The Floor Plan

I thought I'd go ahead and post our floor plan. We've made a few tweaks since this version, but the new, finalized version has all the measurements and a bunch of other architectural mumbo jumbo making it pretty hard to read. These are just better for online viewing.

First a bit of background. This is a "custom" home. I'm not just trying to be fancy by calling it that. It's just the term that is used. What I mean by that is that it's not like new construction is "normally" done. It's not in a new neighborhood with display homes that we choose from. We could basically do anything we want given the restrains of the yard and what the community architectural board allows. (They basically just want something that fits in with the overall architecture of the rest of the neighborhood.)

And this is what we came up with... The lot is narrow and deep, so the house is as well. After going in a lot of newer construction in the area I discovered that I like a pretty basic center hall plan.

My "wish list" was as follows...

-Open floor plan. I know these aren't for everyone and are certainly a "popular" thing right now, but I love cooking and with as much time as I spend in the kitchen, it was just the way to go for us. Also-- It will be easier to keep an eye on the little man playing in the family room while I'm busy in there.

-Large master bedroom, bathroom and closets. The house is coming in at around 2500 square feet, so although it will feel big to us it's really not all that huge considering it has four bedrooms. I wanted a large master so the "kids" bedrooms had to suffer. And all these imaginary future children have to share a bathroom and have standard size closets. The horror! I'm a selfish mommy.

-Finished space in the basement. More then half of the basement will be finished and the stair well going down there will be open as well. The floor plan shows a bathroom down there, but while we are having the plumbing "roughed in," we won't be finishing the bathroom just yet. (Trying to save a little bit of moolah.) A bit of finished space in the basement was a must have for me. We've got to keep all those toys somewhere!

-Screened in porch. Yeah... I didn't get this one. Just not enough space and we wanted to have some semblance of a yard.

-Mud room and first floor laundry. We have a basement laundry right now and really no place to dump our stuff when we come in the door. I'm looking forward to the extra utility space.

My husband's wish list... A basketball hoop in the driveway and a butler's pantry with a sink. He doesn't ask for much, does he?

There was probably more, but I'll stop there. Here's the first floor...

Nothing is labeled, so starting from the back... Garage, then mudroom/laundry room, then kitchen/family room, then stairway/butlers pantry/powder room/hallway, then dining room(larger one) and office, then front porch.

Next we have the second floor. Once again, starting from the back... Master bedroom/bathroom, then 2nd bedroom and stairs, then third and fourth bedrooms, then bathroom.

And finally the basement. The half at the back of the house will be finished and the front will be unfinished storage.

So there it is... and coming up with that only took like 3 months. Seriously! It's a lot to consider when you can really do whatever you want. (keeping the budget in mind, of course.)