The House Design is Getting Very Close
Posted on | September 14, 2008 |
Front 3/4 view of treehouse
We met with Monica tonight to review the latest designs. Among them, was a revised two story plan, a three story model based on the previous layout and this new gem. Basically, it takes the three story layout we loved before, and adds a half floor at the base of the ridge for easy entry into the house via a mud room. There’s also storage there for all of my bikes (I own just a few…) and a staircase that spills us into the great room by the wood stove.
Monica also changed the third floor back to a master bedroom with the entire south side flanked in glazing and a walk out deck. This provides a HUGE walk in closet, lots of storage and the most amazing master bedroom I’ve ever seen. The view from this room will be positively stunning.
The only downside to this layout is that the girls will need to share a room again, but it’s 12×15, they’ll have a big 6×6 closet and there’s still plenty of away spaces for them to enjoy on their own.
It also means that the main floor will be pretty much entirely open from one side to the other, making this one of the greatest family/entertaining spaces ever, with the potential for privacy when we need it. It can also be converted for single floor living.
Side elevation
Outside the main entrance is a covered wood storage area, for easy access to the upstairs wood boxes. This could also easily be extended into a garage at some point in the future. The back wall where the wood box and stove are located will be concrete or maybe tile and will be a passive solar collector wall (sort of a Trombe wall effect) and will aid in the solar heat dispersion at night.
The thing we love about this layout is that the house truly takes advantage of the interesting landscape features. The little section of roof that pops up to allow more headroom over the stairs is also stunning and will let an incredible amount of light into the master bedroom in the morning.
Board showing all floor plans and mockups
The exterior of the house is modern, without being stark or cold, and it loses the ‘motel’ feel that it could have had due to the dominant symmetry. We’re also told that the flat sloped roof is relatively inexpensive compared to other shapes. Monica is envisioning a metal roof. We saw a beautiful copper roof in Port Williams this afternoon that really blew our minds. I’ll post a photo of this later.
Please let me know what you think of the current direction. Post a comment, or drop me an email. The next stage for us is to view a few more interior drawings, look at some sample material lists and then we can begin to meet with builders to get preliminary estimates. We’re also looking forward to meeting with contractors at the home show next month.
One last thing: all house design work that is seen on this site is © 2008, Monica Sweetapple.
Comments
6 Responses to “The House Design is Getting Very Close”
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September 15th, 2008 @ 6:53 am
Beautiful design! However, I think that girls sharing a room might turn ugly real fast… Something to think about.
September 15th, 2008 @ 8:10 am
They already do share a room and love it, so I’m not sure that it will be a big problem. We had really want each of them to have their own rooms, but I think this is a reasonable compromise.
September 15th, 2008 @ 9:55 am
I think I know exactly the house you’re talking about in Port Williams. I love that copper roof! Your new home is looking gorgeous.
September 15th, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
So cool. Looks great!
September 16th, 2008 @ 9:04 pm
My sister and I shared a room until I was in Jr High and we still love each other! :o) Besides, if you start of ‘perfect’, you have nowhere to improve! Looks FABulous.
September 16th, 2008 @ 9:05 pm
And by ‘of’ I mean ‘off’ :oP