House Plans websites

maggi

Hi

We are at the pre-planning stage & im trying to get as many ideas as I can as to what I want in my house before I go to see an architect. I have looked through irishhouseplans.com & think its a great site. Is there any other sites like this that I could be looking at???
Iv googled it but mostly American sites come up & these style houses are differnt to what im looking for....
Anyone got any ideas??
We're looking at building a 2 storey or storey & a half...

Thanks.:D

stephentbb2000

Pop into Eason's or any other good book shop and they will have a nice selection of books by Irish architects with various designs that you can order buy or use just for ideas.

Most of the sites on the net do lead to US sites alright

Mellor

stephentbb2000 wrote: »

Pop into Eason's or any other good book shop and they will have a nice selection of books by Irish architects with various designs that you can order buy or use just for ideas.

The bookshops are a alternative source of plans, but I doubt many (or any) are produced by irish architects, or even architects.
The standard is generally poor, and slightly dated. Dealing most with tacky external features, with genetic internals. Albeit my opinion.

A better source for "what you want in your house" would be;

Thing's I wish I'd done when building
Idea's for reference material
Live Self Builds
The House that Boards built
nice touches in a house (in progress)


All located here on boards.

muffler

Mellor wrote: »

The bookshops are a alternative source of plans, but I doubt many (or any) are produced by irish architects, or even architects.
The standard is generally poor, and slightly dated. Dealing most with tacky external features, with genetic internals. Albeit my opinion.

A better source for "what you want in your house" would be;

Thing's I wish I'd done when building
Idea's for reference material
Live Self Builds
The House that Boards built
nice touches in a house (in progress)


All located here on boards.

banned for pimping this forum

TCP/IP_King

maggi wrote: »

.... We are at the pre-planning stage

Hi Maggi, go and hire a competent architect now, preferably someone from your local area who understands the context, vernacular etc. Let them interpret your requirements and parse for the planning dept. If this is a one-off house it deserves the time and attention that you won't get from a pattern book.

Quazzie

TCP/IP_King wrote: »

Hi Maggi, go and hire a competent architect now, preferably someone from your local area who understands the context, vernacular etc. Let them interpret your requirements and parse for the planning dept. If this is a one-off house it deserves the time and attention that you won't get from a pattern book.

The best advice here to be fair. Now is not the time to try squeeze together a hundred different styles and ideas into a mishmash of a house that at the end of the day is neither what you want or what you need. Architects are trained professionals that can take your ideas and return them to you in a workable way. Looking at the books for ideas is a good idea but it can also lead to you having a predetermined idea of what you want and then when you come to the architect he is just basically putting down on paper ideas you have which might not work in the real life. Tell him what you want, what you need, a general style and maybe some essentials you would like, for example walk in wardrobes, or a large utility room etc. but let him interpret them and come back to you with a combined idea.

Every Architect has a style that they are comfortable with, and you this should reflect your style. For example, if there is a nice country house you like and you know you would like something similar, then call to the house and ask them who they used. Most people will only be too happy to talk to you about it, especially in a recently built house. All good architects will be able to incorprate your ideas into an overall design, but its very important to get an Architect who (a) suits your style and (b) you are comfortable with.


P.S I'm not an architect, but really believe that in most cases the book of plans that you buy usually lead to the out of places houses that you find scattered around the country at the moment.

EDIT:
P.P.S I just seen you are relatively new to the site, so I don't want it to seem like I (we) are preaching to you, just all offering our own bits of advice. Its a daunting road and having a professional beside you from the start makes it a lot easier

trad

muffler wrote: »

banned for pimping this forum

A mod banning a mod?

Poor Uncle Tom

trad wrote: »

A mod banning a mod?

It's a power struggle, I'll have to ban them all.....:D

OP You should be getting a PM from RunForestRun, who has a good idea for you..

maggi

Hi everyone

Thanks a mill for all the suggestions,
Not sure if I made myself clear though, Im definitely going get an architect to work on the house, just trying to do my homework now to decide what I like, what I dont like, what I need etc....(its all out of interest):) (Just in case anyone thinks that Im trying to do it myself :eek:)

Thanks a mill for all the suggestions...keep them coming!!

Currahee01

Not sure where your site is but there's a strong chance your planner could refer you to the cork rural design guidelines:
http://www.corkcoco.ie/co/pdf/343708010.pdf
A good tool to have and some very nice designs inside

Poor Uncle Tom

Most LA's have a rural housing design guidelines policy in some form or another, some have been adopted to their CDP's others haven't yet. I think all are reverting to traditional design aspects.

Maggi, you didn't say, is your site in a rural location or is it on zoned lands near a town or village?

JuniorB

Maggi ... before we went to see our architect to start the design process we looked up house for sale sites like myhome.ie etc.
Most houses for sale have a multitude of photos. Gave us some great ideas and led to discussions between ourselves initially to agree what we liked and didn't like.
Then we started a scrap book with all the bits and pieces.
It gave our architect a bit of a feel for what 'style' we wanted then he told us what we'd get approval for and what we wouldn't and we worked from there. Very exciting time.
Best of luck.

r-i-tect

An Architect always loves a good brief

liamolaighin

r-i-tect wrote: »

An Architect always loves a good brief

My planner seems to have no interest in the Cork rural guidelines. She wasnt gone on the idea of 3D stone - preferred I do just the front wall! Also issues about shape of my house which even my architect thought were strange. I reckon alot depends on their form on the day you meet them