House Plans

I can't recall how we went about looking for house designs, but we wanted to work with something coastal & preferably on Vancouver Island. We ran across a place called Pacific Homes that had a lot of designs on their web site - we also got our hands on one of their catalogues & tried to figure out how small or big we could go on our property & what we could try to expect for building costs.

The year 2006 was a year of giant learning curves - we weren't very knowledgeable about what the right questions were to be asking - which is one of the hardest things to figure out. We felt we were 'hosed' a bit when we purchased our first blue-prints, but the overall concept of those drawings were & are what we are working with today.

I found a picture of a house that is very similar to what we hope we end up with. Mind you, colour, landscaping & some structural items will not be the same - but this will give you a quick idea of what we are going for.We had hoped to have a 2 1/2 storey house (the 1/2 storey is a loft bedroom with a bathroom), but we can't afford the loft - just yet. So the roof will not have the dormer jutting out. This house is backwards to what ours will be - put the side door on the other side of the house.

The wall of windows is facing south-east - how lovely for sunshine!!

We have designed a suite in the lower front 2/3rds of the house - a bedroom on the left, open living/dining/kitchen area on the right with a bathroom just in behind. There will be large windows down under the deck & I'm not sure what kind of decking we will end up with.

We had thought about a metal roof - but the upper floor will have a vaulted ceiling & with all the rain that we get, it will make a horrendous noise, so we are opting for regular shingles (charcoal?). We are not using vinyl siding, nor cedar shakes. Instead we are going to use Hardy Plank - I believe it's a composite material - much thicker & sturdier than vinyl & has the look of wood. I'm hoping for a olive green colour & I would love to have almond/beige windows & doors, but if we get white, than that will look sharp too. The deck will have shatter-proof glass along the front so that we don't block our view down the harbour.