Join this Pennsylvania family as they experience the construction of their new home, Garlinghouse Plan Number: 10515, from start to finish.

THE FAMILY

John, Melissa and the kids, Andrew 14, Sarah 5

(Two more sons, Chris and Brendan are grown up and out of the home.)

THE HOME PLAN: Garlinghouse Plan Number: 10515

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Shortly after her son Andrew was born, Melissa started compiling a folder she called her “dream book.” This folder contained a variety of ideas (paint colors, furniture styles, etc.) for what she called her “someday house.” As part of her quest for this “someday house,” she also checked Sunday newspapers every week for house plans that she might like, and as she says, “seemed to forever be cutting them out and stuffing them into my folder.”

Armed with her well-stocked “dream book” and countless hours of research, Melissa had compiled a pretty specific mental image of what the “someday house” should be like. Husband John made her search all the more easy. “John’s only pre-requisite was that the home should have only three bedrooms,” she says. “He didn’t want a huge house, and I said, ‘If that’s the only criteria, I’ll be fine. I know exactly what I want.’”

And so she did. Here, Melissa invites us along on her family’s adventure in building the “someday house.”

WHY THIS HOME PLAN?

“We are building the home on a wooded property with a lake and we knew we had something beautiful to look at. Being a modified A-Frame design, this home will allow us to have great views of the woods and the wildlife and lake. This plan, with its large windows and the porch, will allow us to appreciate our surroundings from the inside as well as the outside.

“It’s everything that we want. The large windows will let lots of light in and will allow us to really see outside. And then we’ll be able to go outside and appreciate it on the deck as well. We like the loft, and it’s open, so we can entertain. We’ll be able to have plenty of friends over, because the plan allows you to do things like that. It has so many positives. It’s the perfect house plan for us.

“This will be our primary residence and the house we will retire in. We specifically chose a house that we could retire in, with the master bedroom on the main floor. We’re also making everything on the first floor wheelchair accessible, just in case.

So, this is the ‘forever house.’ We’re done after this.”

HOW DID YOU FIND THIS PLAN?

“We knew what we wanted. We had a list. We knew that we were looking for something that had a very open front to it. Only three bedrooms. Something that would look good in a wooded environment.

“So we went to our local Barnes and Noble and poured through books for about 3 hours one afternoon. I couldn’t find anything that I was looking for. I mean, I had the concept of what I wanted, but I just wasn’t seeing it. I finally looked at John and said, ‘I bet we can find something on the Internet.’

“I don’t remember the exact word search I typed in, but on the results page, www.familyhomeplans.com was about the second one down on the list. And it was so easy. I liked your site so much, because you have a search that allows a person to say how many bedrooms they want, how many floors they want, how many bathrooms they want, the style of house, and so on. It was just so easy to type in what I wanted.

“I’m pretty sure this house was on the first page when the plan search came up. I remember it was about a third of the way down the page and I said ‘This is it.’ And John looked at me, and he said, ‘Are you sure?’ And I said, “Yeah, watch.” And I clicked on the plan, and it loaded, and I’m like, ‘That’s it.’ And again, he’s saying, ‘Are you sure?’ And I said, ‘That’s it.’ And he said, ‘OK.’ And that was the end of our search. We knew at that point. I think there were two others that we looked at, but they didn’t have the amenities that this one does. It was a very quick search. I don’t think we spent any more than a half hour looking, once we got onto your site.”

DID YOU MAKE CUSTOM CHANGES TO THE PLAN?

“We are opting to not do the greenhouse and playhouse. And we’re changing the style of some of the windows. Also, we’re moving the door into the master bedroom. Instead of walking down the hall and going straight into the master bedroom, the hallway will end, and the door will be to your right. The door to the master will actually ‘hit’ the closet when it is fully opened, but I will have more room in the corner where the door originally had been.

“The other thing we did was move the stove to the corner of the kitchen. I wanted to be able to lean over the breakfast bar and not lean into the stove. We also moved the refrigerator over to the right, so I’ll have space for a computer desk. Other than that, everything is staying the same. John was able to make the changes on the plans himself, because he has an engineering background.”

WHICH CAME FIRST - THE BUILDING SITE OR THE HOME PLAN?

“We had the site first and that’s what made it so easy. We knew what type of house was going to fit in well.”

HOW DID YOU FIND A BUILDER?

“Actually, we’re building it ourselves. John put himself through college, working for his uncle, running a construction company. So he can run a back hoe and has a lot of friends in the trades, like plumbers electricians, and so forth. We have a lot of connections that way, which will make it much more fun to build our own house. We know people in most of the businesses that we’ll need to get it done.

WHAT HAS HAPPENED SO FAR?

“Now we have the basement dug out and the driveway is dug out as well. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are our big days to work on the house. This coming Friday we are hoping to have our zoning coordinator come out. We have to finish putting the stakes in the ground and show her the four corners of the house and the septic system. When she measures all of that, we can start on the basement. We’ll be putting the garage in the basement, at what would be the back of the home. When we move in, we’ll put in futons in the finished area of basement so when the older boys come home they’ll have a place to “crash.”

So, that’s where we are now. It’s moving a little faster than I thought it would, so I’m real excited.

ANY COMPLICATIONS?

“We went to the Township for zoning purposes and discovered we had to move the driveway 132 feet. Where we originally planned to put the driveway, it would have been in a blind spot on the road, because it was on a curve. So, we had to hire a surveyor to come out and determine the actual curve and grade of the road, and the sight distance. They had to determine where we could safely locate the driveway, so that when we pulled out, someone coming along would have enough stopping distance to avoid hitting us.

“We also had to wait for the borough to change the speed limit. It’s a rural Pennsylvania road. If the speed is not actually posted in a rural area, it’s 55 mph. So we had to wait for a borough meeting to change it down to 35 mph, which allowed us to only have to move the driveway as far as we did. We actually had to move more dirt that we wanted to, which took so long for us to get to the point where we are now. John was annoyed about that, because it meant he had to move a lot more dirt, but I said, ‘They’re doing their jobs for our safety and other peoples’ safety, and if you look at it that way, it’s still frustrating, but there’s a logical reason behind it.’ And looking at it that way, he became fine with it.

WHAT’S NEXT?

We’re off to a good start. I’m nervous and excited at the same time. I got quotes on my cabinets. I was amazed at the cost of kitchen cabinets. We’re waiting for window pricing now.