This house was a challenge. It was designed with the other template homes originally for The Waters in Alabama. This design address one of my biggest pet peeves; that many home plans take up the entire lot and leave next to no private outside space. It's what I call the 'Cat In The Bed Syndrome'. There's plenty of room on the lot to fit everything needed to hit the 'sweet spot', but many designs just sit on the lot like a cat in the bed, right in the middle leaving no room for anything else.
So what I did here was make sure the front porch allowed the house to be placed right up to the build-to line. This maximizes the amount of porch area without pushing the main house back which would waste precious building area. It seems simple, but I was surprised how often this happened in the real world. The next step was to keep the house from getting too long because that would eat up all the back yard space, or yield an awkwardly shaped space that is mostly unusable. As a dog lover and grill master I want enough space in the back yard to run around with the pooch and send up some smoke signals with the Weber. I don't need a lot of space, but a postage stamp sized bit of green simply isn't enough.
With those parameters set I then went after the sweet spot in the market. Every house had to have three bedrooms, two baths, powder room, large kitchen, and the holy grail; a five fixture master bath. As a template home I put in some conversation starters in the plan. You quickly learn that the architect is always wrong when it comes to certain things, like washer dryer location. If you put them upstairs it's wrong because the work at home family doesn't want to climb the stairs all day long to do the laundry. If you put them downstairs it's wrong because now all the laundry generated upstairs has to be dragged downstairs. I had the upstairs laundry before and can say without question I prefer it downstairs, but in this plan I've made space for either location. There is my preferred under-counter washer and dryer in the kitchen which affords extra counter space and there is also a closet upstairs which can fit a full sized stacked washer and dryer.
In this version of the plan I have a double porch. The porch access is at the top of the stairs so everybody can enjoy the space. I also left enough room for a mini-bar up there. The upper porch is a great place for sundowners and I'd hate to have to head downstairs for a refill. Also upstairs there is room in the central hall for a computer desk which can help stave off fights between siblings and frees up space in the kids rooms for other things, like beds. If I were a kid these days I'd want one of those loft beds with a desk below, but that's just me.
I have a couple different kitchen layouts for this plan, but I've shown the one I would build for myself. Lots of counter space, vegetable sink on the island, built-in double door refrigerator near the vegetable sink that has a clear circulation path to the living room. I don't want rowdy sports fans to disrupt the action in the kitchen when grabbing another beverage from the fridge during commercial breaks. There's a walk-through pantry between the kitchen and the dining room that provides extra storage and a place to display the china and keep the flatware.
I've shown a back porch off the living room which I would have screened. Certain times during the year the front porch will be the place to be, other times it might be cooler on the back porch. Having a screened area back there provides a private space for the family free of mosquitos and other pests. This can be as big or as small as needed, but I've drawn it here as a place for mom and dad to stay in the shade and keep an eye on things while the kids and dogs play in the back yard.
Perhaps the hardest part of this design was creating a plan with this much livability while providing a attractive and thrifty façade. Take a look at the window arrangements and alignments. It all works and there are no fake shutters or extra windows to buy to make it work. There are still opportunities to save money, as well as the option of adding more windows if desired. The intent, however, is to provide a design that meets all the demands of a modern family in a smaller envelope without adding expense needlessly. Hopefully the money saved can be put to better use. Maybe some better quality finishes, or some additional detail on the exterior.
I hope you like it.
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