John and I began looking at and modifying house plans during the winter of 2012.  We both had a vision which verbally was identical, yet I had no idea it was mentally the same until I found a plan with an accompanying picture.  I sent it off to John through email telling him the exterior was my dream house.  He replied that it was his as well.  Thank goodness!  I had hopes we’d be on the same page of this undertaking from start to finish and it seemed we were headed in that direction.  Unfortunately, our exterior dream house was not our interior dream house.  The sq. footage was too little and the modifications to increase its size proved unfeasible to our budget.

We scoured the internet choosing several plans.  None of them was ideal.  Again the outside was right, but not the inside and vice versa.  We finally came across one we liked both inside and out even though the sq. footage was shy of what we felt we needed.  We contacted our proposed builder who said the house could easily be modified.  He put us in touch with an architect and talks began to pin down the changes necessary to accommodate our needs as well as many of our wishes.

Among the things we needed was privacy.  Privacy for my sister and for us.  We needed common area.  We needed a brewery (ha!  John needed one, I simply needed John).  We needed a breezeway between the detached garage and the house (ha!  I needed one, John simply needed a brewery!)  We wished for large porches.  We wished for a pantry.  We wished for a sewing/exercise room.  We wished for a well appointed kitchen.  We wished for a welcoming home, one of warmth that would facilitate the family gatherings I hoped to rekindle and would welcome friends with an accompanying unspoken “glad you’re here” to our spoken one.

We had several phone conversations with both the builder and architect and drove down from New Jersey once to meet with them.  Also during the visit we found ourselves a rental property to house us and our two houses of belongings.  With tweaking, we settled upon a plan we hope will fulfill the house of our dreams that falls within the range of our actual budget, a home we’ll share until the end of our days.

Lee-Hall Farm Exterior Image

First Floor Plans