The New House

Now that we are "in contract" on the land... Hubby met with our U Build It Consultant, Ted, and the excavator tonight to stake the house out on the property. Next step is working with the architect on the blueprints. We chose a Craftsman/Farmhouse style two-story house that will be custom designed to our specifications. Below is a drawing of the house plan we are working from... the end result will be slightly modified... but you get the idea.

We fell in love with the Craftsman style... for those not familiar with the term, here's some general information.

The American Craftsman Style, or the American Arts and Crafts Movement, is an American domestic architectural, interior design, and decorative arts style popular from the last years of the 19th century through the early years of the 20th century. As a design movement, its popularity remained strong until the 1930's, although in the decorative arts it continues to experience numerous revivals to present day.

Common Craftsman Style architectural design features:

• Low-pitched roof lines, gabled or hipped roof
• Deeply overhanging eaves
• Exposed rafters or decorative brackets under eaves
• Front porch beneath extension of main roof
• Tapered, square columns supporting roof
• Frank Lloyd Wright design motifs
• Hand-crafted stone or woodwork
• Mixed materials throughout structure

One of the most unique ideas we have for this house is to incorporate barn beams into the interior (an idea we got a few years ago from Hubby's mom). Not just any barn beams though... these beams come from an old barn that belonged to Hubby's extended family. We are very excited to have the opportunity to add such a distinct family heirloom to our house.