Tract House #2S

This house design was done in a day, and I do believe it came out fairly well. This design is about 1,864 sq. ft., and features beige aluminum siding and a dark gray three-tab shingle hip roof. The primary roof pitch is 12-in-12, with the roof over the garage and front porch being 6-in-12. Pretty standard living, dining, kitchen, a laundry/mud room, and a downstairs half bath. There is a basement below, so there's room for expansion and for the TV/rumpus room. Few homes have adequate space for the rumpus, so I consider this feature a plus.

The Front

The Rear

On the second floor we have three bedrooms, including the master bedroom. One nice feature of the master suite is the nursery/office that's immediately on your left as you enter the master bedroom. For a young family, this offers a place for the baby which gives some privacy and separation to mom and dad. The walk in closet is quite large, considering the total size of the house, but you know, you can never have too much storage space.

Below is the first floor plan. I wanted to keep the "wet spaces" (kitchen, bath, and laundry) grouped together toward the rear, and likewise worked to keep both upstairs bathrooms located over the first floor plumbed area.

The water heater is shown in a small closet between the kitchen and laundry. It could be put in the basement, of course, and the freed-up space used to help make the kitchen a little larger (and the laundry somewhat larger, as well). The door to the half bath could be placed on the opposite wall, so it would be entered from the central hallway. On the other hand, I like the centralized feel of the current layout.

The second floor plan is below. As mentioned, both baths are over the kitchen, and toward the rear of the house. The bedrooms are spacious, considering, though the master bedroom isn't terribly large, by modern standards. If you count the nursery as a private office, then the master suite is certainly adequate.

Below are some images of this house. I didn't show any of the bedrooms, since there really aren't very many interesting aspects to them. Of course, it could be argued there isn't much to see in a typical bathroom or closet, either.

This is my obligatory night shot, from the front. But note that this is the only nighttime image for this design. Turning on shadows changes the look, somewhat.

This is another image of the front, from the left side. This shows the chimney, which is framed, and not masonry.

This looks toward the stairs from the corner between the entry and the living room (just inside the doorway).

This is standing on the landing looking up the stairs. You can barely see the arched doorway into the living room. That and the doorway between the living room and dining room are arched to echo the arch of the living room window.

This shot could not successfully be done with shadows turned on. Too many shadowy "artifacts" that obscured and dirtied the image. No, I don't know why they were there. Anyway, this shows the stairs down to the basement, if standing in the central hall looking toward the front of the house.

This is the kitchen, as seen from the doorway to the laundry room. It is a small kitchen, but there is room enough for all but the most determined gourmet cook. Note that I used conventional appliances instead of built-in ones. To the left, just out of the image, is a counter and a full-height cabinet. It would be a good place for cleaning supplies, brooms, vacuum cleaners, etc.

This looks from the doorway to the central hall into the kitchen. The door on the right is the pantry. The doorway on the left goes into the dining room.

This is the laundry room. I wanted to show the shelving above the washer and dryer.

This is the living room, looking toward the front living room window. Note the fire in the fireplace. It takes some work to pull off, but it's worth the effort.

This is the living room from the front entry doorway (on the left in the image above). Note the arched doorway into the dining room.

And here is the dining room, complete with bow window. I elected not to show dishes on the table.

This is the hallway upstairs, looking down toward the base of the stairs.

I wanted to show the smaller bath upstairs, though in a room this small it's hard to get a decent image.

This is the nursery, and I placed a crib and changing table just to show there is room for them. I like the cabinets and shelving--plenty of space to store things.

And here is the master bath.

Another image of the master bath, showing the vanity area and the closet beyond.

The walk-in closet off the master bath. There are some built-in cabinets for small items. All in all, not a bad space.