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The prom queen of ramblers

Erin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:42:40 +0000

Floor plan

Ok so this is one of the most popular stock plans on the web. It is a 1900 square foot rambler.

Pros:

1) Good use of space, with 3 bedrooms 3 baths , a formal living and dining this plan packs a lot of stuff into under 2000 square feet. This home is sized right for a family on a medium to modest budget. It doesn’t waste space with hallways or lots of nooks and crannies.

2) It has the bells and whistles that help resale. The master suite, the bonus room over the garage, these are feature that will make a realtor salivate. They are also nice when you live there.

3) Large unbroken wall in the family room, Minor nitpick, but so many plans leave no where to put a tv. A fireplace is a nice feature, but most people don’t sit around staring at their fireplace all night. Don’t even get me started on the TV above the fireplace thing, it is a bad viewing angle unless your couch is elevated about 2 feet higher than average and will make you back hurt.

Cons:

1 Expensive to build and heat ceilings. The ceiling heights in this home aren’t the ridiculous 2 story ceilings featured in a many homes, but they will still add to the bottom line heating and cooling costs.

2) Entry into the family room, it is a personal pet peeve of mine for people to walk in and see the family room, that should be a room for comfort and kids not something that you have to keep company ready.

3) Overpopular, this plan has been built thousands of times over. This may not be a problem for you, but you do run the risk of having the same home as your neighbor.

Stock Plan Castle

Erin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:05:53 +0000

Want to build yourself a castle, but don’t want to go through the hassle of designing it yourself? Have no fear, you can purchase stock blueprints for it! Yes, for the low, low price of $9680 you can buy the blueprints to this 12 bedroom 16 bathroom beauty. The building cost estimator puts the price to build in the Midwest at just shy of 2 million, I have to believe that is a gross under estimate. I don’t really have a review of the layout for this home, there’s just no place to start. I would love to know if this home/castle has ever been built anywhere. I inquired a few years ago with coolhouseplans.com and they said that to their knowledge, it had never been built. Click the picture to view plan details.

Abberley Lane

Erin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:44:36 +0000

Front Photo of Abberley

Main Floor Plan of Abberley Lane

The first plan review will be the above plan “Abberley Lane”. This was a Southern Living idea house back in the early 2000s, and has been one of the most popular plans in the country ever since.

Positive:

Good feel from the front door. Walking into the foyer flanked by the formal living and dining give great feel of formality, the peek of the family room beyond keeps it from being too stuffy.

The kitchen/family room/breakfast nook strike a good balance between open to allow a good “flow” and divided enough to keep if from feeling like one big open room

The main level master is spacious and private, the second bedrooom on the main would be a great guest suit or in-law suite.

The exterior is traditional, but still visually interesting, this house would look nice in almost any area. It will likely age well, not screaming out built 2005!

Negative:

The first negative has to be the over popularity of the plan. At this point, there must be an Abberley Lane on every block in GA. Worse still, many of these homes were built to the exact spec’s of the idea house right down to the paint colors and curtains. The idea home was beautiful, but if you are going to build the Abberley Lane at least try to put your own spin on it.

Secondly, the large bonus room is an awkward shape making it hard to use practically for many families.

The upstairs beds and baths could also be a problem for many families, Jack and Jill baths between two of the beds and no bath attached to the third could make for a fight when decided who will sleep where.

Lastly, the first floor powder room is a bit out of the way. Guest will in the formal living have to trek through the kitchen and near an area by the garage that feels a bit like a mud room type area, likely to attract clutter. Otherwise they could go through the family room to the 3/4 bath, but if that bedroom is occupied it will be the equivalent of using someone personal bath.

The two car garage is not practical or desired for many familes, but I do not consider that a true negative of the plan, more as an incentive for personalization of the plan.

Overall verdict, the Abberley Lane is a beautiful home, but the over building of the plan and sometimes awkward use of space would make me pass.

Houses

Erin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 22:43:10 +0000

I love houses. I especially love to look at floor plans and envision a built home. Having worked in both the sales and financing areas of real estate, I have a bit of experience and a lot of opinions. I am no longer involved with real estate or home plans in anyway, and miss it greatly. So, I’ve decided that I will post reviews of home plans that are available for purchase online.

Summer?

Erin — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:44:41 +0000

Picture of a rainbow over the lake, after the rain that we got everyday we were there. It was a beautiful full arch, but I couldn't get a pic of the whole thing.

Hockey season is almost upon us, which also means winter is on it’s way. I can only imagine how bad this winter will be, considering I spent August 1st at the lake huddled in a sweatshirt and jeans all day. A high of 67 degrees in August is a crime. My hopes are high for better weather today though, of course, today I’m home from the lake and sitting on my computer, so it doesn’t really matter what the weather is like. Such is Life.

Athletes are genius

Erin — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:04:44 +0000

Smart people figure out a way to be paid to do what they love. The stuff that other people do on the weekend when they are not at work. The summer X Games are going on, which is a perfect example of that.

All the athletes started out as kids playing around with skateboards and bikes. It was in my lifetime that playing around was all it was, not a career option. Now it is big business, getting bigger every year. I’m sure that mainstreaming has been good for the pocketbook, but I can’t help but feel that so-called extreme sports have lost something because of it.

I have yet to figure out how to get someone to pay me to surf the Internet all day looking up random information about hockey, wakeboarding, and shoes, but I am working on it.

Hello world!

Erin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:58:27 +0000

Hello world! was the title that this post was automatically given by wordpress. . . works for me. This is going to be a blog about whatever I want, whatever I am fasinated with at the moment. I’m not a celebrity, an athlete or an artist. I definatly don’t have an exciting life, so if you are looking to read the blog of someone really interesting and exciting, you came to the wrong place. I’m pretty much average in every single way. . .which in itself is kinda interesting, I guess.