How to Start Your Home Design

Thinking of building a new home? Here are some tips for getting your ideas together for your home design.

• Find and purchase your land
• Start documenting your ideas to present to Bonin Architects

Why is it important to purchase your land before you start getting too far in the process of the home design? The land will undoubtedly have an impact on the design of the home: its footprint, number of stories, whether or not you can have a walkout basement, orientation, etc. Once you have your land, Bonin Architects will visit the property with you to help site the home within the town Planning Board regulations and the Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act guidelines.

Then it’s time to start gathering your ideas for your new home. General requirements such as the use of the home (primary residence, vacation, or retirement home), the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, the location of your Master Bedroom, the use of outdoor space, and having an eat-in kitchen or separate dining room are some things to start thinking about.

Bonin Architects will work with you during the Schematic Design Phase of the home design to develop the size, footprint and layout of the home. In this phase you will also address any specialty features, rooms, and other priorities you have for the home, including a home theater, office and/or media room, craft room, sun room, porches, decks and basement use. Use your current home as a comparison for what you like and what you do not like about each room, space, and its use.

Working with Bonin Architects for your home design will result in having much more than a home with a standard floor plan – together, we will create a custom home design that matches your philosophy and lifestyle, a reflection of who you are, how you live.

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Lake Sunape Area Open House

Our next event will be held at a spectacular custom home near Lake Sunapee, NH. If you are looking for land in the Sunapee / New London area, or already have property and are planning to build a new home, this event is for you!

Open House at a Lake Sunapee Custom Home

~ Talk with the Green Building Experts ~

Green Architect Jeremy Bonin, Bonin Architects

Green Builder Everett Pollard, Northcape Design Build

Lake Sunapee Realtor Dan O'Halloran, Colby Real Estate

Here's your opportunity to get your questions answered about building a new home or addition or remodelling your existing home. Q&A based on audience discussion! Ask about Comprehensive Shoreland Protection Act guidelines (CSPA), budgeting and costs, green home design, working with an architect, custom home costs, green building materials, and more!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Registration is required. Directions will be given to registrants only.

To register call Bonin Architects & Associates, New London, NH
603-504-6009

Relaxing atmosphere - Refreshments

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Lakefront Green Home

The design is underway for a lakefront home for our clients, a newlywed couple building on their property overlooking Chase Pond in Wilmot, NH. The home is a traditional New England style home designed at approximately 2500 square feet.

Goals for this custom home are energy efficiency, low maintenance, and flexibility in the design, as our clients are planning to live in it well into their retirement years. The home has several special features: an open floor plan, three bedrooms, each with private baths; a tower, and a large media room.


Having an open kitchen, dining area, and great room are a priority for this couple. Holidays are filled with visiting friends and extended family.


The second floor Master suite will be the couple's private retreat. Years down the road they will be able to move to the first floor suite.


Check out our other house plans in the works on our website!

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NH Green Architect Interview

Here is a recent interview with Architect Jeremy Bonin by Kearsarge Valley Magazine after our company Open House. Jeremy describes our architectural firm's design services and how we work with our clients.





Also, check out our architectural fees on our website and browse through our current projects. Questions about building costs? Give us a call or send an email!!

603-504-6009
www.boninarchitects.com
info@boninarchitects.com

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Architect Home Design: The First Step

The very first step in working with Bonin Architects for designing your new energy efficient home is the process of gathering information through a series of questions. Some of the things we want to know can be broken down into categories:

Budget
Budget for new home, excluding land and site work (driveway, etc.) costs

The Site
Site location, view, characteristics, and condition
Existing utilities
Snow and wind loads
Special considerations (Shoreland Protection, restrictions, land use, etc.)

The Home Layout
Number of stories
Ceiling heights and type
Special considerations

Living requirements
Number of bedrooms and locations
Number of bathrooms and locations
Master bedroom location and features
Kitchen features (pantry, appliances, island, countertops, fixtures)
Dining area (eat-in, separate, nook)
Living area
Fireplaces, wood stoves, etc.
Outdoor spaces
Other rooms and functions
Miscellaneous (basement, garage, mudroom, recreation room)

Building Systems
Frame type (timber frame, SIPs, conventional)
Insulation system
Foundation type
Heating and cooling
Water efficiency

Materials and Green Building
Recycled and reclaimed materials
Windows and doors
Flooring
Lighting
Siding
Roofing
Renewable energy systems (solar, geothermal, wind)
Waste management

These points of discussion, along with others, are the beginning steps in working with Kim and Jeremy Bonin on your new home design. If you are starting to think about building an energy efficient house, give us a call or send an email with your questions!

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Prevent Mold in Your New Green Home

Mold and mildew can not only cause structural problems in a home, they are the cause of many illnesses and allergies – making them one of your home’s worst enemies. Cleaning and getting rid of mold can be a very difficult, expensive, and time consuming project. If you’re building a new energy efficient home, an important consideration in its construction is controlling moisture to prevent mold and mildew buildup.

There are two types of moisture that can enter a home: bulk moisture and vapor moisture. Bulk moisture can get into a home around windows, doors, and leaks in the roof, as well as from condensation from pipes and ducts. Vapor moisture forms as a result of cooking, showering (yes, those long, hot showers), laundry, changes to the humidity level in the home, and just general living.

How do green homes manage moisture? A few ways are by having:

• A well-designed floor plan and careful placement and orientation of the home on the lot to take advantage of solar access and shading;


• Energy efficient insulation system to keep the house warm in winter and cool in summer which heps reduce condensation and mold growth;


• Well-sealed, energy efficient windows and doors;


• Good ventilation with heat recovery ventilation (HRV) units and extraction fans in the kitchen and bathrooms.

Moisture control starts with the green home design. Talk to an architect about your plans to build a healthy, energy efficient home for your family and build a new home that manages moisture and prevents mold!

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Current Home Design Trends

Trends in home design are moving away from specific rooms and space to materials and energy efficiency. This delightful (and beneficial) competition between neighbors, communities, and states to become more energy conscious and less dependent on fossil fuels has resulted in thousands of people reducing their carbon footprint.
Here are some of the current trends in home design:

• 1. Reduce, reuse, recycle: More and more homeowners are looking to purchase recycled building materials to use in their new home. Timbers, siding, decking, trim, doors, brick, and stone are all great materials to reuse. Simple, bio-degradable materials are replacing resources that harm the environment.

• 2. Here comes the sun: Solar energy systems, particularly solar hot water heaters and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to produce electricity are extremely popular. The current tax credit is 30% of the total cost (product + installation), with no upper limit. (see ENERGY STAR for details)

• 3. Size and flexibility matter: Small home designs are more popular than the rambling, spacious mansions of the past. Homeowners are addressing changes in lifestyle by replacing separate dining and living areas with large, multi-purpose family rooms, and adding sliding or pocket doors which allow flexibility in living space. First-floor bonus rooms which can be used as a home office or additional bedroom address changing needs.

• 4. Save a buck: Let’s face it: low maintenance is in. Popular low maintenance materials include green flooring, tankless water heaters, ENERGY STAR appliances. Low-maintenance landscaping using native plants has a positive effect on the site by reducing irrigation, pesticides, and fertilizers – which means less time you will spend taking care of it.

• 5. Accessibility: Universal home design address the comfort of people of all ages and abilities. Features that may be eliminated are spiral staircases, sunken or raised living rooms, and high cabinets or shelves. Wide hallways and low storage areas are incorporated into the home design without sacrificing the home’s beauty and appearance.

Going green makes $ense: with green technology and materials flooding the market, prices continue to come down, saving you money over the life of the material. Green home design is the start of the home’s life cycle – and undoubtedly its most important phase, as the home’s space, features, and systems are designed to work together as a whole for your benefit and comfort – and the environment’s.

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Small Green Home Design

I met Pat and Andy at a Log and Timber Frame Home Show, and shortly after, they asked me to design their vacation / retirement home on their property in northern Maine. While they like timber frame homes, they thought it might be too much for this modest project.

Their project goals were:

• Small footprint to minimize carbon footprint
• Energy efficiency in all four New England seasons
• Environmentally-conscious to minimize site impact
• Low maintenance and durability, easy to open and close up
• Security in rural setting
• Take advantage of lake views
• Possible addition in future

Translating their goals into an energy efficient, small home design was not a problem, as Pat and Andy had collected a three-ring binder full of notes, pictures, and ideas. The home design, at 1100 square feet, is both energy efficient and practical.

The plan is a passive solar design, with the first floor receiving the low winter sun in early morning and late evening under the varied depth of the porch roof. The second floor, meanwhile, has a moderate roof overhang and will always provide abundant light

Natural cross ventilation will come from the east, south, and west elevations. A cupola provides release for summer heat, and also adds to the architectural aesthetics.

The north side of the building includes a first floor laundry with a storage bench under the window. This is the most buildable side of the design, and will be the location of a future addition to the home.

A central stairway fits nicely in the small home design, eliminating the need for hallways and keeping the footprint to a minimum. Its openness provides natural light between floors and increases ventilation.

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