I apologize for coming across harsh. I rewrote my reply five times to tone it down, and think I did, but obviously not very much.
I'm not wanting to be cruel or mean in my comments. My goal is to bring to your attention things that I think might not work, and maybe steer you in a different direction. I understand the appeal of designing it yourself and the pride of accomplishment. It's a powerful feeling and when done right, there isn't anything better.
What I'm seeing in the plans are the very beginnings of learnign the process. I'm not very creative, so I rely on others to do that for me. I can see a plan in 3D and from every angle in my mind. When I look at the plans that you have done so far, I see problems that are so severe that I feel for you and what you will spend in building a house like that. My goal is to help, I'm just not as good as some of the others at doing so in a more friendly manner.
When I meet with clients, the hardest part of the job is figuring out what they want. They all want it better, newer and to have certain features, but they get lost in the details. I ask questions because the details are what I have to figure out to make it all work for them. Sometimes it takes several meetings and many weeks just to understand what they want.
To undertake the financial and emotional hardship of building your own house, you need to have a very solid idea of what you want. I tell my clients to not think of money at this stage, but to create a list of what their dream would be if money didn't matter.
With what I've read so far, you have some pretty solid ideas of what you want, but haven't been able to tie them all together in your designs. I think you still need to spend more time defining each room, what you want it to do, how big it needs to be and where it needs to be. Things like furniture, usage and views. Is there a great view? Do you like to watch tv? work in an office? entertain or cook? How many people will be there and how often will you have large groups of people there? Then you need to think of what you want it too look like. Do you have a style in mind? farmhouse? rancher? lodge? colonial? and does that matter to you?
Once you have everything you need written down and broken down by room and space, then you can start organizing where those rooms go. What view do you want from what room? Where will you eat and how will you get there?
Design one room at a time. Put furniture in it and make it exacly to your needs. It doesn't matter what room you do, maybe start with the room with the best view. Then do a seperate plan for each room. I do this on the same screen, I just have them all seperate from each other and zoom in on each room. I rarely finish one room before starting on the other, but then I go back and forth. I have learned that as I do this, door placement and location of those rooms will change from where I was thinking I wanted them, and how they would fit together, to where they end up.
I also look through eplans.com and print out several floor plans that I like. Might be for a bathroom, or a kitchen only. I keep those printouts next to my keyboard so I can reference how the pros did it.
You are not inventing or creating anything new. Every design has already been done. All you are doing it arranging it to fit your needs and living conditions.
Good luck,
Eddie
