I thought it might be fun to get the Saturday Sketchbook feature up and running again, as a way to show all of the readers of this blog the progress I am making on the design of our family’s home – Arrow Hill Cottage. The drawings, plans, and 3d models are still pretty rough – but through time more detail will be added, and I’m excited to share that progress with all of you!

OUTDOOR SPACE DESIGN

Lately the weather has been absolutely glorious in the Midwest.  The leaves are turning beautiful colors, and falling to the ground, but the temps have remained steady. It really has been an enjoyable Fall season.  And it has me thinking about the outdoor spaces at our cottage – where we will be able to appreciate the weather even more-so in the future.

I’ve been fine tuning these outdoor spaces; and even though I have a ways to go on developing the character and coziness of each, I feel that I am headed in the right direction!

As you can see from this aerial image of the 3D model, there will be 3 main outdoor spaces. The first is the covered front porch.  I am still debating if I will add a rail or not – chances are it won’t be necessary since the height of the porch from the ground will be minimal, but I might add one anyway, just for looks.

The second space is off the back of the house – a large raised deck that I am hoping I can add a pergola to. You can see that I have only started modeling the rail (this deck will definitely need one) and the pergola.

The third outdoor area is the ground level paver patio, which will be accessible from the doors in both the family room and the pool room. There will also likely be some sort of stairs or walkway from the upper deck to the patio. I’m thinking something natural, such as stone slabs, might be the best fit here – to keep the natural landscape in tact as much as possible.

I am also playing around with the idea of creating a shed or storage space underneath the back deck area.  In the image below you can see two X’s, which symbolize doors. This shed could house items such as lawn furniture, gardening tools, and mowers – and also might be a handy spot to put a kayak or paddle boards, which we would really love to buy eventually in order to get great use of the pond on the property. Refer back to the first image in this post to see the proximity of the pond to the patio.

It is so exciting to our family to think that two years from now we may be anticipating moving into our forever home! A dream 10+ years in the making is starting to feel more and more real with each passing day!

Tell me what you think – which of these 3 spaces could you imagine spending the most time relaxing in?