Not sure what you are considering "todays designer touches". But I have been scouring timber frame and barn house floor plans looking for small, simple footprint with a simple roofline. Have had some success finding ideas that are close to our wishes. I find it amazing that I have not found one floor plan that has what I think is a basic list of wants. Dont forget to widen your search options. You can always add a garage or chop off a wing. Good luck

Aporthole (I think that's the one) has an awesome two story with a simple roof line but a bit smaller than 2500 sqft. Anyway, take something like that and have a professional expand it to include all the features you want with the timber beams etc.

Double delicious.

This post was edited by JDez on Sat, Dec 7, 13 at 11:06

duplicate

This post was edited by appy.rider on Sat, Dec 7, 13 at 11:15

2500 square feet isn't that large. You've got to condense your wants by doing multi use rooms. Don't think that a room that has a label like a "study" has to be used as that. It can be the "bonus room" for the kids now instead of upstairs. And it can be a downstairs guest room later if you plan a full bath downstairs and doors that can close off the area. And if you are that close to retirement, you should think about all of the space that the kids occupy now that they won't occupy later. Try to plan for being able to shut off that space and minimize heating and cooling it when half the house isn't used. And look really hard and universal design for the public spaces and master suite areas. Even if you are an active and young person, you can still be incapacitated temporarily by an injury that limits your mobility.

Here's one plan that your family could use. The downstairs study would make a great tv room where teens could entertain their friends, or a great place for mom to get away with a cup of tea. :)

You could hire a designer to change it more to your liking.

Here is a link that might be useful: Try this

Here's a plan that has almost everything you listed in 2381 sq.ft. I think the only thing that's missing is laundry access through the closet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lake Cottage house plan

2500sq ft -> means nothing.

What is your budget. Are you GCing? Financing? Insurance? What area in the country are you building? Cost of permits in your area? Sepctic? Well? Electrical hookups? NG? Site Survey required?

Some of those houses people posted would take ~330k++ to build imho.

Is that in your budget

Brian

What does your land look like? Do you have a topographical survey or a general outline of the property, with geographical features such as slope contours, trees, creeks, etc annotated?

To make the most of a limited space, orienting the spaces to capture the best of your land and natural light is important.

Thank you all for the responses! appy.rider - I agree! I have looked at plans FOREVER. I must have some very distinct needs/wants because I haven't found a plan and said wow, that's it. I understand that everyone has different wants and needs, but with the thousands of plans you would think I would run across one and go WOW. Thanks for reminding me of Timber frames. They are generally pretty straight foward plans . . . not alot of angles and such. Although unfortuately it wont be a "timer frame" the floor plans are pretty straight forward. zone4newby - thanks for the link, I see that my wish list can be accomplished within the constraints of our sq ft limitations. I actually like the plan quite well! After seeing Autumn4's plan, I just HAVE to have that connecting laundry. My husband does shift work and I am tired of not being able to access my bathroom while he sleeps. As far as budget and things of the sort, we live in rural MN . . . not building in a high cost area. Things are pretty simple here. I know the budget and land contraints - I guess it would be worth mentioning that the land is pretty much flat and it had already been cleared for a house, no slopes etc and we prefer a slab foundation, etc. My main concern at this point is finding a simple floorplan that works for us while staying within the sq ft. Thank you!!

Yes I think that it would be a bit of a squeeze but doable.

In the "Lake Cottage house plan" adding the area of the
unfinished bonus room would move it above 2500sq.ft.

2381 + 350? = 2731

Depends on what your concept of adequate room sizes are.

We're in MN too. Since they have to excavate so deeply to get below the frost line I don't think a slab is the big cost savings it might be in another part of the country. Have you considered having a basement and putting the kids' bedrooms & rec room there instead of upstairs? It might save quite a lot of money, while giving you the same functionality. It would also give you a basement to shelter in when the tornado sirens go off.

I'm not opposed to a basement but my husband is, and he won't budge on it. As far as cost goes are you familiar with frost protected slabs? Here is a link

http://m.finehomebuilding.com/design/departments/energy-smart-details/frost-protected-shallow-foundations.aspx

I am a lurker here. But I recently just finished a build in MN (sort of a rural area...). Anyways, we at first thought about doing a slab home with a bonus room above the garage. We decided against that, when we realized they were going to have to go down below the frost line for the footings, so digging down a little further for a basement just made sense. Also as zone4newby, stated, it was also something we were thinking about in case of bad weather. Another thing was we gained space on our main floor living back, since all the mechanical things now live in a room in the basement.

Also you don't specify a budget, you say the land is cleared and all that. But has there been a driveway put in, electrical run to the house, a well witched and dug, a septic put in (or at least designed)? I only ask because depending on the type of septic, length of driveway/electrical to be ran, and well depth (if you can find water on the first/second time), can cost quite a bit. In our case, we needed a mound septic system ($12,000), 45' well ($6000), 500' driveway ($5000), electric run up that 500' driveway ($5,000), and with the permits, were just about to $30,000. Just something to keep in mind.

Our current house, which we built, is on a slab. My husband loves it. I can go back and forth on a basement, he will not even consider it. As far as cost savings there have been an increase in frost protected slabs (see link above) in our area . . . . the cost savings sways my husband even more! Furthermore, our land is as flat as flat can come. If a basement was even up for consideration, I personally like walkouts . . . Not really conducive to land we purchased. The party we purchased the land from was ready to build but then was gifted some land elsewhere and decided to not build on the lot we purchased. Everything is pretty much ready to roll, although having built before I know those unexpected expenditures are bound to happen!

If this is your 'last' house, why would you want a 2 story? Those stairs can get dangerous in your 70's and up.

Momtoblondie.

I cant help you with the plans, but I can tell you that a Frost protected Shallow foundation would be a perfect option for you. I have literally done hundreds of of them in the past, dating back to 1987 when I was construction foreman on the crew that built the one of the three test homes for the NAHB Research Center where they did extensive monitoring or that home for several years after the build.

To date, I have had zero callbacks that are foundation related.

I dont know what part of Minnesota you are in, but you have access to a very good foam supplier relatively close. (no, I am not a salesman for this enterprise, but have used their products)

One thing to remember, you will need to allow space for HVAC out of your available above grade square footage, b ut you dont need to allow space for a stairway downstairs, so with a little creativity, you should be able to come up with a compromise.

Also, I dont know where in Mn, you are, but if you are anywhere in the southern part of the state, particularly in the South West part. a tornado shelter of some sort should also be in your planning/budget. There are precast boxes that are made for this. Ultimately, if you could sink one of those into the ground within your footprint, that you could access from the main living area, it would be sweet. Most times, they are done outside of the building.. but close..

Good luck with your plan seeking. Sorry I couldnt help but there are lots of people that are better at that than me, and have more time.

If you need any help with the SFPF, let me know. Im not very far away..

R

Look into "American Foursquare" plans - both old and new.

They tend to have a really efficient floor plan and a minimum of the frou-frou rooflines and bump-outs that run up costs.

Rollie - if you dont mind I most likely will be contacting you in the future to pick your brain, we are trying to learn as much as we can on these types of foundations. I like your idea re: storm shelters. Thats the one thing I miss about a basement, just that sense of safety. We are further north so tornados arent that much of a concern, but I know there have been some that have touched down not far from here, so its always a concern . . . it is weather after all - totally unpredictable!

No problem contacting me. Use my listed email