And it does away with ugly garages. A hitching post and a bike rack are all you need.

Actually, the tower is what initially drew me to the plan. We are two adults in need of two home offices. The tower would be a good size for one of those spaces.

It also seems like a good solution for occupants who may stay up later/rise earlier than one another.

Yep, the garage is built (and sold) separately.

Towers are great for working alone, watching the sun rise and set, and seeing the marauding hordes before they get within range...every home needs one. Or more. I love 'em.

Love towers! (My tastes, though not budget, runs to Medieval.)

The only drawbacks are the extra wall space and requirement for separate HVAC in the two structures.Worth it to avoid cookie-cutter look?

I visited a Not-So-Big house, and while there are some things I like about this one, I don't know that it follows all the precepts. Such as, the away room is a bit TOO far away. The dining room seems to encroach too much on the kitchen (which I would have to redesign a bit). There should be view through passages, but I don't see that happening. The passage from the side entrance to the rest of the house is convoluted, it doesn't seem to flow easily.

Precepts aside, I like the center entry separating the living and sleeping sides of the house, and it's a pass-thru from front to back. The outside views and access are terrific, and good light.

This is adorable. It will be SUPER expensive to build with the floorpan essentially being a ranch (or 2!) with a ton of inner and outer corners, angles, a partial was floor, LOTs of windows, HVAC challenges that have been noted, and very little storage.

So the square footage may be "not so big", but expect the budget to be. Not a big deal if you are a cash buyer, but it's going to be a challenging appraisal if you have to get a loan.

However, on the right site, and if you are not planning to move - it could be a house that makes your heart sing. ;-)

I appreciate your thoughtful responses. Thank you!

This design is one of those which hooks one emotionally, not logically. If one is thinking logically, one will build a box with four corners. If one wants a house which refreshes the spirit and makes one excited to come home, this is certainly one of those.

Take yurs choice! :-)

How are you going to decide who gets the tower for their office?

Funny you should ask, we were just arguing about that ten minutes ago.

Concern yourself with how the house meets your criteria. Don't worry about any book.

"Happy wife, happy life" Don't forget those words.

I have mixed thoughts about this house plan ...

It's a cute house, but to me it says "vacation house". I say that because the outdoor space is great, and it's easy to see this house on the beach or the lake. Lots of connection to the outdoors.

I like the kitchen/dining area -- except that I'd take a foot off the extra-wide island, which would also allow more space between the island and the dining room table. And I like the living area with all those great windows. I don't love that you have to cross the breezeway to reach the bathroom ... seems rather fall away.

The breezeway connection is JUST a connection. I'd want it to be wider ... big enough to hold a couple chairs as an "away" seating space.

The bedrooms, however, aren't appealing at all. I'm thinking this is a house aimed at an empty nester couple, and the master bedroom is okay; it's only 11-6 x 12 ... I'm not in the camp of must-have-huge-master, but that's pretty small ... you could have a queen bed and two narrow nightstands .... the closet is nice, but note that it's ALL the storage you're getting in the master ... no space for a dresser, etc. Note, too, that they've crammed two bathroom sinks in what appears to be about a 4' vanity ... this isn't enough space to support two sinks; it'd be better to have one good sink. And you don't want a pocket door on a bathroom ... but if you go with a hinged door, it'll block the closet door, and you also don't want that.

I don't like the secondary bedrooms at all: Who wants a 12-9 x 8 bedroom? It's too narrow -- it makes me think of a cruise stateroom. And what would you do with a 9 x 9 bedroom? I'm thinking it might be used as an office with a twin bed-sized window seat in the corner. The hall bath is around the corner from both bedrooms ... not ideal.

Really, I like nothing about the bedroom /bathroom area.

The tower is great, though as I said before, this seems to be an empty nester house ... and stairs could become a problem. Note, too, that you have to go through the laundry room to reach the tower ... talk about knocking the shine off the coolest part of the house.

Why is the bedroom portion of the house set at an angle from the main house? I suppose this would vary depending upon your terrain.

What I don't see throughout the house is storage. Yeah, part of "not so big" is decluttering ... but I'm thinking that each spouse in the master would have about 5' of clothing storage ... and the people in the secondary bedrooms would have less. The master bath appears to have an 18" linen closet, and the hall bath has no storage -- not even space for a hamper. The kitchen has no pantry. The living room has no place to store movie DVDs, throws, board games and the other things that you forget you want to store.

Assuming you want a garage, where would you place it? Would you include a second breezeway? Would three little houses look odd?

It occurs to me that this would be practical if you expected to add onto the house later ... like, if you were an empty nester and needed to an actual, usable bedroom later for an adult child or a caregiver ... you could just add another little house.

And, of course, as others have pointed out, this house would be expensive to build. Lots of exterior, lots of corners, complicated plumbing and HVAC systems.

I agree with the poster who says this is a house you might like emotionally more than you 'd like to live in. Is it the tower that attracts you? Now that I've analyzed it, my feelings are no longer mixed: I think you could add that feature to a different house and be happier -- and you could make the tower big enough for two small offices.

Excellent points for consideration, thank you!

Mark, I will tell my husband you said so.

I just poked around on the plan's site of origin: http://www.perfectlittlehouse.com/designs.php

I didn't understand that his is a "little house" company. All their designs look like they belong at the beach or lake, and several others are divided into "two houses". Note that you can buy the tower alone -- I think they even had two different towers.

I don't like the secondary bedrooms at all: Who wants a 12-9 x 8 bedroom? It's too narrow -- it makes me think of a cruise stateroom.

Actually even cruise ship small staterooms are larger.

Considering a double bed is 54" x 74" that means if you put the headboard against the 12'9" wall, you'd only have only 22" to walk around the foot of the bed.

If you place the headboard against the 8' wall, that only gives you 21" on each side of the bed. Meaning a queen wouldn't even fit in the room!

There is no storage in this house. I'm all for decluttering but this house takes it to an extreme.

I agree with mrspete's excellent points.

Interesting and thoughtful criticism that all comes down to "it's too small" and, "if you have a tower, better have an elevator."

(I did hoof it up the Washington Monument when I was 18; now such risky behaviour is banned, as too many fat lazy tourists were dropping dead on the way up. How soon before stairs are banned as a health hazard in new homes?)

Based on how we live and what rooms we actually do use daily, I would need another two rooms to make this liveable for our family and we only have one child. I would need another family room and another office space. The master needs two closets. I also would not want my toilet next to the shower. The bedrooms need walk in closets. I would prefer one of the bedrooms has it's own bathroom. I would build this with a full walkout basement for storage.

Towers are great for working alone, watching the sun rise and set, and seeing the marauding hordes before they get within range...every home needs one. Or more. I love 'em.

I think this may be a common architect thing. :-) My husband had pinned several houses with towers/widow's walks/large cupolas to our first idea board and I expected these to get panned outright due to budget. Nope. The architect loved the idea and I strongly suspect I will have one if he can possibly manage it.

Interesting and thoughtful criticism that all comes down to "it's too small" and, "if you have a tower, better have an elevator."

My first house was a 2 bedroom, 2 bath house but it had what this house lacks. Room to move around in all the rooms and lots of storage, which was amazing considering it was a bungalow built in 1927.

I loved that house. Even with two young children, it lived large and if the school district had been better, we probably would have stayed in the house and expanded into the 1/2 second floor attic space. And the property was all of 40' x 100' with a 1 car detached garage.

There is nothing wrong with a small house, if it's planned out well.

Here's the house, except we hadn't replaced the windows like the new owners did (there was nothing wrong with the windows) painted that strange pink color around the windows, and we didn't have those silly lions. LOL.

I had no such comments - but I agree that it looks / feels more like a vacation house. I love the tower and since it's not a "necessary" room, if you could no longer do stairs. It's simply lacking in storage and will be $$$ for the sq footage - but if those things are not an issue for you - then go for it.

My house is pricey because it's a single level and "novel" construction. So be it. But - this kind of stuff is super important to know going in. Based on the number of "$/sq foot" posts that we see - there will be some shocks when people build spatially "inefficient" plans. Yes - they can be GORGEOUS - but every design has tradeoffs

I agree that all houses have tradeoffs but there are a few things that most would find universally important. Storage being one of them. Of course if there's room, one can add removable storage but these rooms are so small, there's not much room for removable storage either.

My feeling is if you're building a custom home to live in, not just for vacations, then you need to consider the efficiencies.

My house is pricey because it's a single level and "novel" construction.

And mine is pricy because I'm adding true custom moldings such as true 1" x 4" moldings and not 1 x 4's as an example. We all have what makes our homes special to us. That's the idea behind custom.

Storage capacity is a non-issue for us (off the top of my head, I can recall two empty cupboards and a virtually empty bedroom closet in our current 2,300 sq ft home). Nor would there be any problem with resale; homes in our community are often purchased as vacation residences, and this would be a waterfront lot. :)

Thanks again for your helpful input! We'll keep our options open, but this plan is definitely a contender.

If it is a lakefront lot, I recommend hiring a local architect to maximize the lot's potential. I am currently designing a home on a corner lot . . . the corner of Lake Michigan and a channel to an inland lake. The views are spectacular. I better not screw it up.

Which way will the house be oriented? Does the downstairs office or the living room get the view?

"A vacation house..."; ..."A common architect's thing..."; yada, yada! Look folks, you want economy and efficency? Ok, good for you! Nothing wrong with that at all.

On the other hand, you want something that excites your spirit; that you look forward to coming home to every evening, or whenever? Something which stirs your spirit and inspires you?

Vacation houses? Vacation houses are the ones which you love to spend time in because they are so invigorating and different from your four-corners, super efficient, kitchen-forum-approved, dull houses!

This plan isn't perfect. But it has inspiration and excitement and not-your-ordinary-efficient-and-predictable tract house dullness to it.

Will it fit everyone's life for 50 years? Maybe not. But, let's be frank: it's a lot more exciting and appealing than a great majority of tract homes. Really.

If it fits...go for it! If it doesn't fit...well too bad.

But don't accept mediocrity if you don't have to.

Regarding towers....

When we first met with our architect and he saw our property and we showed him things we liked and he even wanted to see some layouts I had drawn up. After all that, he got a glimmer in his eye and said, "did you ever think about a third floor tower or viewing room to take advantage of the amazing views?" Truth is I had, but I hadn't shown it to him. I thought he'd laugh at me. Well... Once he opened the door though... It was included in our original sketches. It has since morphed into something slightly different (and more useful for us). But I like it a lot! As Virgil said, this house is something we want to excite us and be fun to live in! :)

Virgil, you nailed it. And that's what we're seeking to create at this point in our lives. Quality of experience, even in the day-to-day.

As long as you go into it with your eyes open, knowing its good and it's maybe points, then you're good to go. I agree it's an interesting house and the fact it's open to nature is a big plus in my book.

Virgil - That is the best comment I have read in a long time. People are helpful in critiquing plans but much of it can be subjective or personal taste. While the plan we are going to build would have some "technical flaws" from other's prospective, it gave us a tremendous amount of excitement for the 1.5 years we have studied it.

"Don't accept mediocrity if you don't have to."

I hope you don't mind Virgil, but I'm going to use that one.