home design: home plans

Showing posts with label home plans. Show all posts

How to Start Your Home Design

Thinking of building a new home? Here are some tips for getting your ideas together for your home design.

Find and purchase your land
Start documenting your ideas to present to Bonin Architects

Why is it important to purchase your land before you start getting too far in the process of the home design? The land will undoubtedly have an impact on the design of the home: its footprint, number of stories, whether or not you can have a walkout basement, orientation, etc. Once you have your land, Bonin Architects will visit the property with you to help site the home within the town Planning Board regulations and the Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act guidelines.

Then it’s time to start gathering your ideas for your new home. General requirements such as the use of the home (primary residence, vacation, or retirement home), the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the location of your Master Bedroom, the use of outdoor space, and having an eat-in kitchen or separate dining room are some things to start thinking about.

Bonin Architects will work with you during the Schematic Design Phase of the home design to develop the size, footprint and layout of the home. In this phase you will also address any specialty features, rooms, and other priorities you have for the home, including a home theater, office and/or media room, craft room, sun room, porches, decks and basement use. Use your current home as a comparison for what you like and what you do not like about each room, space, and its use.

Working with Bonin Architects for your home design will result in having much more than a home with a standard floor plan – together, we will create a custom home design that matches your philosophy and lifestyle, a reflection of who you are, how you live.

Remodeling a House with Fire Damage

One of our projects is for a new two-story addition and remodel to a home damaged by fire last year in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Thankfully the fire was contained and only one wing was lost.

Our architects are working directly with our clients to design the addition to closely match the existing house while taking advantage of the opportunity to make updates to the floor plan.

The ground floor in the new wing has an open kitchen and generous pantry, as well as a breakfast nook overlooking a three season porch. A new two-story tower will conveniently house a stairway to the second floor Master Bedroom and a sitting area above the porch below.

To see other work by our residential architects, visit our online portfolio.

Vacation Cottage Plans, Sunapee NH

Construction will begin right after Labor Day on our client’s vacation cottage in Blodgett’s Landing on Lake Sunapee. The new cottage was designed within the Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act (CSPA) guidelines and the historic nature of Blodgett Landing’s architectural style.

The cottage design has its roots in the Landing’s Victorian influenced architecture; steep gables, expansive porches and lacy "gingerbread" trim all have been distilled into a clean modern interpretation of the area’s homes.

The floor plans are designed to enjoy lakeside living with the basement level providing access to and from the lake, along with a ¾ bath, media room and game room with a snack area and wine refrigerator.

The cottage plans feature a spacious porch overlooking the lake and adjacent open kitchen, dining, and living room for entertaining. The master suite on the second level also features a covered balcony for quiet evenings spent watching the sunset over Lake Sunapee.

Georgian House | Colonial Revival

Our newest home design is for clients building a Colonial Revival in the Lake Sunapee area. This home style is also called a Georgian House, and is one of America’s favorite architectural styles.

This 4200 square foot, two story home has traditional form and simple, elegant lines indicative of colonial architecture. The home design is symmetrical and has a centrally located entry door and curved stairway. Windows are proportioned and balanced, and two fireplaces are located on each gable end of the home, also true to colonial home design.

The floor plan features an abundance of open and defined living space for hosting dinner parties and accommodating private conversations or visiting grandchildren watching television. The large, top-of-the-line kitchen is open to the dining and living areas, while a sunroom captures property views and adds to entertaining space.

The home also features an elevator to accommodate any future accessibility issues to the second floor master suite and guest bedrooms.

A guest house and barn were built last year on the property, allowing our clients to living in the carriage house while the main home is being built this spring.

Home Remodel and Addition

Work is under way for the remodeling phase for our clients' homes in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.

The home remodelling plans include building an addition to add living space (brown sections on drawings indicate remodelled areas / changes). The existing dining area will move to the current living room, and the kitchen will gain the space created by moving the dining.

Kitchen / dining before remodel

Kitchen during remodeling

In addition to the kitchen renovation, the original one-story bump-out on the first floor west elevation will be replaced with a structural insulated panel, two-story addition in order to remodel the first floor bath and double the size of the second floor bathroom located above. Check back for ongoing construction photos!

Home Design Specific to Your Location

Building in different localities means addressing issues specific to your site location. Here are some design issues to consider when building a home…

On a mountaintop:
Views
Terrain and slope
Solar gain
Prevailing winds

On a lake:
Views
Solar gain

Drainage
Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act or applicable guidelines and restrictions

In the suburbs:
Views
Solar gain and shading

Slope
Architectural Review Board guidelines and regulations

One of our clients is building an energy efficient home on top of a mountain in southwestern New Hampshire (Jaffrey). The 73-acre property faces east and runs from hilltop to the bottom with a fantastic 180-degree view from Mt. Monadnock due north, to Temple, Kidder, and Barrett Mountains to the east, to Mt. Watatic and even Wachusett to the south.

The terrain where the house will be sited is fairly level, which will save money in excavation costs.

The home will be situated with the main living areas (living room and master bedroom) facing east and south. The majority of windows is located on these elevations to take advantage of the fantastic views. Our clients will incorporate solar hot water and geothermal heating systems and are considering using a wind turbine to generate electricity. Click on the link for more photos and the floor plan for this energy efficient one-story house.

Custom Home Design Update

The home design process is continuing for our clients in southern NH.

One of our clients’ priorities is having enough space to entertain about 20 people four times a year. To add more living / entertaining space in the floor plan, the dining table was reduced in size and moved to replace the informal banquette. While the table is still large enough to seat extended family for holiday meals, the enlarged open living area is better suited toward hosting cocktail parties.

The dormer bays in the living and dining areas were changed to soften the interior lines. The kitchen was reconfigured slightly to take advantage of the added space and to streamline traffic flow.