Today we are so excited to share with you (for the 2nd time) the initial plans that the architects drew up! After our first design was WAY over budget, Chris and I went to work designing a new home. If you remember from our last post, we spent a lot of time trying to figure out a new design that stayed within our budget AND still looked cool. Here are a few things we considered:

1. More square footage needed to be taken away
2. The middle vaulting with all the windows would probably need to go 🙁
3. The window package needed to be reduced
4. Limit new concrete and footings to be poured

Here’s a picture of the first design that came in over budget:

So where do we reduce square footage? The answer stuck out to us, like it sticks out from the house…the bump out had to go!

Was that possible? After a call to our contractor, we found out that it would be relatively easy to take off the bump out. With 650 square feet plus another 650 square feet of basement, that is 1,300 square feet gone! Woo-hoo! Not only did that take away square footage, it also took away the extra wide trusses needed to cover that expanse.

We also wanted to take away any unnecessary concrete and footings to pour. New footings were going to be poured for the entryway plus space was going to be added between the entryway and garage. The space was going to be Chris’ shop, which would have been even more extra concrete. Sorry, Chris, we’ll have to figure out another place to put your shop.

When we met with the architects, we explained all the changes we wanted. Minus the garage, the house would now be just one big rectangle. How could we keep it from being just a big square with a roof? We liked the idea of a long dormer across the roof. It breaks up that space and doesn’t make the roof seem so big. The architects took our ideas and combined them with theirs. We were so excited when they presented us with three initial designs. Of course, all of them are basic conceptual designs. Details and changes will be made to whichever design we want to move forward on.

Here they are!!

Design #1

This design is the one I thought I’d like the most. It is the idea we gave to the architects. It has the dormers we had asked for. The dormers don’t quite fill the space like we had imagined. There is still so much roof! It might look better with bigger dormers but then we are cutting into the trusses so much that we might as well keep the original middle vaulting. That would probably put us over budget again!

We like how the dormer looks on the garage and also how the fireplace stands on a gabled side of the roof. (For novices like me, a gable is a point :))

Design #2

This design gives the house a more modern farmhouse feel. The gables look great. We like how the front door sits nicely in one of the gables. The fireplace does not sit on a gabled roof though. Do you like that? This design comes close but something still feels off about it. The garage dormer still looks nice but without another dormer, does it tie into the house well enough?

Design #3

This design is very similar to design #2. The only difference is that they designed a dormer on the fireplace side to give it more of a gabled appearance. We do like the gable, but is it cohesive with the rest of the house? Is the fireplace gable cohesive with the garage dormer?

Along with each design came a slightly different floor plan based on where windows and gables fell. As we think of which exterior we want, we also need to keep in mind how that would affect the interior floor plan. (We’ll be sharing more about the interior floor plan soon!)

The second time through doesn’t make it any easier. So many decisions to make! We like elements from each design. We’ll need to pick our favorite design and add/delete things to really make it the home we’re working so hard to get started on. Which one do you like best?

Till next time…