Country Home #2

I began this design as "Tract House #10", a  variation of Country Home #1. Well, after one thing and then another, it evolved into a quite different design. Ultimately, I decided it was too much to be just a tract house.

In case you hadn't noticed, the front facade evokes a 1960's kind of "modern" home look, particularly from the use of vertical siding over most of the exterior. I chose brick to accent the front, but I could see any kind of cut stone, as well. Actually, there probably isn't much to mark this house as being 21st century in origin. Oh well.

The design is a left-to-right split level. The lower right center (as shown in the image, below) is the dining room (behind the brick), and to its right is a small breakfast nook. Above the breakfast nook is a small study off the master bedroom. Above the dining room is a bedroom.

Above the garage (the bricked section) is a small study/children's playroom with a sloping ceiling and a large skylight. It looks out over the towering 2-story entry.

The Front

The Rear

From the rear view, above, on the left is visible the master bedroom which hangs out over the kitchen, whose windows are along the lower left side. The master bedroom itself has a tall cathedral ceiling. At the center rear (the part with the deck and the sliding glass doors) is the family room. Above the family room is the master bedroom's walk-in closet, and to the right, the master bath. At the lower right side of the house is the living room, and above that is a bedroom.

On the first floor (below), you might want to note the following:

• The entry is down 12 inches from the nominal first floor level. Take a step up the the central "hall" (not much more than a landing). To your right you can go up one half level to the master bedroom, or down one half level to the kitchen, family room, and dining room.
• There's a small half bath on the lower level, so folks won't have to walk all the way  upstairs.
• The kitchen is a fairly long galley style, with the sink angled away from the wall to help define the area. The stove looks out the windows to the side yard.
• There is also ample kitchen storage, with 2 floor-to-ceiling storage cabinets.
• Stairs also lead down to the basement, which is only under the living room, laundry, and central hall. The HVAC would be located there.

On the second floor (below), you might want to note the following:

• The bath on the left is reminiscent of the similar feature in Country Home #1. This bath is smaller and narrower, however.
• As mentioned, the study has a sloped ceiling and a skylight.
• The master bedroom has a tall cathedral ceiling which really opens the space up. The small study in the front is just about the right size for a desk, or for a TV and a loveseat. As you will see, I chose to make it a TV room.

First, here is the obligatory night view of the front. I tried two variations of this: one (this view) lighting the front with the long, hanging front porch light. The second one (next view), with the ground level lights.

I think the lower porch light is a tad too bright, but I kept this image anyway. I used ground-level floodlights in front to illuminate the rest of the house.

Here we are looking at the front, a bit to the right. We can see the overhanging master bedroom at the upper right. As I mentioned, the master bedroom has a cathedral ceiling that matches the roofline.

And here is a night view of the rear. Not too interesting, but worthwhile.

The rear, looking from between the trees on the right side. Note the door off the garage, on the right.

And now we walk to the front door.

Once inside the door, we look at the stairs, and the living room visible through the doorway. That's a closet and the laundry room on our left.

Here is another view of the entry, from the other angle. The closet and laundry are better visible, here.

This looks from the central hallway/landing down the stairs toward the kitchen. Up the stairs on our right is the double door to the master bedroom.

We turn left, and look into the living room.

Now we go downstairs and look down the basement stairs. The dining room is to our left, family room to our right.

To our left, then, this is the dining room.

From the front corner of the dining room, we see the hall (on the left) and the kitchen (on the right).

We walk into the small breakfast nook, and look toward the back of the house, and the family room. The dining room, from whence we just came, is on the left.

This is another view, showing more of the kitchen.

From in front of the refrigerator, this looks back toward the front of the house.

This rather dingy view is from the family room looking toward the front of the house. The kitchen is on the left, of course.

From the corner of the family room, we see the sliding glass doors to the back deck.

We go upstairs, and we see the small study/playroom.

From in front of the upstairs bath, we look back toward the master bedroom doors.

We turn around and look at the narrow bath. It has two sinks and a bench between. Linens can go inside drawers under the bench.

From the other corner of the bath, we look back at the other sink.

From the front corner of the playroom, we look toward the rear of the house. Note the skylight, and there is a closet tucked under the roof, as well.

If we sat on the futon, here is what we might see: the upper part of the entrance foyer.

We go down one-half level. This is the master bath, if we stood in the large spa tub.

Here is the master bedroom. The small study is right center in the image.

This, also in the master bedroom, shows the double doors, on our left, and the walk-in closet on our right. I suppose I could have put a plant or two on the plant ledge, but I was lazy.