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House Plan E-2307 Customer Testimonials
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Owner-specific modifications:
Bumped out dormers to accommodate seats
Enclosed back porch, turning it into children's playroom
Added stepped ceiling to eating nook and master bedroom
Built "floating" curved staircase
Installed a stove instead of double ovens in kitchen and moved refrigerator
Added arches above dining room entrances
When Ralph C. was a kid, he and his best friend talked about how, when they grew up, they would buy land next to each other and build homes. Many kids have dreams like this, since it's hard to imagine future circumstances that would necessitate living apart from the people you like most. But, true to their word, and all grown up, their childhood dream was realized! A few years ago, Ralph and Jimmy, who are also now business partners, bought adjacent lots in a lightly populated development outside of Atlanta.
Once the lot was purchased, Ralph and his wife Summer began looking for the perfect home to build. Internet searches and magazines purchased from the bookstore gave them thousands of options. Even though Summer had always admired English Tudor-style homes and imagined herself living in one, their beautiful rural location and the local architecture dictated a country-style home.
Summer, who lived in a ranch home growing up, wanted to continue living in a one-story home as an adult. When she found Plan E-2307 in a Homeplans magazine, she looked past the very country-influenced exterior—flaunting a wide front porch, clean-lined columns, crisp rail-topped corner windows, and three proud dormers—to notice that the floor plan had many of the items from her wish list, including wonderful outdoor living spaces.
When Summer showed the plan to Ralph, he promised he'd make the home special for her, proposing a number of tweaks to the plan and working closely with the builder to achieve them.
At the time ground was broken for building, the couple was also planning their wedding. So with a tight deadline, the home—their first building project—was completed in six months. An amazing feat, considering that, in the middle of the process, Summer and Ralph had to fire their first builder and scramble to find another one.
One of Summer's favorite features of the home is its openness, which you sense immediately upon stepping inside the main entry. From the threshold, you're greeted by a bold, sweeping staircase, which would be dramatic enough on its own, but Ralph and Summer had their staircase installed to "float" above the foyer, with only the top and bottom anchored to the floor.
Just off the foyer, the formal dining room offers an elegant setting for entertaining. A gallery runs between the dining room and the family room. The original floor plan calls for decorative columns to line this elaborate hallway, but Ralph went a step further and conceived of turning the spaces between the columns into stylized arches. He had the builder convert the room entrances into matching arches, thus transforming the open dining room into an intimate space.
The adjacent kitchen is conveniently located for serving both the eating nook and the dining room. Customizations to the kitchen included installing a stove where the cooktop was meant to be and relocating the refrigerator where the double ovens would have been placed. As a working mother, Summer cites the enormous, extremely organized pantry as a favorite part of the kitchen. Daily family meals can be enjoyed in the sunlight-filled eating nook. The couple added a stepped ceiling overhead.
Across the gallery, the spacious family room beckons. "This is where we spend most of our time," Summer declares. It's not hard to see why. A nearly floor-to-ceiling window with a curved top dominates the space, providing ample natural lighting and displaying views of a vast back deck. A soaring vaulted ceiling provides additional visual interest, as does an attractive corner fireplace. The gallery ends at outdoor access to a porch, which the couple had enclosed to create a playroom for their young daughter.
The magnificent master suite occupies a small wing of the home and boasts a dedicated sitting area. A unique stepped ceiling was installed in the bedroom, defining the sleeping area. The angled master bath showcases a private toilet, dual sinks, a separate shower with two luxurious showerheads, and a large walk-in closet. But the star of the bath is the sumptuous corner garden tub, topped by a glamorous arch that was designed by the couple.
Back to that amazing "floating" staircase. It leads upstairs, where a balcony bridge offers a glimpse of one of the deep front dormers and connects two large secondary bedrooms. The couple uses one of these bedrooms as a home office.
Since Ralph and Summer have finished the landscaping, the only other plans for the home are purely decorative. In fact, they're quite content to settle into their dream home, near friends.
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