Eby’s Blog – News, Tips and Project Spotlights
Thoughts About the Past Few Years
I’ve been drafting since 2008, for sixteen years now. I can mark the passing of years by the age of my oldest daughter. I’ve always had a passion for designing homes. As a...
Organizing Storage Spaces
Today I will be continuing our mini-series on home organization with our focus on closets. It’s easy if you are not sure where something belongs to shove it into a closet to be dealt...
Creating Order in a Chaotic World
Happy New Years from everyone at Eby’s Drafting and Design! Hopefully you’ve had a wonderful holiday season. The start of a New Year puts a fresh start, a clean slate, ‘out with the old in with the new,’ decluttering, and removing chaos on my mind. A common...
Happy New Year
Happy New Year from the Eby Drafting and Design family. We hope you have all been staying healthy. It's been fairly quite around here the past few months. We have been adjusting to life with a newborn and soaking up those first precious months that fly by so fast....
Merry Christmas!
We want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!! Its was a busy year here at Eby's Drafting and Design. We are looking for another great year working with you to design your dreams. Many of our clients are in need of addition...
Happy Father’s Day
Happy Fathers Day! This year father's day means a little more to me than it did a year ago. In February we welcomed a baby boy to our family and I'm excited to celebrate with him this father's day! So, enjoy your family gatherings and...
Spring!
It has been a busy few months here at our office. With lots of additions and new homes to draw, we have been having a great time learning to know our new customers. One thing we started to implement in our 3-D presentations is the doll house...
Visual Aid
We have heard many of our customers say that they just can't visualize their home when they are looking at the drawings. Because of my construction background, it is hard for me to remember this. We recognized this need for visual aid, so we...
Screen Porch Designs
Spring is right around the corner! Spring and fall are my favorite seasons. I love the warmth during the day and the long cool evenings. During the evenings in the spring and fall, many families enjoy spending time outside. Sitting...
Curb Appeal
One of the things we enjoy the most at Eby's Drafting and Design is adding some curb appeal to older homes. One of our latest projects is a home that has been in the family for several generations. This home has been handed down to my customer...
Four Seasons Room
With summer winding down, many of us are thinking about fall. Fall brings cooler weather and bright colors. One of the great things about fall is having the windows open and listening to the outdoor sounds. Having a sun-room (or four seasons room) allows you to...
Garage Storage
One item that doesn't get alot of attention is a garage. We like to remind our customers to add an extra 4' to the depth of their garage. This gives you room in front of your car for storage or a work bench. We all need an area in our garage for the "junk" we...
Exposed Brick Accents
There are many amazing design ideas that you can find on pinterest, Houzz, and other sites today. We love working these into our designs. By adding interesting features such as exposed brick, a barn door, or exposed beams will make your home a custom home, setting...
Mile’s Project has Started!
The Mile's project is a custom Rancher with a ton of custom (rustic) finishes. Most of the rustic finishes are on the interior and include antique doors, exposed barn beams, custom cabinets with old-growth slab wood tops... and the list goes on. As this project...
New Facebook Page!
We are excited to present our new facebook page, be sure to stop by and check us out! Our Facebook pg.
An Exciting Year
2016 is shaping up to be an exciting year for Eby's Drafting and Design. As the house market has been growing, we are growing to match the increase of workload that has been coming our way. Christa has been taking on several of our new home designs and we are...
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas from all of us at Eby's Drafting and Design!
Happy Holidays
Ah, December! There is always so much to do between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you are like me, you always wait to do your shopping till after Thanksgiving, because it just doesn't feel quite like Christmas yet! Then, on top of it all, there are some last min....
Using Pinterest as a Design Tool
If you are looking for a new "crafty" project to decorate your home with, or you are looking for remodeling ideas, Pinterest is a great place to look. We like to use Pinterest for many layout ideas, from room layouts to Exterior Designs. Pinterest can also be a great...
Housing Market Continues to Grow… and we are excited!
As the housing market continues to grow, we are looking forward to meeting new clients this fall! Confidence is growing and more people are building new homes/additions. Read what US News has to say about the housing market... US homebuilders' confidence is the...
ADA Layout’s – 5/19/15
At Eby's Drafting and Design, many of our clients are at looking for a home design that has Wheelchair access throughout all or part of their home. Building a true ADA home can be very expensive, but adding Wheelchair accessibility to your home can be simple and may...
Home Show – 3-19-15
Come out and see us at the Washington County Homebuilder's Home Show, March the 21 & 22. We have many new and exciting things to show you! We will have 3-D images of a new home we designed and quite a few of our latest drawings to show you. The Homebuilder's...
Spring Projects – 3/11/15
In the spring many of us begin looking at our never-ending list of projects that need to be done around the house. If your like me, you will put most of these projects onto the back burner and do what you enjoy doing best. Chris and I enjoy sitting on our deck in...
Unger’s Project – 3/3/15
There is a lot of detail going into the finishing touches of the Unger's home, from the many layers of custom trim and paint to the hardwood flooring. In the entrance way you will find several layers of crown molding, a tray ceiling, large columns, and wide...
Virtual Tour – 3/1/15
Many of our customers have trouble visualizing their new home/addition on line based drawings. We have been doing virtual tours, 3D drawings and 360* photo's in rooms for our customers for over a year now. See some of the attached photo's that we did for one of our...
Unger Project – 11/17/14
This week the brick install has begun. The Unger's exterior veneer is a combination of a brick and stone veneer. As you can see on the drawings (on the Feb. 15 entry) There are many options when it comes to an exterior veneers. Here at Eby's Drafting and Design,...
The Efficient Laundry Room – Houzz Call
In many homes that I design, there are two rooms that are very important. The first one is the kitchen and the second one is the Laundry Room. Check out some of these awesome laundry rooms on Houzz Call
Unger Project – 11/3/14
This week the garage doors were installed - The Unger's garage will be completely finished with trim and paint, so these doors are insulated (R.17) Carriage House doors, by C.H.I Overhead Doors. These doors are formed from 27-gauge steel, inside and out. The steel...
Unger Project – 10/20/14
Drywall has been installed! Last week at the Unger's Project, the drywall was installed. At Mt. Tabor Builders, Inc. once the drywall is hung, they turn on the HVAC and allow the house to acclimate for at least a week before finishing the drywall. This allows...
Unger Project – October 12, 2014
Walls are Insulated! In this project, the Unger's decided to go with what is called the "Flash & Batt" insulation method. This type of application is were you use two inches of spray foam insulation with 4" of fiberglass insulation. This is one of the most...
Playhouse 10/1/14
We built the walls and framed the roof this weekend. It has been hard to find time for this project, but we finally have everything finished except the roof. For the exterior finish we used LP Smart Siding. This type of smart siding looks a lot like T.1-11, but is...
Barn Doors – September 12, 2014
I have many customers today asking me to incorporate a "barn door" into their layout. These doors are being used today in many applications. I have designed them to be used as a pantry door in a kitchen and have designed them as a set of double doors that separate the...
Adding Color – September 6, 2014
Adding color to a room can change the complete look of your home. I typically don't address color, interior design, or home furnishings; but I find interior design very interesting. Here is an article from one of my favorite websites that I found very interesting! see...
Unger Project – September 7, 2014
The Windows and Exterior Doors have been installed! One of the questions I get ask alot is "What type of widows should I use" my answer is always Anderson! Anderson windows are constructed with wood frames and will last a lifetime! The Unger's used the 400 series...
Unger Project – 8/21/14
The Trusses are set and the roof is sheeted! The Unger's Roof is quite a interesting part of this house, with its many angles and interesting pikes. There was quite a bit of work involved in this roof, taking the framers several days to complete. Getting a home under...
August 8, 2014 – Pinterest
Hey, our Pinterest account was recently mentioned on Mt. Tabor Builders web site News Feed !
Unger Project – July 29
Hey guys, we are excited to announce that the framing has started! In this house, like most houses that we design, we are using 2x6spf exterior walls. There are two different wall heights; the dining room and great room are both 12' tall walls, with the remaining...
Treehouse – August 3, 2014
So, a few weeks ago, my oldest daughter (Bella) ask if I would build her a tree house. I wasn't much interested in any extra work! The summers are always my busiest season for drafting, plus all the other extra work that comes along with summer. Well, two weeks...
Unger Project – July 13, 2014
The floor system has been installed! This home has a TGI floor joist system, which is an engineered floor system. These joist are typically called I-joist, because they are shaped like a capital I. These floor joist were invented in 1969, they have been designed to...
The Unger Project – June 24, 2014
The foundation walls were set today (see the video in the link below). We design many homes with precast walls. These walls work perfect for many applications and meet today’s stringent energy codes. The XI walls that are used on this house have foam insulation with...
The Unger Project – June 6, 2014 Update
We finally received the permits! It was a long wait, mostly due to the fact that there was only one person in Berkeley County, WV to look over drawings and she was out of work due to an accident. The township subcontracted out the work to an engineer, causing...
The Unger Project – May 9, 2014 Update
With all of the major details of their new home worked through, we finally applied for permits. After a few weeks of putting the fine points on the plans, the Ungers signed a contract with Mt. Tabor Builders, Inc. in Clear Spring, MD. The couple already owned a...
The Unger Project – Feb 15, 2014 Update
The Ungers are a couple that brought in two sets of house plans that they really liked. As we talked, it was easy see which plan they liked the best. The favorite plan had three bedrooms on one side of the home and the master bedroom on the opposite end. As the...
The Unger Project – Introduction
The posts that follow represent a typical case study for in the drafting and design industry. Every case – and every client – is different, but most potential clients can expect a similar scenario.