Kitchen Island

One of the changes we are deciding on is whether to make a single, oversized kitchen island (instead of the two smaller ones with less walking room).  We'd like it to be something like this (note, scale is a bit off):

Iterative changes

We continue to refine plans as we detail each room.  Here is the latest iteration of 1st and 2nd floor plans.  Various changes, but most notably Kitchen island, Deck stairs, Attic stairway access, among various other smaller changes.

1st Floor

2nd Floor

Basement

Here is our draft plan for the basement.  The first picture is a replica of the plans with the load bearing foundation walls.  The second plan is the draft of how we'd ultimately like to finish it.  Truth is, it will probably be many years before we do that, so it will be unfinished for now.  But we need to know where to put in plumbing, move load bearing locations, etc. before the foundation is built.

Original:

Proposal:

And we are off...

Plans just arrived, and with that, we are off to the races!  These plans still need to be modified by our architect, but we have all our changes meticulously listed out and will be meeting with them and getting that complete in the next couple weeks in time for first round of bids to get placed.

Besides that, we have been working nightly to put together our comprehensive plan details including room by room finishing decisions, as well as our schedule outline and timeline in preparation for October.

Oh, and it just so happens, I called and met our new neighbor who also acted as their own General Contractor and built their house... how convenient is that! :)

Let there be light!

Ok, so the wife convinced me that having a double decker is going to block too much of her precious light :) So we'll see if we can compromise a bit, and do something like below using steal beams for a cantilever and put a smaller (maybe 3-4 foot depth deck) out the master.  Meeting with the architect for official plan changes in the next couple weeks, so we'll see what can be done, otherwise might have to give up on that idea :(

Also, need to figure out where the stairs may go, and not be too obtrusive from inside windows.  Currently thinking a wrap around starting in front of the family, or maybe a straight out door from the covered deck (use your imagination on the black lines in the photo :).  Could also do a wrap around from the covered deck, but that would probably jet out toward the french drainage, so would like to avoid that.

Land

Getting excited, drove by the other day to walk the property.  Found it rather difficult given all the over growth and spider webs I kept walking into :)

Exterior

We are working through the details of our exterior, and this is our current thinking...

This is a picture of an Ansley Cottage built by another builder:

And here is my poor attempt to photoshop the grey-style veneer we are thinking about using:

Now, if we really want to get crazy (although this is much less likely given budget) we might get crazy with the back deck :) 

Original Rear Elevation:

And my terribly photoshopped double decker:

Details, details, details...

The next couple weeks are going to be crazy busy as we scramble to get together all our house details, at least enough to be able to make any modifications we'll need to take to the architect.  The final designs will most likely be different, but here are just a couple of things we are looking at for inspiration.

Family room coffers (not that deep).

Family room window (oversized and plain, but not 2 stories as show here since our room will only be 10.5 feet high).  This should give us an awesome view of our sloping wooded backyard.

Master Bedroom vaulted ceiling coffers (plain but accented with dark stain).

Better Draft of 2nd Floor Modifications

Because I can't help myself, I went ahead and modified the original 2nd floor plan in photoshop to look like what we did on graph paper...

Draft Survey and Reversed Plans

Here is a draft survey of the land with the location of house, septic and well.  This might change, give us an idea.

These draft plans are also more accurate since I've reversed them to better accommodate the land.

1st floor

2nd floor

2nd floor modifications

House Plans

We've known the house plans we've wanted for awhile now, but we've sketched out some modifications to the 2nd floor to make the master bedroom much bigger and have a laundry room there as well.

Here are the rough original plans with finished square footage (will also have a full unfinished walk-out basement).

1st Floor	1744 sq. ft.
2nd Floor	1551 sq. ft.
Bonus Apt.	443 sq. ft.
Total	3738 sq. ft.

1st Floor

Original 2nd Floor

Rough sketch of modifications of 2nd floor:

And the 3+ acres wooded property it will be on (red line boundaries):

The Journey Begins...

Or I should say continues :) We bought the property in 2008 looking to build quickly afterward.  3 boys and 1 job change later, I think our family is finally ready.  We just started organizing and getting everything together.  Our general timeline for building will be like this:

• August - Pre-construction details complete, get initial bids, etc.
• September - Calls go out to finalize loans, permits, finalize bids, etc.  Any activities that need a lot of lead time (e.g. Well advanced scheduling)
• October - Final preparations, onsite discussions for excavation, clearing, temporary utilities, etc. in preparation to start mid-to-end October.

We anticipate building from end of October to about June or there abouts, just in time for our 4 year old to start school in the new place.