The house plan was perfect! …Great for entertainment and to enjoy after a long day at work…

In this week’s dream home success story, we hear from one of our previous clients, Ray from Statesville, North Carolinawho was kind enough to share his story about building our popular HPG-2755-1 – The Dogwood Lane house plan.

This home design fit Ray’s home needs as it includes 2,755 sq. ft of living space and features 4 large bedrooms, and 3.5 baths, all inside the attractive European/Southern architectural style.

Let’s hear what Ray M. has to say:

The house plan was perfect… Its really hard to just name a few features that I like about this home design, but my favorites are: the tray ceiling in the Dining and Master Bedroom; the porch in the back; the bedrooms being completely on the other side of the house from the master bedroom; and the large oversized garage with the workshop area.

When we purchased the plans, we wanted to find a contractor that would actually build the plans “to the letter” of the actual working drawings, so we asked the local building inspector for recommendations. We found a contractor from that recommendation, and the ball started rolling from there.

We made a few modifications to home, onsite, including moving the fireplace to better allow for the placement of a full video/audio center cabinet. We also screened-in the porch and made the fourth bedroom a little larger so as to serve as my wife’s scrap room. However, the largest modification was made on the bonus room, where we stick-built the roof to add an additional 1,500 sq ft which will include a full bath with a ~ 500 sq ft game room, 300 sq ft computer/media room, and a 700 sq ft home theater. This upper level is under construction as we speak and I can’t wait to get in there!

The porch was screen-in and the 4th bedroom was made larger to the wife’s scrap room. Bathroom was removed to add space. Also window was added to wall where no window appeared in plan to add sunlight. However the largest modification was done to the Bonus Room. The roof was was stick built to add an additional 1500 sq ft. that will include a full bath with a 500 s/f game room, 300 s/f computer/media room and a 700 sq ft Home theater. This upper level is a home project under construction as I write.

The home is great and a great layout. Great for entertainment and to enjoy after a long day at work.

Ray M.
Statesville, North Carolina

CLICK HERE to view Ray’s pictures of this beautiful 4 Bedroom Southern style house plan…

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I love everything about the house!…

In this week’s dream home success story, we hear from one of our previous clients, Jodie D. from Walden, Colorado who was kind enough to share her story about building our popular HPG-24002-1 – The Morgan Ridge house plan.

This home design fit Jodie’s home needs as it includes 2,400 sq. ft of living space and features 4 large bedrooms, and 2.5 baths, all inside the attractive Craftsman/Southern architectural style.

Let’s hear what Jodie has to say:

The house that we were renting was sold, and in the process of looking for a pre-built home to buy, we couldn’t find anything we liked. We then decided to build a new one.

My husband and I, along with family and friends, have built this home from the ground up. It has taken a lot longer than we anticipated, but this is one family project we will never forget.

I love everything about the house. The bedrooms are all a nice size. The kitchen is great and has turned out to be my favorite part of the house.

After deciding to build the house, we built the shell of the home out of beetle kill pine logs. Since our family business is logging, it seemed like the most economical thing to do. After picking out and measuring every single log, we peeled them by hand. My husband and my father then carved every notch with a chainsaw or by hand. After several months the shell was complete.

We then finished the roof and the internal walls with regular framing materials. Almost all of the finishing lumber inside the house came from my uncle’s sawmill. My husband is making all cupboards and vanities out of the beetle kill pine. This is also a very long process, but they look great with the rest of the house.

The house is not quite done yet. We started building in May of 2009 and will be complete by May of 2010. This sounds like a long time, but since we only work one to two days a week on it, but I think we are making good progress.

We’re very happy with the way our home is turning out and would DEFINITELY recommend House Plan Gallery plans to anyone…

Jodie D.
Walden, Colorado

CLICK HERE to view Jodie’s pictures of this beautiful 4 Bedroom Craftsman style house plan…

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We just looked at each other and knew that this was the plan……

In this week’s dream home success story, we hear from one of our previous clients, Aaron & Janell G. from LaVernia, Texas who were kind enough to share their story about building our popular HPG-1800B-1 – The Pecan Orchard house plan.

This home design fit Aaron & Janell’s home needs as it includes 1,800 sq. ft of living space and features 3 large bedrooms, and 2 baths, all inside the attractive Ranch/Traditional architectural style.

Let’s hear what Aaron & Janell have to say:

We were newlyweds living in a mobile home in a small town rural area when we felt a desire for a larger, more permanent home. We were growing concerned that our mobile home would eventually require too much upkeep and through the wisdom of our parents, felt that a site-built home would be a wiser investment. However, at our fairly young age, we were not sure how much of a home we could afford.

At first we began browsing for house plans for the future. We found ourselves wanting to change every plan we came across to fit our lives. We looked through countless books and almost gave up. We happened upon House Plan Gallery online and found our plan immediately. We just looked at each other and knew that this was the plan. It had everything we wanted to add to the other plans.

With the help of online calculators, we found that by ordering our plan ourselves and subcontracting, we could afford a home much more easily than by hiring a general contractor. Not only that, but we could build a larger, more customized home this way.

Everything came into place. We suddenly received an offer on our mobile home and with today’s housing market, felt it was time to act. We found the perfect home site, began the mortgage process and everything moved very quickly from that point on. We did have to meet with contractors several times a week, but felt that by being involved in the process, our house was going to be very special and exactly what we wanted.

We finished our home in record time and feel unbelievably blessed. Our home is much more than we ever expected we could have. All of our contractors, inspectors, and even the appraiser fell absolutely in love with the layout of our home and wanted to know where we found our plan. Our friends and family also greatly approved and thought our home was much more costly than it actually was.

We have now been in our new home for about six months, so we are still arranging some things to our taste, but every day we feel continually grateful for the home we have. We absolutely enjoy it. Our home has room for any changes that might take place in our family and our lives.

Aaron & Janell G.
LaVernia, Texas

CLICK HERE to view Aaron & Janell’s pictures of this beautiful 3 Bedroom Ranch style house plan…

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Thanks House Plan Gallery for a beautiful house plan, which has turned into a beautiful house, which has become our home, which has brought a lot of peace and comfort…

In this week’s dream home success story, we hear from one of our previous clients, Geof & Jenny C. from Valleyview, Alberta, Canada who were kind enough to share their story about building our popular HPG-18002-1 – The Shadow Lane house plan.

This home design fit Geof & Jenny’s home needs as it includes 1,800 sq. ft of living space and features 3 large bedrooms, and 2 baths, all inside the attractive Ranch/Traditional architectural style.

Let’s hear what Geof & Jenny have to say:

My wife (Jenny) and I (Geof) had been living in the Lower Main Land of British Columbia (Canada). We enjoyed our work and our friends there but were really wanting to move back to North Western Alberta to own some land and enjoy the open spaces. My growing girls had always dreamed of having their own horses and this was something that was not going to happen in BC. I also longed to get back to hunting, quading, and snowmobiling, again things I’d not be able to afford in BC. A large draw was also to live closer, once again, to a favorite cousin who was one of my best friends–Robert. Robert had been a bachelor for many years and finally met the woman of his dreams. We were looking so forward to getting to know Robert and his new wife Katrin, as a couple.

Tragically, six weeks after we had moved and three days short of their one year anniversary, Robert died in his sleep. We were devastated and wondered if we had made a mistake. We almost moved back to BC, because we didn’t know how we could move forward, having had such a huge loss. Slowly the healing began to take hold and we started to think again about building our dream home. Robert’s widow, Katrin, told us that one of Robert’s last wishes that he expressed to her was that he wanted to sell a treasured piece of land to us.

Robert and I grew up hunting, horseback riding, snowmobiling, and playing on this beautiful property. When Katrin told us she’d like to sell this land to us, we were moved to tears and happily bought it from her. Many years earlier, Robert had cleared out an area on this property that he hoped to eventually build a log cabin on. He started building the log cabin with large sruce trees that dominated the property. He never did complete it as he just got too busy farming, but he did move the logs to his residence, just in case he would have time to work on it further. Once he passed away and even before we knew what house plan we would build, we knew where we would build the house. It would be on the spot that Robert had always dreamed of building his log cabin.

Jenny and I are not log cabin people, so that was never a question, but we wanted to somehow acknowledge Robert’s dream for this part of the land. We have built our dream house and to top it off we plan to use some wood from Robert’s half-built log cabin to make a mantle for our fireplace in our great room. Through our grief, the excellent design and assistance from House Plan Gallery to modify our plan has helped working through our loss a little more bearable. Many of Robert’s friends and family members who have seen our house, have commented that Robert would have been so pleased to see what we’ve done with this property.

When we found your plans, we knew we found what we were looking for… Some of our favorite features of this home design are the spacious great room, the beautiful dormer windows at the front which let in a lot of natural light, and an amazing master bedroom and suite.

This house is not just our dream house, it is a memorial to an amazing godly man who was everyone’s friend and whose influence is still being felt in so many people’s lives to this day. Thanks House Plan Gallery for a beautiful house plan, which has turned into a beautiful house, which has become our home, which has brought a lot of peace and comfort…

Geof & Jenny C.
Valleyview, Alberta, Canada

CLICK HERE to view Geof & Jenny C. pictures of this beautiful 3 Bedroom Ranch style house plan…

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I’m always anxious to get back to my beautiful home!…

In this week’s dream home success story, we hear from one of our previous clients, Annette K. from Atlanta, Texas who was kind enough to share her story about building our popular HPG-2200-1 – The Avondale Court house plan.

This home design fit Annette’s home needs as it includes 2,200 sq. ft of living space and features 4 large bedrooms, and 2.5 baths, all inside the attractive Country/Traditional architectural style.

Let’s hear what Annette has to say:

I’m a single woman,retired from the military, and currently am working a second career with the State of Louisiana. I never dreamed I’d build a home of my own. My ex-husband and I divorced 6 years ago, and I bought a nice 3 bedroom home about 17 miles from the golf course that I now live on. Golf is my passion and I played every chance I had.

As time went on, I started looking for another place to live closer to work and especially closer to the golf course, and I could never find a house I liked within my budget close to where I wanted to move. After about 1 1/2 years of looking, I decided, why not try to build? There were available lots on the course that I always played golf on.

Interest rates were low and I had some equity built up in my home, so I put it up for sale. One day later, I had an offer! I sold it and moved into an apartment. Meanwhile I had looked at literally hundreds of plans.

I knew what I wanted, an open floor plan, split-floorplan with the master bedroon on one side and lots of windows in the back to overlook the golf course. The minimum to build out here is 2200 sq ft, so when I saw this plan, I knew it was the one. However, I ordered the plans reversed since the garage protects the back of the house and the patio from wayward golf shots! I found a quality builder and he had me in the house in less than 5 months, even after losing about a month to bad winter weather.

I love the large, open kitchen and the windows on the back that overlook the golf course that I built on. I also love the nice sized covered patio.

I love it! My house isn’t the biggest in the neighborhood, but it holds it’s own with any of the others and I get many compliments on it… My job requires me to travel out of state sometimes, but I’m always anxious to get back to my own beautiful home!

Thanks House Plan Gallery!..

Annette K.
Alexandria, Louisiana

CLICK HERE to view Annette’s pictures of this beautiful 4 Bedroom Country style house plan…

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