Being fortunate enough to have a powder bath (or ½ bath) means guests need not appreciate your child’s rubber duckies in the tub. If your new home will have a powder bath, its location and design are top considerations. Having a powder bath might also be a cost issue requiring further trade-offs.
Powder Bath Location. Convenience suggests that main bathrooms should be located near the bedrooms, freeing the powder bath to serve other areas of the home. But for powder baths, privacy is as important as an accommodating location. You wouldn’t want to see the toilet when you walk through your front door, nor an “extra seat” from the kitchen/dining area. Location privacy is also important as a sound buffer. While simply keeping the bathroom door shut at all times seems like a reasonable alternative, in reality, that solution doesn’t work because you never know if that bathroom is in use or not. Finally, “how you want your home to live” can affect location. Do you want that bathroom near the entrance in from the garage? Near your home office for clients’ and colleagues’ use?
Powder Bath Design. For many, the focus rests upon selecting the perfect pedestal lavatory and faucet to compliment the design of the rest of their home. In terms of aesthetics, those pedestal lavatories can be stunning, but excellence in design means combining the aesthetics and practicality – specifically, storage.
At the risk of being indiscreet, when you’re sitting on the stool and you don’t have what you need (extra roll of toilet paper, hygiene products, etc.), then it’s not a good bathroom design. An over-the-toilet or in-wall storage cabinet are a couple ways to deliver the practical as well as the aesthetic in a powder bath that features a pedestal lavatory as opposed to a sink that sits atop a vanity base cabinet.
Thoughtful Design vs. Cost. Consider two Design Basics’ plans – the Osborne (#6282) and the Limington (#43037) – that are almost identical, with the only significant difference being the addition of the powder bath and drop zone in the Limington, adding about 42 square feet. Yet, using the standard $150 per square foot rule of thumb (source: HomeAdvisor.com), that works out to an additional $6,300. It seems like a lot of money for a 1,600 square foot home, but the convenience of powder bath would sure be appreciated by both occupants and guests alike!
Problem: You’re constantly tripping over the laundry basket in your walk-in closet/bathroom/laundry room. It’s something you need to catch the dirty clothes until wash day, but can’t it be less troublesome?
Solution: Design Basics’ plan customization specialist, Tricia Baker, developed a handy and attractive design amenity, the Laundry Solution. It can be incorporated into your closet, bedroom, or bathroom, integrated into your cabinetry as a tilt-out or pull-out drawer. On laundry day, simply lift the clothes basket out of the drawer to transport to your laundry room.
Another concept is a pass-through from your closet, bedroom, or bathroom (see cover image). If your home’s design facilitates a shared wall between one of these rooms, the Laundry Solution conveniently “drops” dirty clothes into your laundry room!
As we reflect on 2019, we are pleased with the progress Design Basics, LLC, has made towards adding to our 2,800+ collection of home plans as well as building our brand by designing unique, well sought-after home designs, providing exceptional customer service, and fostering growth of our Woman-Centric Matters!® and Builder-Centric℠ preferred builder programs. In addition, we are thankful for our customers and their continued input and support. Not only is their feedback and recommendations important to our design process, but many new ideas arise from customers working with our Plan Specialists. And, we can’t forget our customer referrals!
NAHB International Builders’ Show®. This year is already off to a great start with the Design Basics’ team exhibiting at the NAHB International Builders’ Show on January 21-23, in Las Vegas. Our booth features brand new home designs, including a collection of multi-family home designs. Design Basics is recognized as one of just a handful of companies that has consistently exhibited for the last 25+ years, and the only home design firm with this distinction.
New Website. We launched our new website, www.DesignBasics.com, with a new search function that allows you to search by livability, collection, plan type, designer, and many other features…even place your order online! Additionally, you will find many useful references materials at your fingertips – preferred builder programs, thoughtful design concepts, home design articles, and other resources such as Her Home™, Livability at a Glance™, Finally About Me®, and our Bookstore. We invite you to peruse the site, search home plans, sign up for a newsletter, and complete a quiz to discover your new home personality!
Evolving Home Design Plan Book. We published and distributed a new home plan book, Evolving Home Design, featuring 75 of our new and best-selling home plans. Many of our new floor plans have been designed with versatility in mind and new plan badges identify design styles: Multi-Generational, Value-Engineered, and Woman-Centric. Floor plans are not only designed with her in mind but also as value-engineered plans, mindful of the constant fluctuation of building material costs. A win for everyone!
Neighborhood in a Box® (NIAB). We just revamped and relaunched NIAB, a fabulous residential development solution for home builders! Not just a collection of home plans, NIAB offers a total package for designing a neighborhood with a cohesive look with cost savings and resources for home builders.
From America’s Premier Woman-Centric Home Designer, we wish you much success in 2020 and look forward to working with you as your home design and marketing partner!
Sincerely, Patrick M. Carmichael
President and Chief Operating Officer
Depending on the design of your home and its roof, water run-off can be a major problem for your driveway. Take for instance this home: no gutters on the front side over the garage. Yet two dormers over the garage form a “V”-shaped area directing rainwater off the roof and onto the driveway. No problem until winter. During the day, snow melt from the roof drips onto the drive. At night it would freeze. For most of the winter there will be icy driveways.
The Clarinda (#43020) as built by Fox Builders – downspouts on each side of the garage to divert water flow.
Another configuration that could present a hazard as well as concrete damage: a gutter downspout that empties between the garage doors. This directs water off the roof nicely, but again in the winter, creates ice problems on the driveway. And, the year-‘round diversion of water onto that portion of the driveway causes lots of concrete settling problems resulting in a very uneven driveway.
The solution in both instances is to place gutters and downspouts that direct the water to the side yard instead of the driveway. Thus, keeping your driveway from building up with ice in the winter, and maintaining the integrity of the concrete all year.
As America’s Premier Woman-Centric Home Designer, we not only design home plans for the way you live, we also keep an eye out for new or unique products that can enhance your home’s livability and/or your family’s lifestyle. Hoover® has given their customers the ultimate in versatility and east with its ONEPWR™ line – nine cord-free cleaning tools that all share the same battery. Need a high-powered vacuum for one area and a hard surface sweeper for your outdoor space? No problem! With the ONEPWR line of tools, you can easily swap the rechargeable battery life. And because the tools are cordless, they can go wherever you go – meaning you are no longer tethered to the wall trying to find a convenient outlet.
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As we reflect on 2019, we are pleased with the progress Design Basics, LLC, has made towards adding to our 2,800+ collection of home plans as well as building our brand by designing unique, well sought-after home designs, providing exceptional customer service, and fostering growth of our Woman-Centric Matters!® and Builder-Centric℠ preferred builder programs. In addition, we are thankful for our customers and their continued input and support. Not only is their feedback and recommendations important to our design process, but many new ideas arise from customers working with our Plan Specialists. And, we can’t forget our customer referrals!
