Look at a Houzz pics for lake house images that you save. Ideas. NOT “plans”. Don’t spoil your 7 course dinner with a box of Twinkie’s before you even sit down to it.

Meet with the architect. They will drag ideas out of you.

We purchased plans (Clarksdale) from https://www.lakeandlandstudio.com/supply-plans-compilation and loved the experience. We had them make several tweaks to the floor plan, which they completed quickly and for a very fair amount. Construction breaks ground for us Monday! We're waterfront on the Chesapeake Bay, Lake and Land does a lot of waterfront plans in the Southeastern US. Georgia helped me there and she was awesome.

Very detailed list, amodernmountainhome! Thank you for sharing!!

We used Max Fulbright for our lakehouse plans. www.maxhouseplans.com

You can find the details on my build thread here: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5803931/thoughts-on-this-plan-for-lakefront-build

So much depends on lot, trees, how close you want to b to the water and ultimately the view.

@Lil B good luck with your plans :)

@amodernmountainhome thank you for posting all about the planning process; very helpful!

You can use the virtual architectural services to design your house. You can make countless alterations until you are satified with the design.

Assuming you own the land already? Track the sunlight on the property, and know your compass... in other words, which direction is the lake, which direction is south for the most light, which direction is east for morning light. Etc. If you're on water, you'll want to obviously capture the view, so you'll want your bedroom, living/ great room and possibly kitchen all on that side of the house. Do you plan to have a boat house or store lake stuff in the basement? Plan an easily accessible bathroom from the outdoor space. Think about washing off the dog and kids outside or in that bathroom. Plan a storage area for all your outdoor activities including plastic ware for eating and boosting. Etc either in a basement kitchen or outdoor kitchen area. Plan on an ice machine. Plan on extra parking. Plan on a pole barn or area to park boat if you're in cold temps. Plan on electric hookup from out building like garage or pole barn to hookup an RV or camper for guests...

*boating not boosting