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My home design issues

whitewave

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Feb 29, 2012
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Alright, fellow designers, please help me out.

As you may or may not know, DH and I bought a vacant lot in a coastal community on the Gulf of Mexico.

This will be a weekend and vacation house and we likely won’t retire there as we don’t want to have a permanent residence which is where we would have to evacuate for a hurricane.

Because we still have kids in college (coming to and end, yay!) and because lumber and construction prices are so high right now, we won’t be building for 2-3 years.

Because it is a weekend house (and possibly an Air BNB) we are trying to find the parameters we want.

The lot is VERY small. IIRC, the lot is about 64 x 74 and about .12 of an acre.

It is close to the beach and water and is on a natural ridge but will have to be elevated on either wood or concrete pilings/piers to I think my choice is 18-21 feet above sea level. The lot is about 13 feet above sea level though I will need to get an elevation certificate before we begin. Just stating it will be elevated. The cars will have to be parked under the house, going in the house on the side. As best we can tell: the views are to the front and sides. No back to the house as the lot behind us was also sold and that house could theoretically be 6 feet from ours. Maybe a back exit for fire safety but that’s all— no back porch or deck.

I think this is where we keep ending up— I wish to stress that we do not want to build anything grand. This will be a beach house.

1) around 1800 sqft, two living levels
2) hip metal roof
3) Hardy board siding
4) owner’s closet/owners storage
5) some kind of lift— either outside (not preferred but cheapest option) or lift inside an elevator shaft (more likely). A residential elevator is MUCH more expensive (about 35k) and so if we rent it out, the lift will have to be locked and not used by guests. (The house will be in a LLC if we decide to do short term rental). The lift is for my mother MIL, my English bulldogs, also for cargo and groceries and in case my knees hurt/we get older.

Opinions needed:

while both living floors will likely have a view, we assume the top floor will have the better view.

a) reverse floor plan with bedrooms on first living floor and kitchen/den on top floor.

b) porches on both floors with possibly one porch screened in.

C) how do two owner suites with bathrooms plus a bunkroom sound? We keep coming back to 3 bedrooms and 3 or 3.5 baths. We mostly think we would be there with another couple and maybe some kids or grandkids but we think it would be rare for us to be there with more than one adult couple. Plus if we do short term rental, two owners suites seem to be the thing to do.

ok I’ve kind of lost my thought process so I’ll stop here.

I’m looking for input, suggestions, constructive criticism, BTDT experiences etc

Thank you so much for any help!
 

whitewave

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Oh, I have several home plans saved from places like home plans dot com and coastal home plans dot com

ill add links later. Most have things that don’t fit into my plan, so I bought graph paper and might try to do what I can and then have a drafter and architect fix it up properly etc.
 

Sprinkles&Stones

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This is so exciting! Congratulations on your purchase! Can't wait to see what ideas others have. :)
 

Arcadian

Ideal_Rock
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If I recall there was one house that had little sustained damage on the beach after hurricane Michael decimated Mexico Beach.

 

whitewave

Super_Ideal_Rock
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If I recall there was one house that had little sustained damage on the beach after hurricane Michael decimated Mexico Beach.


Yes, this is my house goal. I have read up a LOT on this house, read several trade articles about this house and watched a few videos with the owners interviewed.

They went (excuse me) balls out because its on the beach, so they had the hip roof, not much porch overhang, impact windows, higher than required reinforced cement rebarb piers. I think the first floor did flood but I think they only had one layer of one impact window that was cracked.

they are in VE zone (V meaning velocity of the waves and wind I think). I am in AE zone, so it’s not required for me to have cement piers or impact windows, but it’s my choice. If I do go higher than 21 feet above sea level, I need a (what do you call it...???) variance. I kinda want to go high to get above the trees and power lines for the view. There is a limit on height, and most of the houses in the area aren’t very tall and many are like 1.5 stories. Two neighbors are 6 feet up but it looks like the house is on the ground the way it’s built. I don’t recall the name of that style of build because I know we want piers.

For piers, the main difference that I can tell is wood piers will sway with wind and cement rebarb piers won’t. I belong to a neighborhood Facebook group for this area and some people really freak out with all the bad weather they have been having and with the house swaying. :eek-2:

@Sprinkles&Stones thank you. It is very exciting for me because I just love the area and the quaint little downtown, which we would be in walking distance to.
 

whitewave

Super_Ideal_Rock
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This is one of the house plans I have saved, but I honestly hadn’t looked at it much. I think with several tweaks, it might work.

I wouldn’t have it tan. I would have some color blue or white.

What do you think of the exterior curb appeal?


it would need to have several tweaks... no elevator shaft or owners closet, but it’s also in the 1700s sqft so some of these plans have options where you can work with the designer to customize it. We could maybe add these things and make it just slightly larger.

I like the small office space for people who will now and in the future will be able to work from home, and I could maybe put a desk and a day bed in there.... maybe a pocket door to the next bedroom so it could open to a larger bunkroom space. (Built in bunks)

Does anyone else think a small office space or nook would be helpful for both resale and short term rentals? It does seem to be the new thing.

I don’t like the kitchen counter top coming out on an angle like it does.


Edited: I just texted my realtor there to ask if people are asking for work spaces and she just replied no, they are asking for bunkrooms. So score on that. Lol. She said 3/2 are selling hot and even some 2/2 if they can fit bunks in the second bedroom.
 

whitewave

Super_Ideal_Rock
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This is the first house plan I liked, but I need an elevator shaft.


This one seems open and breezy, but I would want the front wrap side porch on the other side and it’s a little larger than we wanted. We could use one master closet for owner’s closet. I think I would prefer a two living level house, but it’s a contender.

This one has way too much porch but is fun to look at with the photos and it has a small 3rd floor deck access, which I’m also interested in, but it would need to be in the front.


I think this one is cute: https://www.carolinabluewaterconstruction.com/beach-homes/Beach-Home-197

This one is interesting but needs an elevator shaft:



This one is cute if you switch front for back and tweak it.
 

whitewave

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Feb 29, 2012
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This one is interesting and cute, but need elevator shelf and flip the roof deck to the other side.

This one is similar to the one right above but without the deck.
 

dk168

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Good luck with your project!

DK :appl:
 

HollyC

Brilliant_Rock
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Jul 22, 2020
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@whitewave how exciting for your family. I don't know much about beach houses but from your description it sounds really like the homes we have in Australia "Queenslanders". Perhaps this could give you more ideas?
Good Luck.
 
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