I really love the floor plan I came up with and the house that came out of that floor plan.  However, as my wife pointed out, it was WAY bigger than I said I was going to build.  Also, the structure though gorgeous, was very complex.  When I met with and structural engineer the first week of July the vibe I got from him was the house I had designed was going to take more money and effort than I thought, a LOT more.  He also corrected my misunderstanding that I could use glu-lam wood beams to support the concrete roof- by code they will have to be steel or concrete which is considerably more expensive.

They say great architecture comes from constraints, so back to the drawing board I went. I had two goals: make the building smaller and make the building cheaper.   Last week we were vacationing in the Outer Banks and so together Melissa and I modified the floor plan.  It is smaller, and with only two steel beams is should be less expensive.  The Great Hall joining the public and private spaces and the Bonus room next to the garage are both gone (well the Great Hall is still there: now it is just the Lesser Hall with access to the patio preserved).  The hallway leading to the east exterior door is gone (and that door).  The master bedroom is now merely large, not immense and the exterior door is gone.  The pantry is slightly smaller.  However, the covered patio is now slightly larger and the fireplace has shifted slightly south since I no longer need to preserve the sight lines from east to west across the length of the house.  That gives me enough room for a pool table in the family room (in addition to the seating area.)  Let me know what you think.