Shingle Style Lake Home

Over at ron brenner architects we have been working on a new shingle style lake home for a client of ours. You can see the you tube animation below.

The home features an L-shaped plan configuration with the 3 car garage on the front leg of the L.  This allows all the public living spaces and the 3 second floor bedrooms above to be arranged across the rear of the home; taking advantage of the beautiful lake views.

Southern Comfort!

I remember the day I turned 18 (legal drinking age back in the day) quite well.  The pint of Southern Comfort I was provided as a birthday gift led to a turn of events that my old friends will never let me forget.  The day started out normal enough.......Oops - this is a blog about home design.  Let me start over.

A few weeks ago I received a call from a wonderful couple in Alabama.  Two years ago a tornado had ripped through their property and destroyed their lake home. Since then they have been working on a new home design.  They had become pretty happy with the floor plans, but just could not get comfortable with the building exterior.  They came to the conclusion they needed some design assistance, and asked if I could help.  I said, "Absolutely!"

The original lake front elevation.  A good beginning but too tall for a  two story house (main level and lower level).  The elevation also needed a logical scheme for patterns, materials, etc.

The new lake front elevation.  I brought the roof line down and lowered the dormers to a more reasonable height.  Other changes included:  creating a dramatic window pattern at the central gable, reconfiguring the porches, developing new column and beam details and adding a material / color palette appropriate for a lake cabin.

WOW!!!  was the response when I sent the sketches to them.  That's the greatest reaction I could possibly hope to receive.  

The moral of this story is... don't be afraid to seek the help of a professional.  With their assistance you can create a design that you will be proud to call home for years to come.  Now this is what I call real Alabama Southern Comfort!