House Plans

If I’ve learned anything, it’s that contractors and subs love you so much more when you have actual house plans drawn up.

When we knew we might be acquiring the property, I immediately began obsessing thinking about the renovation/restoration of the house. I use those terms interchangeably because, while the house needs some updating, I want to respect the character of the home and not change the “feel” of the farmhouse.

I contacted Preservation North Carolina, who put me in touch with an Asheville architect who was renovating a historic second home for his own family not far from our farmhouse. John Pinkston created these drawings.

We’ve never used actual architectural drawings in previous renovations but I highly recommend investing in this step, especially if you intend to remodel more than one room. We’ve already given copies to our electrician, HVAC contractor, the contractor who helped stabilize and lift the foundation, and the engineer who designed a solution for an issue we had in the crawl space. As a non-builder, it has helped me communicate so much better with these experts, and it seems to really speed up moving forward on their particular project.

Randy and I refer to these plans often – especially as we discuss moving walls or adding windows/doors. Being able to see the big picture on paper is super helpful to amateurs, reminding us of wall spacing, how doors open, etc.

I will shoot a video walkthrough of the house soon so you can get another perspective of the house too.