Florida Cracker #1

This design has been a long time coming. It's also the most detailed design I have done (and that includes the details in Suburban Contemporary #15A, as well). Note all the rafters showing along all the roof lines. Though you really can't see them, also note all the post footings that hold this house up.

The Front

The rear image, below, shows the back porch (there is also a side deck on the other side) and the large box window in the kitchen. The arched window is in the dining room. Along the rear, at left, is the guest bedroom and back bath. The bath is not, strictly speaking, only for the guest bedroom. Upstairs are the back bath, at left, and the back bedroom.

This house has four bedrooms and four baths. It could conceivably have five bedrooms if you turn the upstairs front "office" space into a small bedroom. In total it's 2,713 sq. ft., and has a great room, formal dining, large L-shaped kitchen with breakfast nook, and four bedrooms and baths, and a small office/bedroom upstairs. There is no basement, this being a Florida Cracker design, but behind the two-car carport is a storage room suitable for lawn and garden implements.

The house has five covered porches, two on the first level (front and back) and three on the second level, off the office, master bedroom, and on the back eastern corner, off the longish upstairs hall. It also has a non-covered deck.

The Rear

Some things worth noting on the first floor plan, below:

• Large, wraparound front porch in front. This is typical of many styles for warmer climates, from the days of no air conditioning.
• The great room fills the front area of the house, with dining and kitchen immediately behind.
• In the back right (east) is a guest bedroom.
• There is a second front entrance from the carport. You walk up 3 steps to the main level.
• Note the storage room behind the carport.

On the second floor, below, you might want to note:

• The master bedroom is lower than the rest of the second floor, being five steps below.
• The master closets open off the master bath. There wasn't room to do it any other way. The master bath itself is somewhat small, compared with typical houses today.

Here is a front view looking down the street. No, I don't know why I did this view other than the fact I thought it looked cool.

From where the green Jeep is parked, above, this is another view of the front. That's the master bedroom and bath in the front right (upstairs).

Here is the east side porch. I had to do this view without shadows since this entire side was in shadow, and did not come out very distinct. (Yeah, I know it looks like sunshine on the back deck.) Through the sliding glass doors at center is the breakfast nook. That's the guest bedroom at right. Note the covered porch upstairs. The windows at left are decoration for the storage room.

Standing inside the front doors, we see the great room (and isn't it a great room!). I do like how it came out, even though I "borrowed" the furniture layout. Because the layout had a fireplace, I decided to at least show one. This doesn't look bad, at all. I added the screen in front of the doorway to the dining room.

Looking straight at the fireplace, this is what we would see. I added the columns to fill in the spaces on either side of the fireplace. Odd, maybe, but they do look decorative.

Finally, from the chair in the corner, we look back toward the front doors.

So, we walk into the dining room and take in this space. Note the window seat under the window, at left. I deliberated a long time with the kitchen before settling on the layout that you see. Instead of a drop in range, I decided to place a large, professional stove (with oven).

From the corner of the window seat, this shows the cabinets along the "back entrance" hall. I opened up the wall there to make the hall seem less enclosed.

This is a somewhat better view of the kitchen, from the corner of the breakfast nook.

From the sliding glass doors in the breakfast nook, we look toward the kitchen.

From in front of the small desk (visible at right in the image above), we look through the breakfast nook toward the "back hall".

From the back door we look toward the kitchen and dining.

Finally, from the corner of the kitchen we overlook our domain.

Not to forget, but this is the downstairs bath, outside the guest bedroom.

And the guest bedroom, itself.

Here is another view of the guest bedroom.

From inside the door to the carport, this is the "back hall". The dining room is at left, the breakfast nook is straight ahead. That is a closet at our right.

Here we are looking up the stairs. We'll go there next.

Upstairs finally, we look down the hall. Note the sliding glass doors in the back right. They lead to a porch. The door straight ahead is the upstairs back bath, where we will go next.

Here is the upstairs back bath. It's small, but the other bath (toward the front) is larger.

The back bedroom.

The center bedroom.

The front bath.

Another view of the bath.

And here is the small office at the front of the house. Note the porch outside these doors.

Finally we are in the master bedroom.

Another view of the master bedroom.

First look at the master bath, complete with tub and small shower. I decided to have the sinks simply held up by a counter. There is plenty of storage space in the linen closet (that isn't visible in this view).

The other view of the master bath. Note the linen closet in the water closet. And that is it!