H2 Layout

It occurred to me that maybe it would be easier for you to visualize all the odd angles I'm posting about if you can see the layout of the entire house. We purchased the plans online and they are still available, a quick google search made this quite easy for me to share with you. Ah, I love the google.

Asheville House Plan, available HERE
by architect Jerold Axelrod

It occurred to me that maybe it would be easier for you to visualize all the odd angles I'm posting about if you can see the layout of the entire house. We purchased the plans online and they are still available, a quick google search made this quite easy for me to share with you. Ah, I love the google.

The Asheville is a cute cape cod which we chose for several reasons. It was meant to be a retirement home so it didn't need to be large and the build-able area of the lot was fairly small so a large home wasn't practical. Our budget dictated a small house. I was advised by a couple contractors (and my husband) that a simple ranch style house would be easier to build. But most ranch style homes are kind of boring. I wanted to see an upstairs where guests could stay. I saw this picture and thought immediately it looked like a Thomas Kincaide house, a perfect place for a grandma to live. 

We wanted an attached garage, and our driveway came in from a direction that required us to flip the plans. We did everything in a mirrored image, so keep that in mind when you look at the architect's plans.

This is the original plan. We chose to use the alternate plan which would create a large Master suite:

This is the layout of the upstairs:

This is a rendering of the kitchen and dining area, which looks much larger than the actual space:

Of course, there were areas we had to modify due to local building codes and changes we needed to make to accommodate the restrictions of our lot. The lot itself was a steep hill. The south side is bordered by a quiet side road and the north side comes out onto a cul de sac shared with two other driveways. Because of the hill, the house is nestled in a little hollow. It is bordered on all sides by a lot of trees and wild vegetation, and even though it is near a lake it feels quite secluded. 

Originally, we thought we would leave the upstairs unfinished (except for what you could see from the bottom of the stairs). We ended up finishing the bedrooms and bathrooms as inexpensively as possible so that the granddaughters had a place to play and have sleepovers. 

Building the home was an adventure and a challenge. But that is a story for a different day. Today's story is  all about the re-do.