During the development of your custom home design, there are numerous floor plan features that should be considered.  Maximizing the enjoyment of your custom home can be accomplished by devoting ample thought to key areas of the overall floor plan.  Areas of consideration for your custom home design should include and open layout concept, ceiling heights, traffic flow, recreational areas, sight lines and exterior views.

Becoming a key feature of almost every custom home design, an open floor plan concept allows better flow between spaces.  A good custom home design floor plan will maximize the useful square footage of the custom home while also creating a sense of special separation.  One way to achieve this effect is implementing half walls as a design element between rooms.  Maximizing the open concept for your custom home design can also be done by separating each space with a change in floor treatments.  The open concept can also have some influence on how the ceiling heights affect the whole design.

Varying ceiling heights or changing the design elements of the ceiling can also create an open feeling throughout the custom home.  Tall ceilings and vaulted ceilings are popular trends used to create the open concept of the custom home design floor plan.  It is common to see ceilings in great rooms achieving heights of 20 feet either by vaulting or 2-story space.  Additionally you will find ceiling heights of 9 to 10 feet in kitchens, dining rooms and bedrooms of new custom homes.

Particularly in an open concept custom home design, the floor plan must cater to the overall traffic flow throughout the home.  Single story custom homes typically have bedrooms adjacent to a family room or media room.  When designing these areas, Design Alternatives also makes sure too much traffic flow doesn’t cross over one another since the kitchen is usually located in proximity of the family room as well.  Although the importance of traffic flow is often neglected in custom home design, experienced designers will also give much consideration to the location of stairways in the overall traffic flow scheme.

Home technology and home theaters have also increased the necessity and importance of recreational areas as a key aspect of custom home design.  Adequate thought must be given to not only identify where the television screen will be located, but also how the furniture will lay out around the home theater speakers and components.  If the recreational area is not attached to the kitchen, consideration must also be given to including a wet bar as part of this floor plan concept.

As previously mentioned the open concept has become an increasingly important feature of new custom home design.  By creating an open floor plan, it opens up sight lines between spaces and to the outside.  A quality custom home design incorporates wall openings and doorway locations to utilize critical sight lines.  Limiting sight lines not only creates a mundane space, but will also make the whole house feel smaller due to the visual obstructions.  These sight lines should open up all the way to the exterior surroundings as well.

Locating the house on the building site is just as important as the custom home design itself.  Care should be given in considering how the sun will enhance the natural lighting throughout the home.  If there are certain views that should be maintained, window type and positioning are also critical features which need to be planned out.  Design Alternatives Custom Home Design incorporates all these important aspects when designing each and every floor plan.  Your dream home is a big investment, so your custom home design should be completed by a designer who knows how to maximize all these important features.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/custom-home-design-important-floor-plan-considerations-by-design-alternatives-738521.html

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Check out how Design Alternatives Custom Home Design and owner Bill Browne can assist you with your custom home design process, provide a complete set of workable construction drawings and offer project/construction management or consultation services for those individuals that desire some assistance during the building phase.

www.DesignAlternatives4U.com

For people in Seattle, or anywhere else for that matter, that are serious about the environment, building a home with a net zero design might be part of their plans. Because of it's culture, Seattle is one of the leading areas in design and building of Zero Energy Building (ZEB) or Net Zero Energy Building which are the terms used for home plans where the goal of the net energy consumption is zero. One of the first things the plans point out is the design has a cost that will be higher the closer the building gets to a zero energy net. Higher cost for building can turn into higher mortgage payments. While the monthly payment may be higher, the net zero side of the home plans should make up for the increased cost in the design. Even though it may take a while for the net zero design to return a financial advantage, it is important to consider helping improve the environment overall is part of the plans.

Fortunately the ZEB concept has been around long enough in Seattle that people building a new home in this design are not alone. In fact, there are already entire communities in the Seattle area where building a net zero home is the only option. To get started, it's best to find someone that has plenty of experience in the design of net zero energy building. Take a look at their other plans and talk to the building or home owners. Be prepared to have a home that might be smaller than you may have become accustomed. That's part of living in the zero net energy consumption world! Of course, it's not hard to think small in Seattle since most home building lots are pretty small. Also, remember the more square footage inside he home, the more materials you will need to buy to get to the goal of the plans. Solar panels and wind generators can be expensive.

Materials with strong insulation properties will also be required to make sure once you heat or cool your home, it stays at the comfortable temperature you set. Design plans call for a thermal barrier between the outside and inside of the home that is extremely formidable. Unless the temperature outside is exactly what you want it to be inside, energy will be required to heat or cool the home. Once the inside environment is set, there should be very little energy expended to maintain the comfort level. A lot of money can be thrown at this problem with a variety of results. Generally, the more money put into the building exterior wall, the better the design will provide for zero loss of warm or cool air inside the home. There are a number of net zero energy home design books that can guide people for their geographic area and budget.

An important part of the design is to decide how the windows and doors will handled since they are a big source for the transfer of heat and cold in and out of the home. Not only is the design of the windows and doors important, the plans must consider what side of the home is best, based primarily on sun exposure. Proper overhang is important as well. In the summer, it's best not to have the sun on the windows at all. In fact, if you can keep the sun off the walls of the home altogether, that would be ideal.

Appliances are sometimes not considered in traditional home plans, but they are very important in a net zero energy building. It pays to do plenty of research on the subject. The idea is to reduce demand for energy. In many places, like Seattle, people are already on board with low energy appliances due to the high cost on their power bills.

There are many things to consider when building a net zero home. In Seattle, there are some great resources. Seattle happens to be the home of a very highly regarded "green" web site which covers all aspects of green living, including building green homes

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/net-zero-energy-home-building-plans-and-design-3687573.html

James wrote this article with help from the Urban Marco site - http://www.urbanmarco.com