Look through all the wonderful pictures here on Houzz and you'll get a lot of inspiration for your new home. You can also look at houseplans.com for good plan ideas.

Start by writing down items that you 'must have' in the house, and 'want to have' features. What is the square footage and number of bedroom / bathrooms you are looking for ? Do you know the size of land you are building on ? Any restrictions ?

We have a lot of hte big items, floor plan ect. Our home will be 4000 sq. feet and on 15 acres. It is the details that are most difficlut, paint, trim, cabinets, sinks, lights, windows (built in blinds or window treatments), and the cost that goes with all this good stuff. It is......fun

Create an ideabook for each area of your home. As you collect, it will tell you what you gravitate toward in design and help you make decisions. I am not aware of any other website that gives you so many photos to browse and find inspiration. As you narrow things down, folks can help with specifics.

Putting together a whole house can be overwhelming. If you are looking for a design specialist, there are searches that you can do here on Houzz for professionals in your local area.

I always recommend to my clients to budget a few hundred dollars on books about everything house building.

The internet's great but mostly for spot info or expanding on what you've learned. For example, if I want to learn all about the American Civil War there's nothing better to give me the big picture than a 300 page book and then I can supplement that read with with the interent if I'm interested in a specific General, action, unit, etc. Same with building a house.

That and of course it can tell me something about the client if on one hand I'm hearing "We're going to build a 3000SF custom home on a waterfront lot we own" but on the other hand I'm hearing "Gee, $200 on books in kinda pricey!". Trust me, it's happened.

I have a list but it's kinda long for a post here but if you want it send a note to dburke20117@yahoo.com and I'll send it along.

And the best of luck with your building project!