a first look
Here’s what we’re giving to the architects we’re interviewing.
Exterior front Front elevation has the appearance of a traditional farmhouse with a single gable center. Covered porch with concrete surface runs the length of the front. Garage is attached to east side of the house with openings to the east.
Exterior rear A covered screen porch is attached to the rear. Placement is not determined yet, but it should not impede access from the rear yard through the mud room. Rear porch should accommodate outdoor dining and entertaining, and be wired for sound, lights, and ceiling fan.
First floor The first floor will have arched doorways between rooms, and tall ceilings (9 foot minimum).
Entry Mainly visitors will use the front entry, but the entry foyer will contain the staircase to the second floor as the main feature. The stairs should be wide, and get wider near the bottom landing. The entry to the dining/music room will be to the right and the door to the first floor bedroom and bath on the right.
Dining room/Music roomT he space ordinarily dedicated to a formal dining room will be used for dining with guests relatively infrequently, so it will also accommodate a grand piano. Wiring for audio will allow playing along with recordings. Lighting will emphasize the piano.
First floor bedroom We plan to reserve a first floor bedroom as an accessible bedroom. We want the option to use it to allow a parent to live with us.
First floor bath We would like the first floor bath to be accessible, and offer a shower in addition the customary guest bathroom.
Family room The rear of the first floor will consist of the family room, breakfast room and kitchen as a space without walls separating the rooms. The family room space plan and lighting should accommodate the family’s play and leisure activities including watching television together, listening to music, and reading. A fireplace will serve as a focal point. Windows open on the rear yard affording a view of the rear yard and barn.
Breakfast room The breakfast room will be defined by a transition in the flooring material from the family room. The family is accustomed to dining in the kitchen area, so this room will be the primary location for meals, and will have a ‘kitchen table’ large enough for the family and one or two guests.
Kitchen The kitchen will be a basic U layout, with one leg being a ‘breakfast bar’ arrangement allowing convenient serving of a meal to one or two people, or allowing food to be set out for the family dining in the breakfast room. Sink will be in the corner where the bar meets the back wall. Directional spotlights in the ceiling will light overhead cabinets. Flooring will continue from the breakfast room. We intend to produce a separate detailed plan for the kitchen design.
Mud room/laundry The main family entrance to the house will be through the garage or through the mud room/laundry. The mud room will have storage for boots and small tack items, hooks for coat storage, and a bench to sit on while removing your boots. A sink for prewashing laundry items, and a laundry chute from the second floor; and temporary storage for unwashed laundry, hangers, laundry soap, etc. will facilitate the laundry function of the room. Flooring should be highly durable and easily cleaned.
Second floor
Master bedroom The master suite should be on the west side of the second floor and should have a view of the read yard and barn out the rear wall. There will be a walk-in closet with space for
Master bath The master bath will have a shower stall with a curtained entrance (no doors) and two showerheads. Electric radiant floor heat will be included, so the subfloor thickness should take that into account so that the finished tile floor is at the same height as the rest of the master suite.
Second floor bath The second floor bath will be a full bath shared by the children.
Miles bedroom Our son, currently age 4, will use this bedroom. It should accommodate a work area with room for a small desk, task lighting and network, phone and video connections.
Elizabeth bedroom Our daughter, currently age 1, will use this bedroom. It should accommodate a work area with room for a small desk, task lighting and network, phone and video connections.
Guest bedroom/office This bedroom will mainly be used as an office, with a desk set up. The rounded window in the front gable will give this room a view of the front yard. We may occasionally use this as a guest bedroom as well, possibly with a futon or convertible sofa to be added in the future.
Basement We want to rough in plumbing in the basement for a possible additional guest bedroom to be added in the future. A bedroom will require a second means of egress, so we want to provide a window well and escape ladder so we preserve our option of adding a basement bedroom at a later time. A basement rec room will also be added later if the budget doesn’t allow building it with the house. A large aquarium will be a focal point of the rec room, and it will be installed behind an interior wall so that the works are concealed from view. The space behind that wall will have equipment to support the aquarium, plus a sink and a rack for additional small aquariums (not for display). The main point of the equipment room will be to consolidate and conceal all the equipment necessary to support the large aquarium, so it should include substantial electrical service as well as plumbing. A basement workshop including a workbench, paint booth, and space for various large power tools will occupy part of the basement. Ideally this room would be ventilated adequately to do paint projects, and have ample electrical service for the shop tools and lights.
Driveway The driveway will enter the property at the northeast corner on the north side of the lot, and proceed in a straight line toward the rear of the property. A turnout will give access to the garage, which will open to the east. The drive will continue past the garage to allow easy access to the barn, which will be placed behind the house at a distance of 30-60 yards.
Barn The barn (size not specified yet) will house up to four horses as well as the equipment, tack, hay (possibly in a loft) and tractor plus implements. A wash stall outside the barn will allow tying off the horses while they are washed, and the wastewater will drain to the yard. Exterior and interior lighting will be provided, and a buried conduit to the house will provide for possible additional pulls of wire for video, telephone, etc.
Landscaping The lot will mostly be devoted to pasture. White, three-rail vinyl fencing is currently installed along the front of the lot (335 feet) and the west side (1250 feet). Temporary fencing (electric) will divide the lot into four sections of approximately 300×300 feet, with gates that allow rotating the horses between pastures conveniently. Counting forward from the rear of the lot, the pond is contained in the first section. The barn would ideally sit on the border of the second section, and would allow waterers for the horses to be provided. The third section will contain the house, with part of the section devoted to a traditional lawn and landscaping including trees for shade and a section of approximately ¼ acre in the rear fenced off for gardening. A hydrant in the front section will allow a horse waterer in the front section.
This elevation drawing conveys pretty well what we envision for the front of the house. The floor plan will need to be reversed from the direction shown to work with our east driveway location.
The floor plan shown conveys most of what we want to see on the first floor. We would like the footprint of the house to be a rectangle, and using ICFs will require that the footprints of all floors be the same, so we would prefer to extent the front of the first floor, and make corresponding extensions in the second floor outline.
This elevation depicts more accurately how we envision the garage attaching to the house, and is in the correct orientation. We want to wrap the porch around each corner of the front, even if we don’t extend it fully around the side.
This staircase is a configuration we would like to consider. The landing opening on to the front and rear is a detail we like.
(Fair use note: I am not building based on the included drawings, they are included as illustrative of what I intend to build. Those drawings are copyrighted by some designer somewhere.)