Home buying thread

Intrinsic said:

It is just a thought. The Pantry is 12' x 6' so we're not super constrained where our cheap Insignia freezer would take up too much space. Before we decided to do our own build, we saw quite a few new spec homes that were setup similarly and it seemed like a good idea. The thought process really being that we as a family of 5 value refrigerator space over freezer space and to prioritize that in the kitchen area (see previous counter depth vs. full size decision). I mean, honestly, I open a freezer maybe twice a week. My wife opens it once a night to get something out for cooking or thawing.

Honestly, I'm kind of just stuck on this idea and being a little stubborn. It is as easy as that. The other side of the pantry is the garage which is 24'. I've already asked to bump that out to 25'. I think I mentioned earlier about removing the grocery hatch, we didn't ask for that, and it is like 2' from the garage door to the pantry and we're not that lazy.

Hopefully now that Thanksgiving is over we'll get some more feedback and a 2nd floor plan and move some of these discussions forward. I don't want to start asking to move walls and reconfigure a whole lot until we know what the upper level is also.

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That window on your pantry is going to make even bumping a small amount for the fridge awkward as hell...

On the freezer topic, we have a small chest, and a standing freezer. We got the standing because I got tired of playing reverse tetris to get shit from the bottom of the chest freezer. Now the chest one is for things I can stack deep like briskets, hams, turkey's for smoking.

Haus said:

That window on your pantry is going to make even bumping a small amount for the fridge awkward as hell...

On the freezer topic, we have a small chest, and a standing freezer. We got the standing because I got tired of playing reverse tetris to get shit from the bottom of the chest freezer. Now the chest one is for things I can stack deep like briskets, hams, turkey's for smoking.

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I honestly had not realized he placed a window in that spot, even when redrawing the plan in the 3D program. That's funny. Seems to be a somewhat useless window since it would only be looking into the pantry area and placed in the corner of the patio to the presumed-to-be working area of the outdoor grill prep area. I could see us dropping that either way. But good catch, crazy how easy it is to overlook these things when you stare at this long enough.

We've talked ourselves back into a built-in 36" Sub Zero or Monogram anyways. It'll change in another week and probably change again. Had to email the lazy POS doing the plans this morning because he has never responded to our initial email about modifications or the status of the 2nd floor. If we don't get any feedback from him I'll just fire him and find someone else.

Yeah, our chest was for the larger items from our 1/2 beef we get every year. The ground beef, smaller steaks, some stew meats, etc went in the standup in our pantry and the large roasts and whatnot are in our chest in the garage.

Intrinsic said:

I honestly had not realized he placed a window in that spot, even when redrawing the plan in the 3D program. That's funny. Seems to be a somewhat useless window since it would only be looking into the pantry area and placed in the corner of the patio to the presumed-to-be working area of the outdoor grill prep area. I could see us dropping that either way. But good catch, crazy how easy it is to overlook these things when you stare at this long enough.

We've talked ourselves back into a built-in 36" Sub Zero or Monogram anyways. It'll change in another week and probably change again. Had to email the lazy POS doing the plans this morning because he has never responded to our initial email about modifications or the status of the 2nd floor. If we don't get any feedback from him I'll just fire him and find someone else.

Yeah, our chest was for the larger items from our 1/2 beef we get every year. The ground beef, smaller steaks, some stew meats, etc went in the standup in our pantry and the large roasts and whatnot are in our chest in the garage.

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I agree that for a pantry I wouldn't want that window there, I would want additional shelf space and storage capacity for the pantry. But I'm a storage nut. In our current house the previous owners consisted of an Electrical Engineer and his wife who was a photographer. They converted the garage into rooms and one of those is a 15' long darkroom, which means countertops on both sides, a sink, and lots of cabinetry. We have converted that into our pantry and it's extremely tilted towards function over aesthetics.

Gravel said:

Does anyone know of a good free tool for making floorplans (3d preferably)? I just want to screw around and get an idea of what my build will eventually be, prior to seeing an architect/builder.

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I'm using Sweet Home 3D at the moment and haven't paid for anything. Been redoing our plan today just to go back through some things after I messed up stuff the 1st time. You can also place objects and do a little better 3D renderings using the Render button. It isn't anything super great but has managed for us to quickly visualize a few things.

OK, I assume Allstate is doing some huge end of year push for business. I'm just beginning to shop around for moving my homeowners and car policy. So I'm watch the various stuff I usually throw away in the mail. Right now, on my desk, I have a stack of 5 unsolicited offers/invites to talk for home owners insurance, wildly ranging in price. Every single one is from an Allstate agent in Dallas.

moonarchia said:

Always look closely at the fine print. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Crack out your current policy and ask them their price for the exact same policy. If it is exactly the same, get it in writing that their price is permanent. End of year is when bonuses and shit have final pushes, so they are probably just deperate to get you on the books by hook or by crook. Moreso than usual, that is.

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I'm just at the "looking online for general pricing while giving it fake info so they can't call me" phase. The "actually talking to humans" phase of this shopping won't start in earnest until after the first of the year.

Had a good meeting with our designer and are still tweaking a few things here and there.


Scooted the fridge over and added a full height cabinet to the left of the fridge. Still discussing the counter depth vs. doing a bump out to install a full size but with a built-in look. Also discussed altering the island from 4x9 to like 5'-6"x9' to better accommodate the bar overhang and full-size cabinets + fillers in the island.

We changed the "Coffe" Bar area to open into the eating nook, there's a structural corner wall that we could still decide to extend. It isn't really a hard commitment to a coffee bar, can be whatever, but I wouldn't mind it being there with a small sink to fill pots, wash them out, etc.


This was changed to accommodate the Eating Nook. I've already discussed altering the way that powder / half bath is laid out and doing away with that "nook" in the nook and making that a full bath for use downstairs. Mainly being we won't need that as a Play Room forever and it would eventually become a full guest room and we'd want a full bath there to support it. That will allow that door wall and that intersection to be cleaned up a bit with less corners.


This is most of the upstairs and will be bedrooms for our two youngest boys. I'm having the drafter and builder revisit the bathroom layout here. Went back and forth with considering a Jack-and-Jill but we're going to try and squeeze two en suites in. That'll require taking 2'-6" or so away from each bedroom to account for a width of two bathrooms and some reconfiguration of the upper bedroom door and hallway linen closet. We'll see what they come up with. This is above the master bath, closet, laundry so I'd like to keep plumbing stacked and not move it too much.


The other side of the upstairs with bedroom for our oldest. Since he's 6 years older than our middle son we wanted him to have his own space and own larger bath that is still accessible for the upstairs. We also talked about that little square of nothing and if that needs to be linen for the bathroom. Just looks odd.


Probably the biggest question is whether the 2nd floor opens to the living area below. It sounds nice to have like a big 20-25' open area but honestly I think giving up any future access to all that space is a huge waste. It'll cost more to frame it for future use but I think be much better if/when we want to make a media room or game room or whatever else. We can still do a 12' ceiling in the living and kitchen.

Also trying to figure out how this impacts roofline and elevation. So not quite there yet but we're close to having this layout completed and will then move on to 2D and then the 3D rendering.