(which funny enough is a bit too big for our taste). The home that caught our attention is called the 
You gotta love that cheesy title. I found this Craftsman house plan at Architectural Designs. I’m sure some of you would agree that the drawing of the exterior doesn’t really do justice to this home, but regardless, it’s the floorplan that knocks this one out of the park.
To be honest, I don’t get all that thrilled about single story homes. Exterior-wise I feel as though many lack character and that the second story can enhance the home by adding a lot of visual impact and interest. That being said, this one caught me off guard mainly due to how well it’s organized on the interior and that it has nearly all the key features we’ve been looking for in quest to find our dream home.
The following are those key features:
- Master suite is completely separate from the other bedrooms.
- The kitchen looks out over the great room.
- There is a separate laundry/mudroom.
- Both bathrooms have double sinks and the master bath has plenty of space for a stand up shower and claw foot tub.
- There is a formal dining room.
It’s not perfect though. I’d most certainly extend the deck to the west end of the home and add some French doors to the master bedroom. I’d also like the breakfast room to be more of a breakfast nook with built in table and benches. With the addition of a finished basement that would serve as a rec room, this house would be well worth considering. I’m just not completely sold on the exterior.
I’ve gotta talk with my wife but this house may find a way to creep into our top three house plans. I’ll have to set up a house plan ranking system soon so I can get input from some of you folks stopping by.
Floorplan:
This is a big one, folks – 4,700 sq. ft. with a four car garage. Far too big for our needs, but the point of bringing this beautiful home to your attention is to show you some of the gorgeous wood and stone details inside. This home has won several awards including The People’s Choice Best of Show at the 2004 Portland Street of Dreams and it’s easy to see why. Although the model home, in my opinion, doesn’t have a whole lot of Craftsman detail on the exterior, the interior is a Craftsman lover’s dream. The vaulted great room with a beautifully crafted floor to ceiling stone fireplace and the stunning curved entry door with wood columns just inside get me salivating like a dog in a butcher shop. And the amazing beams in the vaulted bathroom just about made me pass out. Yes, I have a thing for wooden beams. That’s right, I’m not ashamed. Hand crafted wood and stone work just gets me all tingly inside.
Now if you’ll excuse me I’d like some alone time with these photos…
Here’s a single story Craftsman house plan I came across today from The Plan Collection. The outside looks great with the classic pillars and brickwork, though the inside doesn’t quite have what we’re looking for in terms of an open floor plan. We would need to do some major restructuring if this plan were to work for us and the fact that there is no second floor is kind of a bummer. I will give them credit for the layout of their master suite – with their 10ft. boxed ceiling, spacious walk-in closet, and roomy master bath, I have a sense this would be an excellent place to end of the day.
So this house has some definite charm and although it’s only a single story home, it should be noted that it’s packing 1900+ square feet inside. Which means there is plenty of space for most small and medium-sized families to live comfortably.
But we’re looking for perfection here and this home just doesn’t have what it takes to stand among the top three (1st, 2nd, 3rd) on the dream home podium.
Here we go again. All of sudden it seems like I can’t help but find new Craftsman home plans that I really love. There are now three plans that we’ll be seriously considering for our dream home. The latest comes from Healthy Home Plans, which has a collection of home plans well worth perusing, including Sarah Susanka‘s “Not So Big House” (which funny enough is a bit too big for our taste). The home that caught our attention is called the Idea Home and though it’s a bit larger than we’re looking for (2300-2800sq. ft.) it’s still worth considering. It has all the charm of a classic Craftsman – exposed beams, built-ins, and plenty of millwork details. There are plenty of actual photos from a “live version”of the home which makes me love it even more.
Obviously, deciding which home to build is the first step in the homebuilding process, but I’m a little worried that it may be one of the most difficult to overcome. My guess is that the dollar signs will make the decision for us.
Came across this house (left) yesterday designed by a company in Canada called Robinson Residential Design. After about three months of searching for the perfect house we thought we had found “the one.” Now this one comes out of nowhere and has us seriously playing eenie, meenie, miney, mo to decide which one we should push for. It has the open layout we’re looking for (kitchen looks out to the great room) and there’s a good separation between the master suite and kid’s rooms. I have a sense that this one will cost more to build though, considering for example that each room is a suite, which means you’ve got 3.5 baths instead of our planned 2.5.
It’s not perfect – it’ll need some slight changes to the floorplan, but we really love the design of the exterior which makes this design a serious contender for our Craftsman dream home.
Crap. At this rate, we’ll be in the planning stage for a looooooong time.