What would your perfect home design be?

[countribound]

You are a middle-class homesteader, married, with say, 2 kids. What do you think the perfect homesteader's home would be like? Composition, square footage, pantry space, layout...what "green" resources could you not go without? What about on the exterior of the house? Just interested in the first two to three things that pop into your mind about things you could not go without when building.

[ErinP]

Since you just described us, here's our house:

Three bedroom, 1.5 story post&beam wrapped with stress skinned panels. Full daylight basement for my store and the garage (which hopefully will turn into more store! lol)
Approximately 2000 square feet of living space, including my store in the basement.

I need a mudroom (w/laundry), sewing/rec/study space removed from the main living area, open loft area...

Green: We're designing a rainwater catchment system as well as grey water. I'd like to do solar hot water, but that hasn't gotten any further into the design yet than that.

[soulsurvivor]

I know about being built to last 40 years or more. Brick, around 1200 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, no basement but wish we had one. Really like our new metal roof. Like our front porch. Living in a valley, wish we had a taller chimney to catch a better draft. Really like having the pantry in the utility room, close to but not in kitchen traffic. I like our closet space, good-sized storage attic. House is small enough to keep clean yet big enough to host small family gatherings.

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by countribound

You are a middle-class homesteader, married, with say, 2 kids. What do you think the perfect homesteader's home would be like? Composition, square footage, pantry space, layout...what "green" resources could you not go without? What about on the exterior of the house? Just interested in the first two to three things that pop into your mind about things you could not go without when building.

Well, since I live in SW MO which does have the odd tornado now and then, my "perfect" home would be an earth sheltered house. I'd prefer about 1200 square feet (enormous as compared to the 760 square feet I now live in). I'd put in a huge subterranean cold room where I would store root crops, apples, cabbage and such, along with canned goods.

I have always wanted a scullery, so I would probably put one of those in also. And an outdoor kitchen. I love a huge kitchen (it's where we spend most of our time), so I would say that at least 1/4 of the entire house would be kitchen and I would certainly have a walk-in hearth complete with a built-in wood-fired oven.

The walls would be real walnut paneling and the floor would be covered with the thickest, most wonderful 100 percent WOOL carpet I could find. I'd have a wood stove or fireplace in the living room too.

That would be my dream house.

donsgal

[wogglebug]

Where? What climate?

How much time needs to spent indoors? How much time and effort is worth spending insulating the inside from the outside (mudroom). How much structure needs to be protected from the outside, rather than space just protected from it (carport or veranda for kids and laundry versus tornadoes). A cube shape is more energy-efficient, all-on-one-level is more access-efficient - which criterion rules?

I'd say design for crutches and wheelchairs - everyone gets a broken leg or a bad back some time - or at least they should take the possibility into account, if only for resale. At the very least make sure there's one bedroom and one bathroom and no stairs on the ground floor, and no lip on the shower, and rooms meet disabled access standards.

[Pink_Carnation]

1) Flat enough roof I could work on it
2) Ability to just use a step ladder for painting
3) Daylight basement

[themamahen]

Originally Posted by donsgal

Well, since I live in SW MO which does have the odd tornado now and then, my "perfect" home would be an earth sheltered house. I'd prefer about 1200 square feet (enormous as compared to the 760 square feet I now live in). I'd put in a huge subterranean cold room where I would store root crops, apples, cabbage and such, along with canned goods.

I have always wanted a scullery, so I would probably put one of those in also. And an outdoor kitchen. I love a huge kitchen (it's where we spend most of our time), so I would say that at least 1/4 of the entire house would be kitchen and I would certainly have a walk-in hearth complete with a built-in wood-fired oven.

The walls would be real walnut paneling and the floor would be covered with the thickest, most wonderful 100 percent WOOL carpet I could find. I'd have a wood stove or fireplace in the living room too.

That would be my dream house.

donsgal

LoL I had to look that up.

I would want extra large kitchen with an outdoor kitchen too util room seperate not in kitchen as would take up too much of my space
3 Bedroom minimum 2 kids and 1 for company if needed. definitely a basement and a rootcellar. Fireplace and woodstove AND furnace too. Fireplace in living room cozy, roast nuts, popcorn.
woodstove in basement for primary heat. and furnace for back up (in case of vacation or wood stove go out in middle of night)

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by themamahen

LoL I had to look that up.

It was vary common to have a scullery back in the 1870s and 1880s. It makes such perfect sense to have a separate room to do all the "nasty" stuff. That way the food that you are cooking cannot be contaminated. Back in the day when there was no running water, I guess it was much harder to keep things clean and sanitary and the best way to avoid problems was simply to separate the cooking area from the area where you do all the prep work and clean up.

donsgal

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by themamahen

3 Bedroom minimum 2 kids and 1 for company if needed.

Not me! I don't want people staying at my house. When people come to visit me (relatives included), they stay in a motel! LOL

donsgal

[kasilofhome]

"A work party from Kasilof Community Church has recently built a 1200 square foot house for the MacRae family. Chuck headed up the work party. Jim and Dianne already had a basement and recently bought material for their house, but after surgery on his brain, Jim was unable to build it. MacRae’s have a chicken farm of about 300 birds." from our local newpaper (note chuck's last name removed cause he did not even want the locals to know it was him)

This happening now, it is a dream. It will be a 2 bedroom 2 bath home with a 12 by 16 kitchen open to open to a 16 by 28 area. All door ways will allow for a wheelchair. It will be heated by a woodstove that will also heat water. The woodstove is a custom job by a local it is large 5 feet by 30 inches. This is the 3 one he has made the first one has been operating for 3 winters and only in a 40 by 60 shop open 2 story shop and is only light every 3 days. It is for radiant in floor heat and side arm water. we will have a back up oil heater for when we have to travel in the winter for medical.

The community helped in the planning and designing of the home. the walkout basment will be a canning kitchen and butchering space in the future so that a meal can be done and work too. But for now the only kitchen will be large enough to do both with minor issues.

I mention that because I got great advise from everyone so as to make the home work for our family as well as our area.

I did not want a back up but the men came up with many reason to have it. Some real canning ladies worked out the layout for canning in bulk. As we will be hosting canning parties. The large living area will be for bible study potlucks.

My husband is in charge of the photo taking and he has over 2000 shots taken.

Where we live homesteading of the past is alive and well. We really work together and care about our neighbors. Everyone has special talents and skill so everyone works at what they do best.

So, the dream home is a dream home because of the great neighbors! How many times do we read about the "bad neighbor stories"

[wy_white_wolf]

1. Open, flowing floor plan.

2. Blend with the surroundings.

3. Energy efficient.

[michiganfarmer]

completely underground

[countribound]

These are great! Keep them coming!

-built of cedar
-country kitchen with a whole wall dedicated to a shallow pantry space with lots of shelves
-long term food storage in a basement, which also could be used as a shelter
-At least 1, 800 sq ft; 2 bd 2 bath
-wheelchair accessible
-washroom with a big wash sink
-sprawling front porch with cedar posts
(and in a perfect world- completely off-grid!)

[bloogrssgrl]

I actually live in my perfect home. When DH and I were first seeing each other, I drew for him a picture of my "perfect house". Well, the house we bought is pretty much what was in the picture (minus the turret with cable ride from the window to a drop off point over a pool).

Except for the fact that we don't have insulation or reliable heat. So, I guess those would be two biggies for my dream home.

We have an old 5 BR farm house. Big, easy to work in kitchen; pantry on the way; a little bit of stone and a whole lot of wood on the outside; and a great big porch that can fit a whole lot of guitar, banjo and mando pickers, a dulcimer player, a couple fiddlers, one harmonica player, a sax player, and any number of rhythm section folks. And lots of floor space so they can all sleep over and start pickin' again the following morning!

[Jan Sears]

No bigger than 600 sq. ft. 10'X20' loft sleeping room for 4-6 kids. Master bedroom 10'X10'. Wood cookstove for cooking & Heating. Totally off the grid. (No solar/wind generation) Open plan. Small area for a sawdust toilet.

[june02bug]

A monolithic dome! :banana02:
Very low maintenance, low utililties, and tornado, hurricane, lightning, fire and insect proof! They cost about the same as a regular home to built but you save a lot over time.
We are going to build one at some point.

[Beaners]

I like ranch houses with the wide flat roofs that actually fit into the surroundings. Are they homestead friendly? Not usually. The ones I like usually sprawl too much to heat efficiently in the winter.

I will have plank wood floors. I don't care where we live, when we have our place I will be putting in those gorgeous wide boards that get worn down slowly by generations of actually living in a house.

I also need to have a large window facing the direction the weather comes from. I spent lots of stormy summer nights watching the lightning come in.

And no vinyl siding. Vinyl siding is ugly as sin. I don't care that it doesn't need to be repainted. It has no character and the only attractive feature to it is the lack of maintenance. There are so many ways to side your house that blend into nature, and I would pick any of them before vinyl siding.

Kayleigh

[Beaners]

Originally Posted by june02bug

A monolithic dome! :banana02:
Very low maintenance, low utililties, and tornado, hurricane, lightning, fire and insect proof! They cost about the same as a regular home to built but you save a lot over time.
We are going to build one at some point.

I have always wondered how these fare in various climates. Specifically the ones I am used to where you have several feet of snow dumped on you a week during the worst of winter. And things freeze. And get cold. How are they there?

Kayleigh

[ErinP]

Originally Posted by Jan Sears

No bigger than 600 sq. ft. 10'X20' loft sleeping room for 4-6 kids. Master bedroom 10'X10'. Wood cookstove for cooking & Heating. Totally off the grid. (No solar/wind generation) Open plan. Small area for a sawdust toilet.

If you're going rustic, why not just have an outhouse?

[WindSongAcres]

We're living in our dream house now - 1300 square foot on the main floor with open great room to kitchen and dining room, master bedroom with big walk in closet, full bath, small back entry/mud room with 1/2 bath. Open loft with spare bedroom/computer area on 2nd floor. Walk out basement with garage and unfinished large room (we haven't decided what to put there). It's a cedar log house with 8 ft X 48 ft back covered back porch and 10 X 48 ft front covered front porch. We love our front porch - this is our view from the great room and our bedroom:



Minus the snow - it's a great view!

The kitchen:


Stairs:



It's a very easy house to live in!