floor plan of our new house...!

ta---daaa!!

here it is folks!

the floor plan of our new house! 

one of our goals was to make this house as affordable as possible to build.

a few ways we are planning on saving money with this floor plan?

*the plan is very compact and rather simple. 

the most economical home to build is a perfect square. it allows the most square footage, minimizing the amount of linear footage of exterior wall footage (i.e. the expensive stuff!), and a smaller overall footprint.

see the example below:

the more you deviate from a square, the more money it will cost to build. our house plan is not a perfect square, but it is pretty close.

*we designed the house to FIT the LOT. (a huge deal, considering the slope of the lot!)

*we involved a professional home designer.

(when we did our own initial layout, we realized that we would have to make a few compromises due to budget and size restrictions....we knew we were not going to have another sizable living space on the main floor besides the great room, and we were not going to have a porch due to the setbacks. bummers on both accounts, but not deal-breakers. after all, the house will have an unfinished basement, and a large bonus room on the second floor.)

i was absolutely FLOORED at what todd jenkins at frank betz was able to accomplish! he is a rock star.
he was able to take our diagram:

and turn it into a cohesive, livable space.
if you want to see how we arrived at this diagram, read this post!


a few happy surprises:
*i wasn't expecting the mudroom to be in its own little area. i am so happy that i won't have to look down the hall and see shoes and coats and backpacks everywhere!
* TWO walk-in closets in the master! i thought we would end up with a smaller closet, so this was a very happy surprise.
*i am really happy with the layout of the kitchen. i think the windows on either side of the range/hood are going to look great.
*the bedrooms upstairs are BIG. and so is the main bathroom. yay!
*the master bedroom is bigger than i thought it would be.
* i think the dining space is large enough for a separate seating area near the window.


we have built and remodeled dozens of homes, including 5 personal homes. through each project, we have learned a little more about how WE live in a house. i realize that this floor plan may not work for everyone, but we know it will work for our family. we had to balance what we could afford with what we thought was smart for resale.

i cannot wait to get started. we should break ground in the next couple of weeks. i will be posting instagram and twitter photos of the progress, so feel free to follow me...