Oh, now - Here's the link!

http://www.freegreen.com/whosnext/view/plan-general.aspx?id=348

I will try to make this easier - "clickable"!!

Here is a link that might be useful: our new house

Your house is amazing! I love your flow, and the cabinetry is gorgeous! Well done!

Buildinginva, Thank you for your response! We got so much info and inspiration from the people on this forum in our lives as lurkers.... and we are especially happy with the cabinetry. Mostly, we are proud of our son and daughter-in-law for designing the place, and I am proud of my husband, who oversaw so much (we acted as contractors, though amateur) and did so much of the work on the house.

I also wanted to say that three days after the pictures were taken, we had the concrete floors stained and sealed. They look amazing! They catch the light everywhere we look and the stain makes the floor look just a bit like aged leather!

What a lovely home! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

I love modern homes. So few people build architect designed modern homes here that it is really refreshing to see one!

Great design

Busjane and kaismom, thank you! Before we got into this, I would not have thought we'd go for a modern home, but with an architect son, we were quickly won over to the modern side. I am daily surprised by how much warmer and more comfortable this house is than I expected it to be. And this radiant heating floor is just the best!

Here is a link that might be useful: our new house

Gorgeous!

Your architect children have really put a lot of thoughtful, practical features into your new home. It is beautiful, and will serve you well.

Congratulations.

Gorgeous! I love modern homes and don't see too many of them on here. The kitchen is wonderful, and the courtyard is to die for! And how nice that it was designed just for you by your son and daughter-in-law.

duluthjeff and yillimuh, thank you!

I do wish we had better pictures of the kitchen because we love it. Since I haven't advanced to the level of being able to imbed pictures in a post, I can't show it. They were limited to 9 images in the competition and those were the ones they chose.

Here is a link that might be useful: our new house

Okhouse, if you sign up with Photobucket and upload your pics there, it will give you the code you need to share them. It's very easy! If you need more help, email me and I'll try to walk you through it.

Hoosiergirl, Thank you! OK, I am going to work on that this weekend. We are expecting rain and it will be a good indoor project for me. I will go to Photobucket... because we have other pictures (non-competition-related) that I'd love to share, and sometimes people ask questions on this forum that I might be able to help with by showing a picture, like all of you guys do!

Margaret

What a beautiful home!

It has been suggested to me that my posting on the forum was an attempt to stuff a ballot box in the architectural competition my son and his wife entered our house into. We have nothing to gain from that, ourselves, and I really did want to be able to share my excitement about our house without having to learn the process of posting pictures or a link to pictures.

So laziness will get me nowhere - I actually have learned that a zillion times in my life - and so I'll work on my photo learning curve.

For those who looked, and liked it, or even those who looked and didn't like it, I am grateful. Next time you see my house, I will be linking to photos that show just what I want to show, no voting in the equation at all!

It's a beautiful home and I could tell from the excited tone in your posts that you weren't just trying to pump up the votes! Thank you for sharing. No ulterior motives were seen by me anyway!!

Gbsim, Thanks for your thoughts - Yes, I am really excited about the house. It seems that I just walk around it a lot and tell myself, "This is a wonderful place to live." All that thinking, planning, worrying that we all went through all paid off! It "lives" very well and we are so happy with how it looks. I have so enjoyed getting feedback about it and I will be posting some other pictures this weekend.

Margaret

What a wonderfully thought out house. I like that the guest room can accommodate a health aide, in the future. Something like that can extend the amount of time one can maintain some form of relative independence in one's own home.

We're also building an empty-nester house & we could have reduced the footprint of the house by putting all of the "guest" bedrooms in the lower level (unfinished, for now). However, we chose to generously size the room and include an en suite bath so that whoever may need to stay there for a more extended period than the occasional guest would be comfortable. Even if we don't have a health aide, there may come a time when one of us needs extra equipment (hospital type bed, oxygen, etc.) so it will be nice if the other can rest more comfortably in another room while still being within calling distance.

Tell your kiddos, "Well done!" You have every right to be proud and thank you for sharing.

Jo Ann

Drjoann,
Thank you for your thoughtful comments. I have been following your progress through Gardenweb and will continue to do so. It is never fun to think "I need to prepare for being disabled!" but of course that is reality. When I had back surgery 10 years ago, I knew we would not have steps in our new house, because the steps became quite a barrier for awhile there. We think we will stay healthy and fit longer because we are prepared, so will maybe never need these accommodations! Fingers crossed....

Congratulations! It looks like a well designed and very functional home. I especially like the classic, simple cabinets in the kitchen and the ceiling drapery track.

My son is also an architect and we are considering building an empty nester home if we can find a suitable lot. However, my husband does not share my appreciation for contemporary design so we will have to come up with something that speaks to both of us. We toured some new homes yesterday to get some ideas and to compare thoughts. I designed and built a custom home in the past but he has not and is a bit wary of the process. So today we looked at existing homes. No idea yet of which way we will go.

Maybe I'll get some payback from my investment in his education! It looks like you sure did. Cool house.

Mnzinnia,
You are in for a great adventure! I sometimes think the hardest part of it all was finding a buildable lot that we could afford. And we did that at the very height of the real estate market, but that is water under the bridge...

Perhaps if your husband thought about how maintenance free, easy-to-clean-and-keep-clean a contemporary house can be, he might be more receptive. Of course, any style you settle on must feel good to both of you. I don't think our son and daughter-in-law would have been eager to do any style other than contemporary but you may not have that situation.

Good luck in whatever route you take. And yes, it does all make his education seem more worthwhile than ever!

(The ceiling drapery tracks are the best thing since sliced bread...)

Nicely done! Love the retro touches, right down to the Daimler SP250 (1959-1964) in the garage.

Worthy - Not many people recognize that car! Yes, when we are truly, truly done with the building of this house, my husband looks forward to restoring that car. The garage we had for 35 years was pathetic and he could hardly see the Daimler among the mess we had around it, let alone work on it. This is a garage heaven for him.

Margaret