We’re about 2 months into the design process, and everything is coming together nicely. Our floorplans and elevations are almost complete, and we’re about ready to start choosing the actual cladding and building materials for the house.

As part of the design process, our architects have created a small cardboard model for us to review. It’s main purpose is to illustrate the overall feeling and proportions of the house (which are somewhat difficult to appreciate on the drawings). The model is about 16” long, which is just big enough to peer inside the windows to get a sense of the room sizes.

One of the standout features will be the two story opening which extends up to a clerestory in the middle of the house (and the obviously large window in the front). At the beginning of the process, I made it clear that I was willing to sacrifice space on the second floor as I wanted as much natural light as possible. I couldn’t be happier with how our architects incorporated it.

Another unusual aspect is the garage. Our initial expectation was that the front door and garage would be located at the front of the house, but I was quite excited to see that they had set them both back. And I really love how the door opens into that large two story opening inside of the house

We’re not entirely sure what the cladding will be at this point, but I’m pretty sure it’ll be a mix of red brick and some sort of siding. Budget restrictions will definitely dictate what we do here, but my biggest concern is choosing the right materials as I don’t want to ruin the entire esthetic with the wrong cladding. I’ve seen it happen too many times… Hopefully I’ve learned from others’ mistakes.