Hi Rob , You are entering an exciting time with a new home, good luck with it all . Just a couple of suggestions : (1) Any reason you are note considering an architect to be involved ? When chosen carefully they can be very cost effective , plus they will create the unique custom one off that you are after. Their design concepts will go far beyond just what the exterior looks like Rob, they will also consider ( for example) how a skillion roofline has other functional benefits like incorporating high line ( clerestory) windows that will bring fabulous light into the centre of your new home etc. They will also advise on orientation and wind etc etc and lots more . (2) Regardless of whether an architect is involved, I would suggest that you seriously consider getting someone to create a 3D walkthrough of your new home so that you can walk through and around it before you spend your money on construction. It really does let you see the visual effects, plus because the 3D is to scale , it will help you sort out any potential issues with design and /or construction in advance( i.e. saves you time and money during construction ) . The 3D's can be created once you have your plans and elevations completed. You can get the 3D's created fairly cheaply ( a few hundred $'s ) on www.freelancer.com where professionals from around the globe compete for your project . It is money well spent , and you can see the colours and textures in lifelike scenarios , so it takes away the mystery and what if's . Good luck with your project , and sorry, I don't like the dark blue at all :-) . Cheers Glenn

Clean definitely helps, but design is not just about making things look pretty. Good design is about usability, creating solutions, effecitve use of space, its about creating good flow and connection, its about embracing the homes surroundings and making the most of the site and so much more. In a nutshell, good design can and does change lives. :-)

Thank you Oklouise for sharing your thoughts and ideas! To answer your questions, I'll start with the location - the building will be built in Central Europe (sun at noon is in the south - see the suncalc results for winter and summer time below), and this led our architect to the shape of the buidling - he designed it in this way in order to provide us with as much as possible sun in the winter time and to provide us with as much privacy as possible so we don't see our neighbours' houses from inside. (sun today, 13th January - north is up) `(sun on 23rd July - north is up) The architect created many views, you can have when you enter and move around the house (see the attached below picture). When you enter the house at the end of the corridor you can see a nice garden, then you walk in and in front of you, at the end of the sitting room you can see again a piece of garden. Then when you're at the sofa you can see the garden again. When you're at the table, eating you can again see the garden, and finally when being in the kitchen you can see a driveway to the garage. Of course, all assuming that we will have a nice landscape architecture. Your guess was right - room no.10 is the laudry, and no.1 is the entrance hall where ceiling will be high, and you will be able to see kind of a bridge leading to the room above the garage. Nearly same idea is the sitting room - the ceiling will be high and there'll entresol where the fireplace is.

If you want a good start, Save a lot of inspiration pics from Houzz here in your lookbook. That gives us an idea of what you like. Then post a floorplan and some pics. There are some great brains here on Houzz that will suggest lots of options. And most of us have worked with our own tight budgets.