We should do some homework to learn the average sizes of houses in the subdivision where we plan to build. This is important, since we don't want to be too small, or too large. If we're building out in the country, we have more flexibility. Whatever we do, we really need some good idea of the space we want.
We also need to get a feel for the average cost per square foot for the general locale where we will build, so we can get an idea of what we can afford. Of course, our mileage may vary from the averages, but it's a good place to start.
For this design, we're going to shoot for something in the 1,900 to 2,000 sq. ft. range, exclusive of the garage and basement. Those things do cost, but typically it's mainly the heated square feet that we consider when we're costing the house.
Number of floors: 2 (we'll do a ranch some other time)
Basement: Probably. (One consideration: if there's no basement, we should provide a little more storage space. But for now, we want a basement.)
Number of rooms:
First floor: Living, dining, kitchen, laundry, half bath, and garage (of course).
Second floor: 3 bedrooms, including master bedroom, master bath and regular bath, closets. We also want an office that can double as a nursery, and we want it near the master bedroom.
HVAC: Whole house air conditioning, gas heat and hot water. (Though these won't necessarily be high on our design list.)
Locale: American Midwest. "Average" weather. Not too hot and not too much cold weather or snow.
Lot: Flat, mostly. Elevation changes won't impact our design.
Let's start with basic aluminum or vinyl siding. The color is open to choice, but bear in mind that color is one of the things that some subdivisions pay attention to. Your choices might be limited unless you choose very neutral, bland, light earth tones. We will insulate with basic fiberglass batting.
We will also select "basic" asphalt shingles. Again, we have some color choice, and personally I prefer a dark roof and a lighter house.
We will select basic concrete stem walls for the basement. I tend toward concrete block, but it is so rarely used, these days. The tool will put in footings automatically, so we won't have to do anything special. It will also select a basic 4" concrete floor for the basement (as well as for the garage floor). We can change it if we need to, but we probably will just go with the defaults.
Interior walls will be basic drywall over wood studs. We will place wallpaper in many of the rooms (to decorate), but bear in mind that many builders don't typically finish walls with more than a couple coats of white paint.
We will select "standard" base and crown moldings to use throughout. We will also place a chair rail in the dining room.
As far as the floors are concerned, if we are going with wall-to-wall carpeting, we have a very wide range of choices. Colors are very broad, but something in a light, neutral earth tone (yes, beige or a light caramel), keeps us out of trouble. The cost differential is significant, but I would say: select the best carpeting you can afford, then go up one quality grade. This is especially true if you intend to live in your house a long time.
We won't simply put vinyl tile in the kitchen and bathrooms, at least not all of them. There are some places where vinyl might be preferred (laundry room and/or mud room), but we will probably select either in a wood grain laminate or ceramic tile for the kitchen and bathrooms. We can always scale back, though again, better is better.
I tend to use built-in kitchen appliances in many of my designs, but for our house we will stay with "standard" non-built-in appliances. Gas or electric should be the cook's choice (I prefer gas), but we will assume our house is in an area where gas is available, so it could be either one. So, in the kitchen we will have a 30" range, 36" x 70" refrigerator, drop-in stainless steel (or slightly more expensive colored resin) double sink, and standard in-cabinet dishwasher.
In both the kitchen and master bath we will use a painted base and wall cabinet. The cabinet materials could be pine (or some other non-hardwood), so we save some cost, there. If we choose oak veneer or some other fine wood, our cost will go up considerably. But as I said before, some items in our house should be the best we can afford. Skimping simply won't leave us satisfied after 10 years.
In the half bath and second bath (upstairs) we will use free standing sinks and all baths will have standard toilets and tubs with shower enclosures (except for the half bath, which has no tub or shower).
For windows we will choose standard single- or double-hung windows. This page shows Andersen's 400 line of standard double hung windows. We will make sure we only use standard window sizes from this catalog. Of course there are many other manufacturers, we just want to be sure we aren't specifying any window sizes that would be custom. Custom windows mean more cost.
As far as doors go, we will stay with very typical door sizes, both interior and exterior. Interior doors are typically 6'8" (80") tall, and are available in a variety of widths. 28" and 30" are both very common. A typical exterior door is 6' 8" x 36". Interior doors are also available in 7'0" (84") and 8'0" (96") tall, but we probably won't go with these taller doors. If we were designing a house with extraordinarily high ceilings, such as 10', we would probably want taller doors to better balance out with the wall heights.
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