Plans - Draft #1

They're HERE!!!!

The 1st draft of our house plans arrived in my email last week. To be honest, it took me a few minutes to actually open the email. I had mistakenly thought we'd also be getting the cost of the house with the plans but the cost won't be determined until the plans have been finalized. Totally understandable now that I think about it, but I was a little terrified of seeing the number this soon (even though I REALLY want to know what it's going to cost). We are praying it starts with one of two numbers and if I see a number that isn't one of those I might cry.

I expected the first draft to need a LOT of changes, especially since I wasn't able to attending the meeting on site with the designer/builder (and 92% of the design is in my hands - Nick is a SAINT!!). Let's just say, there's going to be a whole lot of changes between draft #1 and #2. We know now where our designer/builder is coming from and now it's time for us to show him where we are coming from.

Without further ado:

Elevation

Details of Draft #1: 

• Carport on left (may turn into a garage, money permitting)
• The 2 left windows on the first floor are kitchen windows
• The 3rd window on the first floor is in the living area
• The window to the far right is in the guest bedroom
• Second story windows go into kid bedrooms
• Second story tiny window is in kids bathroom
• First floor keeps the concrete on the outside of the house
• Second story has wood siding on the outside of the house
• Side view shows first and second story porches

First thought from me: meh, so bored. Honestly, I pretty much emphatically hated this at first sight. Now that I've had about 24 hours to mull it over, and talk with Nick, I don't hate it as much but I sure as hell am bored with it. It lacks personality, depth, character, etc. 

First thought from Nick: he didn't hate it as much as I did. He reminded me that with landscaping, shutters, etc. it'll look much better. 

Updates we are making to Draft #1: 

• Extend wood siding, in a dark slate blue color, over the entire house
• Kitchen windows: add cedar shutters
• Living room window: extend to full length window and add cedar shutters
• Guest bedroom window: extend to full length window and add cedar shutters
• Front porch: enlarge to accommodate either a larger door cased by windows or a double entry door; raise front porch roof to make presence bigger
• Trim: white
• Second story windows: TBD depending on if we move bedrooms upstairs; I want the windows to look symmetrical though
• Add a window in the second story attic (top right) to create symmetry on front of house (Nick nixed this suggestion because it would probably add too much $$)
• Side view: there are two windows missing on first floor
• Second story porch will be nixed if budget is too high (I really love the look though so I'm hoping we can keep it)

First Floor

Details of Draft #1 (keep in mind the dimensions the first floor is 2,300 square feet): 

• Top left room will be the only bathroom downstairs but it will be a full bath with either a shower or shower/tub combo
• Bottom left room will be the pantry
• Hallway between bathroom and pantry will go to the carport (or garage)
• Kitchen cabinets: lower cabinets along bottom wall; we will not have upper cabinets - we will be using open wood/steel shelving
• Kitchen misc.: stove will be along lower wall; fridge will be on wall of pantry along with upper and lower cabinets; rectangular kitchen island
• Open space to the right of kitchen will be the living area
• Wall next to bathroom will be a dry bar
• Next to dry bar will be a table that seats 12-14
• 3 windows next to dining table
• Open space to the right of the dining area will have a piano / bear rug
• Entry way will be open to the ceiling of the second story
• Staircase to second story will be L-shaped
• Top right room will be the laundry / craft / gun safe room 
• Bottom right room will be a guest room / office
• Cove between guest room and laundry room will have a bookshelf or something similar
• Large porch off top wall (wall of dining area / piano area)

First thought from me: well honestly, there isn't really much that can be changed on the first floor since all the walls are basically unmovable (unless you want to pay boat loads of dollars to demolish solid concrete and rebar, no thanks). There's a couple of tweaks, but overall I am pretty content with the first floor. 

First thought from Nick: overall happy

Updates we are making to Draft #1: 

• Close off outside doors to pantry and bathroom
• Add in bathroom items (toilet, shower, sink, etc.)
• Enlarge island and center with kitchen cabinets on lower wall
• Add farmhouse sink to island
• Move stove to bottom wall
• Middle dining room window will be turned into french doors that will open out onto porch
• Add fireplace to living room
• Add built-ins to living room (might be added at a later date to keep costs low)

Second Story

Details of Draft #1: 

• Far right will be unfinished attic space that we can, at a later date, finish out into more bedrooms, office, storage, etc.
• Entry way open from the bottom
• Large open space closest to the stairwell is a rec room
• Large room on top left is master bedroom
• Bottom left is master bathroom and then the master closet
• Two bedrooms with a bathroom to share

First thought from me: I mostly like it but I feel like something is just missing. The open rec area just seems MASSIVE and might be wasted space. We've talked briefly about adding in a smaller room to use as a workout room but we haven't decided 100% on that yet. 

First thought from Nick: He agreed that it didn't flow right and the rec space was just too big.

Updates we are making to Draft #1: 

• Rotate kids bedrooms so that one will be along wall of entry way, bathroom will be in the corner and the other bedroom will be closer to the master closet (allowing for a jack and jill bathroom) 
• Enlarge master closet
• Add double doors to master
• Add door to master bathroom
• Add built in desks to kids room (might be added at a later date to keep costs low)
• Decrease size of rec room