I hope that the name (HowToDesignYourOwnCustomHome.com) makes it fairly self-explanitory what I am trying to accomplish with this blog. My goal is to help you be responsible for the design of the home where you and your family will someday live…a home that will improve your lives.
This short course won’t qualify you to be your own architect, but it will help you to understand and appreciate the thought process that goes into designing a good custom house. I am going to tell you everything that I can think of that I have learned over the last thirty five years that will help you through the process (or at least all of it that I can still remember). And for those of you who already have a knack for it or some construction experience…who knows?
It can get complicated and, to make matters worse, I not going to be satisfied helping you design just some ordinary, boring house for yourself. Please try to get serious about this. I want your house to be a place that perfectly suits you and your family’s needs and perfectly relates to your property…a truly custom home.
I plan to walk you through the process in a series of blogs and audio podcasts…step by step…so that you fully understand the process. These podcasts will come out every two weeks (sign up to have them emailed to you while they’re still fresh). We will start with the basics and get more and more detailed as we move forward.
The presentation is geared towards helping regular people who are interested in designing and building their own custom homes. (I am in the process of putting together our second blog: HowToBuildYourOwnCustomHome.com). Some of the lessons will be focused towards people who intend to hire an architect or designer to help them and some will be focused towards people who want to do it themselves. In addition, I plan to offer some helpful hints for professional builders in designing speculative homes for their business. I may eventually organize a forum to give you a place to ask questions, etc.
I am currently in the process of putting together a collection of room templates that I am going to give away in a .pdf format …a bunch of different kitchen plans…twenty baths…ten bedroom layouts, etc. The idea is that you will be able to download these drawings (for free), print them and cut them out like little puzzle pieces. I always visualize floor plans better when I have something physical to play around with and I’m hoping this will help you, also.
In addition, I plan to have some posts about windows, doors, etc. to help you go through the decisions that come up during the process. I’ve honestly got a list of over a hundred blog topics planned and hope to keep the information flowing.
All of this information is completely free. I do have some links to some architectural books at Amazon on the bottom of the page to cover my overhead, but this isn’t some scam to sell you something. Quite honestly, my world would be a little easier and more satisfying if more people really appreciated and understood good architectural design. There’s a good way and a bad way to design a house. And then there’s a truly inspirational way! That’s what I’m shooting for.
A little about myself: My name is Steve Workman. I’m sixty years old and have been in the business of designing homes since I was twenty three. I’m married with five kids, three still at home…two dogs and a cat. I live near the little town of Hillsboro, Virginia at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains in a house that I designed and built for myself. (See the house with the red garage at www.workmandesign.com) Most of my work is in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. and you will see a lot of specific information in my blog for Fairfax and Arlington Counties. I am a one-man office and work out of my home. I have been eating, breathing and dreaming house plans for the last thirty-some years. I worked as a carpenter for two years after graduating from college (University of Colorado) and consider myself to be ‘hands-on’. I have my Virginia Class ‘A’ contractor’s licence (Fountainhead Custom Homes). I have won a handful of awards over the years for my designs, but I’m not pretending to be Frank Lloyd Wright. Quite simply, I design thirty to forty homes each year. I have figured out how to do it in an efficient and artistic manner and I want to pass on a little of that knowledge to you.
As always, I want to hear from you. Please find some place on this blog to comment. Join my mailing list. I want questions and comments and critisisms. If you have some topics you would like to discuss, please let me know. You can also email me at howtodesignyourowncustomhome@gmail.com
Thank you.
