Designing a house

Flynn, Sally and anyone who has built a home.....

I'm hoping you have some advice to share on homebuilding. Where do you begin when it comes to designing a home?

I have looked through 1000's of house plans over the past 6 months and have yet to find anything that I really love. Our builder wants to put us in touch with his architect, but we've been blowing him off because we just don't know exactly what we want. The architect charges per sq. ft. and does not charge extra to make changes unless the structure is completely altered.

I've been saving pictures from magazines of architectural details that I like and have a very vague idea of what I want the floorplan to be....is that enough to get started with the architect? I just don't want to start on the design and then halfway through decide that I want something completely different. I'm hesitant to get started until we have a firm grasp on what we want, but if we wait until then the house will never be built.

What helped you in deciding on the style, layout, etc...?

[Flynn]

Re: Designing a house

First, looking around at floor plans is really helpful. PRINT the ones you kind of like so you can bring them to the architect when necessary and say, "we like this but can you flip flop this and make this bigger/smaller etc.

I used magazines for style but even more helpful than that was saving pictures of real estate websites. It was free and I could save a million dollar kitchen at the click of a button. When we built our house I had over 50 pictures of rooms I liked FOR EACH ROOM. It was REALLY easy to say I want a cross between this picture and that picture -- make it happen.

I also used a decorator. She was VERY helpful on the tough stuff like paint, alternative counter top surfaces that were LESS expensive, and furniture. She also helped with the floor plan and a few additions like a laundry chute, and custom tile for the fireplace.

We found our floorplan online and tweaked it.

Here are some questions that will REALLY send you down the right path (if you can answer them)...

• How many levels?
  Basement or no?
  How many bedrooms for your family including the MB?
  Do you want a guest room?
  Laundry room on main floor or upper floor?
  Do you need/want a mud room/ locker area because you live in a four season place and want to manage the clutter of coats and boots?
  Where will the guest room be (what level)?
  Master bedroom on main floor or upper floor?
  Dining room -- yes or no.
  Do you want an eat in kitchen/great room combo or something less open?
  How many car garage?
  Do you drive into your garage straight or is the garage turned (need a bigger lot generally for this one).

I'd get these questions nailed down first before you worry about street appeal. The structure of the house will be based on how you lay it out inside. Tweaking the outside to look a certain way is easier than getting the interior right IMO.

When we were building I knew a few things up front. I wanted the master bedroom on the same level as the kids. I didn't want to hustle up the stairs for years when someone had a fever or a cough AND I didn't want to sacrifice living space for a master bedroom I loved -- which would have happened had we done a MB on the main floor.

We wanted a three car garage but one that was turned. Too many of the plans we saw was 80% garage from the street it seemed. I felt like I would be saying "welcome to my garage...the house is in there somewhere."

We wanted a great room/eat in kitchen that flowed together and we did not want a living room. We did want a dining room however. Our house has a modern floor plan with traditional spaces.

I wanted a butler's pantry.

With all these "I want, I don't want" there were limited ways to lay out the house. Honestly it wasn't that hard at all. Maybe I'd just been thinking about it for the ENTIRE LENGTH of training or maybe I'm just a little bit good at this kind of thing.

Style is MUCH easier once you have a floorplan you love.
You can almost "picture" the space!

I could write ten more pages so if you have any more questions...ask away!! I hope this is helpful and not too vague. We had a great experience and I LOVE our house. Let me know if there is anyway I can help!

Re: Designing a house

Thanks, Flynn! From the advice you've given, it sounds like DH and I are at least starting off on the right track. We plan to begin the design process sometime in late winter/early spring and that should give us a year before we break ground.....although having a full year just means I have way too much time to change my mind.

The poa is pretty strict about some things...side-entry garages only, sq ft requirements, etc....so I'm sure their guidelines will help to narrow down some of our choices. Our builder also has an interior designer on his team who will hopefully be holding my hand through the whole process.

I'm sure I'll be sending lots of questions your way as we move forward. After 3 years, I STILL haven't been able to decide on window treatments for our living room so this whole process is overwhelming to me.

Thanks, again!

[mommax3]

Re: Designing a house

Flynn is WAY ahead of me on this one, but from my limited experience thus far, I would echo what she has said, and add the following: if there are home shows in your area with homes in the price range you will be building, GO. I am much better at knowing what I like/don't like when I see it already built, as opposed to seeing it in a house plan. Also, if you know others who have built, ask questions....what are they happy with, what did they not enjoy, what would they do differently, etc. That is what we are doing now. I am excited about having the house FINISHED, but I am a little wary about the process at this point.....I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Sally