For example, when I was designing our home which is for DH, myself and our DD (dear dog), we knew we wanted a courtyard feel with our living room, master bedroom and kitchen/dining room all looking out to the courtyard. I knew I wanted a U shaped house and wanted windows on two sides of every room if possible.

DH also wanted his study looking out, but didn't want a door out from his study. We knew we wanted large sliders so outdoors and indoors could become one space (we're in FL) and we knew we wanted most of our space to go to entertaining and our private spaces; DH's office and my art studio.

We needed a guest room and decided we wanted it with a murphy bed so we could use it as a gym when we didn't have guests. We didn't need a separate dining room as our lanai could serve as one. Because we're on a small lot, we had to go up and because of that and our advancing ages, we put in an elevator although I still intend to take the stairs until I'm not able to. My studio which can double as a second guest suite, a guest bath and the guest bedroom/gym are upstairs.

We also knew we wanted our laundry area near our master but didn't need a whole laundry room. I'm fine doing laundry in a closet. We also knew the only time we spend in the bedroom is when we're sleeping, so no reason to make that room large.

And lastly and most importantly to me, I love craftsman houses (the real ones, not builder pretend craftsman) and wanted to create a craftsman house.

So the above is the type of info you should go to your architect with. Of course your wants and needs will differ from DH's and mine.

I'm meeting with the architect Thursday so many of the issues addressed already like the laundry room being to small and such will be addressed. The plans I drew are in no way final and I'm sure will go through many more renditions before construction plans are drafted. Thank you so far for all the suggestions and comments.

I'll repeat what JDS one of the resident architects always says:

"You don't bring a sandwich to a banquet or a high end restaurant."

So why would you bring a plan to a professional who has the skills and training to create something wonderful and probably something you haven't even thought of?

Unless that person is as I suggested not an architect?

So the architect sent this over just as a rough draft using my existing plans to go over when we meet Thursday. I know things are going to change, possibly the whole layout lol. But i drew the plans before going off our at then time then builders existing floor plans. My father convinced us to build it ourselves instead of going with a GC because of his knowledge and resources. We could do a good chunk of things ourselves and have several family friends in different fields who could do the additional work.

http://i.imgur.com/Bm4Q0YR.jpg

Since you have family who are builders, I think it's terrific that you'll be building it yourselves. Congrats on that! By doing that, you'll get exactly what you want and how you want it. What could be better?

Based on what the "architect" drew, my guess is it's not an architect but a draftsman. Why do I say that? Did the "architect" come and walk the property with you to see how the lot is?

Also your "architect" basically just drew out what you gave him. Where are the elevations? Good design is designed together with the elevations, site plan and interior plan all designed at the same time. It's not designed from the inside out. Draftsmen do that.

Plus your "architect" as I said gave you what you asked for. A real architect would create something original using the above criteria. There is a HUGE difference between a draftsman and an architect, including many years of schooling and apprenticing.

Again, i'm meeting with him Thursday to go over things and no, he has not walked the property with me, i sent him google earth layouts in 3d showing the layout of the lot, the elevation of the area, dimensions of the lot also. This is just the first stages of this whole thing and I just brought this drawing to him as an idea and he put it on paper as a starting point. It'll be changed, i can assure you that.

I like a window over my tub in the mbath. Maybe you could flip the

bath.

She actually wants a fireplace insert there and no window. No windows on the side of the house because the neighbors could see in and we dont want that

A few things I noticed immediately.

The master bath is 7' wide. That's 84" wide. A vanity is normally 21" which reduces the width to 63". A stand alone tub is a minimum of 30" width which now reduces the floor space width down to 33". That's too narrow a walkway in the bathroom. Ideally you want at least 36" and 42" wide is better.

The master closet is 6'8". Hanging clothing needs 2 feet of space for hanging so if there is hanging on both sides as indicated, the width for walking in the closet is only 2'8". Again minimum of 3' is needed so not to feel closed in.

As it's drawn now, anyone sitting in the great room can look into the master bedroom.

If you're on 2 acres can the garage not be front and center so it sticks out?

Also where will guests park?

The living room of actual usable space from front to back is really only 11'2" as you need 3' near the stairs for walking room and there is 2' lost by the fireplace side. Same thing with the width although with 23'11" losing 3' on each side isn't so critical as there would still be 17'11".

Do you really want to walk through your great room and your kitchen to bring laundry to the laundry room?

Garage entrance has to be on the side according to subdivision rules. She is ok with the laundry room where it is. We dont need a massive walk-in closet as neither of us has a ton of clothes but I will bring it up. Our bedroom is going to be bigger anyways and certain areas of the house need to be expanded since we were looking at around 1900 sq ft and this came out to be around 1800. We will prolly stretch the house out width wise and expand the width of the master bath and bedroom along with the kitchen. This will widen those spaces considerably and make the basement stairs flush with the foyers walls. This will also expand the garage and make it deeper. We are contemplating having the deck wrap around to our master bedroom as a balcony also.

Garage entrance has to be on the side according to subdivision rules

But I'm sure the rules don't say it has to be side load IN FRONT of the house! You're on 2 acres. Move it back further!

This is looking like one of those "confirm I did all the right and important things" thread. The initial posting is simple a list of all the "things" and "ingredients" done and included, and ignores site planning, architectural design and interior design. So what could possible go wrong?

^^^ so what you're saying Virgil is that it's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle vs creating a home.

Ok, so what is yalls suggestion then? Scrap the plans, go to him tomorrow and give him the list of wants we desire and let him design something from scratch? Again, the plans i made were a starting point for us originally when we had a builder we were going with. I took one of his original plans and modified it and he was going to work with us on that. We decided not to go with a builder and instead do it ourselves but kept the plans to at least have a starting point and idea of what we wanted visually which is why i sent him the plans to give him an idea of what we were wanting.

List of things we want:

• Open concept great room and kitchen
• Large master bed and bath
• Double vanity
• large soaker tub
• walk in doorless shower
• large great room with electric fireplace
• main level deck covered and wraps around to master
• dining room in kitchen
• laundry room doubles as mud room
• medium 2 car garage
• linen closets for master bathroom and guest bathroom
• vaulted ceilings in great room. Also in master if reasonable cost and possible, hip vaulted in kitchen
• dishwasher to be in island, one large sink
• 1900 sq ft ranch style with walkout basement
• large unfinished area in the basement with utility sink and drain in the floor(reptile and fish room)
• utility sinks in garage and laundry room
• double french doors to entrance of main level and basement
• ceiling fans in each bedroom and living room
• pantry in the kitchen
• side entrance garage, entrance from garage to mudroom

Yes, That's the list I'd bring to the architect. And if they ask if there are any plans you've seen that you like, you could show them the one you have AND explain what you like about it and what you don't like about it.

Ok, will do. I've reached out to several other architects in my area also to try and get more options going. The few we have reached out so far have either been to busy to take on any more projects or never responded. How long does this process take anyways? Is it to soon for us to be starting this process now with us looking at start construction early spring?

Don't expect to start early spring. There are permits and all sorts of things that have to happen first.

What is missing from your list is the look and FEEL of what you want.. As mentioned above I wanted a courtyard feel. Since we are in Fl our backyard is part of our living area and I wanted the house to envelop us.

How do YOU want to feel when you are home? When you think of home, what does that mean to you? What will make it a home for you?

Yes, CP I realized after I posted.. I should have included that what you like about the plan shouldn't be: it has X number of bedrooms and living spaces and bathrooms. It should be more about the feel. The relationships from one room to another. How the windows look out into the yard, etc.

Pictures from Houzz of things you like and don't like can help convey that to the right person of talent.

Ive never thought about how it should FEEL per say, its just a house to me. I just know what I want in it. As long as it has what i'm wanting, how it feels when i'm home will be a sanctuary because downstairs will be my domain with my fish/reptile area and the media room and computer room down there. The upstairs is hers. Also, i'll enjoy the back deck looking out into the woods weather permitting. I would also suppose we are wanting the house to "wrap" around the back yard so that the main lvl deck is recessed slightly like shown in my design. I'd rather the front of the house be flat and flush.

Just curious, are you building a 1900 square foot house because you really want to live a "simple life" in a relatively small space and plan to live there a long time -- or is it primarily a budget decision and you would plan to sell and move to a larger house in a few years? I think it does make a difference in how you approach this. Because you have access to low cost/free labor that many of us don't have you'd be able to take this in different directions.

That said I do think you are off to a relatively good start compared to some of the other owner designed houses people post for review. One problem area that's already starting to come up is the laundry/stairs (which you can see in the first round of plans that came back from the architect now have weird jigs/jags and choke points).

Re: windows on the side of the house by a neighbor. Put in shoulder height windows so you get natural light but still have privacy. It's a 1900 square foot house on a 2 acre lot! Leave or plant some trees between you and the neighbor for added privacy. Natural light in the kids bath and the master shower will definitely help the house present better for resale.

If you are planning for resale you want to figure out a way to get a bigger master closet. Many people are starting to take out large garden/spa tubs like you have in the plan to put in larger closets and walk-in spa showers. People are realizing they don't use the large tubs very often and having a tub in a bathroom by the kids bedrooms is good enough.

Good luck!

Now you're getting the idea! Those comments will better help the architect get a feel for what you want.

So have you asked your DW how SHE wants to feel in the house? What she dreams about for the house?

For some it's a place to have family gatherings with a wonderful spot for the Christmas tree. For one member here it was a place for the piano since music was so important to them. Notice I didn't say what rooms, just what was important.

For you, it's obviously your reptiles and your back deck. What about for your wife?

1900 is just what we landed on initially with our budget in mind to keep it around the $300,000 range going by the average of $125 per sq ft plus the lot price of $29,000. If it can be larger, great! But we have a 14 yr old who will be leaving after HS if he sticks with his plan to join the military but we are assuming this is our house for the next 30 years until we retire to Florida. Our friends are also building in this neighborhood so we wont have a reason to move any time foreseeable. And yes, I have asked and she mirrored my thoughts on the outward appearance but she's more visual than verbal about the inside and has pictures. She likes the rustic antique look with a modern feel.

She actually wants a fireplace insert there and no window. No windows
on the side of the house because the neighbors could see in and we dont
want that

I'd flip the bathroom and the closet and use window treatments that would allow for privacy. Natural light is everything in a room. Options:

Plantation shutters above the tub:

Curtains that block the lower half of the window, yet allow light in the top:

Or, if this is a splurge area, stained glass:

I agree that you don't want to go with minimal sizes. It'll always feel cramped. I don't mean you need to build a bathroom in which you can play baseball, but just an extra foot will make all the difference in the world in terms of comfort ... for years to come.

What I'd do in this situation: As aforementioned,I'd flip-flop the bathroom and closet, and I'd bump out the master and secondary bathrooms. Yes, bump-outs are expensive (though less expensive than adding to the whole side of the house, when the bedrooms are a fine size, but this is a place where the bump-out will serve you well. See how much more spacious this is ... with only 3-4' of bump-out? And you can actually have a window on TWO sides of the tub.

And if you use a shed dormer on the side of the house, it won't be a big deal with the roofline.

So the architect sent this over just as a rough draft using my existing
plans to go over when we meet Thursday. I know things are going to
change, possibly the whole layout

Suggestions on the kitchen and the garage entrance:

The laundry isn't going to work as it is shown ... but I also don't see any other obvious place in the design for it. If you open up a larger closet for laundry facing the other direction, you can have space for waiting loads -- and you do want this. You still face the problem of an interior dryer vent, but you can run the vent hose the length of the garage -- not ideal, but also not horrible.

If you can place the laundry elsewhere, it'll be better ... but this actually works, whereas over the basement stairs does not.

Note that you can now have a MASSIVE island, giving you loads of storage and counter space.

To make this happen, I did re-route the garage entrance to the main foyer; however, this comes with some plusses: Note that the person who parks farthest from the door no longer has to walk around the first car -- instead, the door is ahead of both cars. You have room in the foyer for a small table and coat hooks, providing you with the coming-home storage space you need. More space than this would be nice, but with organization this will do.She is
ok with the laundry room where it is.

Yeah, it'll work -- but what I'm wondering is, Have the two of you really thought this through? We're talking about the difference between "okay with it" vs. ideally situated to make a thankless chore less cumbersome.

My current laundry is located literally as far from the bedrooms as possible, and I have to walk through the kitchen to reach it. Every single time I walk through the house with a basket of clothes, I think, "My next house will be situated so as to make this task easier."

What's the purpose of building your own custom house, if you don't detail it so that all the small functions flow smoothly?

We dont need a massive walk-in
closet as neither of us has a ton of clothes but I will bring it up.

I don't have a ton of clothes either, but the closet as shown is pretty minimal. You can have a more comfortable space with only a bit more square footage.

But I'm sure the rules don't say it has to be side load IN FRONT of the house! You're on 2 acres. Move it back further!

I agree. Let's talk about this with pictures. Here's a house similar to the one you're proposing -- probably situated on a small lot, it pushes the garage to the front. It's an expensive house, but it isn't 'specially attractive.

Note, too, that when guests park next to this garage, they have no sight line to the front door. They must lose sight of their car without having a view of the front door as they walk around the bumped-out garage. Though they may not realize WHY this is uncomfortable, it's a slightly uncomfortable situation for guests. And you can avoid it so easily.

In general, I think people don't pay enough attention to driveways and guest arrival. Don't leave it to chance.

Now here's a house -- still with a side load garage -- but the garage is placed on the SIDE of the house instead of towards the front. Notice that, no longer hidden behind the garage, the house now is able to sport an attractive front porch.

And the garage could be placed farther back, actually behind the house.

The point: While remaining within the confines of your neighborhood's requirements, you have options.

Ok,
so what is yalls suggestion then?
My suggestion is, Treat this as a draft and move forward, striving to improve the design, aiming to right-size all your spaces and create a house that will function well and make your life easier.

Ive
never thought about how it should FEEL per say, its just a house to me.
I just know what I want in it.

Oh, no, no, no. If you
don't care about anything except the basics you've mentioned -- all
barely beyond the 3 Bed/2 Bath standard -- you shouldn't put in the
time, effort and expense of building. You can find all the things you
want in a ready-made house.

The two big reasons to build are to
get a house with the feel you want and to get a house with the function
that'll make your life better.

Do you like a comfortable, homey cottage feel? ... well, that picture doesn't want to upload. Just pretend you're seeing a picture of a lovely little room with soft colors and print curtains and a window seat.

Or do you lean towards Mid-Century Modern?

Welp, i think the best option is to just toss the draft and start from scratch at this point. I went back and looked at the rules and restrictions. The garage must be a side entrance UNLESS approved by the developer so you could, in theory, have a front entrance. As for the garage being on the side of the house, thats fine and I would prefer it that way. Our lot is lot 9 as shown in the picture below and we have a setback where the woodline starts that will be cleared enough to build on. Lot is 120 ft wide so we do have to keep that in mind also.

I agree with what cpartist said about bringing a sandwich to a banquet. We did that and regretted it. We are right now in the process of building an addition to our split level. We knew exactly what we wanted and told our architect what we want, where. We influenced him so much that we realized we got exactly what we asked for but once the framing started to go up we realized certain things don't make sense the way we wanted it. Don't try to do your architect's job.

"I've never thought about how it should FEEL per say, its just a house to me. I just know what I want in it"

Tanner, the most successful project I've built and lived in, to date, is my current house. Our architects sent me their standard questionaire- number of bedrooms, size of furniture, etc. I turned it into a short story.

Wrote them a real response- here's how we want to live in this house. These are our goals- and it included financial goals. Like- OK- I get that feats of engineering are becoming a real feature here, but, um- no. I want to spend our money in the space, not balancing one box on a point, against another box. Oh yes- that happens!

Honestly, my big "charge" was to build a "better box".

I was really specific, with what really mattered. An example: Guest suite downstairs doesn't need to be huge, but it has to be- somehow- removed from the open kitchen/family room, to a degree where they can sleep in without hearing those of us who are up and having coffee. They need, also, access to a full bath, easily, and again, without being in view of the living space. Oh- and they still need to have full access of the downstairs area, in case they're up early.

You should see it. Exactly and precisely what we wanted, and a guest in what we cal the "petite suite" is treated to a hotel experience, only "homey".

And I went on to tell them about why we wanted open spaces, in the second story- office/second living area, BUT- make sure that this is flex space, so that if anybody wanted more privacy, it would be easily, affordable affected. And oh- yeah- make sure the master suite is sound insulated against that big open office space. In the end, anybody can close in walls, if they want them, for less than a thousand bucks- now that's engineering I can get with.

Very short paragraphs, read excellently by real architects. Quite literally- start to finish- our design was finalized in 3 weeks after the story/initial presentations. Much of it was their talent, but it didn't hurt that I was completely specific about how we wanted to live- "feel"- in our space.

I went back and looked at the rules and restrictions. The garage must be
a side entrance UNLESS approved by the developer so you could, in
theory, have a front entrance.

At a glance, I bet they're going to say NO to a house where you see the garage first:

Wrote them a real response- here's how we want to live in this house.

Yes, that's nicely worded.

You might want to ask what tasks /storage you want in your kitchen ... in your office ... in your master bedroom ... in your mudroom ... in every room. We're not all the same! Only by thinking through how you expect to move through the rooms, what tasks you see happening in each room, what you want to store in the rooms, etc. can you really "get this right".

Too many people are quick to try to skip over this step and to say, "Oh, we've always lived with ____, and we're fine with continuing in that way" when a better option exists!

I haven't read all the posts here, but if you are sloping downwards to the back, you will almost certainly have your septic back there. Ie, intake at higher ground (fresh water) -- outflow down lower on the lower side of your home.

I'm not much of one for layout advice, but I do hope you look into energy-efficient construction. 2X6 construction is great, but you need a thermal break to keep heat from transferring through the framing. A typical stud wall loses about 25% of it's claimed R-value. Probably the cheapest solution is rigid foam over the outside sheathing, under the siding. That, and careful air sealing are vital. We built our house on a shoestring, but we were careful about energy efficiency, and it really pays off in the long run. We also 'splurged' on better windows. It's not just about the power bill, but also comfort.

Have you considered putting the garage beneath your house?

No sir, that would not be practical at all.

If your lot is 110' wide, what are the setbacks on each side? A side garage will require a decent sized driveway. You will need to be careful about the width of your house. I agree that you need a talented person to help you out here.

lot width is 120 ft, house as it stands right now is 62 ft wide including the side garage. So, with the house, that would leave 58 ft for the driveway which should be plenty. House has to set back 110 ft from the road.

Tanner, I think ILoveRed was talking about the side setbacks. You won't be able to build right on the line. Thus, If there are 25' setbacks on each side... your 58 remaining feet is only 8' of usable room.

There arent any side setbacks outlined in the subdivision restrictions i was given, it only brings up the front setback.

I would be very surprised if there are no side setbacks. Check with your towns zoning board.

Tanner,

Be sure to get a plat of your subdivision. Our plat not only marks setbacks but also the building envelope. Sometimes they are the same but not always.

15 ft on each side and the driveway can extend over into the setback by 10 ft. Should give us plenty of room.

A little annoyance though....why is it so dang hard to find examples of 1 story brick homes with porches with stone accents????

Often, it's because brick and stone masonry together are not good partners. Much better to stay with one or the other, rather than both. Particularly on a small house.

Why is that? We were looking at something like this

I agree you don't see many because the styles clash. The house you posted above is what I sometimes refer to as a builder show house... They built it to show clients how many different things they no how to do all on one project. This isn't the worst example... but look at all the things that don't quite go...

There's brick, and stone, and shakes. One column looks like all brick base, and two look almost like stone base (can't tell for sure). There are windows with arched transoms. and windows with squared transoms. There are wooden truss looking beam features in each gable, but no other wood on the entire house. I don't know... its just kind of a mish mash for me. I'm sure someone smarter than me could find other oddities.

Brick is orthogonal and clearly man-made. Stone is organic and clearly naturally formed. If this wasn't enough, brick is laid up in orderly courses, while most stone is laid up in some sort of random manner. And the colors seldom are harmonious with each other--as your photo clearly shows. Stick with one or the other. Your resale value will be higher and your neighbors will appreciate you.

Well, i no structurally you cant use them together but I was referring to trim for decorative purposes mostly like around the edges. Here is our exterior front of the house as of right now. Initial concept drawing. First thing i am having him change is the window between the gap of the garage and porch is making it the same size of the other windows. Then possibly making the garage windows a bit smaller for privacy reasons.

Our architect suggested we shorten the width of the porch also by about 2 ft to widen the gap alittle and not make the porch so overwhelming and the distance between the two gables so its more visually appealing.

First thing I noticed was how close those gables looked, I think the architect is on to something. :)

Agree with the architect. Frankly, I'd probably prefer the house with just one gable over the porch. Second thing I noticed is how the wood columns look a bit skimpy in width compared to the gable it is supposedly holding up.

Please tell me that you're not using stone below and brick above.

The stone is just for decorative purposes from what I understand like a faux stone, they arent being mixed together structurally wise. The columns will be thicker, that was just his quick sketch to get us an initial concept going.

Frankly, I'd probably prefer the house with just one gable over the porch.

I agree that one gable would be better. With two, they seem to be competing. I also agree that the brick and stone don't particularly play well together. I'd go with all brick.