If your local architect attempts to "replicate" the Southern Living House plan then he will be committing a copyright violation and, if you use his plan to build, you too will be violating copyright. Far better (more honest) to purchase the plan from Southern Living and either have their staff architects make your modifications (if they'll guarantee that the modified plan will meet your local codes) or purchase the plan along with permission for your local architect to make modifications to the plan. After all, the architect who designed the plan in the first place deserves to be paid for the work he did. Don't you agree?

We went through some of the same things you are going through. We ended up finding a Frank Betz plan we liked online and chose for them to do the modifications for us. We were not impressed with our architect at all and didn't really want to spend the time to find another when they could do the mods for us through their company. It probably cost us a little more than if we had used local but that's OK. We've just started the process with them. If you aren't comfortable with your architect, then I think it's fine to go through the online company. Just my 2 cents.

P.S. No "I told-you-so's" from HollySprings or Renovator8 please. :^)

Thanks all. I'm not sure where the line ends and begins on this.

Our current drawing is similar to this house..turned gable, wrap porch, same windows, etc. It's just too wide and the architect doesn't seem to get what I mean by doing an 'addition' for a family room rather than putting it all in a big box.

I guess I should call them and see what it would cost to have this modified. Is it hard to deal with this long distance? The floor plan would need to be completely rearranged. I don't understand why they put two bedrooms downstairs, that tiny kitchen, and five baths. Seems like a total misuse of space.

Maybe they have another plan that would fit your needs with less adjustments. At least talk to them about it.

Thanks Marie, Maybe someone else has modified it to be more liveable. I'd assume somebody built this somewhere out there!

Or, do as Bevangel suggests, and buy it with permission to have your own architect rearrange. (Then, you don't have to worry about long distance).

Farmhouse girl-I don't think you saw the link to the architect's website that I wanted you to see in the other thread. I think that thread is at the bottom of p 1

Some more very good house plans.

Thanks Red Lover! Ugh, I am so darn confused. This is exhausting and frustrating. :/
I'll take all your advice and find out if we can buy the plan and change it here.

A home has to evolve the exterior from the interior plan, not the other way around. So, by the time you get the interior rooms the way you want them, the exterior may not be able to bear any resemblance to what you find attractive about this plan. It doesn't sound as though this floorplan is all that suitable either if it needs "completely re-arranging". That's like thinking Pamela Anderson would be a great lawyer because she displays some decorative law books in her living room. You'd be better off with Ruth Ginsburg and a bit of plastic surgery along with an attitude adjustment about inner beauty.

If the only thing that appeals to you is the exterior look, then there's nothing wrong with showing that to your architect as "inspiration" without buying the plan. But the moment you start copying features of the plan, that's when you cross the line.

Okay, it sounds as if you just want a house with a front elevation that looks very similar to the Southern Living plan but which would have the interior rearranged so significantly that it would be an entirely new plan. If so, your local architect would only be using the image of the Southern Living plan as "inspiration" for the front elevation and would probably not be infringing copyright - unless he made the front of the house look identical to the SL plan.

So maybe you don't really need to purchase a license to the SL plan after all. But it sounds as if your local architect doesn't "get it" even after seeing your inspiration picture. Perhaps you need a different architect. Or is is possible that the room arrangement you want simply won't fit into a farmhouse with a tall narrow front elevation (which is a good part of the charm of the SL plan). If you want a house that is tooooooo big, or you want too many rooms facing either the front or the back views, then your architect probably keeps winding up with something that is broader than it is tall... and therefore cannot possibly be made to look like the elevation you picture.

I had a friend who once insisted that she wanted a nice compact basically rectangular one-story "cottage." But then she started describing all the rooms that just had to have a view of the lake on one side of her property and it quickly became obvious to me that there was no possible way to meet her desires. Her vision of the interior was just incompatible with her vision of the exterior. Ultimately she wound up building a long thin boom-a-rang shaped home that was mostly one room deep. It looked nothing at all like the "little cottage" she originally THOUGHT she wanted but every major room in the house has a view of that lake and it is a gorgeous home.

If your interior floor plan vision isn't totally incompatible with your exterior inspiration picture, there is probably already a farmhouse design out there somewhere that comes close to meeting your needs and, when finished would look similar to the SL plan.

Why don't you post your "program" (how many bedrooms? baths? garage bays? master upstairs or down? laundry upstairs or down? open plan kitchen/great room or not? office? media room? playroom?) here on GW? Maybe someone here will know of a perfect or near perfect plan that could be modified more easily than the SL plan.

I know that finding the perfect plan is very difficult and when you hire an architect and he doesn't seem to be able to "get it", it can be extremely frustrating. BTDT, so you have my sincere sympathy.