Starting from Scratch; A "lot" of Ideas

This post is the first of many regarding the design of the house itself and will focus on the process I went through to get started with our lot.

Designing a house with a blank slate can be quite tricky. I have done some design work in the past, but always on existing homes that were being remodeled. In a way, a remodel is easier because the existing structure has a way of pointing you in the direction you should go. You are also already confined to a space, and your options are pretty much laid out for you. When designing a home from scratch, everything is on the table; so naturally your mind begins running in circles about all the things you want in a home; many of which are either not possible, unrealistic, or can’t be had with some other feature you want.

So where does one start?

After much deliberation and rumination in my own head, consulting both the good and evil voices that have governed every decision I have ever made, “we” conjured up two questions that needed to be answered in order to begin the process of designing this home. The questions were:

1.) What does the lot have to offer? Views, access, size, noise, neighbors, wetlands, restrictions... the list goes on.

2.) What features do I want in a home? I broke this own into 3 categories: must have, strongly want to have, and would be nice to have.

Question 1: What does the lot offer? I determined the following:

1.) The lot will need to be accessed from an existing driveway, and will need to enter the garage from the west side of the house (I wanted to enter from the north, but a wetland buffer did not allow this).

2.) Accessing the house from any other location would have resulted in unnecessary visual impact by extending the driveway, and ultimately decreasing the usable land that could be garden, yard, etc.

3.) The best views are to the east and are even better if we build upward a bit (THOUGHT TO SELF: this house is probably going to be 2 stories).

4.) The lot has moderate coverage of rather large trees (deciduous and evergreen), morning sun is plentiful, with moderate shade midday, but not a ton of evening sun. (THOUGHT TO SELF: Windows placed on the west side of the house from a second story would allow many extra hours of natural light in the house throughout the day). This is proving to be a fantastic lot for a morning person who likes to wake up early and watch the sunrise with a morning cup of coffee (THOUGHT TO SELF: This is totally not me, but perhaps on occasion I will stay up late enough to see the sunrise).

5.) The house is in the woods with views of pasture and peek-a-boo mountains. (THOUGHT TO SELF: Consider style, what would work here, probably going to do some sort of hybrid Northwest Lodge meets Farmhouse or something).

6.) There is a wetland on the lot with a buffer that minimizes the amount of space available for structures; Thus, I would love a detached shop for all my tools, workout equipment, etc., but there is no feasible space for it. (THOUGHT TO SELF: The lot slopes enough for a walk out basement, I will probably incorporate a large basement to make up some space for the “shop” functionality I cannot get otherwise.... crap, that is going to make this house a lot bigger than I wanted initially).

7.) My neighbors on all sides keep a large amount of vegetation and their lots are sparsely populated 5 acre parcels; the logical build site on my lot has a nice way of hiding due to almost perfect tree placement; Visual impact from neighbors will be negligible.

Question 2: What features do I want in a home? Keeping my criteria in mind, (must have, strongly want to have, and would be nice to have) I made a list for each.

Must have:

1.) Highly functional kitchen that can handle a lot of traffic

2.) Large functional laundry room

3.) Wood burning fireplace

4.) Main floor master (Bri and I have had enough knee surgeries to know that a main floor bedroom is critical to have when trying too to avoid sleeping in the living room while temporarily crippled)

5.) At least one bedroom other than the master

6.) One bathroom on the main floor not including master bath

Strongly want to have:

1.) Space for all my climbing gear, preferably in an accessible location with easy access to the garage. Climbers will understand, when you start adding in ropes, rock pro, ice gear, ski gear, tents, etc. the space requirement for all this stuff can be substantial. (THOUGHT TO SELF: I could have a huge garage to store this, or perhaps a bonus above the garage for gear, with a stairwell that allows quick access)

2.) Garage for parking cars, not just for storage

3.) Space for gym equipment

4.) Covered/partly covered deck/porch

5.) Minimum 10’ ceilings on main floor

6.) Lots of natural light

7.) 4’ wide hallways throughout

Nice to have:

1.) Workshop, with the idea this room is for “light” work, hand tools, soldering, etc. (Obviously, this would be something I would like to put in a detached garage/shop, but the lot will not allow it, as mentioned above)

2.) Fireplace in master bedroom

3.) Radiant heat in basement

4.) Upstairs balcony/veranda, for the view

5.) Wet bar

My above analysis significantly narrowed my focus and provides a set of criteria to begin designing. My next design post will focus on the nitty gritty of developing the floor plan.