a lot of warmth over here, which I love. It bounces that warm light around, especially when all the lights are on in the evening, and it really finishes off the space.

It makes it feel like this working kitchen and that’s what I love. It is extremely a working kitchen. I use it hard. I’m gonna use it hard, but it actually has beauty to it too. And to me, you need to marry that beauty with the functionality ’cause I love it both.

And those brass elements keep on going to all the hardware in the whole place. So all the back plates are brass. They’re unlacquered. They’re gonna age, they’re gonna get that patina, especially the more you use ’em, the more you put your oils on them, they’re already starting to show just a little bit.

And then the push button switches. Guys, this is huge. I grew up in a house that still had the original push button switches, only like one or two though. And I was able to find replicas with little Mother of Pearl inserts.

And what’s great is, they make ’em now that you can have a dimmer on them. So they’re a look in themselves. It has a story. It has a look to it. So now when people come over, they’re like, “oh, your house always had those old switches?” I can either say “uh-uh,” or I can say, “no, but I found them.

“That’s what I love, when everything tells a story and it really fits in with that old feel I’m having everywhere. And that’s why I chose these door handles. These handles are exactly what my upstairs still has and did have.

So in my head, they were always in the house. They’re rimlock handles, so they have a little bit different way they’re put in. You actually have to inset into the doorframe a little bit. But again, they’re unlacquered brass, so they’re gonna patina and age and get darker.

But moreso, they’re what the house would’ve had. And that to me is what’s so important here. The story keeps being told and it keeps going together and now going forth, you weren’t changing anything. I was really just bringing it back to what it was.

While the black windows look a little bit more modern, they’re actually an original style to a farmhouse. And some old farmhouses had black. A lot had a dark green color around here. But these are actually pretty much the original windows with more functionality and they don’t have the window weights.

I remember those. Those were awful. And don’t worry. If you think you missed something or wanna know more, I’m gonna try to talk about every product I have on the blog post. So go read about it on my website: wyseguide.com. I will put every single thing, hopefully, that I’ve used in here, maybe some links in there to hope point you in the right direction. I want you to be able to find everything, get all your questions answered, and hopefully be inspired.

That’s the whole new space. That’s where I’ve been the last I don’t know how many months. And I can’t wait to now have all these new videos for you in this space. They’re so much better. I’m gonna be talking to you live as I’m making the food.

That’s a complete difference from what I was doing before. But moreso, it’s gonna be more me because this is completely me and I poured my heart and soul into it. So I can’t wait now that you have seen it too.

So I’m gonna keep inviting you into my house. I’m gonna show you awesome recipes. I want you to keep sharing them around, telling me what you want to see. If you want more of my outside, keep checking my Instagram ’cause I am giving garden updates all the time and telling you information.

I love to hear from you and I love to see how you are inspired by this. So, come back and I’ll meet ya in the kitchen.