Ok.  We’re definitely not architects, but we do have ideas about how we’d like our new house laid out given available space, practical issues, etc.  Here are links to a few of the designs we’ve come up with.   Once Craig has done his magic, we’ll post his work on this page as well.

This first design, visio-reed-street-house-v8, is currently our favorite.  The existing house has a “breezeway” that runs along the side of the house in the diningroom and kitchen area.  This makes the interior of the house much narrower in those areas.  Version 8 looks to reduce the overall depth of the house from 70′ to 50′, but widen the rear to make use of the full 15′ 6″ of the property.  A new stairwell would replace the existing stair along west wall in the new, wider, section of the house.  The front half of the second floor family room would be opened to the formal living room, below – creating a loft-like effect.  The third floor would become the master suite and be extended so that it, like the first two floors, is 50′ deep.  In the front of the master suite would be a small patio overlooking the park.

This design, visio-reed-street-house-v5, keeps the breezeway and uses a zig-zag type stair instead of the existing stair.  The upsides of this design include:

• It would probably be a bit less expensive because we wouldn’t widen the rear of the house. 
• It also allows us to maintain windows in the kitchen and dining area which would look out onto tall, narrow arborvitae trees.  This would let in lots of light and provide a pretty view at the dining table.
• I love the concept of the turned stair, similar to the stair in the Bainbridge house we saw a few moinths back.

The downside is that it leaves us with a very small dining area.  One main goal of our move is to increase our capacity to serve a sit down meal (which, in our current place, is really limited to 4-6 people).  I’d really like to be able to have a sit-down meal with 10-12 people, and have room for an extra table if necessary.