Who doesn’t love a classic farmhouse? It is a journey back to the days of simplicity. And that was the goal with this home.
The property is 11 acres located in Durham, NH at the top of a hill overlooking fields and wetlands. My clients are a sweet, young couple with young children. The family finds great joy in the simple life of playing outside, gardening, cooking and enjoying each other’s company. Building this home will provide a place for all of this to happen.
My preliminary designs includes a smaller house with more complicated rooflines — creating turns and corners in the foundation. The estimate came back far too high, so I simplified the design resulting in larger footprint and simple roofline. The price came back about $200K lower. That put the project as a “go” and we are currently rushing to get drawings done, structure engineered and pulling permits.
While they’re excavating and blasting ledge to get the foundation in, we will be finalizing the interior layout. In my preliminary designs, I always show furniture and life-scale images so that there are no regrets on the foundation size. We need to make sure all the interiors are complete before plumbing and electrical rough-ins. Basically, my plan is to stay ahead of the builder and making decisions quickly and efficiently to move the project forward as quickly as possible. Our goal is to have this sweet farmhouse done for the first day of Kindergarten for the little man of the house.
It makes me reflect on the history of a farmhouse. The design is simple for simple living… the function is great.