I have looked at this plan and like it a lot. Also like the gresham plan and cant decide. If you dont mind me asking - where are you building? I am in NC and am trying to get an idea of construction cost for this plan or one similar. I already own my own land so that is not an issue. Would you share some pictures of your progress?

One of my concerns with this plan is how much natural light the family room will get - maybe it is not an issue.

my email is plh081371@gmail.com - thanks for any info!

Sure I can get you some pictures. We got drywall last week and they started trim today. So now you can really see the rooms. We removed the wall that separates the dining and breakfast rooms and made a few other changes to the plan as well. There is plenty natural light in the living room. We even took out some of the transoms in the living room so there wouldnt be too much light. I will email some pictures to you this week once I go and check on the progress.

We are planning on building the Whitney as well. We haven't broke ground yet but I would love to see your pics. We made some modifications to the plan as well. We moved the door to the 3rd bedroom from the foyer to the hallway, we added a dormer to the bonus room, we screened in the back porch and we added a door from the master to the porch. I would love to see pics of the wall you removed in the kitchen.

Sure... I tried to paste a picture to this posting and it didnt work. We also moved the door from the foyer to the hallway. We added a 1/2 bath under the stairs going up to the bonus room and changed the stairs so that they are open to the living room.

How do I post a picture on here??

I have no idea how to post pics but you can email them to hollieplus2@gmail.com

We didn't move the stairs. When you walk up the stairs the bonus room is on the left, we opened up the right side for walk in attic storage and plumbed it for a future bathroom. We also added bookcases on each side of the fireplace and moved the door in the living room all the way over to the right so it wasn't in the middle. We changed the colums out front to tapered craftsman style colums and the house will be brick and stone. Under the stairs we are doing a built in bench/coat rack for a mudroom.

I would be interested in seeing pics also. If you have your pictures loaded onto photobucket or a site like that, you can just put url link in the bottom when you post, that is a fairly easy way

runner_boy@juno.com

http://www.flickr.com/photos/houseplansbydongardner/

All you folks building or interested in the Whitney plan from Donald Gardner should check out a couple of interior pics he posted on his Flicker page today. I have included the link in this message. If the Whitney pictures are no longer featured by the time you read this, then just go to the main page of pictures and look for the ones for the Whitney.

PLEASE share your pictures and experiences if you are building the Whitney plan. I am waiting with baited breath! I liked this plan instantly and thought that with a few changes, it would be a great plan to live in.

Like Miranda, I want to remove the wall between the breakfast and dining rooms. I also want to stretch the plan 3 feet along a line that runs from the dining room in the back, through the family room and garage. I think these two changes will make the dining room big enough to be used as a keeping room. I like the idea of adding a half bath under the stairs.

I also think the back porch and screened porch are too tiny. I am thinking of stretching the back of the plan out 3 feet along a line that runs from the breakfast area, through the dining room and porch and out through the master bedroom. I guess this would require that the pitch of the roof to be changed? And extend the screen porch out maybe 3 feet.

I am not sure about the practicality of these changes, but I hope that some of you may post your experiences and opinions regarding some of this.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to Whitney interior pics

I'm a newbie to the board. My husband and I are interested in the Whitney plan and will appreciate any pictures/experiences.

We are building the Whitney (modified) and should be breaking ground next week!!!!

We did not remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room. We kept the e-space and did a built in banquette in the other corner so we needed the wall.

We did remove the wall going to the bonus room and will put in a railing like the picture. We didn't do a 1/2 bath under the stairs we expanded the mudroom and put a 1/2 bath upstairs. We added a dormer that runs almost the whole length upstairs. When you go up the stairs the bonus is to the left and we have a huge unfinished area to the right. The 1/2 bath is up there.

We didn't do the coffered ceiling in the great room but we added built ins on either side of the fireplace. We moved the door going out to the porch from the center of the great room off to the right. Adding the built ins created a wall next to the linen closet so it was perfect for the door. We are under a tight budget so we didn't do a lot of things inside.

We are building the Whitney craftsman style so the front colums will be single tapered colums and the arches are gone and replaced w/ straight header. We did pocket doors going into the utility rooom and the two closets in the master.

We are doing a knee wall in between the kitchen and great room instead of a peninsula w/ an overhang. I want as much room in the great room as possible and we can put our couch up against the knee wall.

We also modified the 2nd bathroom. We didn't need the 2nd sink since we only have 1 child so we moved the toilet where the second sink is and closed the wall to the original toilet. That is now the toilet for the master bath. We moved the sink down in the master. Where the toilet was we extended both the shower and the closet. We are doing a 5ft shower, 5ft tub and the rest of the left over space just extended the master closet.

We also moved the door going into the bedroom from the foyer to the hallway.

I would love to see other people's photos. I will post our photos once we get started. I'm so excited!!!

Hi, I'm new to this site, but was so excited to see this forum. My husband and I have been studying this plan for over a year and have decided to build the Whitney. We are in the process of ordering plans.

First of all, I would love, love to see any pictures that any of you may have. From photos that show your own designer style to basic photos that really help show off the floor plan, I would really appreciate anything.

Secondly, we too wanted to make a few modifications. Those of you who are building or have built this plan, did you have every little change made before ordering your plans or did you just bring some ideas to your carpenter/contractor??

I'd really appreciate any help, ideas and especially some pictures!!

Post here or my email is jaitone@aol.com

Thanks!!

Hi, My wife and I are very intested in the Whitney. A few changes we want to make are,putting the Bedroom/study door iacross from the bathroom,extending the breakast and screen porch out to the rear 3 feet,extending garage toward the front about 3 ft so I can get a single entrance door from the outside, next to the garage doors,closing the wall where the serving counter is between kitchen and great room and taking the stovetop out of the kitchen island. I like the idea of taking a sink out of bathroom and changing the toilets to allow for a larger shower and tub in the Master bathroom.Also would like to utilize space under stairs. This plan is one of the best ones at the square footage that we have found. Makes good use of all space. If anybody has finished pics or under construction pics of this plan we would love to see them. k78333@msn.com

We are currently building the Whitney. Our framing is done, most of the windows are in the and the roof it up. We made a lot of changes before construction and a lot of changes as we progress. Our lot slopes towards the road so the garage sits about 4ft lower than the house which caused changed upstairs. We weren't expecting these changes but they turned out for the better :) I'll see if I can post pics if not I'll email them to you. Some changes we made upfront:

1. moved the door to the 2nd bedroom from the foyer to the hallway
2. removed the wall going upstairs and opened up the stairs
3. Revamped the 2nd bath and took out the 2nd sink, moved the toilet
4. Because of the change in the 2nd bath we changed the master bath, moving the toilet, shower and bathtub
5. We are not doing the coffered ceilings in the living room
6. Under the stairs we are doing built in shelved, lockers for a mudroom
7. Added pocket doors into the laundry, the master closets and the master toilet
8. To save on costs we aren't doing the screened porch off the breakfast nook, we are building in a banquette removing the door for bigger windows
9. The back porch will be screened but we moved the door all the way to the right so it wouldn't be in the middle of the living room
10. Kitchen peninsula we made a knee wall so we could but the couch up against it instead of cabinets facing the living room, created more space
11. Going upstair to the bonus room you turn right to get to the bonus, we added a room to the left above the kitchen which will be unfinished for now, we also roughed in plumbing for a 1/2 bath up there. We floored the space above the living room for our attic space
12. We added a dormer in the bonus room and the unfinished room
13. We did two garage doors w/ a pedestrian door instead of 1 garage door
14. Added built-ins to either side of the fireplace

We toyed w/ removing the wall seperating the dining room from the kitchen but we wanted a seperate space for the formal dining, because we kept it we could incorporate the banquette on that right side wall. We are building our house craftsman style.

Because of the layout of our lot our garge is sunken in which makes our bonus room sunken in. We have a landing at the top of the stairs, we step down into the bonus and up into the unfinished room. We also lost the small front window in the bonus but because we added the dormer we gained a triple window.

I'll try to post pics if not I'll email them. If anyone else is building the Whitney I would LOVE pics. hollieplus2@gmail.com

Hey hollieplus2,

It sounds like you've made some great changes. We too, want to build our home in the Craftsman style. I just love it.

I really love the idea of the pocket doors, did you have those added in your plans or worked in after you started building??

Can't wait to see any pictures and look forward to hearing more about your progress. Please contine to follow up with your progress.

Please feel free to email any pics to me. jaitone@aol.com

THANKS!

Okay, all you Whitney fans, of which I am one. Donald Gardner continues to add more interior shots of this plan, mostly of the kitchen area. I have always thought the layout of this kitchen was odd. Not much of a fan of cooktops on an island, but still like this plan. These pictures help a lot with ideas. Hope more shots continue to be added in the future. Subscribe to Donald Gardner on Facebook (which is what I do) or to the RSS feed to keep up with new pics added to Flickr.

Here is a link that might be useful: Whitney pics on Flickr

Just wondering if anyone else has pictures of the Whitney plan? Especially of the front of the house. We are thinking about building this plan, but we would have to do a front entry garage and are curious on how it would look. Any help would be great!

We love the Whitney also and plan on building in the next year or so. I have a question regarding the plan changes. Is everyone using the service on Gardner's site or an independent architect. Also, has anyone used elliptical/transom windows throughout? Any Pictures of your homes would be much appreciated. Please send to: patamy@sbcglobal.net

I continue to study the Whitney plan intensely. It is still one of the best plans I have found for giving you a lot with little wasted square footage. Its has a very unique configuration of rooms that works for the way I live. If anyone has any new information or has pictures from their build, PLEASE come back and share!

I have had a few recent revelations about this floorplan, some of which were already mentioned:

1. I want two living/sitting areas, NOT two dining areas. Willing to give up extra dining for more living space that will get a lot more use. Therefore, I propose to stretch the section containing the brkfst/dining/screen porch back 3-5 feet, then remove the wall between the brkfst and dining areas (may need extra trusses/support?). Plus maybe move the wall of the brkfst room back even with the back dining room wall? This will leave me with a single dining area large enough for at least a 6-seat dining table (8, preferably), with 2-3 extra seats at the island. And make room for a 2nd living area(guess we could call the whole thing the Keeping Room). Even if I couldn't do the 3-5 ft stretch, I would still remove the wall between the breakfast and dining to make a smaller Keeping Room space.

2. As someone else mentioned already, I would make a solid wall in the kitchen where the half-wall is that looks out over the great room. This works for me because the previous changes I mentioned will create a keeping room directly open to the kitchen, so there is no need for my 2nd living space to be open to the kitchen as well. I concur that the great room could use this wall to place furniture against and this would improve the seating arrangement in the great room a lot. Plus, I don't like completely open plans!

3. The cooktop/stove MUST be moved from the island, point blank. I will accomplish this by moving the refrigerator to the end of the counter on the now-closed wall facing the great room and putting the cooktop on the wall where the refrigerator is now. The island would be all one level with stools and a small second sink.

4. I will eliminate the upstairs bonus room completely. Though I like it and would love to trick it out as a rec room, my husband and I require a one-level house. This will be our forever house, on family land and will not be sold in the future, so we are not worried about resale issues.

5. With the stairs gone, a half-bath would be added where the shelves are now, plus an additional closet would be added to the foyer where the stair opening is now. OR alternately (maybe better?), a small mudroom space would be where the shelves are now and a half bath would back up to that, with the bathroom door opening out into the great room.

6. Bed/study door moved from foyer to inside hallway near other bedroom door.

7. Make a kneespace for a vanity in the long bathroom counter.

Would appreciate any feedback anyone could give on the viability of my ideas. Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: Whitney floorplan

They have posted a new plan that is a slight modification of the Whitney plan, they call it the Marley. Good changes, on the whole, but just need it to be about 200 sq ft. bigger to suit my needs *sigh* A link to the Marley plan is provided below.

P.S.-If you have moved forward with your plans to build the Whitney, PLEASE give us an update!

Here is a link that might be useful: Donald Gardner plan The Marley

Does anyone have photos of the Marley? I have seen the ones on the Gardner website with the stone face but I was hoping to find a few others out there! It would be so helpful to talk with someone who has built this plan and get their input and suggestions. We are looking to build in September and need to get our plans ordered asap. My email is jessicapeachey@gmail.com Thank you thank you thank you if you can help us!