I designed mine at 2150 sf, but put two bedrooms upstairs...smaller slab is cheaper and heating/cooling is more efficient stacked. A bonus is upstairs is totally separate, as empty-nesters, we only heat and cool the first floor at 1300 sf, the second floor serves as my attic, which maxes at upper 80s. Highest electric bill $120. Sorry for the divergence.

We were also looking for a one-story home but couldn't find anything we wanted. You can buy one of their pre-made plans for $.25 sq. ft. To make changes to an existing plan, they charged $.50 sq. ft. To totally design something for you, they charge $.75 sq. ft. We actually chose four of their plans and took certain things from each one and combined them to make exactly what we wanted. Ours was $1900 total ($.50 sq. ft), for an almost 4000 sq. ft. home. They are pouring our slab tomorrow and we are super excited. They were fast, friendly and very reasonable.

momtothree~~~Is your home going to be 4,000 SF on one level?...be interested in seeing yours also, but I know that is more than we are needing....we are empty nesters.

miscindy~~Your home is going to perfect for a farm-house
style home...and the house plan looks good but I am needing the entire greatroom on the back...we have wonderful views.

It evolved from a three bedroom design. The pet room could be converted back to a bedroom. While it has a partial walkout basement, it isn't a part of the designated living space. The house probably could be built on another foundation, which would reclaim the stairs area for living space.

The architect is reputable and easy to deal with. Her fees for changes are reasonable.

Hi, we just built this house in 2006. We had lost our previous house to a hurricane and decided to build a new one instead of redoing the old one. We were living in a FEMA trailer and wanted out bad! So we found this plan and pretty much built it as is, it has been wonderful, but now that we are in it, there are definitely a few changes I would make. Also, we were hit with another hurricane and this one was flooded with 3 ft. of storm surge, but we have rebuilt and are back in! Don't have any pics as of now, but need to get them taken for my hurricane/insurance/evacuation folder. Will try to remember to come back and post some pics if you're interested.

Thanks for the website..and will check it out.
Yes, I would like to see pics of your home if you have them...now that you have lived with that plan, what would you change? Sorry about all of your bad luck with the hurricanes. Where do you live?....I guess we here in Kansas have our tornadoes, but they are not nearly as wide-spread as a hurricane....but then, we have very little warning when they are coming. I guess everywhere has its disasters of some kind.

Hope to get some pictures taken in the next week or so. Changes I would make to this plan...
Make the breakfast nook bigger..extend it out because all it accomodates now is a small table for 2 and those are hard to find in the stores!
Probably put the fireplace in the corner where the single window is so that there could be a whole window wall there...OR put the tv above the fireplace and you could have a whole slew of seating then if that's what you like or need.
Move the back door over to the right so that it's next to the bay window area...it kinda gets in the way now for furniture placement.
I closed in the doorway to the dining room that comes from the foyer and made a closet there. So I have two entry closets. Oh and I would make the dining room at least 13 x 13 instead of 12 x 12. We had a formal hutch and 42'table with 8 chairs in there and it did fit, but it was a little tight for people to get down to the far end of the table.
The hall bath could be a little bigger and roomier...maybe a doube sink vanity if you could figure out how to make that work in the plan. My son who just graduated from college and will be moving out soon, hates the linen closet door being behind the bathroom door. Not sure how to change that.
In the master bath, if you are facing the sinks/vanities, the wall behind them we had floor to ceiling builtins put in, the top being shelves with doors and the bottoms drawers, so we don't need a dresser or chest in the bedroom. That's where we need undies and such anyway, just after getting out of the shower! I really like dark stained cabients and that's what those builtins are, but one drawback is that I have dark hair so when I'm looking at my hair in the mirror, it's hard to see how it looks cause it blends in with the cabinet behind it. Probably would have been better for those to be painted. Oh and we made the entrance to the shower in that hallway where the closet doors are. Shower is a nice size, big enough for two but not huge.
We took the doors out that in the garage that lead to the outside and wish we hadn't. Now we have to raise the garage doors everytime we want to access the yard or driveway in that direction.
The only other thing I can think of that I would change is to make a "bump out" if you will for the master bathtub so that the corners of it don't stick out into the room and you wouldn't have to worry about bumping your knees on them. I have a cultured marble tub, so it had square corners. AFter the flood, we saved the tub but when the put it back in I had them angle those corners so now it's a little better. But it would be great if that wall of the house just bumped out enough so that the front of the tub was even with the fronts of the vanities. I've seen that in other houseplans.
I hope this all makes sense. Your description of what you were looking for sounded just like us when we were looking and this is what we found that best met our needs in a hurry!
Oh and we are in Texas right next to Louisiana on the coast, so we don't do basements here either. I can't imagine having to live with the threat of tornados either. ugh! I AM ready to move to the Texas HIll Country, but like you said they have droughts, and tornados and flash floods out there. There isn't any place safe! Oh well....Hope this helps you and I will try and post pics soon!

This plan is the one Dh and I chose for our empty nest, view, retirement home. We made a few changes; the A/C room is a pantry, the master bath has a shower stall and a linen closet instead of a tub. We put a little furnace room in the garage. We just love it!!

http://details.coolhouseplans.com/details.html?pid=chp-2254&FoundID=47&sid=chp23

imsoconfused~~Thanks for all the suggestions...I'll try to run off a copy of the plans and see what changes you have made....I really like the looks of the outside.
Thanks to you also.

MY GF's is about 3255 on first floor with a bonud room over garage and lower level walkout

Both are "ranch plans" but designed to not look like the traditional ranch design

I may just email you as we move forward. Don't offer help to me unless you mean it LOL! Thanks!!!

Do you have plans yet at all etc bigkahuna9@aol