Bigfoot - Lock Ness - The Perfect House Plan

 My wife and I bought almost an acre in Belmont more than ten years ago. That is when our search for the perfect house plan began. With no immediate plans to build, we took the time to search hundreds of plans with the hope of finding something that would satisfy our desire for a open floor plan while also giving our girls their own private areas. After months of searching online, buying plan books, and visiting new neighborhood homes, we started to wonder if this elusive plan was even out there.When we found a plan with a nearly perfect interior layout, it resembled a prison on the outside. And some of our favorite home exteriors, would often have floor plans that could double as a corn maze.
 Finally we found a plan that we really loved. The plan was not perfect (for us) by definition, but it had a lot of qualities we were looking for. The plan was the Sand Mountain by John Tee in Atlanta. We loved the southern look and the floor plan was great. We had nearly all the details of the home decided when a terrible thing happened. We found another lot. Normally not a bad thing but the larger, more expensive lot resulted in searching for a smaller plan.

John Tee's Sand Mountain

Sand Mountain Floor Plan

 Searching for a smaller house plan was like starting all over again. But fortunately my wife and I agreed to narrow it down to two architects. Moser Design Group and Allison Ramsey Architects are both based out of Beaufort SC and both have some beautiful stock plans. We had committed to stay close to 2000 square feet and after months of intense debate, we were down to two plans we really liked.

 The first being Moser Design's TNH-LC-01B.  A 2202 square foot "farmhouse" look was our early favorite.

Moser Design's TNH-LC-01B

The second was Allison Ramsey's Ribaut Square. A 2138 square foot two story with that South Carolina low country look. The home pictured below was built in South Carolina.

Allison Ramsey's Ribaut Square

 Well after years of waiting and almost a year of plan searching, we chose Allison Ramsey's Ribaut Square. The floor plan is great and the exterior of the home is beautiful. We were a little weary of a two story after getting feedback from people that had lived in or do live in a two story. Most complaints were about the fear of stairs as you age. After a lengthy discussion and weighing all the pros and cons, we decided if we couldn't get up stairs when we got older we would just invest in an Acorn Stair Lift :)

       So the "perfect house plan" is still out there somewhere.  Good luck.  I hope you find it.