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1928 Home Builders Catalog Co. house plans
So, I decided to start a thread on the houses I'd found intriguing in the Home Builders Catalog, which seems to be dated 1928. The one I've decided on sharing first is called "The Caruth" as it's the one I've done the most work on (with "The Chesepeake" a close second). For those who aren't sure what I'm talking about, and you'd like some additional information, just click here.
The original advertisement in the book for this house plan, one option with a basement and one option without. I've been working on the option without a basement, for the sole reason that where I live (California desert) basements aren't usual.
Linked here (The Caruth) is the Sweet Home 3D file of what I've been working on, so far. It's furnished and the exterior almost complete (no walkway, and no roof yet - what looks like roofing in the following picture is actually walls I'm using as a general guide for when I do put on the roof, although I'm not quite sure how I'm going to add the curved roof over the front porch).
I couldn't figure out how to put the brick arch over the front, like it is in the original, so I did it as close as I could. (Just picture in your mind that I was able to do so )
Screenshots of the different levels (except the attic).
You can see the minor changes I've made from the original.
Information on each of these levels:
Just inside the front door, looking down the hallway. Starting on the left, going clockwise: entrance to the Dining room, just after the framed pictures is the door to the kitchen, the door to one of the "Chambers", bathroom as visible behind the retractable stairs to the attic, the partially visible door to the linen closet, the door to the central heating and air unit, just after the next set of framed pictures is the front entry closet, and one of the living room doors. (FYI: The "time" in this picture was taken was 4:12 pm, hence the positioning of the shadows.)
The Living room. What had been a "CLOSET FOR DISAPPEARING BED" is now a built in wardrobe as well as the space for the central heating and air unit (the door to which is visible in the hallway). I've put in a sleeper sofa instead. The other door to the hallway is visible here. Also, the fireplace is now part of an entire wall built in unit; in doing so I took out the windows that had been there. (FYI: The "time" in this picture was taken was 10:09 pm, matching the time on the wall clock, hence the lack of the shadows from the windows behind the virtual visitor, and the fire glow.)
The Dining room, taken from the vestibule. It's kind of difficult to make out what the chandelier looks like unfortunately. Here's a screenshot of it though.
A different angle of the Dining room - taken from one of the windows looking into the kitchen. (FYI: The "time" in both of these rendered pictures is also 10:09 pm.)
The Laundry room, or "SCREENED PORCH", taken from the back corner looking into the kitchen. Since the original house plan didn't include an electrical box, I had to put it someplace, and in this room seemed the most likely. I had to move the door over to do so. (FYI: The "time" in this picture is 4:12 pm, just as it is on the wall clock visible from inside the kitchen. The remaining pictures are also rendered at 4:12 pm)
The "Chamber" behind the Kitchen, taken from the back closet looking to the door. I've decided to make this room my Sewing room (big surprise). I've got the hutch above the desk for storage of thread and such, a filing cabinet for all my patterns, some shelving above the filing cabinet for my sewing books, a couple of wardrobes for fabric storage, and the crafting table for cutting out patterns.
The Bathroom, taken near the door. I've furnished it in roughly the same manner as in the original, although because I made the second chamber (pictured below) equal in size to the first one (pictured above) I've added some extra space in here, enough to include a cabinet next to the bath tub. And upon looking at this, I'm tempted on rearranging things, mainly to get the tub out from under the windows...
And the final room, the other "Chamber". Just an FYI, when I took the screenshot of the floor plan, I hadn't customized the pieces I'd had in this room, except for the desk and mousepad (actually it's the oriental rug just shrunk down to mousepad size), and I also hadn't added the cedar chest at the foot of the bed. The door to the hallway is just out of shot to the left, and there's a television on top of the dresser on the right.
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Re: 1928 Home Builders Catalog Co. house plans
Here's the next house, "The Chesapeake". This is a much larger house than "The Caruth" so there's going to be a larger number of pictures in this single post. Here's the link to the file I've been working on.
As you can see, it mentions the height of each level (even the basement, which I didn't include but put in a 2-foot foundation instead).
Information for each level: As you can see, I did not make the Main level the same ceiling height as it was in the original, but I guess that's alright.
Foundation level
Main level
Top level
I didn't include the Attic/Roof spacing as there wasn't really anything there to see. Plus, I hadn't added access to it from the top floor...
I've used the "Frosted Glass" texture on all the glass surfaces, so that's why a lot of things that looks like it should be see-through... isn't...
Front, aerial view. You can see I did my best to get it to look as close to the original picture as I could. There's a couple of additions to the side that's visible; I've added an enclosed water heater, as well as an electric meter, both near the side door.
Back, aerial view, showing the part of the house that wasn't in the original picture. There's a couple of things I've added here; the HVAC on the back wall, and the vent for the dryer coming out in the back porch.
Standing at the beginning of the stoop, looking to the front door. After taking all these pictures I realize that I haven't included a mailbox, but I think I'll probably add that later.
Side door. The only reason I think it's so dark in the shot is because it's late afternoon and the sun is down past the level of the small wall jutting out near the front door (that's my thought anyway, and I'm sticking to it ). The enclosure for the water heater and the electric meter are better seen here.
Back Porch, taken from the foot of the small stairs. The large strip of paving on the right is the driveway to a detached garage. I know that there needs to be a garage, but it wasn't included (I believe the catalog had many sold separately) so I didn't. I might add one later, or not .
I figured that since I'd taken those screenshots previously of the vestibule, living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry nook (as listed here) that the rendered pictures would be of different angles.
The vestibule, taken from the front door looking to the kitchen entrance. The door to the right of the bookcase is to a closet. For some reason the staircase rendered so strangely, so here's a screenshot from the same spot to show what I was envisioning of it:
The Living room, taken from the corner near the vestibule doorway. I think that I probably should have added a fireplace glow to the fireplace...
The Dining room, taken from the corner near the doors to the back porch. I don't know why it came out so dark... maybe I need to adjust the luminosity of the hanging lamp...
The Laundry Nook, taken near the window. The door to the Dining room is visible. Also, the tall cabinet is for storing cleaning supplies (broom, vacuum, mop, etc.)
The kitchen, taken near the door to the Laundry nook. You get a better look (although it didn't render well) at the vintage style cooker, as well as the side wall and the pantry doors between the vestibule doorway and the side door. Also, I've added the electrical panel down near the side door, which isn't visible in this picture.
Another view of the kitchen, from the sink looking to the doorway to the vestibule. I am definitely not happy with how the cooker, and the hood, came out. Here's a screenshot of that same rendering, just so that those pieces are better seen:
Now on to the top level.
Taken from the hallway, looking down the stairs. Visible on the left is part of the door to one of the "Chambers", and the other two doors (on the right) are to the Bathroom and Linen closet.
Once again, the stairs didn't render well, at all. Here's the screenshot:
The bathroom, taken from the window. You can see the shower in the mirror. When I went to take this picture, I realized that I didn't treat the walls and floor very well so I changed them; that's why it looks a little different from the floor plan screenshot of this floor. And upon looking at this picture I'm tempted on changing the floor tile to the vintage style tile treatment I'd used in The Caruth's bathroom (pictured below).
The first "Chamber" (the smallest one), taken from the corner near the door to the hallway (which was visible in the hallway picture). I've decorated this room as either a child's room (not a baby or toddler room) or a guest room. Or, if this were my house (as I've designed it), this could be my room and the next room would be the guest room. Lots of possibilities.
Disclaimer: Anywhere where there's an odd shaping to the top of walls, as in the previous picture, I don't know how to get do it in the software.
The next "Chamber" (the mid-sized one), taken from the corner near the one nightstand (which isn't visible, but the top of the lamp on the nightstand is). Also not visible in this picture is the full-length mirror which is on the wall near between the bumped out wall and the door. As you can see, I've decorated this as the Master bedroom (more specifically, it would be MY bedroom ).
The last "Chamber" (the largest one near the front of the house), decorated as my sewing room, taken from two angles. Yes, those are two sewing machines; I couldn't find a specific type of sewing machine on 3D Warehouse and just used a plain sewing machine as a placeholder for it. I've got a cork board where I can pin pictures of my designs, match fabric swatches, etc. I've also got three female dress forms, in three different sizes. I've got filing cabinets for patterns, bookshelves for books and notions (using baskets to store them in - which I didn't add ), and a long wardrobe for storing fabric. (At this point I'm not sure what I'd do with the closet in this room, but probably as additional storage.)
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Denmark
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Re: 1928 Home Builders Catalog Co. house plans
I think your constructions are totally impressive!
The Dining room, taken from the corner near the doors to the back porch. I don't know why it came out so dark... maybe I need to adjust the luminosity of the hanging lamp...
A stronger light source will just create an even more contrasty rendering. To lighten the room, you need to think like a photographer. My advise: As a general rule you should never use the "Add ceiling lights". Instead you should place some light sources around the room, f.i. use five - six incandescent light sources at around 5% strength and increased size, to create focus on the most important details.
II have posted a thread about lighting HERE You might find something of interest there.
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Re: 1928 Home Builders Catalog Co. house plans
Thank you, Ceciliabr.
I took your advice and looked at the light source. For one thing, the "time" of the original picture was in the afternoon; I switched it to morning so that the sunlight would be coming better through the dining room windows. I also added a lamp post near those windows.
I also added light colored objects to the room to add contrast with all the darker wood, and to help with distinguishing surfaces.
Still not that bright, but better than before. I think I might trying to add some additional light sources within the room later.
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Re: 1928 Home Builders Catalog Co. house plans
Thank you, VeroniQ.
I looked at the link, and it gave me insight into what I needed to do.
I added an ENORMOUS halogen light source outside near the back porch, and I also enlarged the halogen light sources I'd used in the hanging lamp (it seems that the lamps on 3D Warehouse don't have their own light source, so I have to add it myself ).
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Re: 1928 Home Builders Catalog Co. house plans
Here's the next house, "The Davidston". I started this house after doing some work on "The Commodore", but then I got kind of "burned out" with the whole figuring out the roof for that one. That's why I chose this one instead of "The Commodore" to post now.
This time I chose to include the basement, and I did use the ceiling heights from the original.
Information for each level:
I haven't quite completely finished the outside (I haven't gotten it as polished as "The Chesapeake" yet), but I have gotten the basic furniture inside (although I haven't taken many pictures yet either).
Screenshot of the Basement; I haven't put much furniture in there (there's only one corner made into the laundry room). Since about half of this level is visible above the ground, I had to come up with some way to show that, so I've used the "Box" with a grass texture on the top. I didn't want to have the back step and the side steps just floating in mid air like I did with the "2-Story Home with Basement Apartment".
Screenshot of the Main floor (before adding furniture). The only rooms that I'd worked on furnishing at the time I took this picture were the kitchen and powder room. And some of the roofing is visible over the kitchen. I took out the steps from the Reception hall to the Living room and Dining room, as I didn't feel like trying to figure out how to add an additional level just for something that I felt was more of a tripping hazard. Oh, and I took out the wall mounted telephone in the reception hall.
Screenshot of the Top floor (also before adding furniture). The only room that I'd worked on at the time I took this picture was the bathroom. I kept the "Sewing Room" from the original house plan (of course), but it's under the roofing. Also, I did a little change with the closets (even after taking this picture).
Aerial front view. It looks like I did a bit of different on some of the roofing on the side visible (over the kitchen) from the original; I couldn't figure out how to get it to work the way they did it back then.
Aerial back view, at least the sides that weren't visible in the original. As I'm looking at these two picture, I see that I probably ought to do some of what I did on "The Chesapeake"; I'll get that later.
The Kitchen. I "modernized" it a bit. The original had the wall mounted ironing board, and I included it here, but I'm almost tempted on taking it out... I took out the Dining Set, moved the pantry (looks like it was originally near the door to the Dining room) into that corner, and moved the refrigerator to the left which gave me room for putting in two lower and upper cabinets near the dining room door. I also added a dishwasher, more counter space near the cooker, a smaller cooker, and additional upper cabinetry.
After taking those pictures (last night, as I actually worked on this posting then, thought I had posted it and closed the window before clicking "Reply to the post"), I've worked on this house with the furnishing, as well as adding a baseboard. And since furnishing the whole house, it's too large to take pictures so I'm going to have to save each floor as separate files to do so.
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France
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Re: 1928 Home Builders Catalog Co. house plans
Whaouh, you did well! About the lighting, I wonder if you still have the ceiling lights (by default) in your photo renderings. It is more easy to remove it to built your own lighting, with different light sources, not too high. This tip is very useful too. This catalog is a wealth of ideas.
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Re: 1928 Home Builders Catalog Co. house plans
Thank you, VeroniQ.
About the lighting, I try to turn off "Add ceiling lights" whenever I take pictures.
I just took that a couple of minutes ago, although I will say that I did turn down the hanging lights from 25% in the earlier shot to 15%.
Larger version.
I had tried posting this picture of the powder room a couple of days ago, but for some reason I kept getting some other picture instead (I think it was a problem of some kind on TinyPic's side). Because of the fireplace's wall (in the living room on the other side) some of the brickwork was showing, so I ended up making the one wall in here as exposed brick (I think I need to make that wall Matte instead of Shiny as it looks kind of strange to me). I have the virtual visitor standing in the one corner (with the bump-out to the left of the virtual visitor and out of sight), looking to the mirror. You can see one side of the window.
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Re: 1928 Home Builders Catalog Co. house plans
Even after making separate files (one for exterior shots, one for each level, and one with everything) I was still having trouble taking rendered pictures. So, here are screenshots of what I have so far.
On the file for exterior only pictures, I did some work on the roofing as well as the decoration on the walls. In so doing I realized that the tall windows on the main floor were actually too wide! So I adjusted their width, then realized that they were still missing something... there's a ledge of bricks at the bottom of each window in the original picture! So I added those, to all of the windows in the brick walls (except for the ones in the basement I just realized as I'm typing this).
I also realized that there actually is what I believe to be a driveway in the original picture as well as a walkway to the side steps! Added those, even a bit of sidewalk out front. And while I was at it, I figured I might as well add some greenery around the base of the house (a tree wouldn't hurt either).
So, once this is all said and done, the file of the unfurnished house is a whopping... 18.2 MG! I figured, "Wow! That's not much at all; I should have no problems getting rendered pictures!"
...
I couldn't even get a tiny 300 pixel picture using the next to best quality, and if I have to go below that level than I might as well just take screenshots instead.
Front aerial screenshot. The big front windows are the same height just narrowed. It's hard to see the brickwork under most of the windows though, but it is there.
Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention... I realized that the window in the upstairs bathroom was actually too far into the roofing so I ended up making it a bit smaller.
Back aerial screenshot. The tall windows in the living room and dining room are actually the same length, although the picture makes them look like they don't; these windows have also been narrowed. The added bit of roofing is visible here, making this part of the house similar to The Chesapeake. I also had to change the size of the top floor windows here because part of them were covered by the new roofing. All the windows in this picture (except for the basement ones) have the brickwork on the bottom, only the top floor ones are visible.
Rendered picture in the basement, looking at the only part that I have work done on. This is the only one I've been able to render so far. The door to the stairs (that lead to the back door and the kitchen) is partially visible on the right. I added a wardrobe for storage, colored just like the walls (mainly to cover up the part of the short stairs that for some reason was visible down here, but also I thought a storage unit here was a pretty good idea ). Then I have a stacked washer/dryer (although it didn't render very well), a laundry sink and the water heater. I think I might add a furnace down here as well, under the placement of the fireplace on the main floor...
Vestibule from two different angles; first from the main entrance, second from the corner between the living room and dining room doorways. And as I look at the second picture I realize that I forgot to change the wall paint in the closet (part of that wall is visible near the top of the stairs).
In the first picture (from left to right), you have part of the frame to the closet on the left, a partial view up the stairs to the largest "Chamber", a little bit of the banister to the stairs, the doorway to the dining room in the middle, then the doorway to the living room, and then a small portion of the doorframe to the powder room on the right.
In the second picture (from left to right), you have the front door with the side steps partially visible through it, the entire closet door, and a better view of the stairs (although if I could've I would've had them closed steps).
Dining room; first from the corner between the living room doorway and the outer wall, second from the corner near the kitchen door. I guess this is self explanatory...
Oh, here's the wallpaper I used, in both the dining room and the sitting room: I thought it had an almost Art Deco feel to it.
Living room; first from the doorway to the vestibule, second from just inside the sitting room (what was marked as "Sun Room" in the original), and third from the corner near the outer wall. I've got against the outer wall some additional sitting space and extra storage shelves. It's hard to tell in these pictures, but I did add a bit of a back rest with the window seats.
Sitting room. I've made the "Sun Room" into more of a small library. As I think on it, I could also make this room into something like a breakfast nook maybe...
Okay, those are all the pictures I currently have and hopefully should get more done shortly. (Here's hoping the file for the top floor will let me actually render those rooms instead of relying on screenshots for sharing... )
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)
). The enclosure for the water heater and the electric meter are better seen here.
