I, for one, REALLY appreciate everything everyone on here has been teaching me through documenting their experiences. Grant in Jacksonville, AL

Planning, Planning, Planning

Posted by Angela in Luray, VA on 3/26/2007

We've been meeting with the architect and I've been compiling and contemplating everyone's comments on the design. Thank you so much! Although hindsight is 20/20 (I wish that we had a couple of builds under our belt before designing and building our live-in-it-until-we-die house), having you guys who have done this many times and those of you who are going through it now to give us direction is very, very much appreciated.

I am attempting to attach and upload images of the revised floor plans that incorporate input by those on this site, the architect and input from the many books that I've been reading. Although I am very anxious to finalize the plans and begin bidding out the work, there is so much research that I feel I need to do before I am ready to finalize the plans. In addition to The Owner-Builder Book, I've read Better Houses, Better Living and am in the process of reading Make Your House Do the Housework and have watched several of the DVDs that I've ordered from this site, all of which have been jam-packed with excellent information that I cannot imagine building a house without.

Photos

Posted by Kristen in Snowflake, AZ on 3/29/2007 Kristen's Forum Posts: 19 Journal Entries: 3 Interview Answers: 59 Average Forum Rating: 3.73 My Construction Website Kristen's Selected Image 3/29/2007

Hi Angela, For me, the very best thing I used to help me design our house was to use a program like this  plan3d.com or get one of the software programs out there that you can draw your house plan and then 3D it (I ultimately used Chief Architect student version, but there are others less expensive). Being able to see it in 3D and then put some furniture in it (your furniture dimensions) so you can see if your space is too small/big is veeeeery helpful. I originally started out drawing our house on graph paper knowing a lot of what I wanted. When I switched to a program and made the changes I did, I realized that I would have been very unhappy with our house with the way it originally was going before I was able to see it. It is well worth the little money and some time it will take you to do this. In the end, you will be soooo glad you did! Then you won't have unhappy surprises with your design down the road when it is very costly to make changes. Good luck, Kristen (The-Cortes-Adventure)

Posted by Kristen in Snowflake, AZ on 3/29/2007 Kristen's Forum Posts: 19 Journal Entries: 3 Interview Answers: 59 Average Forum Rating: 3.73 My Construction Website Kristen's Selected Image 3/29/2007

Here are a couple of software programs: Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer Pro 8.0 3D Home Architect Kristen