1. About This Site

Home Plans Ideas is an editorial publication. It covers four kinds of content:

• House Plans — independent reviews of compact and modern floor plans sold on the Architectural Designs marketplace. Home Plans Ideas does not draw, sell, or license house plans.
• Right-Sizing Studies — before-and-after write-ups of real renovation projects, framed around what was condensed, what moved structurally, and what the home gained by getting smaller in the right places.
• Room Guides — room-by-room walkthroughs for compact spaces (living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, baths, home offices, mudrooms, outdoor) paired with brand-level product comparisons.
• Notes from the Boards — long-form essays on compact living, modern minimalism done warmly, ADU strategy, and the quiet ways smaller homes shape a slower, more intentional daily life.

All content is editorial — it reflects the author’s professional experience and opinion at the time of writing.

2. Eligibility

The site is intended for readers who are 18 years or older, or who have the consent of a parent or legal guardian. It is not directed at children under 13, and no data is knowingly collected from them (see the Privacy Policy for details).

3. Intellectual Property

Content Owned by Home Plans Ideas

All articles, photographs, illustrations, diagrams, plan analyses, source lists, and editorial writing published on homeplansideas.com are the intellectual property of Soren Whitlock / Home Plans Ideas, unless a separate credit is given. They are protected by United States copyright law and international treaties.

What You May Do

• Read and browse the site for personal, non-commercial use.
• Share a link to any article on social media, by email, or on your own blog.
• Pin images from the site to Pinterest, provided Pinterest’s standard attribution back to the source article is preserved.
• Quote a short excerpt (up to roughly 75 words) in your own writing, with a clearly visible credit and a working link back to the original article.

What You May Not Do

• Republish a full article, or any substantial portion of one, on another website, newsletter, or social account — including with attribution.
• Strip watermarks or credit lines from photographs, diagrams, or plan analyses before sharing them.
• Scrape the site for AI training, large-language-model ingestion, or any automated content-harvesting system without prior written permission.
• Use the name “Home Plans Ideas,” the site’s wordmark, or any visually derivative logo to imply endorsement or partnership.
• Repackage the site’s plan reviews, right-sizing studies, or product comparisons into a competing product or publication.

Third-Party Content

Some articles include images, excerpts, or references credited to third parties — manufacturers, fellow publications, the Architectural Designs marketplace, or academic authors. Those remain the property of their respective owners and are used under fair-use principles or with permission. If you believe any third-party content has been used incorrectly, email contact@homeplansideas.com and it will be reviewed promptly.

4. User-Submitted Content

If you submit anything to the site — a comment on an article, a reader project sent through the contact form, a plan-review request, or a question for the FAQ queue — the following applies:

• You keep ownership of what you submit.
• You grant Home Plans Ideas a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to publish, edit for length or clarity, and republish your submission on the site and on its social channels, with attribution where appropriate.
• You confirm that what you submitted is your own work, or that you have the right to share it, and that publishing it will not infringe anyone else’s rights.
• You agree not to submit anything unlawful, defamatory, harassing, sexually explicit, hateful, misleading, or that impersonates another person.

The site reserves the right to edit, refuse, or remove any submission at its sole discretion, and to close comment threads when they stop serving readers.

5. Editorial Scope — What This Site Is Not

Not Sealed Architectural or Engineering Advice

The author is a practising architect, but reviews and articles published on this site are editorial opinion — they are not sealed drawings, stamped structural calculations, code-compliance letters, or project-specific professional advice. The House Plans section reviews the livability and design of plans sold by third parties; it does not verify structural calculations, local code compliance, seismic or wind ratings, ADU code compatibility for your specific jurisdiction, or suitability for a specific lot or climate. Before building from any plan reviewed on this site, engage a licensed architect and structural engineer for your jurisdiction.

Not Construction or Contractor Advice

Right-sizing studies and renovation articles describe real projects as they were carried out. Labour costs, permit timelines, and material availability vary by city, year, and trade — and Pacific Northwest construction markets in particular have shifted considerably since 2020. Do not treat any figure on this site as a binding quote; obtain written bids from licensed contractors for your own project.

Not Investment or Real-Estate Advice

Renovation and plan articles sometimes reference resale impact, ADU rental performance, or market positioning. Those observations are anecdotal and regional. They are not investment recommendations.

Not Medical or Safety Advice

Articles in Notes from the Boards may reference research on sleep, mental health, or wellbeing in compact living contexts. Those references are editorial context, not clinical guidance. Consult a qualified professional for health decisions.

6. Affiliate Links & Sponsored Content

Home Plans Ideas earns revenue through two streams, both disclosed on every relevant page:

• Google AdSense advertising — served by Google and its partners across the site.
• Affiliate links — principally to the Architectural Designs marketplace, appearing only in articles within the House Plans category. If a reader clicks the link and purchases a plan, Architectural Designs pays a referral commission at no additional cost to the reader.

Sponsored content or paid placements, if they ever appear, will be clearly labelled “Sponsored” or “Partner Content” at the top of the article and in the URL where applicable. As of the Last Updated date above, no sponsored content is published on the site.

The presence of an affiliate link does not influence the conclusion of a House Plans review. A plan may be recommended, recommended with reservations, or not recommended at all — the link remains unchanged.

7. Accuracy of Information

Every effort is made to publish accurate, current information. That said:

• Product SKUs go out of stock, and retailers rename or discontinue items. A link that worked when an article was published may redirect or expire later.
• Cost figures reflect the market when the project was completed. Freight, lumber, and labour have all moved in both directions in recent years; a 2023 invoice will not exactly match a 2026 rebuild of the same project.
• House plans are sometimes revised by their publishers after a review is written. The review reflects the version seen at the time.
• ADU codes in Portland, Seattle, and other West Coast cities are actively evolving. Always confirm current local code with your jurisdiction before designing or building.

If you spot an error, write to contact@homeplansideas.com and the article will be corrected or annotated. Corrections policy: material errors are corrected with a visible note; minor copy fixes are made silently.

8. Third-Party Links

Articles link out to manufacturers, retailers, research papers, and marketplaces — because that is where the source material lives. Home Plans Ideas does not control those external sites, does not endorse their business practices, and is not responsible for their content, privacy practices, or the products they sell. Clicking an external link is your decision; read the destination site’s own terms before buying or signing up.

9. Disclaimer of Warranties

The site and all content on it are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied — including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or the accuracy and reliability of any information. No promise is made that the site will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of viruses or other harmful components. Your use of the site is at your own risk.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Soren Whitlock and Home Plans Ideas shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages — including but not limited to loss of profit, revenue, data, goodwill, project costs, or any other intangible losses — arising out of or related to your use of, or inability to use, the site or its content, even if Home Plans Ideas has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

Where liability cannot be excluded by law, it is limited to the amount (if any) you have paid Home Plans Ideas in the twelve months before the event giving rise to the claim. Because reading the site is free, that amount will ordinarily be zero.

11. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Soren Whitlock, Home Plans Ideas, and anyone acting on their behalf from any claim, demand, loss, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of (a) your breach of these Terms, (b) your use of the site in a way not permitted by these Terms, or (c) your violation of any third-party right or applicable law.

12. Termination

Home Plans Ideas may suspend or terminate your access to the site — for example, by blocking an IP address or removing comments — at any time, without notice, for conduct that breaches these Terms or that harms other readers or the site itself. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (intellectual property, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnification, governing law) will survive.

13. Changes to These Terms

These Terms may be updated from time to time as the site evolves or as applicable law changes. The “Last Updated” date at the top of the page reflects the most recent revision. Material changes will be flagged at the top of the page for at least 30 days. Your continued use of the site after a change means you accept the updated Terms.

14. Governing Law & Disputes

These Terms, and any dispute arising out of or related to them or to the site, are governed by the laws of the State of Oregon, United States of America, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. You agree that any dispute will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Multnomah County, Oregon, and you consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

Nothing in this section prevents a consumer in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or another jurisdiction with non-waivable consumer-protection rights from bringing proceedings in their local courts where applicable law requires it.

15. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue in full force. The unenforceable provision will be interpreted, to the extent possible, to reflect the original intent.

16. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any affiliate or editorial disclosures published within individual articles, constitute the entire agreement between you and Home Plans Ideas regarding your use of the site, and supersede any prior agreement on the same subject.