Under Construction

The Blueprints

I drafted all the house plans using Adobe Illustrator software. I'd taken drafting classes while in school, so I had some training in technical drawing; I'd spent years working from blueprints as well as dealing with building inspectors and architects. In the past I had also drawn plans for clients and submitted them to building departments for approval. Undertaking this project from start to finish isn't as intimidating as it may seem.

When we designed the first floor we had many firm ideas in place; we figured we'd work out the rest of the ideas as we went along. One principle consideration revolved around hallways, or more to the point, our dislike of hallways. We wanted to create a floor plan virtually hallway-free, with as much ease of movement from one room or area to another as possible, and with a generally open feeling throughout; our first floor ceiling height is just over nine feet.

We also had the task of integrating the addition with the existing house, and of avoiding the aesthetic conflicts often found in remodels. This will prove to be quite difficult as the original chalet has pine floors, pine interior walls, and red cedar ceilings. As much as I love wood, this may be the closest I've come to overdosing.

The First Floor (& pdf)

The kitchen and dining room are separated only by cabinetry. A massive LVL spans the entire room, carrying the floor joists above, and eliminating the need for bearing walls which would divide the two rooms more than we wanted.

Since we love to have dinner parties and our pals always find themselves hanging around in the kitchen, we knew we had to remain accessible while still having room to cook.

The entry has double doors to create a transition between the outside and the living space. The harshness of our weather led us to include a small entry room in which we could keep boots and coats, and prevent excess heat loss while coming and going during winter.

The Laundry and Mud Room has its own entrance as well, and has a tiled floor with a floor drain for easy cleaning. Rural living is often dirty living. Most of the time I'll be using the Laundry entrance in hopes of confining my personal tornadoes.

The only sleeping room on the first floor is tucked into the NorthWest corner. We hoped to provide a pleasant aesthetic by incorporating the evenness of north light with the thermal advantage of partial western exposure. You'll have to come on out, give it a try, and tell us what you think.

The Second Floor (& pdf)

The second floor provided more options as we envisioned it the Master Suite. I've always wanted a Master Suite. Because that would imply I were the Master. Now really, who wouldn't want that?

Our fabulous views to the East, South, and West deserve our full attention. We designed the second floor to accommodate the landscape here. Windows abound, and where the new roof covers over the old we incorporated a loft with large gable end windows for light and ventilation.

Heck, we'll probably move the bed up there come wintertime to take advantage of the warmth and sunrise.

The vaulted ceiling provides a sense of airiness to accentuate our mountainside setting; the sleeping porch in the SouthWest corner brings the outdoors inside from late-Spring to mid-Autumn.

We included two huge walk-in closets for all our gear and Marcella's clothes and a massive bathroom complete with six-foot tub (which I'll build and tile myself) fitted with shower heads and seats at both ends. We'll have double sinks, loads of built-in cabinetry for linens and towels, and enough room left over for the both of us to practice our morning callisthenics in both privacy and safety.

I'm planning on installing a jumbo water heater dedicated to the second floor bathroom. You'll notice the rather large casement windows around the shower/tub area. I've got a feeling we'll be spending some serious time lathering up, as it were.

We'll have a laundry chute in the closet over the laundry room, just like in the good ol' days. Who wants to carry dirty clothes downstairs? Not me. I'm even considering painting a three-point line on the finish floor, just to sweeten the deal.

I included operable windows in all the closets. So far that seems strange to most folks. Two things have always bothered me about closets: Monsters and dankness. Sorry, I meant a lack of natural light and ventilation. Now we'll have Spring breezes and night starlight. Not that we'll be hanging out in our closets.

Not much, that is.

The following images link to PDFs which display all the details you could ever wish for and are based on my working drawings.

Feel nerdy? Give 'em a peek.

Don't give a fig? Hey man, I hear ya loud and clear.