[djohnson]

So I found this really cool website, http://www.architecturaldesigns.com that you can look up house floor plans. Some of them are REALLY nice! Anyone else have any places to check out some awesome house floor plans?

[jorgem4]

Link does not work

[Sherwin]

No plans, but some pretty huge houses here.

[dav]

Originally posted by jorgem4:
Link does not work

i think you have to take the comma off the end of the link.

[Gankdawg]

Originally posted by djohnson:
http://www.architecturaldesigns.com

Fixed.

[mitchell_pgh]

If only I had a nice chunk of change and lived in a place where those houses would be appropriate.

[Bax23]

More Plans

[djohnson]

My bad Fixed in the first post now.

[djohnson]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
If only I had a nice chunk of change and lived in a place where those houses would be appropriate.

Or if you had the money, just buy a nice couple of acres, plany lots of trees, and the house will blend right in! This is what I plan to do one of these days...

[Diggory Laycock]

It's not a proper house unless it has a Real Tennis court, village and a racecourse attached:

http://www.northamptontoday.co.uk/Vi...ticleID=792249

[djohnson]

Originally posted by Diggory Laycock:
It's not a proper house unless it has a Real Tennis court, village and a racecourse attached:

http://www.northamptontoday.co.uk/Vi...ticleID=792249

Good article!

[voyageur]

No really big house for me, thanks. Too much of a money pit.

[gorickey]

Originally posted by voyageur:
Too much of a money pit.

Funny movie...

[nredman]

i'd rather have a big yard then a big house.

[djohnson]

Originally posted by nredman:
i'd rather have a big yard then a big house.

I agree. We are now probably going to go with a couple of acres first off. You can always add to a house but not to the yard! Maybe a nice 4000 sqft house at first. Anyone want to help pay the costs?

[Timo]

What I don't like about a lot of the floor plans I looked at is that the plans are too much like lunar landers -- they are without a specific site, so many of them are made for any site, and like Eagle One, than can just be dropped in from the sky. This means they are designed typically for flat, featureless sites--though it's worth noting that the plans and renderings invariably feature mature trees and other plantings that would cost tens of thousands of dollars to realize (i.e, not going to happen).

I think looking at floor plans like these can be a good idea generator, but the best designs are not purchased like this, off-the-shelf. Really good design is tailored to two things: the client's needs, and the realities of a specific. Stock design by contrast has to aim for the broadest possible audience on the most banal of sites.

The upshot of this is that a lot of what builders say people want, like the idiotic double-height atria entrances, or these bizarre "great rooms" are really a combination of what's currently fashionable and what's cheap or profitable for them to build. Which is to say these "trends" may be of little-to-no relevance to your particular situation, just as these plans often (but not always) have only a tenuous relationship with historical precidents.

All of the above of course may be seen as a predictable reaction from an architect, but let me just say you are better off thinking for yourself, and deciding what's important to you, than letting a builder or an anonymous designer prioritize you housing ideas for you.

[Sealobo]

Talking of big houses... i just went to check out some nice ones with my friend yesterday... it's actually low dense houses located around the fringe of the city center, going for around $1,800/sq.ft... and they size at around 3,500 sq.ft so you do the numbers. It's nice, i can't imagine a place so quiet yet so near to the center of the city. Those houses got a cool name too, called "King's Park".