janaka Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Well my wife and I have been wanting to build a home for about the last six months. Since she works for a new home builder (and she is the assistant sales manager) she gets to know of the new lots and such before the public does. She has had out lot picked out for about as long as I can remember. The nice thing about the lot is that they have to build a spec home on it due to its unusual size (wide and shallow). So since she wanted it her boss is letting her (us?) design the house and if in the end we like it we can buy it, if not they just sell it to the public. The hard part is for us to agree on a design that meets her needs and mine (notice how I put her's first?! I'm learning). She wants the usual stuff, master suite with walkin closets and big ensuite bath, nice kitchen, 4bedrooms (I was like WTF?! As its just her and I (26 and 27) but she says we're having two kids and she wants a room for her parents to have if/when they visit... its all becoming clear to me now... lol Like the car guy that I am I want a big garage for the Z and for the daily cars to be inside for the winter along with somewhere for my pool table. I didn't think I was asking for a lot. For me the rest of the house can be whatever she wants as long as I have my pool table and somewhere for the Z and at least her car inside. I can deal with brushing my car off in the winter as she has dealt with brushing hers off for as long as we've had the Z because it gets our only garage space currently. Well she's been searching home designs for ever and I suggested one to her and as it turns out it will fit the lot she want (wide but relatively shallow) and it gets her what she wants and me my area too. Talk about good luck! Well here it is. She has already printed out these images and made alterations to the dining room so its the same width as the living room, taken out one bay window from the kitchen for a regular window, extended the island, no porch etc as well as some small changes upstairs. All while at work and getting paid as its technically for the company. Ha. So far we really like it and now its just a matter of finding out what the damage is to have it built to what Amanda wants and to know when the land officially gets released to her company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warren Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Nice house. Just make sure that the one you build is on a FLAT lot...driveways with that much angle suck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evan Purple240zt Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Warren is right, I feel like I am in the space shuttle when I pull into his drive. Evan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 looks nice and functional. you may think about taking it to a local designer for some tweaking to make it fit YOU. it sounds like it has all of the basics, but some tweaking may make it YOURS. for example. put the water heater in the other closet in the utility room. then from upstairs there is a dead space that is right over the other closet. bam, laundry shute. with kids in the future, it would be less to pick up. put the toilet in its own little room, so you dont stink up the entire bath room. nothing worse that a fart in a humid room. would you actually use the dining room. most people do not. game room. you can get covers for the pool table to make it a dining table. make sure that the room is big enough for the pool table and cues. nothing worse than hitting the wall behind you, and have a wet bar in there. sky lights in the upstairs bath, or a SOLA TUBE. there are plenty of other things as well. the finishes are where the money goes. you can skimp on fixtures and lights to keep the initial cost down and add them in later. like cheaper bath faucets, minimal lights in the garage. before you shoot me on that one, why pay for all of the lights you want for 30 years when you can pay for 2 lights for 30 years and add the others in a matter of hours later out of pocket. things like that can help keep the cost down. i have been designing large luxury homes for 10 years and there are a ton of little things that you can do to make that plan yours and not a stock plan. good luck. me and my old lady have been working on our plan for 3 years. good thing i dont need to move right away. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1noel Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Jason, Congrats, looks really nice. Just let her do what she wants with the house, and you design the important part (garage). You can stretch the garage space for not a lot of money and make sure you get the outlets you need installed. While ours was being framed, I installed air lines, TV, and telephone hook ups. Much easier with out the sheetrock and no exposed wires or pipes. Its stll only technically a 3 car but I stretched the disign out to 36 wide by 30 deep with 3 separate doors to gain a little working room. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Looks great! Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 That looks like my driveway too. Steep. Nice looking home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janaka Posted December 4, 2008 Author Share Posted December 4, 2008 looks nice and functional. you may think about taking it to a local designer for some tweaking to make it fit YOU. it sounds like it has all of the basics, but some tweaking may make it YOURS. for example. put the water heater in the other closet in the utility room. then from upstairs there is a dead space that is right over the other closet. bam, laundry shute. with kids in the future, it would be less to pick up. put the toilet in its own little room, so you dont stink up the entire bath room. nothing worse that a fart in a humid room. would you actually use the dining room. most people do not. game room. you can get covers for the pool table to make it a dining table. make sure that the room is big enough for the pool table and cues. nothing worse than hitting the wall behind you, and have a wet bar in there. sky lights in the upstairs bath, or a SOLA TUBE. there are plenty of other things as well. the finishes are where the money goes. you can skimp on fixtures and lights to keep the initial cost down and add them in later. like cheaper bath faucets, minimal lights in the garage. before you shoot me on that one, why pay for all of the lights you want for 30 years when you can pay for 2 lights for 30 years and add the others in a matter of hours later out of pocket. things like that can help keep the cost down. i have been designing large luxury homes for 10 years and there are a ton of little things that you can do to make that plan yours and not a stock plan. good luck. me and my old lady have been working on our plan for 3 years. good thing i dont need to move right away. jimbo Many good ideas. The pool table will be in the basement without a doubt so I'm not worried about it fitting main level, the dining room and living room will be the home theatre area most likely as it stands as we don't use a formal dining room. I REALLY like the laundry chute idea, that will be an idea my wife will love. The water heater will be in the basement with all the HVAC equipement (thats my area of expertise so that will be easy to do) We are doing some things minimalistic on the build and upgrading down the road. I'm fairly handy and upgrading flooring/fixtures is easy down the road. We agree on the thought process of not paying for easy things for the life of the mortgage. Smart minds think alike. As for the driveway it will be flat, the picture shown was just an example of the house being built for someone else. The land is flat where we are looking at so far. I'll definately be looking to run phone/tv/internet cables to the garage as well as a few extra outlets while things are not completed. The same goes for my speaker wires for the Home Theatre as I really prefer the clean no wires on the floor/walls look. I'm almost starting to think that we are spoiling ourselves for once. As always thanks for the input guys, I'm sure we'll utilize some of it when the time comes to get it going! Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSM Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Congrats on the house! I would definitely see if you can make the garage bigger. Mine is essentially the same size and I could have made it bigger. It's been a big regret. I'm not sure how it would impact the roof line, but I would also see about making the 3rd car garage the same elevation across the front. That's an extra foot or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted December 4, 2008 Share Posted December 4, 2008 Congrats on the house! I would definitely see if you can make the garage bigger. Mine is essentially the same size and I could have made it bigger. It's been a big regret. I'm not sure how it would impact the roof line, but I would also see about making the 3rd car garage the same elevation across the front. That's an extra foot or so. the 2' jog in the wall makes the hip at the front of the garage (the roof line over the 2 car garage). lining everything up would get rid of that and would make the front elevation less attractive. i would leave the jog in or make it bigger and let the wife have the 1 car garage bay:). more room for parts on the floor. you could go deeper if the lot alows, but money and lot dimesions are the main constraints. jimbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jerryb Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Very nice Jason! Makre sure the garage doors are insulated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrel Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Get rid of the porch and add that to the garage for extra work space. It would make it nice so you won't have to pull a car outside while working on projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 280ZForce Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Looks good Jason, congrats on the upscaling! You mentioned she doesn't want the porch behind the garage... so how about that being an extended enclosed bay version of the garage? could park a project car back there or have a workshop area for the garage, easy setup for work benches, tool boxes, etc to keep them outta the main area of the garage and gives more space to park cars. But definitely recommend insulating and trying to sound proof the garage area for the loud tools, compressors, etc and enables you to work in the cold and late nights if needed. Plus, the neighbors will be happy to not hear you hacking away into the late night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janaka Posted December 5, 2008 Author Share Posted December 5, 2008 Get rid of the porch and add that to the garage for extra work space. It would make it nice so you won't have to pull a car outside while working on projects. We were thinking of having a car port at the back instead of having the porch and having a rollup door at the back of the garage to be able to pull right through with a trailer, car etc. It was actually Amanda's idea believe it or not tonight when we were having dinner. Insulating (sound and thermal) is high on the priority list. I want spray foam insulation for thermal in the ceiling of the garage then covered with the quiet-rock drywall, I'd like to put quiet-rock and sound insulation on the 'home' side of the garage as well. I think that the furthest 'bay' will be the Z bay to keep it a little further from the house anyway but its a small price to pay to not hear me inside I'm sure. lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 We were thinking of having a car port at the back instead of having the porch and having a rollup door at the back of the garage to be able to pull right through with a trailer, car etc. Nice idea, but enclosed space is dryer! If you have the means ($$$$), a floor level sink is cool to have to clean up mops, parts, etc. Here is a photo: In floor lighting is cool too... Cabinets---how about a floor-to-ceiling tool box?? The list of things you can do is endless when you have money...which I don't Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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