Who Runs This Site

Home Plans Ideas is operated by Soren Whitlock, an architect and home-design editor based in Portland, OR. The site is served on Cloudflare’s global edge network as a static publication. All editorial content, plan reviews, and product notes are produced by the site owner unless a guest contribution is clearly credited. Privacy, data-request, and correspondence about this policy can be sent to privacy@homeplansideas.com. For general questions or site help, write to contact@homeplansideas.com or support@homeplansideas.com.

What Information This Site Collects

Most readers arrive, read an article, and leave — no account, no form, no data handed over. The site only holds information you actively give it, plus the standard technical logs a web server keeps.

Information You Provide Directly

• Contact form: your name, email address, and the message you write. Used only to reply to your inquiry.
• Comments (if enabled on an article): your name, email, optional website, and the comment text. The IP address and browser user-agent are also logged to help with spam filtering.

Information Collected Automatically

• IP address, device type, browser, operating system, and referring URL — standard server-log data.
• Pages visited, time on page, and click events — collected through Google Analytics to understand which articles actually help readers.
• Approximate location (city / region level), derived from IP.

Information Not Collected

• No financial or payment information — nothing is sold directly on this site.
• No government-ID data.
• No precise GPS location.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files a site places on your device. This site uses three broad categories:

Essential Cookies

Set by WordPress to keep the site functioning. If you leave a comment, a cookie may store your name, email, and website so you do not have to re-enter them next time (lasts one year). Login-related cookies only apply to me as the site owner.

Analytics Cookies

Set by Google Analytics to count visits and measure which articles are read through to the end. Data is aggregated — I see “1,200 people read the Portland infill ADU plan review this month,” not individual reader profiles.

Advertising Cookies

Set by Google AdSense and its ad-tech partners to serve ads and measure their performance. These are the cookies covered by the opt-out links further down this page.

Google AdSense & Third-Party Advertising

This site displays advertisements through Google AdSense. Google and its third-party vendors (including, but not limited to, the DoubleClick DART cookie) use cookies and similar technologies to serve ads based on a user’s previous visits to this site and other sites on the internet.

How Google Uses Data From This Site

Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on Home Plans Ideas. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to readers based on their visit to this site and/or other sites on the internet. For a full explanation, see Google’s policies: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services.

Opting Out of Personalized Advertising

You can opt out of personalized advertising at any time:

• Google Ads Settings — control ad personalization across Google’s services
• NAI Opt-Out — opt out of interest-based ads from NAI member networks
• DAA Opt-Out — opt out via the Digital Advertising Alliance
• Your Online Choices (EU) — European opt-out portal

Affiliate Disclosure

Some articles on this site — specifically those in the House Plans category — include affiliate links to the Architectural Designs marketplace. If you click one of those links and purchase a plan, Architectural Designs pays me a small referral commission, at no additional cost to you. The commission does not influence whether a plan is reviewed or the conclusion of the review itself; that editorial policy is stated on the site’s About page and at the top of every House Plans article.

Home Plans Ideas does not sell house plans, furniture, smart-home hardware, or any physical product directly. Product mentions in room guides and right-sizing studies are editorial recommendations drawn from real project experience; they are not paid placements unless a disclosure is included in that specific article.

Third-Party Services Used on This Site

The site relies on a small number of third-party providers to function. Each has its own privacy policy, linked below.

• Cloudflare — hosting, CDN, and email delivery. Privacy policy
• Google AdSense — advertising. Privacy policy
• Google Analytics — readership analytics. Privacy policy
• YouTube — occasional embedded video. Privacy policy
• Gravatar (Automattic) — comment avatars, if comments are enabled. Privacy policy
• Pinterest — readers may pin images from the site; Pinterest handles that data directly. Privacy policy

Embedded Content From Other Sites

Articles may embed content from other websites — for example a YouTube walkthrough or a product image. Embedded content behaves exactly as if you had visited the other site: it can set cookies, embed tracking, and monitor your interaction with it, especially if you are logged in to the relevant service.

Images & Media You Upload

If you submit an image to the site (for example, a reader project sent through the contact form), please strip embedded location data (EXIF GPS) before sending. Anyone who accesses the image can otherwise extract that location.

How Long Data Is Kept

• Contact-form messages: kept as long as needed to handle the conversation, then archived or deleted on request.
• Comments: retained indefinitely so follow-up comments from the same reader can be auto-approved. You can request deletion at any time.
• Server logs: rotated by the host on a standard schedule (typically 30–90 days).
• Analytics data: retained per Google Analytics defaults unless a shorter retention is set.

Your Rights Over Your Data

EEA & UK (GDPR / UK GDPR)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the right to:

• Access the personal data this site holds about you
• Correct inaccurate personal data
• Request deletion of your personal data
• Object to, or request restriction of, processing
• Request a portable export of your personal data
• Withdraw any consent you have previously given
• Lodge a complaint with your national data-protection authority

To exercise any of these rights, email privacy@homeplansideas.com. I aim to reply within 30 days.

California (CCPA / CPRA)

California residents have the right to:

• Know what personal information is collected
• Know whether personal information is sold or shared, and with whom
• Opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information
• Access, correct, or delete their personal information
• Not be discriminated against for exercising these rights

Home Plans Ideas does not sell personal information for money. Use of advertising cookies may, under CPRA’s broad definition, qualify as “sharing”; you can opt out using the Google Ads Settings and DAA links above, or email privacy@homeplansideas.com.

Children’s Privacy

Home Plans Ideas is written for an adult audience interested in compact home design, architecture, and right-sizing renovation. The site is not directed to children under 13, and does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child has submitted information through the contact form, email privacy@homeplansideas.com and the data will be deleted.

Data Security

The site uses HTTPS across every page. Contact-form submissions are transmitted over an encrypted connection. No online system is absolutely secure, but no payment information or sensitive personal data is collected or stored on this site — limiting the scope of any incident.

Changes to This Policy

This policy may be updated from time to time as the site adds or removes third-party services, or as applicable law changes. The “Last Updated” date at the top of the page reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be noted at the top of the page for at least 30 days.

Consent

By continuing to use Home Plans Ideas, you acknowledge the information above and consent to the collection and use of data as described. If you do not agree with any part of this policy, please discontinue use of the site.