Radical Plan Concept Unveiled - Open Yet Connected

We are currently designing a home for a client in Lake Elmo, Minnesota.  The "radical" new floor plan is based upon our Willowbrook Country House Plan; which we modified by relocating the front entry directly between the public and private zones of the house.  We also placed a smartly sized two sided fireplace between the Living and Dining areas.  This provides for more intimate space while maintaining visual connections and a predominantly open floor plan.  Check out the interior house plan video below. 

click the YouTube icon and change to 1080p for best quality

Ok - perhaps the concept is not radical; however there is a technique to achieving successful "open yet connected" spaces.  Design elements considered included size and location of fireplace, bulkhead and beam locations, built ins and display elements, material connections, window positions, furniture arrangements, etc.

New House Plan Unveiled

We are focusing on creating a new series of home designs featuring Main Floor Master Suites.  Here is a sneak preview of our "Pine Gables".

front elevation
features generous open front porch - alternate elevations coming soon

main level floor plan
features one level living with main floor master bedroom suite, 2 additional bedrooms and a vaulted great room space

loft level floor plan
the vaulted ceiling allows the loft to be open to the great room below

SEHD Unveils Awesome New House Plan

Today at Simply Elegant Home Designs we unveiled an awesome new house plan - The Willowbrook!  Check it out and let us know what you think.

Birdseye view of front entry

Front View

Rear View

This house plan would be suitable for the shorelines of lakes, rivers and oceans; but would be equally at home in the country, or on a large wide lot with beautiful views!  You can obtain more information on this fresh new country house plan at Simply Elegant Home Designs website by following:  The Willowbrook

New House Plan - The Willowbrook

Over at Simply Elegant Home Designs we will be coming out with a new design in the next couple of weeks.  Below is a sneak preview of our "Willowbrook".

Birdseye View

Main Level Floor Plan

Upper Level Floor Plan

Front Elevation - house left, entry and stairs middle, garage right.

New Home Design features Granny Flat!

Simply Elegant Home Designs is now offering a new house plan featuring an above garage "granny flat" apartment - The "Deephaven Eclectic Cottage".

Earlier this year one of my designs was featured in a new book called "In Laws, Outlaws and Granny Flats" (Taunton Press, by Michael Litchfield).  The book features ways that folks can add value to their homes by adding second dwelling units.  This seems so relevant to me given our current economic climate.  Therefore I decided to develop our first house plan that features a second dwelling unit.  The result is our "Deephaven Eclectic Cottage" - illustrated below.

Form is dominated by crossing gables punctuated with shed dormers.  Careful attention was paid to the scale, proportions and patterns developed by all of  the various building elements.

The apartment above is accessed by it's own entry at the back of the garage.  If desired the garage can also be segmented to provide a private parking zone for the apartment.  The main floor features gracious open living spaces and a wrap around front porch.  The screen porch is placed at the outside corner thus minimizing its impact on natural light and views from the spaces within.

Upper Level Floor Plan.  The apartment (above the garage) includes it's own kitchen, living, bathroom, eating areas and bedroom.  The apartment can also be accessed from the second floor of the main house.

"Black and White" color study - front elevation.  This demonstrates the simple yet sophisticated character of this home.

Rear Elevation

Right Side Elevation

All in all I think this is a really exciting new house plan offering.  More information on this home can be obtained at the following:  "Deephaven Eclectic Cottage".

really modern really old house design

I ran across some photos of this house I thought interesting.  Actually, I love it.  The home located in Yport in Normandy, France was designed by Franklin Azzi Architecture in Paris.

I have for some time been very interested in the blending and contrasting of old and new - of traditional and modern.  Here the focal point for the design composition is a simple brick and stone box.  This emulates old fashioned rural farm structures that can be seen throughout the French countryside.  

The ends of the box have been completely opened up - providing access to a modern flat roof covered patio.  The design of the roof clearly contrasts with the gable form.

The rear of the home has a clearly modern "addition".  The gable form itself is repeated however the design clearly distinguishes itself from the traditional box.

Ridiculous views of countryside.  The roof deck we could never do in the USA because building codes would not allow it.  Someone could fall off.

Clean and simple interior bedroom space with exposed timber framework.  The old and new again coming together.

Big News on House Plans From Simply Elegant Home Designs

Simply Elegant Home Designs has some big news coming.

Ron Brenner, President of Simply Elegant says "This is going to be bigger than sliced bread. Bigger than the wheel. Well maybe I am going too far; but at least it will be bigger than the Segway"

Stay tuned; a formal announcement will be made soon.

hint above

New Modern Cottage House Plan

Simply Elegant Home Designs is offering a new house plan called the "Scandia Modern Cottage". The Scandia Modern Cottage was inspired by a recent visit to an infamous Scandinavean furniture store. On that visit this designer was struck by how small spaces could be made to be very efficient and liveable and in fact feel spacious. So I decided to set out to create a design with those same qualities.

The resulting design exhibits it's Scandinavean influences both inside and out. The exterior is characterized by simple gable and shed forms, strong and simple detailing and modern window styles / patterns. The design offers an open main floor with connected spaces. The two bedrooms and a shared bath fit under the gable roof lines on the second floor. At 1178 square feet this is the smallest plan that Simply Elegant now offers. The images below depict the design.

scandia modern cottage - front elevation

scandia modern cottage - view from back yard

You can obtain more information on this plan and others at Simply Elegant Home Designs.