The Problem With Stairs

This picture may be a little extreme, but at the end of the day, have you ever felt like you've been climbing stairs like these in your 2 or 3 story home?

Stairs are a struggle when you need to move in large furniture or simply a car load of groceries. But they can also become more difficult to handle when getting older. How nice would it be to have your own private elevator to take you up and down the levels of your home? Southern Cottages House Plans offers several plans that incorporate a personal elevator into the design. The cottages below all feature an elevator.

Winds Cottage - The Winds Cottage is a contemporary adaptation of southern coastal elements put together in a new and exciting way.

Porches Cottage - The Porches Cottage is ideal for a streetscape lot in a beach house community or anywhere large, covered porches are desirable. The "inverted living area" floor plan maximizes views.

Shelter Cottage - The Shelter Cottage has a large, sheltering roof and ample covered outdoor living spaces. The linear plan allows for views both front and back from most all rooms making it light and airy.

Peaks Cottage - "Rooms in the roof" and a cascading, sheltering roofline give this house a distinctive appearance.

Is Your Home Ready for the Hurricane Season?

The 2010 list of hurricanes names has been released and predictions have already been made that this year's hurricane season will produce fifteen named storms and eight hurricanes. Names you hope you don't hear during the next 6 months are:

Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, Hermine, Igor, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tomas, Virginie, Walter

Although the hurricane season doesn't technically start until June 1st, we're already seeing the start of an anctive hurricane season here on the North Carolina Coast. A non tropical low pressure system is drifting towards the southeast coast and has the potential to take on some subtropical characteristics through the overnight. The storm could produce occasional heavy rain showers, gusty winds and dangerous rip currents. Hopefully the storm only produces a friendly reminder to get your home retrofitted for this years hurricane season.

According to the National Hurricane Center "The most important precaution you can take to reduce damage to your home and property is to protect the areas where wind can enter. According to recent wind technology research, it's important to strengthen the exterior of your house so wind and debris do not tear large openings in it."

The National Hurricane Center suggests these five critical areas to protect and reinforce your home during hurricane season:

#1 Roof - "Does your home have a gabled roof? If so, the end wall of your home takes a tremendous beating during a hurricane. If not properly braced, it can collapse..."

#2 Straps - "Metal hurricane straps or clips provide the proper measure of strength and safety for the roof-to-wall connection."

#3 Shutters - "One way to protect a home from damage in wind storms is to install impact-resistant shutters over all large windows and glass doors."

#4 Doors - "Your home has either double or single entry doors. If they are solid wood or hollow metal they probably can resist wind pressures and hurricane debris..."

#5 Garage Doors - "Because of their width, double-wide garage doors are more susceptible to wind damage than single doors..."

For more information on these five critical areas simply click on the name next to the picture or visit the National Hurricane Center Website. Hope you have a safe and uneventful Hurricane season. (Uneventful or not - it doesn't hurt to be prepared.)

Keenen's Trip to Spain

Last month Keenen, an employee of Michael R, McLeod Architect, took a trip to Spain for two weeks and took in the sites of gardens, fortresses, historic buildings and more. These are some of the pictures he shared with us when he came back from his vacation.

Left: The Cathedral in the city of Seville where Christopher Columbus' tomb is. Right: Mezquita, also known as The Great Mosque of Cordoba.

Left: Architectural arches at the Alcazar of Seville (alcazar is a type of Spanish Castle). Right: More detail of the alcazar in Seville.

Left and Right: Two buildings at the front of Parq Guell Park.

Left: Stone arch walkway in the Parq Guell Park. Right: Courtyard at General Life's garden.

Left: The Catholic Church, The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia. Right: A mosaic sculpture found on top of the many towers of Sagrada Familia.

One of the many buildings at the Alcazar of Seville

Another building at the Alcazar of Seville

Homes built into the side of a hill next to the Alcazar of Seville

Mocarabe - also known as Honeycomb Work or Stalactite Work

Art or Graffitti? All depends on how you looks at it I guess.

Thanks for sharing your trip to Spain with us Keenen. Who will be next in the office to take a vacation and have some adventures? Whoever it is we hope you bring back some pictures so we can blog about it.

What's Your View?

Ocean View

Waterway View

Lake View

Mountain view

The House Plans below make the most of special views and vistas for that special beach cottage overlooking the ocean, coastal waterway, lake or hills. With features such as roof decks, windowed cupolas or "widows watch", "rooms-in-the-roof" and elevated, covered porches, our "house plans with a view " can capture that special visual appeal that made you love your lot in the first place.

The Island Cottage House Plan is a playful, coastal cottage getaway. With it's wrap around porch, roof decks and roof-top observation loft, we'll call it "Island Victorian".

The Winds Cottage is a contemporary adaptation of southern coastal elements put together in a new and exciting way.

The Porches Cottage is ideal for a streetscape lot in a coastal house community or anywhere large, covered porches are desirable. The "inverted living area" floor plan maximizes views.

The Shelter Cottage has a large, sheltering roof and outdoor living spaces. The linear plan allows for views both front and back from most all rooms making it a light and airy beach house.

"Rooms in the roof" and a cascading, sheltering roofline give this coastal house a distinctive appearance.

The Lookout Cottage is a magnificent coastal home with roof decks, balconies and a rooftop observation platform perfect for overlooking surrounding trees and rooftops.

(ocean, waterway, lake and mountain view pictures found on google images)

How to Draw a Floor Plan

A few months ago we posted a three part video on our YouTube channel titled "How to Draw a Floor Plan". Architect Michael R. McLeod takes the viewers through the beginning steps of drawing a floor plan. The process of creating and drawing a floorplan can be really fun and easier than you think.

How to Draw a Floor Plan

Part 1 - Tools and Materials - This video focusses on some the tools and materials needed to start drawing your design.

How to Draw a Floor Plan

Part 2 - Creating a Bubble Diagram - This video discusses the process of creating a bubble diagram, a technique used to scale and organize your living spaces.

How to Draw a Floor Plan

Part 3 - Adding Detail - This video goes over adding detail to your floorplan.

What is LEED?

You may be hearing more and more about LEED Certified houses and buildings being built in your state, community, or even neighborhood. And in case you were curious what LEED is, we came across an article that sums up what this green movement is all about.

What is LEED?

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) created LEED as a rating system for green building.

Green building refers to the design, construction, and operation of buildings in an environmentally friendly way. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. The rating system is specific to the type of project being worked on. Some of the specific programs are LEED-New Construction, LEED-Existing Buildings, LEED-Commercial Interiors, LEED-Core and Shell, LEED-Homes, LEED-Neighborhood Development, LEED-Schools. The rating systems are broken down in to points for each type of credit. Certification levels within the systems are:

•Minimum points: Certified
•Second highest points: Silver
•Third highest points: Gold
•Fourth-maximum points: Platinum

For more information check out the USGBC website.

Barbara Buffaloe, Architectural Studies, College of Human Environmental Studies, University of Missouri-Columbia

If you have a project you would like to consider for LEED Certification, feel free to contact the owner of Southern Cottages House Plans, Michael R. McLeod, Architect and LEED Accredited Professional, for more information.

Pleasent Outdoor Living on the Wrap Around Porch

Weekend Weather Forecast for Hampstead, NC

Looks like it is going to be a warm weekend here in Hampstead, North Carolina. There may even be a chance for scattered thunderstorms on Saturday. Most people would agree these conditions make for a perfect evening to sit in their rocking chairs, enjoy a cold lemonade and take in the views from their wrap around porch.

Our selection of house plans with Wrap Around Porches are designed to enable you to enjoy the outdoor views and breezes. Wrap Around Porches are a great asset to a house because they extend the living space to the exterior, they shelter and protect the windows and doors from water damage and they shade the exterior walls and windows reducing heat gain and thereby reducing energy costs. You can also screen-in a portion of the porch for pleasant outdoor dining.

The Island Cottage House Plan is a playful, coastal cottage getaway. With it's wrap around porch, roof decks and roof-top observation loft, it's a great coastal house plan.

The Plantation Cottage draws upon the southern, coastal, low country vernacular and features large, wrap-around porches and a full basement.

The Country Cottage has all the amenities of a larger house designed in a compact space. Its wrap-around porch extends the living space to the outdoors.

The Mountain Cottage is a variation of the Island Cottage and illustrates one of the many customization's of this versatile plan. Its wrap-around porch is a key element in its design.

The Lookout Cottage is a magnificent treehouse with roof decks, balconies and a rooftop observation platform perfect for overlooking trees and rooftops to see the coastline.

The Nags Head Cottage draws upon the characteristics of the historic, rugged, beachfront cottages found along the coast of Nags Head, NC. The wrap around porches protect the walls and window and door openings while also providing shade from the heat.

Jody's Trip to Washington D.C.

This past weekend, Jody Zimmer, our student intern from Oregon, ventured up to Washington D.C. to visit the mall and take in the sites. This was his first time visiting the Capital of the United States and was impressed by all the amazing architecture in the D.C. area. Here are a few of the pictures he brought back with him.

In 2007 the American Institute of Architects came out with a list of "America's Favorite Architecture", and six of the top 10 were located located in the District of Columbia. They were:

1. The White House -

Jody just happened to be there when The President was getting dropped off by Marine 1. Talk about good timing!

2. The Washington National Cathedral -

(This picture was taken off of Google Images)

3. Thomas Jefferson Memorial -

(Another picture taken from Google Images)

4. United States Capital -

5. The Lincoln Memorial -

6. and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial -

Although this building wasn't found on the top 10 of "America's Favorite Architecture", Jody's favorite building was actually the old Executive Office Building, pictured below.

Apparently there was so much to see in the DC area that Jody has already began making plans to visit again. We look forward to the next round of pictures from his future visit.