Design

Every once in a while I like to give you an example of the tools I use in my business.  One of these tools is the Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer .  I use it to perform quick color studies; which helps me to narrow concepts down pretty quickly. The tool is pretty simple to use.  You just choose from one of their preloaded exterior architectural styles; then you paint the scene with colors that you choose from the Sherwin Williams palette.  Below is one set of color studies I performed in less than five minutes. When it's time to repaint your house you might give this tool a try.  You can find it at  Sherwin Williams Color Visualizer .   One important note:  Please put a good size sample up on your wall before you make a final commitment to your colors.  One additional step I do at Larson Brenner Architects and Simply Elegant Home Designs is to take my colors and apply them to my 3d house model.  You can see an example of that at Arch...

At Larson Brenner Architects I am currently working a client on a new home design to be constructed in Rochester, MN.  Here we have run into a very common dilemma.  What to do with 3 1/2 cars worth of garage?    If you put all of that garage to the side of the house you get one very wide plan.  If you put all of that garage forward of the house you get one very deep plan.  Many lots cannot accommodate either one of those plan arrangements.  So what I have proposed to do here is to split the garages into two separate structures.  The main two car garage is directly connected to the house via the mudroom zone.  The additional 1 1/2 car garage is placed on the opposite side of the lot; resulting in a nifty little entry court.  See sketches below. Here you can see a birds eye view of the layout.  Notice the roof between the garage and house is low.  This helps to reduce the mass of the house.  Pulling the garages a bit f...

At Larson Brenner Architects I am currently working a client on a new home design to be constructed in Rochester, MN.  Here we have run into a very common dilemma.  What to do with 3 1/2 cars worth of garage?    If you put all of that garage to the side of the house you get one very wide plan.  If you put all of that garage forward of the house you get one very deep plan.  Many lots cannot accommodate either one of those plan arrangements.  So what I have proposed to do here is to split the garages into two separate structures.  The main two car garage is directly connected to the house via the mudroom zone.  The additional 1 1/2 car garage is placed on the opposite side of the lot; resulting in a nifty little entry court.  See sketches below. Here you can see a birds eye view of the layout.  Notice the roof between the garage and house is low.  This helps to reduce the mass of the house.  Pulling the garages a bit f...

In the "old days" people used to build their own houses. Many would buy a set of house plans and the construction materials from the Sears & Roebuck Catalog; the pieces would get shipped to there home site and they would build it. Today there are Architect Designed Sears homes all over the country that were built in the early part of the 20 th century. Here are a few examples. This trend went away after world war II when the baby boom began. There was an enormous demand for housing and as a result developers began mass producing houses. One cookie cutter house after another. Times are sure different now and I wonder if it is time to learn a bit from our past. The economy is tight and people don't have as much money to spend, but everyone still wants a nice home to live in. So why not start building our homes ourselves again? I would never recommend that you literally go out and start framing your house. You would have to be very skilled and knowledgeable to t...

In the "old days" people used to build their own houses. Many would buy a set of house plans and the construction materials from the Sears & Roebuck Catalog; the pieces would get shipped to there home site and they would build it. Today there are Architect Designed Sears homes all over the country that were built in the early part of the 20 th century. Here are a few examples. This trend went away after world war II when the baby boom began. There was an enormous demand for housing and as a result developers began mass producing houses. One cookie cutter house after another. Times are sure different now and I wonder if it is time to learn a bit from our past. The economy is tight and people don't have as much money to spend, but everyone still wants a nice home to live in. So why not start building our homes ourselves again? I would never recommend that you literally go out and start framing your house. You would have to be very skilled and knowledgeable to t...

Folks are pretty familiar with the fact that we offer some pretty good Architect Designed House Plans at Simply Elegant Home Designs. In fact all of our plans are Architect designed. But it is less known that we also offer Custom Home Design Services . We are trying to spread the good word. For this reason we are offering during the month of August a 30% discount from our normal rates for Custom Architect Designed House Plans. Now you can work with us to design a one of a kind home tailored to your needs and your building site at rates that we have never before offered. For information on our custom home design package please click " Custom Home Design ". Then give us a call. We are ready to help. This offer will only be valid for the month of August - and it is first come first serve so you should act quickly.