House Plans - The Main Level

Have you ever dreamed up a home, or a room, or any space like unto it, and then tried to draw it out on a napkin or scrap piece of paper, spent an entire 10 minutes or 30 or an hour on it, and thought to yourself... "Man, I'm good at this!"

That was us.

Thinking we were so smart.

We didn't know that "what we knew" essentially amounted to diddly squat.

But eventually, people much smarter than us showed us the error of our ways, and taught us about things like building code, standard measurements and distances, varying required wall thicknesses, door placements, etc. and we learned just how much we didn't know and how very complex designing a home really is.

When we ultimately decided to move forward with creating house plans, we had no idea just how many details go into every square inch of a custom plan, and how much thought and planning and time would be required.

We started with one architect, realized within a couple of months that we needed to make a change, and started working with award-winning designer James Carrick, who was so patient with us, helped us understand the ins and outs of residential architecture, made helpful suggestions, and worked his "Tetris magic" to make everything fit.

In the end, it took us about a year of working on it to feel fully confident in our design, and submit it for engineering. Even then, we tweaked a couple of things. I'm sure our architect loved us so much. Haha!

Taking a year is likely longer than many, but we really did take our sweet time (helped by Covid), and were very involved in thinking through how each space would be used... what made sense for our family and what didn't... and it paid off. We are in love with our design!

I'll cover our all of our plans in a few different posts, but for now, here's where we landed for our main level living.

MAIN LEVEL

3 car garage + boat garage (to be used as a workshop for Cory to do all kinds of fun projects on his own and with the kids... no plans for a boat here)

Butler pantry with a Costco door to slide groceries straight into the pantry from the garage

Mudroom with lockers for all, a small sink, a large closet for winter coats, snow gear, and I'm sure a million other things

Friends and family entrance especially for little buddies and lots of little shoes

1/2 bath just off the mudroom with a drinking fountain adjacent

Drop Zone for keys, mail, my purse, packages and other odds and ends that I don't want on the counters in the kitchen

Kitchen with a large island with ample seating, double ovens, 48" range, and lots of cabinetry for storage

Dining nook with windows to the backyard and open to the back covered patio situated to look at the mountains and canyon and ready for backyard BBQs

Great Room with a tall ceiling, large windows, a big fireplace with hearth seating, and built-in cabinetry

Formal Dining Room with large window to the mountains for hosting family and friends, having Sunday dinners, for special occasions, displaying family china, and Cory's mother's piano

A wide entry up from the covered front porch

Den/Office for work and Kid's study space

Primary Bedroom with a large walk-in closet, and stackable laundry unit

Primary Bathroom with two shower heads, soaker tub, and Cory's favorite... the urinal

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And there you have the main level of Stonebrook. We can't wait to see it become reality!