Two days after the engineering was complete, Mike finished up our architectural plans – design is complete!  We are so happy with the way that the house turned out.  Mike really listened to what we wanted in our house and it turned out so much better than we thought it could have ever turned out.

People always ask how big the house is.  Well, it ended up being bigger than we really wanted the house to be at 4,500 square feet (we were hoping to only build around 3,500 square feet).  The reason being is that we focused on the main level and made it exactly how we wanted it.  Then because we have a basement, the basement has to be as big as the main level…so that made our ‘secondary’ level bigger than we had intended.  (For example, if we had a second story, that level can be smaller than the main level – but we can’t do that with a basement).  For that reason, we have a lot of storage rooms downstairs that we’re really not sure what to do with (besides store Christmas supplies).  I’m sure we’ll figure it out over time though…we’ll have a lot of time to grow into the house and re-purpose spaces as needed.

Final Design – Cover Page (site plan + rendering)

Final Design – Elevation View

Final Design – Main Level Floorplan

Final Design – Lower Level Floorplan

For Version 9, there really wasn’t many changes to the main floor.  We really just discussed a few things with Mike.  We talked about changing the curved stair case to be squared off so that a window can be added downstairs in lieu of the display shelf.  Mike felt like the staircase really added some much needed architectural detail to the house.  And that it’s a key focal point to entering the basement.  Since we will be able to look over the banister to the right of the fire place in the great room to the space below, the curvature will really be something unique for us.  In the master bath we discussed adding in shelves on each side of the bathtub for storage and display.  I originally only was thinking about shelves on the side closest to the shower, but Mike reminded us how symmetrical that room is and really adding it on both sides is the only thing that would make sense.  He’s going to look into that and see if it could work for us.  We added a few more transom windows upstairs and to wrap it up we removed a portion of the deck that was covered outside.

Preliminary Design Version 9 – Main Floor

Downstairs, we added two sets of transom windows off of the main room, and we discussed storage room 1.  We’re thinking that the purpose of that room will be to store the boys’ toys and we moved the door to the other side of the room (by the bathroom)…that means increasing that space.  We also would like to at least install the stub outs for a future washer & dryer.  That way when the boys are old enough we can give them their own laundry room.  I swear that laundry is endless in our house!  Moving the door to the other side of the storage room also gives us a great usable space in the boys rec area.  In our house now we have a great art center for the boys to color, craft and create…I’m thinking that corner will be perfect for just that!

Preliminary Design Version 9 – Lower Floor

We spent the last few weeks driving around and looking at single story homes, took tons of pictures and really honed in on what we wanted for the exterior.  And Mike really delivered.  We thought that there’s really no reason for us to build as tall as what we were thinking in Version 8.  And that although we love it, the maintenance and costs would be more reasonable if the roof were lowered.  This means less of a pitch (which is better for installation and upkeep).  And although we love the look of the large single gable, splitting it into two still give us the coastal look that we’re going for.  In the back of the house, the gable over the great room was raised slightly which gave us the look we wanted on the interior of the house (so that the vaulted ceiling would be perfect).  The windows in the great room are gorgeous too!  The exterior is really looking great and I think we’ve nailed it!

Preliminary Design Version 9 – Exterior

It’s hard to see unless if you really read the details, but there’s been quite a bit of changes in the house.  We enlarged the pass through in between the kitchen and the great room to 5’ wide.  We love it now!  It still leaves us plenty of cabinetry in kitchen but really opens up the space.  The vaulted ceiling was also added to the great room – but because of the roof on the back of the house, the sloped ceilings in the great room don’t exactly line up with the walls of the room.  That’s a bit weird, and we’re definitely going to see what other options we have for that.  The office has also changed shapes…we’re really pretty flexible with the office.  We know we want to have it on the main level at the front of the house, but the shape can be pretty much anything.  As long as it can fit two desks, we’d be fine with it.  The exterior of the house is most critical at this point, so the office can morph to fit whatever we need the exterior to be.  Other details that were added to the house was transom windows above the doorways and windows of the main floor.  We both love the look of transom windows and are excited that we can incorporate them into our house design.

Preliminary Design V8 – Main Floor

In the basement we decided to recess cabinetry under the stairs to really increase the amount of counter space and storage that the bar has.  We also tweaked the shape of some of the unheated storage spaces.  In the unheated storage room 3 we added a possible space for a tech closet.  We’ll need to discuss the exact space for that with an audio/video expert.  For now, at least it reminds us that we’ll need to put it somewhere in the house.

Preliminary Design V8 – Lower Level

The exterior is really where we saw some significant changes happening in Version 8. The roofline was really heightened to create one large gable and one smaller gable.  I actually really love the way that this exterior is looking.  It’s a shingle style with a lot of coastal details and really adds a lot of height to the front of the house.  But now is it too tall?  I feel like goldilocks…the first is too small, this might be too high, we need one that’s just right!

Preliminary Design V8 – Elevation

Preliminary Design V8 – Exterior Perspectives

So that we could really understand the roofing, Mike provided us with a roof plan.  And I’m glad that he did!  It gave us a good grasp on how the roof lines all fit together.  This was especially important for us on the back of the house where the two gables are so closely spaced.  We definitely think that rearranging that a bit may give us a better interior ceiling line.

Preliminary Design V8 – Roof Plan