Also....I want to do a shiplap on the ceiling in the living, dining, and kitchen. Any suggestions on using faux beams with it? Which direction should the beams run? Not sure I want them to run in both directions as I want to avoid the coffered look.

I love it....Great house!

Hi Michelle1973,

I think the elevation looks very charming and not farmhouse-y. Hopefully others will weigh in on what you might incorporate in terms of Craftsman details. Perhaps one thing to address is roof pitch? The Craftsman homes I'm used to seeing have a shallower pitch (but then again we don't see snow here).

I think your floorplan is quite nice. One picky thing -- if it were mine, I probably would prefer a more direct alignment of the kitchen/living/dining areas.

It's great that you are thinking about the ceiling treatment now; with shiplap it will be easier if your joists are running the right direction. Also useful to consider your joist placement if you are planning to use recessed lighting.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Craftsman

This post was edited by Oaktown on Fri, Jun 6, 14 at 19:10

I love it.

The shed dormer is definitely craftsman. Use some tapered columns and some detailing at the peak of the gables. The link I posted might give you some ideas. I plan on incorporating many of these details into my plan.

Here is a link that might be useful: Craftsman Style

I can see why you love it! So my favs are the shed dormers, window sets and your office off the kitchen. Great location. I also like how you configured the mud entrance - lockers and easy access to the kitchen. And the privacy you have at the master beds room entrance (we missed that with ours). Oh and those kitchen windows! Two Thumbs up!

Do you have plans for that angled garage space?

Wow, thanks for the positive responses! We are very excited. Autumn, we don't have garage elevations yet...she's working on that next.

When we sign off, architect will work on construction drawings...she said that takes up to four weeks. I'm hoping it doesn't take that long....I'm so ready to dig a hole!

I think tapered columns would help change the look from farmhouse to craftsman.

The dominant steep-roofed two-story narrow cross-gable element will prevent this house from successfully emulating the Craftsman Style no matter how many Craftsman features are added.

Two story Craftsman cross-gables typically have a lower gabled front porch and in your case the front porch is added to the corner of the cross-gable and wraps around it ending in a small gabled portico. This might be considered a farmhouse form if the porch continued farther across the house. The result is more of a Folk Style house IMO.

It's not imposible to make this house into a Craftsman Style but it would probably require moving the cross-gable back and centering a more dominant Craftsman-like one story front porch. A front or side gabled form might also be possible.

It is clear that it was not the architect's intention to design a Craftsman house so I suspect there might have been a miscommunication in the early stages of the design process or the plan was developed too much before the style of the house was determined.

michelle-I hear ya. So hard to wait wait wait but I think you will be glad that you re-worked things before forging ahead.

One thing I might mention - just cuz we have been in 2 weeks and it's one thing that bothers ME is your bed against the master bath sink wall. Ours is not on it but next to it and I DO wake up when dh uses the sink in the middle of the night, it really cuts the silence. Maybe double drywall on that wall to buffer?

Thanks Autumn....I'll make a note to do some soundproofing on that wall.

Renovator, thanks for commenting....I was hoping you would. We have since received a "more" craftsman like elevation. I understand this home doesn't fit the craftsman mold due to the two story set up, among other things. I'll post the new elevations soon (I'm on my phone right now).

One thing we love about this look is the exposed rafters....but aren't those a great deal more expensive? Since we are already 500 sq ft over our target size, we must be careful. If the exposed rafters don't meet budget, is there a way to mimic the look without making the house look tacky?

Here's the new elevation. It changed up a bit in the laundry room area. There will be a small, high window to the right of the main entrance as well.

So, what do you think? Does this new elevation look less farmhouse, more craftsman?

The shed dormer should be pulled at least a foot away from the front facing gable so water can drain. In a cold climate it should be pulled away at least 2 feet.

It's a much better design but it is still not a Craftsman house. The steep roofs, boxed cornices and pent roofed pediments are Victorian which is not a bad thing. You should allow the house to be what it wants to be instead of trying to disguise it as a style that is foreign to it. I see a great opportunity to make it into a Shingle Style house which I consider to be far more elegant and easy to adapt to modern life styles. It's almost there; the long continuous rake being a hallmark of the style. Add some more shingles that wrap around the corners (no corner boards), place the porch posts farther apart and make them tapered round or square columns (a column has a base and a capital) with entasis (convex side curve) and delete the big rake overhangs and brackets. Pair the windows with enough space between them to look traditional and use mullions only in the top sash.

Thank you, Renovator....I agree about the shingle style, and thanks for the heads up on the shed/gable dormers. I will ask architect.

This Shingle Style house hangs on my wall to remind me that great houses can come from seemingly simple ideas.

That idea applied to your house.

Renovator.....I'm liking it! Thanks.....will definitely share with architect. :)

I'm worried about the width of the dining room. With 3 seats on the two sides of the dining room table, and those sides boxed in by the divider between living room and dining room on one side, and the kitchen island on the other side, there just isn't enough room.

From the experts on GW's Kitchen and Bath forum:

Walkways....In a seating area, 36" of clearance from counter/table edge to wall/obstruction if no traffic passes behind seated diners. 65" of total clearance when this includes a walkway (i.e., traffic). [From the NKBA Kitchen Planning Guidelines With Access Standards]
http://ths.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/kitchbath/2011105828006802.html

It also looks like the corridor along the sink cabinets is too tight: both the area around the door between the kitchen and desk room, and also between those cabinets and the island.

I have no idea if such a design would be appropriate for your location; it's just an idea for simplifying and unifying the character of the exterior.

Shiplap boards on a ceiling would require face nailing. Tongue & groove boards would be better.

missingtheobvious, I very much appreciate that you took the time to look at the plans. Your post spurred me to measure my current dining room to see if I need to add more on to the plan. Our current dining room is 11 feet wide, and there are bar stools included in the width. Plus, our current table is 47" wide, and the table I plan on ordering from Restoration Hardware is 42" wide. The dining room on the plans is 11' 5" inches, with about 6 inches being eaten up by the wall divider. But, I gain back 5" with the narrower table. My current dining room is PLENTY big for our needs. So, I feel comfortable moving forward with the size in the dining room. But thank you!