Preliminary Drawings (near final)...

Finally have some more official prelimary drawings - much more final now than at any point - need to meet with my outside consultants to ensure budget is still on pace and that what we have is all doable - also to get another 'professional' set of eyes on the plans for any thing that can be modfied to make it more 'user friendly' or more importantly, cheaper.

It is hard to believe that what started out as my sketches and ideas on scratch paper is now shaping up to be a 'real' house that may actually get built and lived in - unbelievable!! Now its just a matter of getting it done on time and ON BUDGET.

The outside look has changed from our hours spent driving around the suburbs that have teardowns on city lots (Hinsdale, Downers Grove, Naperville, Glen Ellyn, Westmont, Clarendon Hills, Wheaton, Wilmette, Winnekta, etc). We have settled on a much more 'true' craftsman/arts craft style (more sloping roof, 4 front tapered pillars, large covered front porch) - the end result should be a mash up of the three houses in the previous post - the bottom 4 ft or so will be stone and the remainder will be fiber cement siding (ie looks like cedar - but no maintenance).

I think our floorplan accomplishes what we set out to do - I know some preffered a formal living space (not for us), and some preffered the formal dining room closer to the kitchen (again, not for us, as will not be used often). We like the concept from touring 100's of model homes of the great room, informal dining area, kitchen and den/office all being in the same area and open - all flowing into each other - as thats simply where you live day to day. Further, all four bedrooms our upstairs - with the master having no adjoining walls to other bedrooms (quiet!). 2nd floor laundry was a must - as we hate it being in the mudroom now - nothing but a junk collector - afterall - smart building says the laundry should be on the same floor as the master and bedrooms.

The idea of no master bath tub is still in the air - as of now, its out - however, we have left space that is currently targeted to be a bench, linen closet, dirty laundry storage area as a space it COULD be, but I just dont like the idea of having one - we have used our current master tub twice in 5 years - we'll take the large multi-jetted shower instead.

Also on the plan is a bump out in the garage for a work area, xtra storage, a bench in the mudroom and a split 2nd floor bath to provide privacy between the sink and toilet area via a pocket door. Also, the staircase will be open to the basement - there will be no back wall in the dining room - rather an open railing. The great room will either have a 10 or 11 ft cieiling or some sort of vault to it - note there is nothing above the great room - strictly a cost savings measure so we can attain some volume in that space .

That it is for now - meeting with my 'helpers' next week to further finalize....

Exterior Mashup

Somehow we are trying to combine elements of each of these three houses to arrive at our desired look....

Revised Floorplan

2nd 'official' attmept at the floorplan. Currently in architects hands to see if my ideas work this time - should know in a week. Major changes to kitchen layout...after touring 100's of homes the past few years, we are ripping off a a couple model home ideas for the kitchen - which places a support beam in an outer ring 'raised' bar island...key goal is to maintain the complete openness between kitchen, great room and informal dining area (after all, that is where you spend 90% ofthe time you are home)....other big item is our choice to ditch the useless master bathroom tub...as most, we have one now which we've used twice in 5 years....rather than a tub that collects dust, we are going to expand the shower into a large, door less walk in....

One thing I learned when designing a house is sq footage baloons on you fast....as you need to count all the exterior walls (which is about 5 inches around the entire perimeter of the house) as sq footage...so what you think may be 2,800 sq ft suddenly becomes 3,200....

Either way, once the plans are finalized, we will be at a stand still until we can sell our current home - which is far from a fun process with a 19 month old and a 4 month old.

The Original Floorplan

As sketched on a napkin and then on graph paper - architect interpreted my plans and came up with a few concerns....biggest one being I have too many open spaces....need beams...with one needing to go in the middle of the kitchen.....so was back to the drawing board for me to come up with some revisions....