Suburban Contemporary #15A

This house design began months ago. At the time it was only 2 stories, and it had a more typical roofline (more typical for this "series", that is). But, I found issues with the roof layout and several other things, so I decided to see what this design would look like with a relatively flat roof. The Prairie notion was squarely in my mind as I set about redesigning this plan.

By the time the house began to resemble what you see below, I suppose you could say it wasn't anything at all like the original design, but I don't see that as a problem. You never know where a good idea will come from. The only problem, as I see it, is in not pursuing the good design when you realize you have one.

There is a lot of detail in this design, from the wainscoting and elaborate crown moldings of the first floor, to the ceiling beams of the living room and the tray ceiling in the master bedroom. I would not say that these details were difficult to produce--they were more tedious than anything, since most of them (especially the crown moldings around the circular "towers") involved many relatively small objects placed very painstakingly next to each other.

As a consequence, completion of this house took a long time, since I was determined to make every view as perfect as possible. Making curved walls work in concert with other walls is difficult, and takes a good deal of trial-and-error before they seem to settle in.

I really like this design, and I hope you do, too. If you are interested in how I did some of the detailing in the living room, check out the How Did You Do That page. I think I will have to update my list of favorite designs, again!

Enjoy.

The Front

 

The Rear

The first floor plan is shown, below. Some things worth noting:

• The floor plans show the location of ceiling beams, etc., on the first floor. Also note that the footprint of this house fits inside the 50' x 50' limitation I set forth in the original program for this series.
• The living room has a very interesting and detailed ceiling treatment. In fact, the entire first floor has extensive and detailed crown moldings, which serve to bring the whole house together, from a living area perspective. The living room has built-in seating along the central hallway wall (which has openings to help open up the space, some). It also has a fireplace and sitting alcove, which is at the bottom of the house. This last detail is also reminiscent of turn-of-the-century (1900's) houses. The built-in seating, itself, also all but eliminates the need to have any furniture in the living room. I could have placed more, but ...
• The circular area to the right of the living room could be a small formal dining room, or it could be a den or study. I chose to outfit the area as a den. Also note the built-in seating, as well. I considered making the fireplace two-sided, which would have been period-accurate, but for now the backside is just a blank mass of masonry. I guess I'm lazy, sometimes, too.
• The stairs to the second floor spiral up the left hand tower. A centrally located hall leads past a coat closet and a dinky half bath, then turns left into the kitchen, which is also not itself very large.
• Turn right from the kitchen into the cozy dining/breakfast nook. In this incarnation, this is the only dining area, which still seems sufficient.

On the second floor plan (below), you might want to note the following:

• First off, the second floor is entirely devoted to the master suite.
• Once again, I have included a large, detailed master bath.
• Flow from the master bedroom to the master bath is through the large walk-in closet. Originally the doors were "lined up", but I decided symmetry in the bedroom was slightly more desirable than shortening the walk path. You make the call.
• The master bedroom itself isn't exceptionally large, but it is nicely symmetric and has a nice, detailed ceiling and crown molding treatment.
• The private deck/patio area is quite large, eminently suitable for casual entertaining. The deck can be entered from the sitting room, as well.
• Main flow from the front hall to the master bedroom is through the sitting room, which has a fireplace and built-in seating. The seating along the left could be eliminated to make room for a desk, or such.
• Also, check out the stacked spiral staircases. I think the view from the third floor is particularly interesting.

The third floor plan is shown below:

• This floor contains two additional small bedrooms, but makes up for it with a large deck with a view toward the back of the house. Originally (during design development) this floor contained a single, large bedroom, but I decided two bedrooms were (slightly) better. I think you will agree.
• The bath on this floor is just the minimum needed, mainly because of the lack of overall floor space.

This is the front view, from above, shown at night. I like the three vertical windows in the front, stair tower.

This exterior view is from the right side, and shows the den/dining cylindrical "tower" (though it's not very tall). This side also has the second floor private "master deck". This is very handsome house.

This is an alternate rear view, showing the back door off the kitchen.

Finally, this looks toward the left side of the house.

Now, let's go inside and take a look around. This is the living room from just to the left of the front door (to get a better view). Note the seats along the wall on the left, and the arched openings in that wall. Also note the cozy window seat/alcove. The door leads to the den/dining room.

If we stood in front of the alcove, this is what we would see as we looked toward the central hall.

From the hall, this is the stairs up to the second floor.

This is almost the same view as above, but from a slightly different angle.

So, we walk down the hall and turn left. Here is the first view of the kitchen. Simple, basic, cozy.

Here we look across the kitchen toward the back door. The arched doorway on the right leads to the breakfast nook.

From the arched doorway, here is the final view of our kitchen. The door leads to the garage, of course.

Let's go upstairs. This shows the stairs up to the third floor.

Here, we are inside the small study. Note the built-in seats and fireplace. The door leads outside to the deck/patio. The door on the left, barely visible, leads to the master bedroom.

The master bedroom. The doors on the left lead to the walk-in closet.

From the opposite corner, we look back toward the "front" of the bedroom. The glass door leads outside to the deck. Let's go there.

From the master bedroom doorway (and if it was night) this is the view. Note the seats in front of the fireplace chimney.

Here we look back toward the master bedroom door.

So, we walk back inside and have walked through the closet and are standing in the doorway to the master bath. The door leads to the toilet.

The angles here look odd because we are looking down, slightly.

From the vicinity of the sinks, this looks back toward the tub. The door in the far wall leads out to the hall.

Finally, this is standing in the tub and looking toward the shower room. The louvered doors lead to the walk-in closet.

This view is from the stairs leading up to the third floor.

Bedroom #1. This is the "front' bedroom, and we are looking toward the front of the house. The bedrooms are connected by a door, and that is on our immediate left.

Finally, this is bedroom #2, the back bedroom. This image is taken from the vicinity of the door to the third floor deck.