Suburban Contemporary #6

This house design is about 20% smaller than the two preceding designs, weighing in around 2,123 sq. ft. You could also call it Mid-American Red Barn, if you like, as well. Still, I like it. The main living areas are very open, and the sunken living room at the back does afford a very nice space.

The main view of the front, below, highlights the circular pad in the driveway and anchors the path to the front door. Also note a secondary entrance on the right, that leads directly to the kitchen.

The Front

The Rear

From the rear, above, we can see the large bi-level deck (with hot tub) and a "half-diamond" window arrangement, reminiscent of the previous design.

Some things worth noting:

• The cylindrical dining room is surrounded by glass brick to separate it from the rest of the main living areas.
• The kitchen, located at the front of the house, is a small L-shape.
• There are stairs down to a basement, and they're located under the main stairs, and are accessed via the small hallway between the garage and the living area.
• Note that there is a graphic artifact (dark line) that crosses the curved doors onto the back deck. This represents a problem that the design tool has with curved walls. Experimentation did not succeed in removing this line without causing more harm to the design. Since I have to live with it, perhaps you could, too. Also note that the sliding glass doors between the living room and the deck (with the hot tub) don't show on the floor plan, even though I can assure you they are there.

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

• The back bedroom has a study area that borders the stairs.
• The master bedroom overlooks the living room, below. And yes, this is a similar feature to SC #4. I liked it so much I just had to do it again.

This design looks especially good when all aglow with light.

This is my obligatory shot from the main road.

Same view as above, but at night.

And this is the rear view at night.

From inside the front door, this looks toward the kitchen. Note the cooktop on the free standing island. There's room for a small table and chairs between the island and the railing. You never want to be too far from the coffeemaker in the morning! On the left is the sunken living room, with the cylindrical part on the left side of the picture.

From the "main" part of the living room, this looks up the decorative stairs toward the dining room. For those who might care, making the stairs took a great deal of painstaking work, but the effect was more than worth it.

This is somewhat of an elevated view from the cylindrical part of the living room, and it looks back toward the dining room (with the glass brick) and the front doors. The master bedroom is open from above. This is not a large plan, but the openness of the main living area helps make the space seem larger.

This is another view of the downstairs, from inside the kitchen. That's the pantry on the left, and of course the cooktop island straight ahead.

The final view, standing between the island and the dining room, looking toward the living room.

This is the master bedroom, upstairs. That's the door to the closet/dressing area, which occupies the cylindrical space above the living room. The master bath is on the right.

This is the master bath, and shows the separate room with the toilet and shower. I like cathedral ceilings (where I can get away with them) so of course this area has one.

The final image, showing the stairs, the plant ledge, and looking down on the entry area. There is a roof artifact at the top center of the image, but to eliminate it would force me to disrupt the exterior roof line (or move a wall or two). I decided I could live with something less-than-perfect in one small aspect than to completely mess up the larger effort. And then again, I could post-process the image to remove this "glitch", and no one would be the wiser.