Tract House #6A

This house design is rather conventional-looking, with an arched window theme being played out both front and back. The garage doors also carry this them forward. I chose a pale yellow wood siding (vinyl is also a possibility) with a medium blue-green trim around all the windows and doors. I also placed 6" wide blue-green (more green than blue, actually) corner boards to help accentuate the shape.

The front porch has a very high roof over it, and twin columns framing the front door. Yes, this is a very conventional feature. You won't find me using columns in most of my designs. The tall arched windows on the left, below, front a small sitting room off the master bedroom. Of course the sitting room has a cathedral ceiling. The master bedroom itself has a tray ceiling that I have attempted to make as interesting as possible.

The bay windows on the right, below, front the dining room, and the living room windows are just to their right (our left).

The Front

The rear of the house, below, shows the bi-level deck, complete with built-in hot tub. There are sliding glass doors into the family room and into the central hallway. I decided to place a door into the storage room, which is shown on the far right.

The master bath, centered over the family room (on the right), has a tall, arched window behind a spa tub and a cathedral ceiling.

The breakfast nook is to the left of the central hall, below, and has two walls of floor-to-ceiling windows.

The Rear

The basic layout of the first floor is fairly standard, except that the kitchen and laundry are not located next to (or even near) the garage. The kitchen itself is rather small (a habit I seem to have), but one of the plan variations I want to show is a slightly rearranged kitchen/laundry/bath "zone" that probably sacrifices some storage for more floor space in the kitchen itself.

This plan also does not particularly lend itself well to having a basement, either, though a basement stair could be off the back of the garage, where there is storage space in the plan, below. This house works best on a slab or over a crawlspace.

The right-hand "wing" has three bedrooms and a bath. The left wing is the master suite, consisting of master bedroom, large walk-in closet, a sitting "alcove" and a large, though narrow master bath. The master bath has a large rectangular shower and a spa tub, as well as a toilet and bidet. I don't tend to place toilets in separate rooms, though a variation of this plan could show how that could be accomplished.

Overall, the house is about 2,360 sq. ft. (give or take), and should be quite comfortable for a family of five.

Here is the view I used for the works-in-progress page. Note the basketball hoop in the driveway.

And here is the night shot. Warming. Welcoming. Inviting.

From the other side of the house. Not too much to see from this angle.

This is an image of the rear, from the side nearer the garage. The shadows make some details hard to pick out.

From just inside the front door, this shows the sliding glass doors to the deck, and of course, the stairs that start up immediately to the right and turn through 180°. That's the family room in the back, left. The nook is down the hall (between the stairs and the sliding glass doors), to the right.

Here we look from the family room doorway back toward the double front doors and the two-story entrance foyer.

And here we are in the family room, itself. The door shown leads to the garage.

Now we have walked down the hallway and are looking toward the rear of the house. That's the smallish breakfast nook in the foreground. The kitchen is down the hall to the right, just past the full-height cabinets. I used vertical blinds on the windows, for some privacy.

Now we stand in the breakfast nook and look down toward the kitchen. The door on the right leads to a half bath, and that's a built-in cabinet just past the bathroom door.

And here is the kitchen. It's more an L-shape. That's the arched doorway into the dining room, on the right. I do like a window over my sink.

The bi-fold doors on the left hide the washer and dryer. My thought was that when they are open there is room in the kitchen for loading and folding clothes.

Of course, this is the dining room. I do like how it came out. I used white vertical wood paneling for the wainscoting, and that is a 6" tray ceiling done in a contrasting green color.

And, another view of the dining room, looking back toward the kitchen. That's an arched doorway into the living room, on the left.

Many of my room shots are in corners, since that gives the best angle into the room. This is the living room, showing the built-in cabinet and shelving.

Another view of the living room, standing in the breakfast nook doorway and looking toward the front of the house.

Now we go upstairs and look down the hallway. Those are the bedrooms on that end of the hall.

Also upstairs, this looks back toward the stairs and the door to the master suite.

And this, friends, is the master bedroom. I rather like how it came out. Those are the double doors to the closet, and the arched doorway to the sitting "alcove". The master bath doors are just visible on the right. I used a picture frame object to make the headboard for the bed, just in case you wondered.

Here we are, more or less in the sitting alcove doorway looking back toward the rest of the bedroom.

Here is the small sitting "alcove", itself.

And we finally make it into the master bath. Note the cathedral ceiling is only in the center, framing the spa tub and arched windows. Sinks are on either side. At one point I had tile wainscoting on the walls, but decided to remove it. This room would look nice with some sort of wall decoration. As it is, I think it may be a bit too plain.

From the far right corner, we look toward the shower. Note the cabinets over the toilet and bidet, on our left.