Wow, you and I have very similar taste in houses. My needs are for a 1-story, split bedroom, 2500-2700 sq ft plan. We have 3 acres to build on. Donald Gardner's Corinthia is one of the original plans I fell in love with and now, thousands of plans later, I still love it (with a bit of tweaking). Frank Betz's Allenbrook is in my Saved Plans folder on his site and remains one of the finalists as I narrow down my choices. I keep going back to the pantry location every single time I look at it. Seems like an awfully long trek around that peninsula and to the back hallway for my pantry. Think the location of several things in the kitchen/brkfst/family area might need moving around a bit. Loved the La Meilleure Vie plan instantly the first time I looked at the floor plan. I do worry about the costs for framing the roof, though. Have you looked at the Santo L'Agnello House Plan? It is slightly smaller at 2,595 sq ft, but you would hardly know it, the rooms are arranged better, in my opinion. I do like the James Fahy design, especially the fact that it has a single, large eating area. The more plans I look at, the more I decide that for the way most people live, one largish dining area, supplemented by seating at the island or bar, is quite sufficent, and I can find better uses for the square footage that would have been used for a second dining area. The only thing for me is that it is missing one more room (den?) for an alternative sitting/living area. Seems to me that a house almost 2,800 square feet should have enough space for such a room. And thanks for pointing me to the Fahy site, I have seen his plans on the big sites, but had not found his own site. I may share some of my favorites. Be back later!

Yes I would certainly like to have a nice view of the pool from inside the house. I researched for a while last night on that house plan I posted. Looks as though it would be pretty pricey to build. There are a couple of houses close by that I really like. I have not had any luck locating similiar plans yet. Thinking I may stop by and talk to the home owner. I will post the pics. It is hard to tell in the pic but the house is basically L-shaped. It extends really far back and has three garages. I was thinking the pool could be placed inside the L shape if that makes sense. Which would be great for privacy since the house next door is two story. The lot size is 307' long alont the street and 216' deep. I certainly plan to have a restroom outside, along with a fridge and small outdoor kitchen. I own a landscape business so the backyard will be the focal point for me. A few pics of the houses I really like that are close by, if I can only find similar plans or talk to the owners! These houses are actually side by side. So you can see part of the garage on one of the houses. If I had to guess these have bonus rooms up top. I am unsure if I will do a bonus room since my brother in law is handicap. I could consider an elevator though.

@LisaKoback We are building the La meilleure vie plan by David Wiggins also and we are looking for a basement plan with steel beams and I-joist instead of the wooden laminated beams that Wiggins provided for us. Would you be willing to share steel beam size and I-joist dimensions? Or your basement page of print only? Thanks so much. jamesmelson34@gmail.com James

Annette, "Just putting the windows in the garage almost down to ground level confused me." This is a typical field error. Normally a construction document would have wording similar to "SET T/ WINDOW AT @82" ABOVE UNFINISHED FLOOR UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED ON THE PLAN". The statement is great it tells framers where to set a header. However garage floor is poured at the grade level, and no way for stock plan designer to know what grade level you will have. In the field a GC will determine the grade level and first floor level when foundation is excavated. The 82" of grade level not equal to 82" off first floor level. - Resulting in garage windows been a foot or two feel lower. Additionally in the pictures, floating gables not built right and/or placed wrong. They should have made them wider to account for corner boards imho. = You have to be very careful with David Wiggins plans. Slightly different finish and they do not look right. There are plenty of examples of La Meilleure vie looking odd and wrong when owner upgraded to brick or straiten the exterior bump outs, or boxed the roof eaves like in your picture. These plans are not for subdivision, they will not fit the common look and feel of a subdivision and most likely will not comply with the covenant. Examples are tudor (dark) style trim, vertical siding, large window frames - like in the plan will never pass,