Popular Home Features in 2015

The NAHB’s Economics and Housing Policy surveyed over 3,000 builders, designers, architects, manufacturers, and housing marketing specialists to forecast the characteristics of the average single-family detached home in 2015.

Can you guess the results?  Take this quiz and see how well you do (answers posted at the bottom).

1.       Size:  The average new single-family home will be:

a.       Larger, between 2800 and 3000 square feet

b.      Stay the same (2496 square feet)

c.       Smaller between 2000 and 2,400 square feet

2.                                                        will be a top priority in a home built in 2015.

a.       Landscaping

b.      Technology

c.       Appliances

3.       New home will have more green features, low-E windows, engineered wood products, and:

a.       Use water efficiently

b.      Solar energy

c.       Radiant heat

4.    True or False:     Two-car garages remain high on homeowners’ priority lists.

5.    True or False:     The formal living room will be either combined with another room or completely disappear.

6.   True or False:      First-floor master bedrooms with walk-in closets will be a priority.

How did you do?  BoninArchitects has various architectural services to help you design, build, or remodel a home that fits your priorities – now, in 2011 or in the future.  Call or stop by to set up a free consultation!

Answers:  1.c;  2.b;  3.a.;  4.True;  5.True;  6.True.

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.

Design Your Home Before You Find Property?

Once you decide to build a home, it’s hard not to think about it.  There are many design elements to consider, and your architect will guide you through the decision-making process.  Some of these you can decide on before you find the perfect piece of property; however, there are some decisions that will be influenced by the characteristics of your land.

Design elements to think about before you find property:

• Specialty rooms for hobbies or activities;
• The number of bedrooms and bathrooms you will need;
• Storage space requirements;
• Design details such as a gas fireplace vs. wood;
• The theme of your interior design (colors, light, textures)

Wait until you find your land to determine these design fundamentals:

• The home’s size and number of stories:  site or local restrictions may limit the size, height, or even the placement of the home on your property;
• Type of foundation:  the type of foundation system you choose may be dependent upon local or state codes, the lot size, slope, and soil type;
• Walkout basement:  a sloping lot can allow for a walk-out basement, providing more usable square footage for recreation areas or additional guest bedrooms.

If you’re excited to get started on planning your home design, we suggest you create a binder of clippings and samples you are collecting.  Include design elements and details you do not like: sometimes these are more valuable to your architect than features that you do like.

Ready to get started?  Call or stop by to schedule a free site visit!

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

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

The Home LayoutNumber of stories
Ceiling heights and type
Special considerations

Living requirementsNumber 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 SystemsFrame type (timber frame, SIPs, conventional)
Insulation system
Foundation type
Heating and cooling
Water efficiency

Materials and Green BuildingRecycled 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!

Home Renovating

Consumer Reports magazine recently polled subscribers on their home renovating trends (yes, they do more than just review products), and the results are interesting!

Many folks, instead of adding a bumpout or home addition, are cutting costs by renovating their kitchen, bathrooms, and outdoor spaces to make better use of the space, open up sight lines, and make the areas more livable. Quality, not quantity, “is the new standard”, according to CR.


According to CR’s poll, two-thirds of homeowners have changed their remodeling plans and given up appliances, specialized features, and extravagances that will not add to the home’s value. Sensible doesn’t mean boring, though – many of CR’s top performing appliances are in stainless, which consumers still crave. Bamboo flooring beats oak, and plastic laminates look like real stone for a fraction of the cost. Instead of adding deluxe whirlpool tubs, homeowners are opting to add luxury by way of handheld body sprays with powerful jets and pulsating massage settings to conventional tubs and shower stalls.

Homeowner trends are leaning toward spending more on products they interact with every day – namely, appliances. (Interestingly: “subscribers who scrimped on cabinets, countertops, and showers wished they had spent more” while at the same time “almost 60% of readers opted for ceramic tile over pricier stone.”)

Almost two-thirds of homeowners plan to do the renovating themselves. Working with an architect has advantages, though. CR recommends using professionals and adds a warning: “Remember that local building codes will probably require an architect's or engineer's sign-off.”

Top renovations include increasing energy and water efficiency. Eighty-four percent of those polled bought energy –efficient appliances, 43 percent picked out water-efficient appliances, and 38 percent chose fluorescent lighting for their kitchens. Water-saving toilets and low-flow showerheads were installed in 62 percent of bath remodels. Paints with low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are popular, as well.

If you’re planning a home renovating project in the near future, consider the benefits of working with a green architect to design your home.

Home Design Room Layout: Sketches Work Great!

Sketches on tracing paper in the preliminary design phase come in handy to see alternate room layouts and spatial relationships. Clients love the artistry involved and the human element to their design.

The client was unsure about whether to have the wood stove centered on the gable endwall or in the corner. The sketches were quick and extremely helpful in showing various furniture layouts as well as window and door options.

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.

NH Timber Frame Open House

Mark your calendar!

Timber Frame Home Open House

Newbury / Mt. Sunapee, NH

Saturday, March 21, 2009

12:30 PM - 2:00 PM

We're teaming up with Timberpeg® next weekend for an Open House Tour, which will start at 12:30 PM and be open for tours until 2:00. You'll be envious of its location - a lakefront lot on gorgeous Lake Sunapee and love the efficiency in the home's 2100 square feet. Designed for one-floor living, sustainability, and to capture views of the lake, the owner will be able to enjoy the home for years to come, well into retirement. Two guest bedrooms are located on the second floor with a center section loft sitting area that also feature views of the lake from the cathedral great room windows.

Designed for people planning to build energy efficient homes, our Free Green Home Seminar (yes, free!) will give you detailed information on green home design, energy efficient SIPs panels, timber frame homes, solar energy systems, geothermal heating, and current information on financing a new home. Directions to the Open House (minutes from the seminar) will be given out following the seminar.

Free Green Home Seminar

Best Western Sunapee Lake Lodge

Saturday, March 21, 2009

10:00 AM - 12:30 PM

Bring your thoughts, ideas, and sketches (even if they're more like doodles) and we'll be happy to answer any questions before or after the seminar (and at the open house) to help you start thinking about your home design and what energy efficient materials and features you would like to put in your home.

Both events are free with registration - so give us a call or register online today! Still not sure you should attend? Check out the highlights of our last green seminar!

Timber frame home photo courtesy of Timberpeg®

Green Events: Home Design & Building Seminars

Green is all the rave – everywhere you look you can find information on green materials and building products. Most of the people we meet at home shows are looking to build the most energy efficient home they can afford, but, in their efforts to research energy efficient homes, have been besieged with green systems, green technologies, green materials, and green businesses and services who will install them.

Our philosophy is that anything that can be done better and is financially feasible, should be done. In order to encourage and promote green building and sustainable construction practices, technologies, materials and energy conservation, we team with builders and renewable energy experts to host seminars on designing and building green homes.

Our seminars feature specific topics: Green Home Design, SIP panels (structural insulated panels), Timber Frame Homes, and Renewable Energy Systems. We emphasize the fact that a green home starts with a green home design, and so naturally the first topic discusses the aspects of green home design and what it means to be “sustainable”. This presentation includes passive and active design, guiding principles, and the phases of home design.



We recommend using SIP panels to clients, whether or not they are interested in building a timber frame home. SIP panels create a high performance, continuous thermal envelope which keeps the home warm in winter and cold in summer. Timber frames, a specialty green building system, are not only energy efficient but beautiful as well. Hybrid homes (utilizing two or more building systems, i.e. a home with a timber frame main section and SIP panel wings for bedrooms, bathroom, etc.) are very popular, as they create visual interest in specific areas of the home for generally less money.

What have our guests said about our seminars? Here are two comments we received:

“We have been attending home shows, seminars, and visiting log cabin / timber frame manufacturers for the past eight years and have not gotten half as much out of the time as we did from your seminar.”

“Thank you for preparing such a well-organized, informational day. We really enjoyed all of the speakers and learned so much.”

We also have guests tell us they were not going to use an architect for their home design, but the seminar showed them the benefits of working with a design professional:

“Jeremy's presentation was brilliant and made more sense than all the reading and on-line investigating I've been doing. I had not been considering working with an architect before, but am convinced now that I should."

For a list of our upcoming seminars on building a green home, visit our green events page. Together we can make a difference – one green home at a time.

Energy Efficient Home, East Machias, Maine

Here’s a plan for our clients, Pat & Andy, who are building a vacation / retirement home in northern Maine. Wanting a home that was both energy efficient and comfortable in all seasons, Pat and Andy met with us to talk about their ideas and budget last fall. They own an existing cabin, which will remain on the property as guest quarters. The new home will be located down the road on the lake. The home design is 1100 square feet of efficiency and will be built right on the lake to take advantage of the gorgeous seasonal views and abundant wildlife.

The program includes energy efficiency, conscientiousness, durability, and security, solar access, and building orientation. Lake views are prominent to the east, south, and west, which coincides nicely with passive solar design considerations and give an excellent opportunity for a continuous porch on these elevations. The cold north elevation has a minimal amount of windows to help keep the home warm while allowing for a planned future addition on this side. The entry and kitchen are located on the south-east side of the building, granting easy access to the driveway and unloading of groceries.

To keep the building energy efficient, a second floor takes advantage of views from the higher elevation and also to keep the home’s footprint to a minimum, controlling costs and site impact. This divided the program into two floors – the first floor being the public space and the second floor serving as personal space for Andy and Pat.

With permits in place, we just moved into the construction phase of the design. We’ve talked about SIP panels (structural insulated panels) and windows and will make decisions on energy efficient building materials soon. Things will be moving along quickly so they can break ground this spring. Look for updates soon!

Which should come first -- Your Land or Your Home Design?

Most people start thinking about building a new home long before they find land to build on. While you’re meeting with realtors to find that perfect piece of property, it’s hard not to start dreaming about the design of your home.

There are many design elements you should start to consider – and yet, there are some aspects of the home design that will depend on the characteristics of your property.

Some design elements you can [and should] consider before purchasing your land are:

• The number of bedrooms and bathrooms you will need;


• Any specialty rooms (craft room, library, workshop, etc.);


• Large storage space requirements;


• Specific design details, such as an end wall stone fireplace, winding staircase, etc.);


• How you would like your rooms to feel (think about room’s purpose, colors, light).

Design elements that will depend on the property:

• Walkout basement: a sloping lot can allow for a walk-out basement, providing more usable square footage for recreation areas or additional guest bedrooms;


• Exact size and height of the home: site or local restrictions may limit the size, height, or even the placement of the home on your property;


• Type of foundation: the type of foundation system you choose may be dependent upon local or state codes, the lot size, slope, and soil type.

Once you have your land, it’s time to put your ideas together with these Home Design tools.

Green Home Design Reduces Carbon Footprint

A green home minimizes the negative impact on its environment through its home design. Here are a few considerations your architect takes into account when designing a green home:

1. Site: Evaluations and analysis of access, slope, ledge, soil, bodies of water, and vegetation in order to limit the home’s impact on the site environment. This includes the site location (farmland, wetland, protected species habitats) and proximity to public transportation, parks, schools, and stores.

2. Size: A green home is efficiently designed to keep the square footage to a minimum. This reduces the amount of energy to heat and cool the home, lighting, and the quantity of building materials used.

3. Solar: Whether or not you plan to install a solar energy system to heat your water or produce electricity, there are several other solar considerations in green home design. Designing the home for passive solar makes the most of solar energy by harvesting it into the homes’ natural energy flows. Passive solar systems include day-lighting strategies, heating and cooling control techniques, and natural ventilation. When a whole-building approach is taken, energy savings can be great both in terms of reducing the home’s carbon footprint and the costs associated with heating, cooling, and maintaining the home.

4. Energy: Lighting, heating, and cooling systems are an important consideration in green home design. Renewable energy systems such as solar, wind, and geothermal systems use the earth’s natural energy to heat and cool your home, as well as provide electricity to run appliances and technology. Water usage, including toilets, showerheads, and sink faucet aerators, is another important green home design consideration.

Of course, you want your new home to use minimal amounts of fossil fuels, last a long time, and cost you less money. Many home design strategies don’t cost a dime in materials but can save you hundreds of dollars on heating and cooling costs. The result is a beautiful, healthy home – both for your family and the environment.

Why Hire an Architect For Your Home Design?

Architecture plays a unique role in our everyday life. An architect has the expertise to combine your wants, needs, and aspirations with your goals of energy efficiency and sustainability to successfully match your project objectives.

Architecture affects people every moment of every day. We reside in homes where we sleep, cook, eat and spend time with our families; we typically travel to a building to work or a school to learn. Architects address requirements such as function, aesthetics, economics, environment, safety, and regulations and translate these into a home design that matches each owner’s personal taste and family dynamic.

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards defines the role of an Architect as "the primary building professional qualified to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public through the enhancement of the quality of the built environment and the richness of space and form”. Buildings inhabited during those functions are essential to our lives and our health. Architects are ethically bound to continually better that built environment.


For instance, Architecture entails more than just a physical building. It involves:

· Correctly interpreting the client’s dreams, visions, and objectives
· Exploring all possibilities
· Studying and responding to the site and its environment
· And translating all these into a home design that will exceed expectations

Sustainable architecture or green building is only a small part of a greater whole. It has been said many times that “sustainability” is a good short term goal for home design. Sustainability is simply the equilibrium, a tipping point where we are no longer damaging the planet that we inhabit with the effects of our daily lives through manufacturing, power production, construction, transportation, agriculture which affect our global ecosystem. Sustainability, by definition, is actually the point at which we cease to harm the environment. Beyond sustainability is where we begin to repair the damage done, which, ultimately, is the goal.

There are many great minds working toward both of these goals with ideas and solutions far greater than most people’s typical reach; however, anything that can be done better and is financially feasible should be done.

Green architects enrich the design and the project through integrity, conscientious design, environmental awareness, and the application of skills specific to their trade – keeping the ultimate goals of energy efficiency and sustainability clearly in view. Should your home design be anything less?