I too am looking for something similar to the original poster.  An house with in-law quarters that are quite seperate from the main house.  We are looking to build a 'country' style home, with 3 bedrooms (upper floor preferably) - plus a den (on the main floor near the front foyer).  Ideally, the main house would have a full basement - whether or not the basement extends below the in-law quarters is neither here or there.  We would prefer an attached garage, but this is not mandatory.  The main house should have a minimum of 2 bathrooms and must include a formal dining room.  The in-law quarters should contain 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, living room and kitchen - and would be approx. 1000 square feet.  In total, we would like the entire design to be 3000 square feet or less.

Essentially what we are looking for is a duplex with one unit that is significantly smaller than the other.  Most duplex plans are mirror image, and this is not feasible or necessary for us.

Any assistance you could provide in locating a plan that suits our criteria would be most appreciated.

Thank-you in advance for your time.

I will check for homes that suite this criteria. But, like you are saying, this is not a common style of home plan. I think the best way to go would be to incorporate two seperate house plans. One large home for the main home. Then either look to build a seperate smaller home with a breezeway between them or you could get a garage that has the two-bedroom apartment above it. Please contact me if yopu have any questions. I will post anything I find on this.

Thanks,

Will County's approve this type of set up because of the breezeway? I don't think they would allow  two houses on my property. Thanks for any help.

I would like to move my dad onto my property.  I think 1500 for us and 1000 for my dad. I am in the very begining of information gathering. The mother in law quarter plans seem to have the quarters in the same house. I would like my dad to have his own private seperate place since he is still active on his own. I hope this is the info you need. Thanks for any help.     

That is just the info I needed. I am going to see what info I can gather up. You are correct concerning the in-law suites, for some reason almost all of them are in the same house. It might come down to using one of our many garage plans that have a living quarters on the second floor and putting the breezeway between the main house and that. We have quite a few plans in this layout. Typically the sq footage upsatirs would be around 500-850 sq ft. Well, keep me informed if you have any luck. I myself will do some research as well.

I have been searching for an ideal home, a duplex type home for my mother and my family.  She is getting older but still wants to maintain a home.  I would love to be able to find a home with a pretty front that does not look like a duplex.  We would like to have about1500 square feet in each side.  We would love to have 2 small bedrooms and 1 mastersuite with enough room to have a small sitting area.  We also want a family room, small dining room, kitchen and breakfast room.  Of course, we would need two baths.  Is it possible to do this??   We would only need one double garage.  We would need this to be where we could both leave our cars and enter  on our own side of the house.  We each need only a very small laundry room, just enough room for the washer and dryer.  Please let me know if this is possible.

Thanks,

Phoebe Adcock    

Phoebe,

   To search for duplex type homes, you'll need to go to our advanced search options.  There you can type in your desired sq. footage as well as things like # of bedrooms and bathrooms.  Then there is a list of "General Architectural Styles".  In that section, there is an option to select Multi-Unit homes.  It's not really an architectural style, but it will get you some duplex homes.  I suggest you look at home plan # DB-4631.  You'll just need to make the second garage into something else.  If you need some help with your search, just call our office at (866) 787-2023.

Thanks,

Woody

I am not sure how local municipalities handle this. But, this is what I would suggest.

Here are a few plans that you could build on the same property: (Type these numbers into the search on www.theplancollection.com)

www.theplancollection.com

HPG-1154

HPG-600B

HPG-600

These are some nice homes with porches and some have two rooms along with a family room. Then I would have your builder put a breezeway between your home and this In-law suite. I have plans that match thi look for the main home. Please contact me to see these.

We've updated the website and so some of these links don't work anymore.  However, most of the links I've posted are easy to find on our new site, so I hope you're able to follow our conversation.  I'm actually impressed at the input we've recieved regarding this issue:  Mother-In-Law Suites.  Here are a few updated links that you can follow to check out more of our In-law suite plans:

 Garage Plans (great for converting into apartments or in-law suites if your city will allow it) :  http://www.theplancollection.com/house-plans/garage%20w/page-1

House Plans tagged as having in-law suites or guest quarters:  http://www.theplancollection.com/house-plans/in-law+suite/page-1

 I'm constantly adding more plans to our list.  Keep checking and maybe you'll find something that wasn't there before.

Woody,

Resident In-Law Suite Finder

Mother-In-Law Specialist (I asked mine if I could call myself that and she agreed)

Thanks everybody for the great suggestions!  I know this is a crazy question, but has anyone been faced with / dealt with the idea of hosting 2 separate mother-in-laws?  We are looking to build a custom home, have 1 mom that would move in in a heartbeat, and one we'll have to convince.

 We'd like about 1500-2000sf for ourselves (we have no kids, our only other odd requirement is a small study/bedroom on the first floor for our pet rabbit).  We could easily live with 1 big master suite and 1 or 2 small guest rooms in our space.

I have no idea how to accommodate two independent women who are accustomed to having their own separate homes.  Do we wind up with mother-in-law suites on each side of the house, and wind up building 3 kitchens in this house, 3 separate entrances?
I don't think a shared apt. setup will work for them, though I suppose if we built two suites around a 2nd large kitchen, that might work.

 Any thoughts?  Help!

Thanks,

Warren 

Wow!  That's an undertaking if I've ever heard one!  My only suggestion is that you talk to them.  See what they want.  Budgeting for something like that sounds amazing.  Do they mind walking up stairs?  If not, apartments over garages are perfect.  You can use them for the in-laws and the house can still market well if you ever have to sell.  If the moms don't like it, you can still rent out the space and enjoy some revenue.  If they want a main floor apartment, then I would disguise the three sections of the house and provide three separate entrances.  Just try not and make it obvious, or your house will look like an apartment building.  They might be able to get by with kitchenettes and use your kitchen if they want to cook for more than four people.  Look into free-standing kitchen units.  I don't want to advertise for anyone, but places like IKEA and SEARS are going to have modular kitchen solutions.  You can find some plans with lots of garage space that you can divide into you in-law apartments, then build a detached garage to make up for it.  That very well might be the best solution.  Go to our Advanced search and look for plans with three car or bigger garages.  You'll save several thousand dollars with stock plans that could help offset the cost of two separate apartments.  Call me at (866) 787 2023 to discuss any options.

 thanks,

 Kelvin

Sales Associate

(866) 787 2023

http://www.billgperry.com/plans.asp    Check out plan 6099 on this designers list of plan's. I'm looking for the same thing you are and so far this is the only thing I've been able to find. If you've found something close to this in your searches please share.

I am also looking to make part of the garage into a wood shop or build a seperate building for a 1000 sq ft wood shop

The Coyote Woodworker

[quote user="Woody"]In fact, here's a few more homes that have some interesting possibilities: 

Kirday,

  I'm glad you liked the article.  We've been trying to figure out the best solution for these houses that just don't exist currently.  I think the key is to find an extra garage and turn it into interior space.  That way you don't have to modify the roof line and the foundation.  You just have to insulate and add some interior walls.  Or if you don't mind a detached garage, you could just turn an entire garage into the in-law suite.  Click here for our detached garage plans.  In fact, you could turn a detached garage into an in-law suite if the city will allow it.  Let me know how your search goes.  I'm sure other readers would love to hear your suggestions and ideas.

[quote user="Vieklenz"]I saw the previous post on the mother in law suites but I am looking more for a "separate" area of the house for my mom.  I would like for there to be about 1000sf. off the garage, that would include a living room, kitchen and two bedrooms and maybe two baths.  I would like the main house to be an open concept, doesn't really need a formal anything.  It would be nice for there to be 4 bedrooms in the main house, two of them separated with a jack and jill bath and the other bedroom to have it's own bath.  Are there any that meet this?  I really appreciate the time.  I've been looking but am getting nowhere!!! [/quote]

I just found this site... Wow! I really appreciate fining others who are looking for the same thing I am. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one, since I am having the same sort of trouble finding a *separate* in-law quarters plan... not just a suite, but something like a small apt or cottage off the main house. My grandma is a healthy and active 78 year old, but may need further assistance down the road... I want her to remain in her "own" place, but would love something like a breezeway or something to connect the main house to hers... We haven't started building yet, we're still trying to find a plan that would allow me to build for her, but also leave my property open for more expansion on the other side, as my time (and budget) will allow. It would be nice if traditional house plans came with more "optional" rooms, that you can *add on later* (like a large family room, or expansion to the kitchen). Just because we have budgeted well enough to allow us to build, does not mean we are very rich. We can't just build two houses... We're hoping to come up with something we can afford now, but will let us keep adding on as time goes on. If anyone knows any plans, I'm open to suggestions. I'm just glad I found your post... it really helped let me know I'm not alone...

This mother in-law revolution is quite a unique circumstance.  It's pretty rare to find a home with the criteria you desire unless it's 7,000 sq. ft or more.  The best solution I've seen so far is to modify an existing plan and create the secluded and separate suite you need.  I've already posted the plans that lend themselves the best to modifications of this kind.  Other wise, find a plan that you like for the main house and start from scratch on the other side of the garage.  I wish I could tell you of a plan that was exactly what you need, but for now it seems only to exist in our imaginations.

Hi,

Just found this, its great to share ideas, get ideas !

We are looking more at 2 master suites for us and my mother in law, then 3-4 bedrooms for kids and an office...  just trying to find the right floor plan.....   2 story, in law suite on first floor for health reasons, prob office downstairs too and the rest of the bedrooms upstsairs.  I want a mudroom off the kitchen and lots of windows in the kitchen/fam room for views..and a wrap around deck !

Not sure on the design plan, we will be building in N Idaho.

 thanks for help/ideas !

 Dani

Danita,

  Have you seen some of the homes we posted on the home page?  The title is Cool Summer Homes.  The first one has lots of windows, lots of wrap around porch, and two master suites.  You could put the garage on the side of the house or you could just make it a basement.  Or you could put the garage on the side of the house and make a basement too.  You could even just turn the garage into the basement, make it part of the house, and have a detached garage.  We have quite a few plans with either two master suites, or a nice guest suite that could be considered a master.  Just keep looking, and if I see anything, I'll post it here for you.