How to Design Your Dream Home In 25 Years or Less!

From Introduction, Chapter One (1), Paragraph 12 Choosing a floor plan (from the millions already out there in books and magazines), coming up with your own design, or narrowing down the choices with an architect, is not as easy as it sounds. It is a very complex process. There are just too many choices and infinite possibilities! And you want to make sure that you are happy with the finished product, as there are no “do-overs” here! I just hope this book doesn’t turn you into one of those customers who drives the professionals crazy because you know too much (or not nearly enough)! (par. 13) Anyone who has house-hunted with a Realtor (or on their own), or watched “House Hunters” on HGTV, knows that no house is perfect. Unless you have all the money in the world, the one you buy is just the one in your price range that has the most things on your “want list.” You can avoid this if you design your own house, right? Wrong! (par. 14) I have known many people who have custom built a house and were then disappointed in how it turned out. Mostly, they’ve said it was smaller than what they had pictured. Or they said, “if only our house had…,” “looking back, I wish we had…,” or “I didn’t even think about…” So I was determined that this would not happen to me. (par. 15) For more than 25 years, I measured living rooms, kitchens, motel rooms, cabins, friends’ houses, decks, cabinets, countertops, garages, furniture, etc. I had to get an idea what ten feet or twenty-five feet really looked like in real life, and what that measurement would hold in the way of furniture, people and traffic. I also wanted the best layout and the most efficient use of space possible. (par. 16) I have never seen any published floor plan that I liked just the way it was. I may have liked one thing about this one, or thought that one had a good idea in a few rooms, but none were ever just right all the way through. That’s why it never occurred to me NOT to design my own floor plan! Therefore, I am sharing what I learned throughout the whole process in hopes of preventing someone from having regrets after it is too late. When building your dream home, all of your decisions are so permanent! From Chapter One (1) – Paragraph 21 Over the years, I must have had hundreds, maybe even thousands, of starts on my dream floor plan. But whenever I saw a house or building feature that I liked, or thought of a cool idea, I would go “back to the drawing board”, literally. I ended up with boxes full of floor plan books, decorating magazines, architectural books, and designs I had drawn at different times and stages of our lives. From Chapter One (1) – paragraph 27 I don’t know how I finally came up with a final floor plan that I thought was good enough to actually build, but somehow I managed to narrow down the choices and come up with a “keeper”. The finished product just incorporated all the good ideas I had come up with over the years, and other people’s ideas I liked, and combined them all into this one “perfect” plan. There’s only one problem with my “perfect” floor plan. That is, it is MY perfect plan, not yours. Therefore, I would like to share the process with you about how I came up with MY perfect layout/design. That way, you can come up with your OWN perfect plan! There is no one perfect floor plan for everybody, or all homes would be alike! From Chapter Three (3), paragraph 1 What kind of home are you wanting? A large, sprawling home for lots of kids? A smaller, more efficient home for retirement? Do you want a walk-out basement? An attic? Do you need an outdoor entertainment area near the kitchen? Or a nice play yard for the kids where you can see them easily? Even if you use an architect, these questions will all need answers before you (or they) begin designing your dream home. From Chapter Four (4), Paragraph 3 In determining which property to buy to build your house on, there are several things to consider. What direction does the lot face? Which location will give you the best sun and energy efficiency? Which will provide the best natural lighting for different rooms and purposes? How far is the location from work, school, leisure activities? Which locations are the best value for your budget? Is the size of the lot sufficient for your needs? How are the local schools? Traffic? Security? How is the water pressure in the neighborhood? Ch. 4, Par. 4 You need to consider traffic on the street, both for children and pets, but also for backing out of your driveway on a busy morning. And will noisy traffic take away from your enjoyment of your morning coffee on the deck? What about water drainage? Sloped enough for a walk-out basement? Flat enough for a nice play yard? Ch. 4, Par. 5 Do you prefer to be “where the action is” or secluded and private? In a family oriented area or mostly retired people? Are restrictive covenants for the neighborhood consistent with what you want to build? What kind of scenic views do you want from the windows? Trees? Hills? Water? City scape? Rooftops? Cemetery? Neighbors? Ch. 4, Par. 6 Depending on your budget, all these things can dramatically affect the price of your lot or building site, but at least you should be aware of them before you purchase. I would think that most people who are building for the first time would not think to consider all of the above factors. The whole purpose of this book is to eliminate as many unpleasant surprises as possible, before it is too late to change.