Field of Dreams farmhouse

12 years ago

Hi there,

We are planning to build the Field of Dreams farmhouse designed by Jean Larson with some modification, in Upstate NY on 9 acres that includes wooded areas, a meadow, and a pond. We've looked at lots of farmhouse plans, and keep coming back to this one since we love it so much. It's just about the right size for us.

I know from past threads a couple of years ago that there are some others here who built the same house--and the photos that people have posted are really helpful.

In 2009 there were several people who were contemplating or just beginning their projects. I'm wondering if any of them are still around and could post other photos or tell me how they modified the plans.

The main things we'd like to change are to move the screened porch to the back off the dining room, make the main floor bath into a 3/4 bath, maybe make the garage semi-attached using a breezeway or something (we don't like the look of the attached garage since the porch should wraparound, but with our snow and ice, we'd like some sort of covered or enclosed way to get from garage to house), and maybe do a small walk-in closet in one kid's room. If we could find a way to put a laundry room on the main floor too that would be great (and I mean a large laundry room, not just a closet for the washer and dryer).

I'd love to hear from others who have built this farmhouse!

Thanks!

Karla (libkarla@yahoo.com)

Here is a link that might be useful: Field of Dreams farmhouse

Featured Answer

msmchele

12 years ago

We are just completing the Field of Dreams Farmhouse. We are building on a raised foundation due to a high water table and are building the first floor all on one level instead of dropping the mudroom down a notch. We mirrored the plan and added 4ft to the library toward the mudroom and added 4 ft to the guest and Master bedrooms toward the mudroom. The laundry we moved upstairs and bumped out 4 ft toward the bedroom. We stole the closet from bedroom 3 and used it as the Master Bath shower, built a toilet room in the middle, made the walk in closet a tub/spa room and put the walk in closet where the tub, toilet and shower were. A 72in vanity occupies the long wall against the laundry room. Here is a link to our pictures so far.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Field of Dreams Farmhouse

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Comments (26)

User
12 years ago
Spend some time studying the Greek Revival style and get the detailing right to make this great design even better.
tinny
12 years ago
We built this house in 2009, and we love it. We were warned against making too many major changes and completely losing the feel of the house we fell in love with, so we didn't make a ton of changes. We opted not to build the wall with the media cabinet between the living room and the dining room. I love how that opened it up. We also changed the layout of the kitchen so that we could have double ovens and a range. We added a pantry in the mudroom, but you could easily use that space for a bigger bathroom. We live in CA, so we opted for an outdoor shower just outside of the mudroom. It does seem like it would be easy to make the mudroom into a large laundry room.

We did add a sliding door and a deck off of the dining room for grilling- that was a last minute change and a very good one! As for upstairs, I am not sure how you would add a walk-in closet to the kid's rooms unless you used the space where the laundry room is. I love, love, love the upstairs laundry room.

I will see if I can post some pictures for you. Just ask if there are any specific questions you have. When we were building there was a person on this forum who had built the house, and she helped us tremendously with pictures and answering questions. I would be happy if I could return the favor by helping someone else! :-)
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We are building a combo of 1 and 2. Our main house is plan 2, but we have the detached garage that goes with the original plan. We did not make many changes. I put a french slider in the dining room, removed the wall between the dining room and the living room, and changed the kitchen around a bit. I think that's it. We are building in CA, which is expensive. We are hoping to come in under 200 per sq foot, but that does not include land, permits, or design/engineering fees. Our budget is tight. We are owner builders, DH is doing a lot of the work himself, and I am shopping for deals like crazy. I think we'll make it, but the budget is too tight for comfort...I'd recommend a higher one! Here is a link that might be useful: Our Field of Dreams
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We are just completing the Field of Dreams Farmhouse. We are building on a raised foundation due to a high water table and are building the first floor all on one level instead of dropping the mudroom down a notch. We mirrored the plan and added 4ft to the library toward the mudroom and added 4 ft to the guest and Master bedrooms toward the mudroom. The laundry we moved upstairs and bumped out 4 ft toward the bedroom. We stole the closet from bedroom 3 and used it as the Master Bath shower, built a toilet room in the middle, made the walk in closet a tub/spa room and put the walk in closet where the tub, toilet and shower were. A 72in vanity occupies the long wall against the laundry room. Here is a link to our pictures so far. Here is a link that might be useful: Field of Dreams Farmhouse
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I'll chime in and agree with GreenDesign. We have our 90% finished plans and will get the blueprints Monday. It's been tedious. The client goes to the architect with all their wants. Just like jeff2718, we are on a lot that is longer than it is wide. With our constraints and wants, there were things that could be done and couldn't. Plus, after you take budget, square footage, etc. into consideration, something has to be given in order to take from somewhere else. And if you move a wall here, you have to shift entire lengths of walls and other walls are shifted b/c of that length of wall. With us, We started wanting our master downstairs, turned stairs that did NOT face the front door and we wanted our living area, dining, kitchen to be one open "L" shaped area with the breakfast/dining and living all against the backyard wall so you could see right out to the backyard (and the kitchen would be part of that eating area). My DH's guy space would also be downstairs. Well, we then started thinking about how my mom comes to stay with us a lot and decided in the end, to try to fit the guest suite downstairs instead of up w/ the kids' spaces, which then moved my small exercise space (that was right off of the master) UPSTAIRS and it got bigger as a result. Also as a result, the L-shaped living area became a long open space instead of the L ...kitchen then dining/breakfast and living in that order with the living open to the backyard. It's still one big space but with the eating area between and a window seat bump-out bay-window with hutches on either side. It wasn't my ideal lay-out in the beginning at all (when we were deciding between the L and this and could do both) but I've grown to like the layout now that I've "lived" with it on paper. However, with this change, my turned stairs changed into a straight staircase that you walked right into from the front door. THAT was a deal breaker for me. Back to the drawing board he went and somehow maneuvered things to put the stairs sideways again and with the turn. Yay! But I think a closet shrunk in doing that. There's been a LOT of other adjusting but it's just things like that that happen. It's like a big puzzle...all the pieces have to fit in the end, PLUS fit into the entire shell of the exterior and into your budget. So you will go through drafts and figure out what are the most important things to you and what you can give up and what you can't. Everyone thinks it's so fantastic to build. And it is great to be able to have a lot of control over what you want. But there's also the misconception that when one builds, they get to have everything they want! Unless one has a really large lot and a really large budget, there will be give and take in order to keep things realistic and to make things fit.
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lavender_lass
12 years ago
I don't know if this is still the case in version 2, but I would not want to go up or down stairs to get to the bathroom. I would take out the few stairs, from the main floor to the family entrance and make that all one level. It's safer and easier for older family/friends to visit and be comfortable.

It might also be nice to have easier access, from the library to the bathroom area, in case you want to use that as a guest room, too. Other than that, it's a very charming home and I like the big fireplace and L-shaped kitchen, with island :)
rhreinhard
12 years ago
We're in the process of building a farmhouse style house with a wrap around porch. It's not exactly the same as the house you are building, but I'll post some pictures and maybe it will give you some ideas regarding trim details and such.
tinny
12 years ago
rhreinhard, that is a beautiful house! wow!! Here is the link to my field of dreams. It still isn't finished! :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Field of Dreams
rhreinhard
12 years ago
tinny, I love your interior. Which is really good, because we've picked out a lot of similar materials. Thanks for sharing; it helped me 'see' what ours is going to look like. :-)
krycek1984
12 years ago
I would avoid moving the screened porch. It is an integral part of the design of the house to have it on the front.
kjblock
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks everyone--keep those responses coming. Tinny, I am especially glad you responded because you were one of those I remembered from the past post and I wondered how your project turned out. The interior pics are so helpful and really help me see what things would look like.

I was able to show our building designer a lot of the pictures that have been shared and I think she found it very helpful too!

Can you tell me a little more about the changes you made in your kitchen? Where is your fridge (I can't quite tell from the photos)? Did you bump the back of the house out 3' like a few others have done?

My main reason for wanting to move the screened porch is to have it convenient for eating--I generally have never seen a farmhouse with a screened porch off the front like that, and I think it interferes a bit with the line of the wraparound porch. We might consider making the wraparound porch go around the front and both sides with a deck off the back, but I suspect cost will get in the way ;-)

A couple of other questions come to mind for you, Tinny. Did you keep the steps up from the family entry into the rest of the house?

And did you go with that interesting stair detail (the wooden "bars" that run up and down all the way from floor to ceiling) or do a more traditional stairway? We'd like the option of shutting our cats in the basement so having it open might be a problem unless the door is at the bottom of the stairs instead of the top.

Thanks again! It's so helpful to have someone who built this house act as a resource for us newbies ;-)
User
12 years ago
Here is the work of a firm in Maine that seems to appreciate the Greek Revival style so often used in the past for farmhouses in New England and other parts of the country. Keep clicking the arrow to see all of their work.

Here is a link that might be useful: a farmhouse design
tinny
12 years ago
Let's see.. in the kitchen we opted not to do the range. We put a cooktop in its place and then put double ovens to the left of the cooktop. The fridge is directly across from the double ovens. It is a built-in with panels and it takes the place of the pantry they had there. We also made the island a but bigger and added a sink in it.

We did go with the stair detail, and I love it. We don't have a basement, so it only runs up one way. The spot where the stairs would go down for a basement is a big walk-in pantry.

I don't think we added 3 feet to the house. We pretty much stuck to the plans. We love the porch in the front because it extends the living room. We eat out there every night in the summer. It would have been nice to connect the screened in porch with the small deck outside the dining room...maybe someday!

We do have 3 steps that go from the kitchen to the mudroom. It helps keep the dirt in the mudroom! :-)
knopffarms
12 years ago
rhrheinard, love the pics of your house! We are at the very beginning phases of planning to build a farmhouse. We love this style! Did you modify a stock plan or design it yourself? I would love to see plans if they are available. Thanks for sharing! We also like many aspects of the Field of Dreams house which led me to this thread.
mm028g
12 years ago
Hello!

We are planning on building the Field of Dreams house this year in Central New York. The changes to the plan that people have made to the design sound interesting. Please share any pics you may have of the house! I think they would really help me visualize the interior a bit better. Also, I have 5 boys ages 7 and under and I'm wondering if I would be better off having the laundry room on the 1st floor so I could keep a better eye on the kids. How does everyone like the 2nd floor laundry? I would really appreciate any suggestions, comments or pictures you could send my way!
philly_kid
12 years ago
Thanks for sharing! Where is that beautiful setting? I'm kind of curious about the orientation of your house. The first pictures you show are of the "back" of the house, but is that the side that you will see the most from outside? The front door is facing the trees with a smaller front yard. It seems like a smaller perspective of the house. We're thinking about doing this house or a variation and I keep thinking about the front as the back and vice versa because our front would be of the trees and the back would be a wide open field.
kelvance
12 years ago
@msmchele, your house is beautiful, so exciting!! I was wondering what is the siding you chose, is it vinyl? I am starting my farmhouse in the spring, and your siding is what I have pictured in my mind, I too like the all white looks, thanks in advance :)
HazelJosephine
12 years ago
This house is really very pretty. This house looks like a dream house.
Christinabdreamin
11 years ago
Tinny

LOVE your home!
I have a few questions.
I love what you did with the mudroom, but where is the powder room? Is it behind the lockers, with door to the left? Doesn't seem like there is room, but the plans online have no dimensions.
Also, where is the laundry room upstairs?? I don't see it on the plan...
Thanks soo much!
Christina B
virgilcarter
11 years ago
This is a very nice house and plan--well thought through, but still amenable to personal adaptations.

Good luck with your project!
virgilcarter
11 years ago
Reno, thanks for posting the link for Eliott + Elliott's houses. Just drop-dead gorgeous, highly imaginative and well refined. Simply elegant in every diverse case. Did you do construction?
pbrooks42
10 years ago
It has been a while since some folks have posted here but if Tinny is still out there I would love to ask some questions. We are building the field of dreams home here in Tennessee. We came across your pictures and it got us even more excited. We just love this house.
Thanks,
Iowacommute
10 years ago
It would be fun to build this on the family farm. Its only about an hour away from the actual Field of Dreams!
FmrQuahog
10 years ago
IowaCommute, you're that close to good ol' Dyersville? Lucky you!
I spent a fair amount of time right down the road in Manchester, back in the day.

"No...it's Iowa..." :-)
MrsSmith84
9 years ago
Hello, I would love to see more pics of everybody's field of dreams farmhouses. We are in Tennessee also and plan to build this style in the next year or so on 13 acres.

pbrooks42, what part of Tn??
killick
9 years ago
Nice house. Any idea how costly to build nowadays?
musicgal
9 years ago
bump
DLM2000-GW
9 years ago
bumping up

Field of Dreams farmhouse

msmchele

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