Teresa and I need a new roof on our house. We knew that when we bought it, and we’ve also got an occasional leak into our bedroom when the wind blows the right way during a rainstorm. We wanted to do a standing-seam metal roof, but in order for that to look good, we have to do a major redesign and restructure of the roof. And that would involve an architect.
We also plan, someday, to tear off the back of the house (containing the poorly-built kitchen) and rebuild it from below the ground (a basement) up. That’s a big, big project and is many years away, but we know that will involve an architect too.
So, my designer brain has been working on ideas on what would we ultimately like to do with the house: metal roof with interesting lines; new kitchen with a basement; front-entry foyer; screened in sleeping porch; ground-level patio off the kitchen; covered storage area at the driveway; etc.
I downloaded Google SketchUp and I’ve been playing with it while on vacation. I think I’ve had a couple of interesting ideas. Here are some SketchUp screen captures of the main elements of our current house (the light blue) and my envisioned future design (the pale yellow). I’m pretty pleased with the ideas here, and I’m happy with how quickly I could use SketchUp to mock them up. What d’ya think?
Click for a larger view of each.
