Architect

Here We Go Again

Planning
Back to the drawing board. Literally.

Super cool modern house all filed away in the hopes we can build something like that on another lot, another day.

But what to do now? Our architect is out of town for a month. We aren’t going to build the super cool modern house (aka “spendy house”).

Craig told me I could be patient and just wait till the end of July when an engineer could work on some ideas and plans or wait for our architect to come back. Or he said I could try and come up with ideas too while we wait.

So of course I got my supplies all ready — pencil, eraser, ruler and paper. Then I cut up all the giant plans from the spendy house into puzzle pieces. I spent a TON (like days and days) of time on ArchitecturalDesigns.com sending Craig every plan that was pretty cool and interesting + could fit on that crazy piece of land. Google + Pinterest became new best friends for floor plan and house ideas. And then, we worked on a few ideas.

Crazy as it is, we have 2 new floor plan layouts that we love even more than the other house! We cut the square footage by about 1500 square feet and we have just as much amazing and cool and fun stuff in the house + a much needed gigantagarage to hold all the cars + toys!

Next up I guess we will see if we learned from our mistakes of the past. Can our ideas actually be built in reality. AND in budget??

Isn’t She Lovely?

Planning
Can we build it? NO WE CAN’T.

Okay so this house rocks. We love this house. The architect couldn’t have nailed a more cool, appropriate for us house in terms of style + everything inside + outside.

Who wouldn’t love this? A 3rd floor deck to look at the ocean? A mix of materials. Super cool modern design.

Windows! Check out the amazing windows in this design. Casement. Two together in the corners to give a super cool view. Black trim outside and inside. You can’t even see the backyard and pool on this image, but its so amazing too. And the inside?? ❤️❤️❤️

All of it is perfect! Till it’s budget and estimate time. UH-OH.

Big lessons learned here. Understand if your design is in the budget early on; before you fall in love. Get an estimate as early as possible without driving your builder crazy. Before you get excited and apply for permits, get an estimate. Most importantly, before you even buy the lot and build, you should look to understand what’s going on in the market, what people are spending on their builds near you + what people are selling homes for around you. Based on all those things, our budget was too high for what we should be spending. And the estimate came in higher than the budget.

So can we build it? No can do. This pretty lady is just going to have to stay in our back pocket for the next project.