CAD Drawings Are In!

Jen and I met with Joe yesterday to go over the first set of plans created with the aid of a computer. As I have mentioned, we were very curious to see how our space changed when we had to deal with actual engineering and spacial limitations that we didnt have when Joe was doing things by hand. Posted below are the four floors plans. There are some changes that I detailed on each floor, but generally things are pretty much as they have been since after our first meeting. Joe has been making some fantastic decisions, and coming up with some even better ideas for changes to the home, he is invaluable to us, and seems to have read our needs and desires accurately and has us pegged. I have to say that I think we are pretty much set on the interior design of the home. I know that a few things are going to be tweaked here and there as we get to materials designation and the like, but I would be very surprised to see major changes to the layout from here.

By the way, I am sure most people reazlied this, but you can click on the posted drawings to get the full size view of the document, which gives you a much clearer picture.

Next up we are going to be meeting with Joe early next week to focus on the outside spaces and seeing some CAD and 3-D modeling of the home itself.

First Floor and Lower Level Plans

So here is where "CAD-ing" the soft drawings really showed how the aforementioned variance in feasibility from soft drawing to hard drawing. We found out that when this was being put into the more finite drawings, that we couldnt fit the pantry, stairs, and powder room all on the east wall. The good news is that Joe had plan, and a good one at that. If you look at the drawing above, you will see that we were able to move the powder room to the space between the living room and family room, and this will then clear the way for a butlers pantry on the west side of that space. Both Jen and I agree that this is the perfect way to use this space, and we actually like the new layout better this way! So this move then sets it up so the up and down staircases will be side by side, we will now have a built in something (yet to be determined) in front of the downstairs, and a double pocket door separating the dining room and family room.

The move of the stairs naturally meant there would be changes in the lower level as well. This also worked out to our advantage. With the stairs moving 4ft or so towards the front of the house, this pushed the guest bathroom further towards the front of the house as well. This move created an open space just outside of the mud room. So, we decided to extend the mud room and add a place that could have both the stand up washer/drier, and utility sink that can we be used for any number of things. Whats even better, is that Joe came up with the great idea of putting in clerestory windows between the mudroom and playroom to allow light to be shared by the two spaces. Here is a good example of a clerestory window setting. This is from a Frank Lloyd Wright home, so its not quite the same, but its the concept of windows at eye level. Further changes were made to the back of the house as well. Joe decided that it made sense to extend the foundation under the deck where the space wasnt going to be useful anyway. This was an idea that I had gotten early on from a friend, and it just didnt seem to make sense at the time. Now its looking more like this will be very useful storage space. We have two other storage spaces at the front of this level as well that we think we might turn into something else, but we have yet to come up with something we both think is necessary.

Second Floor & Roof Plans

There are really very few changes here from the soft drawing layout. Joe said that when they were laying things out in CAD he noticed that we had enough room to make the girls bathroom's independent, and they could each have their own tub/shower. After talking it through, Jen, Joe and I agreed this was a favorable change. Along with extending the lavatory/area in both bathrooms, everything else is basically the same. The roof continues to to be mostly speculative with the only thing set in stone are the location of a future bathroom, and the ideal places for the green roof and exit onto the roof from the stairs below. More to come here as we begin to understand our cost base for things in the home, and where we are going to have to cut things off to stay on our budget.

Green Thoughts.......

Jen and I went to a local building supply store that focuses on green products over the weekend to get a feel for some of the things we were hoping to incorporate in our home design. Philosophically, we are not looking to make a statement about our "eco-friendliness" but to make sure we focus on the things that we find important for our family's health and pocketbook. The two main things we find important: indoor air quality, and energy efficiency. Looking at these things from a surface level, it seems that we should be able to accomplish these tasks with a minimum amount of increased cost. So, we decided we would get a more hands on feel and see what things actually looked like in person, instead of on the web as we have been doing up to now.

As we were looking around at the EVO free paint, the urethane free cabinetry, and the spray-in insulation, it got me thinking about what exactly we were going to be able to do to make our home as efficient as possible without spending massive amounts of money to be green. So the question that really comes to mind is: even if the green products are of a commensurate cost to the normal construction materials, will they install the same way, and can a general contractor install it with the same easy they would the normal construction product? There is SO much more to making a green home then just choosing the right products, and thats becoming increasingly clear to me.

I fully expected the process of building a home to be a learning process, and to this point it has been a challenge, but nothing that we have not been through with the remodeling we have done over the years. This is going to be much more of a challenge on both our part, and the part of any builder that we contract for the construction. We are going to have to be cognizant of the potential for our bids to increase as a result of a GC not being familiar with the installation of a certain type of product. Qualifying that is going to be one of the more important cost factors to the bid process, and eventually the building of our home.

More to come.....next up LEED certification, and the green "process"...

After Some Digestion

Ok, so now that Jen and I have talked about it, and I have had some time to let the design ideas settle, I have to say that I really like the layout for several reasons. One - we are going to have some great light in the house. Good light into our bedroom in the morning through the master bath and back windows (especially in the winter). Same goes for the Kitchen. Tw0 - the front and west sides of the house will get much more light later in the day. Since we will be spending the bulk of our waking time in the common areas, and as a family in the afternoon/evening, the windows in the back of the first floor and the in the basement will provide some warm light. I can see us having many a nice meals sitting in the dining room enjoying the sunlight.

More important then anything else, I had thought that it might take several iterations of design style for the front of the house to be what I wanted, but I think that its pretty much on the head. I am still unsure on the porch design, and I think that we are going to have to figure out how we want to do the stairs, but for the most part, I dont have many changes right now. I know that as much or more like the inside, things will change. However, I think we are talking about 20% or less, and thats going to much more focused and will be easier to work thru!

We are going to be meeting early next week, and then we will have some CAD drawings of the inside that will have a much more defined space. So far so good!

The Elevation Drawings Are Here!

Sorry its been so long since I posted, but things have been moving along in a way that is hard to really update. We are working through getting the interior design into CAD right now, so its a slower process then just drawing them out. Above you will see the front and back elevation drawings and below the drawings from the east and west. I will update later this weekend with thoughts on the whole thing.

Elevation Drawings - West Face

Definitely the more exciting side of the house! The prominent features on this side are the Sullivan arch which is going to garner the bulk of the attention, but also the large windows in the back of the house that is going to give us a lot of great evening light in the kitchen. Coupled with the windows on the back of the house, this is going to make the main living space very bright! The turret is prominently shown here as well, and you can see how nice this is going to look with the full 5' diameter rounded front and the stone on the top and the bottom.

Elevation Drawings - East Face

Here is the first "soft" drawing of the east facing wall of the proposed home. As you can see, there isnt much to this wall. Most of that has to do with there being a lot of the mechanicals and bathrooms on the west wall, so there ability to utilize windows. The only other thing of issue here is that you can see a side view of the portion of the turret at the front of the building. I think it looks good!

Moving In The Right Direction

We had our meeting this afternoon with Joe. We talked about the couple of changes that Jen and I had talked about, and some of the seemed to ring true with him so we instituted them. Also, as we moved through this version and went floor by floor to talk about the space, we made some further changes, and we are steaming towards our first set of drawings produced in CAD! Yes, this is the point where you shake your head and say Dave is a dork. But, this is where things are really going to get interesting, and where we will be forced to really nail down how big the spaces on each floor are really going to be. To this point, they are just hand drawn lines with a basic space concept based on using a ruler to delineate the actual distance. With the main living space, and more specifically the kitchen still in flux this is going to push us into making decisions fast. I would say that we are set on about 95% of the setup of the interior spaces to this point.


The best part of the meeting was when Joe shared our first conceptual elevation drawings. As I said yesterday, I truly think this is going to be THE tough decision design wise. I have to say that I really like the first drawing, and where we are heading with this. A lot of the exterior decisions are not going to be as much form as they are going to be in color and material choices. I think that Jen and I have ideas in our head, but bearing them out on paper will be different.

I will be posting the changed/updated drawings next week when I get the updates. For now, enjoy a weekend without my rambling : )

The First Plans Have Arrived

This is where I think this blog is going to truly show its meddle. In posting all of the descriptions of our thoughts on the current designs that we have been working on with the architect, I think its going to be great watching these evolve. Even as we have posted these drawings, we are meeting with the architect tomorrow, and I can say at least three things will most likely be changing. What is truly great about this is that we will have a record of what we are doing, and what we are thinking now, and in six months when we are building this home (hopefully) we will be able to look back and think "wow, what were we thinking" about some of these things. Its going to be a fantastic way to keep track of our progress both in designing the building, and refining what Jen and I think to be integral parts of a home.

For those of you not familiar with the process in working with an architect, there are generally three steps to creating a home. You start with soft or hand drawn designs to get the basics down and generally work through several iterations. Then, you move on to hard line drawings, these are more finite, and generally indicate that you have made some very final decisions. Once you are set on those, you then create construction documents. This indicates actual locations of outlets, gas lines, water lines, floor materials etc.

So we are in the soft drawings stage, as seen below, and careening towards the the hard line drawings phase as we finalize the interior spaces. We will be meeting with our esteemed architect again tomorrow to finalize some of this as well as start in on some of the exterior elevation drawings. I personally think that my biggest challenge for decisions on this home is going to be related to the design and materials used on the fascia. While its fairly obvious that this is the face of our home to everyone on our block, its also something that needs to fit into the architecture of the neighborhood, and not stand out as this monstrosity amongst a group of seemingly normal homes. Getting this settled in my head is most definitely going to be difficult, and while I might be a decisive person, and Jen and I a decisive couple when it comes to these things, this is going to be hard, and we will think long and hard on this.

Without further ado, I give you the first images (second version) of "soft drawings" that were created by our brilliant, patient, and thoughtful architect Joseph Bardusk of HPZS.

Roof - Top Level

This is by far the most subjective part of our plans. The most likely scenario is us finishing the stairs to the roof, running all the necessary utilities to the roof, extended the chimney/fireplace so it can be built out at a later date, and leaving it at that. I do like the ideas presented here, and I think that down the road we will most likely be doing something up here. However, for now, we feel like we have enough on our plate with the lower three floors to focus our efforts here. Long term, we would like a powder room, a kids play area, a greenhouse, and an outdoor fireplace up here. None of that is an immediate need, and thus, we will most likely just prepare the roof so it can be done. Stay tuned on this.

Second Floor Plans

Here are the second floor plans. These plans are essentially what our architect proposed initially, with the only real changes coming in the form of master bedroom layout. Part of the identity of the second floor is for it to feel private, and that both of the girls, and us have our own spaces. This starts with the set of stairs that only goes up. This gives a distinctly "private" feel from the first floor. When we decided to cut out the second set of stairs going to the basement, our architect said he thought it made the stairs to the second floor, and the second floor itself seem private. This rang true with me the minute he said it, and now I cannot think of any other way I would rather have it. We have tentatively assigned the girls rooms, with Nora getting the prime front room, and Astor getting the middle room. The girls will have a nice Jack and Jill bathroom that will give them each their own vanity and toilet, and they will share a bathtub/shower in the middle. Up in the front corner of the the second floor we will have a nice sitting area with a built in bookshelf and a nice large windows for relaxing (right). As you head to the back of the house, you will pass a set of stairs leading up to the roof, a laundry room, linen closet and mechanicals, and then to the master bedroom. As you walk into the master bedroom, you will see glass patio doors on the back leading out to a small private balcony. Off to the right will be a 6' x 20' master bath with a double vanity, steam shower, and oversized built in tub (Jen requirement). The main are of the master bedroom will be a large open space with the large full walk in closets behind the bed wall. The only thing we are unsure about is the open space listed between the up and down stairs that connects to a skylight. We are unsure if this is going to provide a conduit for noise from the first floor into the second floor.

First Floor Plans

This is where the fun really begins. For Jen and I the first floor is the most important space in the house. This space has changed the most from the first version of the plans to this second version. Following the flow of traffic from the outside, through the basement, and up the stairs to the first floor you will be looking at the west wall which will have the fireplace, a fully exposed brick wall, and a nice breakfast nook in the southwest corner. Continuing through the kitchen, you have a large island with a sink oriented towards the main living area (a Jen requirement, and good idea) along with a dishwasher in the island, a built in cooktop, 42" cabinets. The north end of the kitchen will be a walk in pantry and the fridge built into the back side of the pantry facing into the kitchen area. As you head back to the the stairs leading up from the basement towards the front of the house, you will find a powder room, and across from that the dining room featuring a Sullivan arch measuring 8' in height!! If you would like to get a better idea of what a Sullivan arch looks like, go here: http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/gbi.cgi/National_Farmers_Bank.html/cid_aj1934_b.html
Across from the dining room the stairs going up (yes, they are separated from the downstairs) and a coat closet under the stairs. The front of the house currently has a rounded shape which we like, and that turret will house the study/office area that will be floor to ceiling bookshelves and windows on the rounded portion. A large wood front door and entry area should give the space a nice open feeling and welcome guests as they arrive into our home. Also, the entire back of the first floor currently is proposed to have windows and doors leading out the the first floor level deck area.

Lower Level Plans

Here are the proposed plans for the lower level. Jen and I expect the bulk of our day-to-day traffic to come and go from the back of the house since there will be a garage that we will both park in. As a result, we have decide that coming into a lower level mud room with cubbies, a bench with coat hooks, a utility sink, and tile floors makes the most sense for all seasons. From there you will head in the the "family room" or what we plan to be the children's play area and then up the stairs to the first floor that are located more towards the back of the house. This is to help promote the idea of the back half of the lower level and the first floor as a cohesive unit - one that we will utilize for 90% of our waking home life. Other highlights include a basement laundry, full bath, guest bedroom, and the future for me - a home theater - most likely to be finished down the road after we are have finished the home and gotten settled.

Where we are at

Lets start with where we are, and how we got here.....

We currently have purchased the property two doors down from our house at 3935 W. Eddy St. (we live at 3945). This home was being re-habbed by a would-be home flipper and this person was an unfortunate casualty of the current home "crisis" that is tearing through the nation right now.

Jen and I were not sitting on this property licking our chops waiting for it to fail. We had begun looking to move locations as our home seems to be subjected to greater volumes of traffic down the alley to the west of our house as our neighborhood gains ground in popularity, and construction was more proliferate. As a result, we decided we would see if we could move within the city, so to try and avoid the supposed "inevitable" move to the suburbs, and the 2hr commute to and from my office daily.

While working with our property broker to find a potential new home, we were also trying to establish a value for our own home so we knew where we stood when we needed to sell our house. This was going to tell us what it was going to take for us to sell if/when we found a suitable place to move. When our broker provided us with a list of "comps" or places that were sold or on the market near our home, we noticed the property two doors down had just been put on the market for the value of the land.

My eyes immediately lit up, and I knew this was going to be our chance to do what we had hoped to do sometime in the future, BUILD A HOME!! Jen and I talked it through, and we decided that this was offering us the opportunity to do what we waned: Stay in the neighborhood we have come to know and love, to get off the alley that we are growing weary of, and to design and build a home that was distinctly us, and was not a home that we had amended from someone's previous iteration.

Let it Begin!!

Here we go! Jen and I have embarked on what is arguably the most ambitious project yet......design and build a house from scratch!!

The goal of this blog is to allow our friends and family share our movement through the process, and hopefully see how much of ourselves is going into this venture. When we are done, we hope to have created a home that is ours, 100%, front to back.......and one we can live in for years to come.

I will endeavor to take pictures daily of our progress (assuming we build) so that everyone can see where we are at, and where we are going.

Furthermore, this blog might actually also serve as a way for others who are aspiring to build a home to be able to learn something from our experiences, good or bad.....

And with that, let the games begin!