More Green Lights and Fewer Detours

When I heard the word traffic, the first thing that came to mind when I was a kid were traffic lights and fighting over the window seat with my brother. As a house design professional and dad, driving in traffic seems to have gotten worse, but the term traffic has taken on another meaning too. I have seen countless house designs and built several homes and a home’s traffic pattern is a big part of the design process. One of the most important aspects when building your home is making an efficient home traffic pattern. This is simply the way you travel from one room to another inside your home. One example is the way you move from the kitchen to the family room or from the living room to the master bedroom. The flow of traffic when you travel between rooms should be organized.

Most of us buy a house for it is more convenient sometimes to just move rather than build one which would take months. Only when you live inside will you realize how bad the traffic pattern is. These are built in cement and will be expensive to make adjustments if you have to tear it down. If you are working with a budget what you can do is just remove or adjust some doors to make a more convenient traffic flow.

Consider Your Lifestyle
A house with a family of three kids and a dog will demonstrate a very different traffic pattern than a home with a retired couple. It’s best to ask a few questions before jumping into any concreted house plan decisions. Do kids go directly to their rooms after school? Do you go to the master bedroom or the home office most of the time during the day? Do guests have to travel the entire house before they reach the powder room? Can you take the groceries to the kitchen without having to cross the living room? There shouldn’t be any frequent crisscrossing in any one of the rooms. If you have a big family, you may have experienced a pile up that is similar to traffic in the highway which could sometimes be unsafe especially while bringing hot or pointed stuff within the kitchen or to and from the garage. Remember that your goal is to avoid house designs requiring occupants to struggle passing from one area to another.

Consider Your Budget
Older home often have multiple hallways and designated formal and informal rooms. Besides today’s more relaxed lifestyle at home, there is also a significant cost to these formal rooms – from construction to property taxes and heating/cooling. Do you really need that formal living room and formal dining room? More often than not, the answer I get is “no.” So say hello to more informal, open spaces and goodbye to stuffy rooms and dark hallways. Open spaces make the room feel larger and allow multiple ways to access the kitchen for example. Below is a fine example of a house plan blueprint that lives up this present-day thinking.

Don’t Forget About the Details
You know what they say, “the devil is in the details.” Well, check your house plans and make sure that stairs are accessible to family rooms and kitchens. See how convenient the bathrooms are to the bedrooms and their occupants’ needs. Map out your family’s activity for a full day and see where heaviest traffic happens. These details will help you asses if a house plan is right for you – and eventually even where to move furniture for an effective traffic pattern.

Just remember: investing a bit of time into a house plan’s traffic pattern will save you years of minor headaches once you move in. I just wish I could say the same thing about my commute to work.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

I just added to The Plan Collection. These plans were special because they offer full Mother In-Law Apartments, but why would you want or need a separate apartment within your home?

At some point in time, everyone has experienced the chore of entertaining the overbearing house guest. Whether it’s the visiting mother-in-law, a dead-beat friend who’s down on his luck, or even the occasional college student taking a break from her studies, it’s never fun to share your limited living space for long periods of time. It’s especially hard sharing a kitchen and bathroom with said guests. Even the best of friends and family can grow tiresome after awhile. I think Benjamin Franklin put it best when he eloquently penned the words, “Fish and visitors smell in three days.”

You never know when they will drop in, and you never know how long they will stay, but it’s always a good idea to have room to house your guests. It’s even better if you can provide them with a fully-furnished living area with a bathroom and a kitchen. Even if those areas aren’t used very often, an in-law suite will definitely cause your home’s value to skyrocket.

So, if you’re looking for house plans with an in-law suite, The Plan Collection should be your first stop! Check em out!

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

17869 exterior

In these tough times, many are faced with hard choices. One choice in particular for empty nesters is staying in a house too large or downsizing. Today we are featuring a top selling plan many have chosen to solve their dilemma.

Plan 17869 is a 2,271 square foot design that offers many “large home” amenities in a smaller footprint.

This craftsman style home has a quaint covered porch to enjoy cool evening breezes. Walking through the front entrance leads you into a spacious great room with a high vaulted ceiling. This room has a media center on the same wall as a gas fireplace. That way one can enjoy the beauty of a fireplace and watch television at the same time.

3-d rendering of Great Room

The great room leads to the eating area and well appointed kitchen. Though downsized, this area offers a lot of comfort without a lot of walking.

17869 kitchen photo

Off the center of the house you have a luxurious master suite separated from the other two bedrooms. The master bedrooms suite has two walk in closets and large bath from for “his” and “her” space.

Lastly, this design has a first floor laundry room close to the master bedroom suite for convenience.

In total, this design offers empty nesters a great solution to these tough times to save money. If you like more information, feel free to click this link. House plan 17869

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

Well, the football season is finally upon us.  Everyone is getting ready for the big games.  The teams look healthy and ready to get on the gridiron.  I could spend all day trying to be an analyst of how the season will turn out but I’m writing this blog about houses.  More specific, I’m writing about houses that would be great to watch the football games.

House plan CD 2805 is the first floorplan that I would include on my Super Bowl party place list.  I like this plan because of the open spacing in the family room and kitchen area.  You could fit a big HD TV the fireplace and it would be seen from all angles.  The deck outside the nook is perfect for halftime.  You could head out there and catch some fresh air, that is if it is warm enough to be outside.  If you wanted to get extra stylish you could set up a TV in the upstairs bonus room and then you could have the game going on one side of the room and a nice view from the balcony on the other.  This home actually has two party locations.

I know you wouldn’t build a house just so you could watch football for part of the year so I was looking for a home that could be of use the other seasons too.  NDG-769 may just be your answer.  This plan has an open area much like the CD 2805 plan but it also has 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.  It is a home that could suit almost any family.

The main party features of this home are another big great room and a kitchen that is mostly exposed to the TV viewing area.  The exterior of this plan is perfect for a pre-game barbecue.  The big grilling porch is a place to converse and cook during any downtime.  There is lots of space around the house that could be occupied by people that want to get together but could care less about football.  You know there is always at least one person that complains the whole time during the game.  This home has a secluded living room on the front that divides them from the rest of the group so everyone can stay happy.

The grilling porch is right next to the action

There are probably lots more plans that would make for great football viewing.  If you take some time right now you could have the perfect home for viewing.  A good choice now could have you being the perfect host and then you don’t have to go to the hassle of heading over to another house every game.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

As usual, I was looking through house plans and I found one that jumped out at me.  This time it was house plan NDG-715.  It’s a bigger country style house plan with a huge wraparound porch on the outside.  I was mostly drawn to the plan by the big porch.  I have always dreamed of having a big porch and this is the biggest one I’ve seen yet.  You could do so many things with a porch like this one.

When I was younger, all the neighborhood kids used to meet up at the house on the corner to play.  We would spend hours creating stories and playing them out.  I have lots of memories at that house.  One of the things that we spent a lot of time on was building ramps to jump on our bikes and skateboards.  That was my favorite pastime as a child.  The best was the year that the family decided to add on to the rear of the house and had a big pile of dirt sitting in their yard all summer.  We packed that down and had a couple dirt jumps that were ridden at all hours of the day, everyday.

We were always looking for the next big thrill and one day we noticed that we had never built any ramps around their porch.  We built a ramp that lead up on their porch and then we had a jump that dropped off the porch on the other side.  We thought this was a great thrill until it started to rain and the ramps that were exposed became too slippery to use anymore.  We decided to modify our course a little.  Instead of jumping off the porch, we laid two pieces of plywood next to each other in the corner and we had a jump that took us around the corner and we could continue riding under the protection of the porch.

The revolution of a covered skate park was a big hit.  We were so proud of ourselves.  Now we could ride on our ramps whenever we wanted, rain or shine.  We continued making porch skateparks for years after that.  My friends and I have all grown up now but I still drive by every once in a while and see the younger neighborhood kids playing out on that storied porch.  The legacy of the first all porch skate park will live on for years, I believe.

I bring this up because NDG-715 could be just like that.  With all the space that this porch has, the kids would have an limitless amount of creative space.  Maybe they won’t be making jumps on your porch but there are lots more adventures that can be explored under the cover of a porch.  If you don’t have any kids and just want a place to relax this porch still works for you.  A big swing could be placed either on the front or rear of the house and you could pass the summer evenings watching the sunset and nature do its thing around you.

The house house has lots of open living space on the inside.  There is a two car garage on the side of the home, as well.  I think this could be a realistic dream home for me.  My family would be able to live comfortably and it isn’t just filled with things that look cool but has no use.  I thought this would be a nice plan for you to look at, both to remember the good old days of childhood spent with your friends and to see the great memories that could be yours in this house. Enjoy.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

It’s been a long time since I wrote last.  Last week was a wild week.  There was a lot of running around and I never could find time to write any blog posts.  But, I’m back this week, rested and ready to continue this search for the latest and greatest house plan news.  Let’s sit down and get to it.

Eldredge Manor is a beautiful Victorian style reception center

I was recently looking around to find a good place where we could have a luncheon for a wedding coming up.  We considered a lot of different places but we had our heart set on a Victorian manor from the later 1800′s.  I know we were there to plan out our wedding luncheon but you can’t send someone like me there without me checking out the architecture side of the place.  The exterior was very pretty but I loved the inside even more.  The building used to be a large Manor owned by a prominent family.  The family room was expanded to make room for a ball room and there was an additional made on the side to house the luncheon area.  The middle of the home was left in its original form and most of the woodwork and other decorations have gone unchanged.  I tend to learn towards the looks of modern design but this house caught my attention.  There was something about the layout and decor of the home that I liked.

Victorian house plans may not be as bad as I previously thought.  I always pictured them as a haunted house up on the hill.  I was left surprised when I saw that the owner of the manor had mixed modern technology with olden styling.  I started thinking to myself, “maybe I’ve been pinning Victorian houses all wrong this whole time.”  I gained a new respect for the Victorian style.  I am sure it will be the same for you if you put any biased ideas aside and really give them a chance.  As always, I’ll let you do your own research and check out some Victorian house plan options that you have.  You might be surprised how great these house plans really are.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

When one gets older it is almost inevitable that they will end up needing a wheelchair at some point or another.  Once in a wheelchair, they realize how hard it is to get around the house with a couple extra inches of chair on both sides.  It is times like these that you wish you had planned ahead and had a more user-friendly floor plan.

Designers are incorporating wheelchair accessibility more and more into their house plans.  The great thing about wheelchair accessibility is that it really doesn’t stick out.  You can have a wheelchair accessible home that looks just like any other home but it will give you a lot fewer headaches if there is ever a need to be in a wheelchair.  A little long term planning right now will pay off when you do encounter a wheelchair situation.

The Catalina house plan is a good plan to use to learn exactly what you would need in a wheelchair accessible home.  One of the first things you see about this house plan is that there are no stairs.  Stairs in a floor plan mean having to lift the chair up them and carry it down them.  It is really just a lot of unnecessary effort.  Not even the front porch is raised on this plan.  There is zero vertical movement required in this home design.  This floor plan also has open space and wider doors.  It has been said that a wheelchair will need at least 36″ wide doors so you can maneuver through the opening.  With a quick modification of the doorway you can make this house plan work for you.  One idea to help you have a more wheelchair friendly doorway is to have a pocket door installed like the door to the walk in closet in the master suite.

The height difference is also something to take into account when designing a wheelchair accessible house. Counter heights and sink accessibility are two things that are affected by the height of a person sitting in a wheelchair.  There can be other factors so be sure to figure it all out before you start constructing.  The most important thing in wheelchair accessible home design is planning.  Plan ahead and find the house plan that works the best for your situation.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

We are going to look at a style of home that is overlooked a lot of the time.  There are plans out there that let you house a family member that needs a little extra assistance but what happens when you get older?  Eventually, all of us will get older and the kids will all grow up and move out.  What do you do when you wake up one morning and realized you are left with a big house and no one but you and your spouse to live in it?  This is when it’s time to start looking at Transitional House Plans.

Transitional house plans aren’t a real house plan design style per se.  Transitional homes are house plans that have been designed for those transitioning years after the family leaves.  They are generally a smaller design with easy access to all the main living spaces.  Many of the times, these plans come in a single story floor plan so you don’t have to fight going up and down stairs all day.  The transitional house plan has lots of features to make life a little easier for you, now that you don’t always have to be thinking about a handful of people.  The houses are stylish designs without being too big.  They could be just what you need to make your years of transition easier.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

For the most part, all the passive solar house plans that you see are contemporary in design.  They feature crisp lines and look very unique.  That is a great style but not everyone that is looking into a passive solar house wants a contemporary house plan.  There are still a few different options out there.  Floor plan LS-H-9702 shows what other things you can do with a passive solar designed house plan.

The outside of LS-H-9702 features a rustic charm, much like a cabin house plan.  The exterior will allow you to keep it simple or decorate it to your own taste.  The interior of the home follows in the path of the exterior.  The floor plan allows you to design your own dream home.  The big living room can be styled in many different ways, taking advantage of the wood stove.  Wood stoves not only add to the efficiency of a passive solar design but they give you a unique object to mix into your decor.  Every passive solar plan has a sun room and deck but this house plan has an especially great placement of the two.

The dwelling areas of this house plan are also well designed.  The only problem that could come up is that the master bedroom doesn’t have its own bathroom.  Other than that little problem, you get a big master bedroom with lots of closet space.  Both the master bedroom and the second upstairs bedroom have a built-in desk for easy studying.  If an extra bedroom is necessary there is a study/bedroom area on the ground level.  There isn’t any reason to worry about room for people here.

Just remember, you don’t have to have the usual contemporary home design when you’re looking at passive solar house plans.  There are other options out there.  Get both the house you want and the house that you need.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.

Do I have news for you.  The Plan Collection has a special deal going on right now.  Starting at 12:00 PM today they will be offering the Vellum Reproducible set of blueprints for house plan EDC-R2240 for only $150.  They have this offer going for the next 24 hours.  Call them at 866-787-2023 within the next 24 hours and they will give you the plans with the huge discount.  Be sure to check it out.

HousePlans.Info: The latest trends, observations and opinions on all things related to house plans, home design and home building.