How We Decided On Our Home Plans
Coming up with the plans for our home was probably one of the most fun parts of the building process. It was also the most stressful with so much to think about
We had a few guidelines to start with before we really began looking at plans.
Stay around 1600 sq/ft in order to stay within our budget
Keep it close to the style we were going for (see inspiration here)
Big porches were a must (at least, according to Damon)
A minimum of 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, with the master suite on the opposite side of the house from the other bedrooms
No wasted square footage. If we were going to have a smaller home, we wanted every square foot to count
We worked directly with a home designer to get our plans. Instead of starting totally from scratch and having him draw a custom plan, we sent him our guidelines and the photos of our inspiration house. He then sent over a few plans that were sort of what we were looking for, and we went from there.
We picked the floor plan that we liked the most out of what he sent us, and that gave us a starting place with our own plans. One thing I learned while we were going through this process is not to get so caught up in what the exterior of the home looks like when it’s drawn on the plans. The pre-made plan that we started with looked NOTHING like the exterior that I wanted. But the general shape was similar, and our builder (my dad) explained that the both the builder and architect can make the same floor plan look totally different based on the clients personal style.
The stock plan we were looking at to start with had a small master bath suite with a walk in shower but no tub, and a large laundry room that had some wasted space. We down-sized the laundry and made the master bath a little bigger so we could add a free standing tub (yesss!) and separate vanities. We also added a good bit of square footage to our porches - I was worried we wouldn’t use our porches enough to justify making them so large (and the expense that came with that) but I’m so glad we did them. We sit on the front porch just about every morning and drink our coffee and spend most of our time when we’re home on weekends and after work on the back!
We also raised our home up a good bit instead of just leveling out the ground and building it flat on the ground - this helped give it the look of an older home that has a conventional foundation - ours isn’t conventional, it’s slab.
The other thing we wanted in this home was extra tall ceilings and doors. We have 10 ft ceilings and 8 ft doors which we love because it gives the feel of an older home.
Check out our plans below! We loved Chip with Hudson Home Designs and would definitely recommend! If you like our plan, you can buy it here.
