I have been scouring the internet to try to figure out what kind of house we can build that will a) fit on our very tiny lot and b) work within the guidelines of the architectural review guidelines of our historic downtown. In the process, I discovered the house I was envisioning simply won’t fit.
It is tricky, because I like modern houses. Unfortunately, the lot we own is on a street where a modern house stick out like a sore thumb. Most of the houses on our street were built around 1920. There are many bungalows as well as a few other kinds of houses jumbled in. Many of these houses have Arts & Crafts details or are straight up Craftsman style. The house we live in now is a Colonial Revival with Craftsman accents.
I was envisioning a bungalow with a modern floorplan, but because our lot is both narrow and short, as well as constricted by buildings on the adjoining properties, there is no way to make it work if we want a two car garage (which we do!). I was becoming very disheartened as I searched and searched different house plans.
Then, I stumbled upon this plan. Not only do I love the exterior, it has an L shape that would work very well to solve a number of problems with our lot. I would shuffle around the interior floorplan, but I love the outside so much, I wouldn’t change much at all. I also love that the back yard is a courtyard rather than grass.
Best of all, as long as we don’t try to include that arch by the sidewalk, I don’t think there is a single thing the architectural review people can find fault with.
I love this house so much I want to make out with it. Mr. A likes it a lot too. If only we could afford to start building it right now! Instead, I am going to likely spend the next couple years obsessively drawing models of it on graph paper and furnishing it in my imagination.
Love! How did the gal who loves all things cottage end up w/ a modern abode and the modern gal end up w/ a bungalow cottage? We have flipped real estate bodies or something!
Gorgeous! And that wall/bench/mudroom section inside has me swooning.
Sigh! That’s lovely!
This will probably make me sound really weird, but when I see a house I like, I build it in Sims (complete with dream kitchen) and furnish it, then create a family and have them move in so I can live vicariously through them.
me too! Plus it is a good way to get a feel for the “livability” of a house..if that is even a word!
I want to have that house’s babies.
Beautiful! I’m so envious that you get to plan – even if it is a long way off – you can plan – it’s not abstract:)
that is lovely. I have just lost an hour or so looking at plans on that website and I’m not even planning on building a house, but I really really like the one you’ve chosen.
Well, I’m not quite ready to have its babies, but I LOVE that house. Swoon.
OMG it is a beautiful house !! I want to live there
I love it. You can definitely make the inside more modern and have it still all tie together really well. I need to talk to my friend again about your house. Of course, you want to be in your current house when you build, right?
Love the plan! However, I’d make whatever is on the L a full two stories. Then the second floor master suite could have a private den or workspace for mama above the first floor den/guest room.
This from the woman who wants to add a second floor to the garage, a craftroom, and a skyway from the house’s second floor to the detached garage’s second floor. It’s a small lot — I can only go UP.
Actually,I am thinking about removing the second floor from over the L completely so I could have 15 foot ceilings over my dining room and living room/great room which I want to locate there. The outside of the L has southern exposure, so I would want windows along that wall (maybe higher clerestory windows) and a wall of windows/doors along the courtyard side.
Ideally, I would like a small 1st floor master suite, probably on the front left of the 1st floor (from above) and an office on the front right. I haven’t quite figured out if I can get it all to fit yet though.
That’s a beautiful house. I would think the historical review people would be sending you flowers if you built that. We are building our custom home (my husband is an architect) this spring and it has existed in my head for 5+ years. It’s amazing and odd to see it come to exist outside my imagination for the first time.
you’ve given me a new time suck website. it is seriously addictive.
um. wow!!! I love this house-it fits into the neighborhood nicely and it is scrumptious. start soon, so i can live vicariously, please.
WOW!!! That’s awesome! You know I’ve been mostly off-line since we moved, so I must have missed any tweets you’ve written about it too. I’m glad you blogged about this find! I wish I had more time to look at the floor-plan. Lisa V & Jody made me laugh! There’s nothing like blog friendships sometimes.
It is lovely. I’m so glad you found something about which to be excited!
Gorgeous house! Looks like you found your Next Big Thing project.