Would anyone be willing to share a PDF of the plans for the Calabash Cottage? I've designed a house based off of the Calabash Cottage but it really has little to no similarities on the interior. A set of plans to go over with my architect would be hugely beneficial to make sure I get the exterior proportions right. Thanks to anyone in advance! This thread has been extremely helpful! Feel free to email me at bhmcalex@gmail.com

We are currently building a plan similar to what you described. It's called Hampton Circle by The House Designers. We made some modifications to the orginal plan: closed off the wall between the dining and kitchen to make an office, extended and squared off the outside breakfast wall to make a larger dining area, expanded the laundry room area and added a mudroom and full bath with a seperate laundry room where the storage area is on the original. We also tweaked the second level room sizes and added three storage rooms to use up all the empty space up there. We built ours over a walkout basement as well. I'm sorry I don't have our final plan to show you but here is the link to the original one: http://www.thehousedesigners.com/plan/hampton-circle-6364/

You definitely have to pay attention to the details...drawings will have the details, but like said above...people will think, “oh, it’s just a bit of trim, I can do smaller to save $!” or “I don’t need that expensive tumbled brick with special mortar, regular will do.” Before we built nine years ago, we looked at a William Poole designed home in our area. It was very large, but I vividly remember being underwhelmed with it. The baseboards and crown molding were not impressive, and I remember thinking how skimpy the bannister felt when I was walking down the stairs. The owners had the original plans on the counter, and the home was proudly marketed as a William Poole designed home...but like you said...the actual execution looked nothing like the architectural rendering. I think what happens is that the builders take these plans, suggest ways to cut costs to the owner, owner doesn’t know any better, and ta da...that’s why there’s a disconnect. I really think it makes a huge difference when the architect is actively involved in the process.

"Gorgeous. Roy, NM, however, is truly in the middle of nowhere. On the outskirts of nowhere." (LOL) Jakabedy. . . my thoughts exactly! Granted, the views are breathtaking . . . but you have to get there first. And, because of the distance from any real stores, bring everything you need, food-wise, with you, because a drive to get groceries is about an hour away. That gets old very fast, let me tell you! It's a good 2-hour drive to get to any decent sized stores. Looking at this pics and reading through the realtor sheet, the main house is built well, using rastra concrete forms, which gives very good insulation. Somewhere on it, they refer to it as a "clay building". LOL! They use solar to heat their water and they have an under-the-floor heating system. We have one, too, and they're wonderful. Water from a long pipeline from Roy is good, but if they spring a leak somewhere along the way, it would be heck to find it. Electricity, too. They don't mention anything (conveniently?) about cell phone, internet and cable service, that I could find. I'll bet it's not great, to say the least. Even here where I live, which is also in a mountainous area, Verizon is the only cell phone service that's (semi) reliable. Cable goes in and out, and fast speed is not available. Out there where Dos Caballos (pronounced ca-BUY-yo-ss) is, ugh! 10,000 acres, but only 6,980 are deeded. The other 3,110 of them are leased from the state. At what cost per year? They don't mention anything about grazing or grazing rights, if it's available, or in use now. Much of terrain looks unusable except if you're into rock climbing (LOL). I know my own land, and it can be a major undertaking to walk though it without tripping, stumbling and falling. We had to carve out dirt paths to get through it by hand, but out here it's a never-ending project to keep them up. I also know what a major chore it is to keep those ranch roads plowed in Winter. They have an "equipment shed", which I imagine is very much needed to hold a plow. And, as a longtime New Mexico house owner, I can't help but think what a costly PIA it must be to get anyone out there for repairs of any kind, let alone in a timely fashion! The house design, to me, looks just ok, although the kitchen is nicely equipped. The infinity pool/spa is very nice, as is it's view. I can't help but wonder if this is Val Kilmer's ranch, as I know he has one here that's up for sale. Or was. All in all, I would love to see it in person, but would never, ever want to live there! This one pic they posted, just makes me shake my head. A gorgeous view, but probably not easy to get to . . . let alone worrying about tripping and pitching headlong down that cliff! No thank you!