If you could design you home again

I liked Ramblin' Wreck's comment because I used to live in the basement of a huge, modern home outside of Washington, DC. We lost electric power a total of more than 2 1/2 months out of the year and a half that I lived there. It happened for weeks at a time in both the summer and the winter. So I learned some things:

1)If you have no electricity for heat, and no wood stove, a basement is the warmest place in the house in the winter (especially if you have snow cover insulating any walls/windows above ground line.

2)If you have no electricity for air conditioning, a basement is the coolest place in the house in summer.

The inhabitants of the upstairs suffered mightily in both the freezing Maryland blizzards that winter and the steamy Maryland summers. We in the basement were totally fine--I even kept a pet boa constrictor alive in the basement during the 2 weeks we lost power in the winter, when the outdoor temperature was consistently below 25 Fahreinheit. (Yeah, don't even ask why I was living in a basement in MD with two kids and a pet boa...)

Basements rock.

In fact, one thing I like about the basement in my current house is that it has a 'summer kitchen'. It opens out directly to the back garden, so you can easily cook and process stuff in the hot weather without overly heating the main house.

And if I could modify the house I'm in now, I'd put in a sleeping porch (screens on 3 sides). So much more comfortable in the summertime.

I'd turn the whole house around so the living area was south facing and the bedrooms north facing. Oh! And there'd be a corner in the living room - it now has three doorways and a fireplace and the corners are all used up. Tough for furniture placement!

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http://kottinthegarden.blogspot.com

Well.... a huge pantry off the kitchen is a must.

Looking at kitchens in most houses scares me. I wouldn't have a place to store food and the kitchen extras I have now nearby.

I would have a 'loading dock' in the garage with a storage area including a set of doors on both the garage side and on the kitchen side. I would unload the truck in the garage directly into this unit and then be able to use the older stuff from the kitchen side doors. No more pulling stuff off inconvenient shelves to get the old stuff out, then put new stuff in the back and return unused old stuff back in front. I really really really want this.

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For we used to ask when we were little, thinking that the old men knew all things which are on earth: yet forsooth they did not know; but we do not contradict them, for neither do we know.

I'd break out the original plans that I designed and had drawn up.
The ones I had before I cut thirty two inches off the length and omitted a 3/4 bath. Other then that I wouldn't change a thing.... not even location. At the time we had it built cost was a big issue.

We have just over 2100 sq ft but with a large family (5 kids but only 4 at home now) and large extended family so the house could be bigger of course.

Money unfortunately always seems to be an issue but the biggest things on the wish list would have to be:

1. bigger kitchen space -we don't eat out as much as most families and the kitchen is a huge part of our life.
2. more kitchen storage
3. some sort of storage closet near the front door for jackets and stuff.
4. a more centrally located fireplace (and better designed with a wood stove maybe) instead of it being on one end of the home. It isn't necessary that we have tons of fires each year but if it was more centrally located it could be more of a focal point of activity for the family and would do better heating the house than where it is now.

We did this. Not due to a disaster but to get out of the old farm house which was like living in a disaster. It would cost a fortune to fix so we abandoned it. We had not bought our land for the house but rather the house was there and we ended up living in it longer than we wanted.

When we rebuilt we built this in 2005 for $7,000:



http://sugarmtnfarm.com/home/cottage/

We've noIf I had to do our cottage over there are a few small changes I would make (1' taller, 2' wider, dormers in loft...) but not a lot different:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/2010/12/24/t...t-three-years/

As we need it we plan to add a tower (what fun, what folly) with other wings of roughly the same size which will be more houses for our kids as they need room for their families. That's down the road. Right now we're finishing up building our butcher shop and then plan to build an Ark.

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

I would have a very small 100 year old farm house. Single story, metal roof, wood stove. Sweet & simple.

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Handmade Artisan Jewelry~ My jewelry shop on Etsy
Lampwork Beads~ My bead shop on Etsy
My Web Site~ KathyBankston.com

Our little town cottage was a carriage house, 14'x20' We added 6' to the east side for the kitchen and bathroom. 9' bedroom, 11' living. It was built out of limestone block. The original 8' door is the access to the kitchen and I cut a 30" door to the bathroom. We poured new concrete floor for all and put vapor barrier on top, treated 2"x2"s 12" apart and wide pine flooring on that. It turned out perfect for the 2 of us. Our off grid cabin was an old forest service building. We put in a concrete block wall behind the woodstove, it is one wall of the air lock entry. The entry is a passive solar, heat collector, mudroom and storage area. It came out better than we had hoped for energy usage....James

You might want to download Sketch Up 8 and learn how to design your house if you haven't already. It looks like a good way to see what a house will look like in 3D.

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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

A simple to heat and cool 1,000 sq ft square home with 16" walls and no stairs. Lots of storage, solar heating, earth tube cooling.

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"Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to the temptation, corruption, and destruction of man?" Hobbs
"I'm not sure that man needs the help." Calvin

I second this suggestion. I can't even guess how many times I've "walked through" my house, before we ever got the floors on.
It's also a great tool for visualizing how shadows will fall, how much solar exposure you'll get, and how to plot out exacting measurements like your stairs...

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

We just did this - build our retirement home. Top 5 Important considerations:

1) His and Her "space" - We each wanted a place to call "ours". A place to do the things we enjoy, a place to retreat to when we want to "get away from it all" for just a little bit.
2) One story living - We aren't getting any younger, and the knees don't like the stairs on a multiple time/day basis. We do have a second story (less expensive) but it is for the guest rooms, rather than daily living.
3) Setting - make sure its in a location you can live with. Not too far from town, work etc. Far enough away from town, work etc. Enough room to do what you want to do...and what you want to do in the future.
4) No carpet - hard to clean & wears out fast. We have dogs and don't have to worry about dirt, fleas etc. nearly so much with tile and hard wood as we did with carpet. Plus, it should last a life time (so be careful to pick something you will like a long time)
5) Handicap compliant - wider hallways, more spacious bathrooms that will accommodate a wheel chair, wheelchair ramp in the garage. Neither of us needs a wheelchair, but someday we might. Two of our close friends do now.

Easy, I would build it in Costa rica....no more winters

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"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
Upton Sinclair

I pity the fool
Mr T

Whoa! Please do not put the blame on air leaks to it being a log home, there are ways to prevent log homes from having air leaks but it starts during the building process. Even after construction you can stop most air leaks but it will be costly and time consuming.

Great minds.......

Our design is also 52 ft, with 8 ft porch all along front AND back.

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It is still best to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with the simple pleasures and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.
Laura Ingalls Wilder

I would keep it the same only add a mud room and skylights on the southern facing side.

I agree with Ramblin Wreck, I'd like a house in the side of a hill, windows facing south. Last year I used over 12 face cord of wood to heat the house, an in-ground house would be easier to heat.

Im at 21oosqft ranch withs crawlspace it is very long and horrible to heat. And that is a very big roof as im going to learn intimately this summer replaceing it! I would love to have a basement about 1000sqft, 1000sqft 1st floor, and a smaler top floor with 2 bedrooms and a bath in the middle like the old farmhouses. Nice thick strong insulated walls, radiant floor heating and hot water piped to outdoor boiler. Small woodstove on 1st floor with alotmof brick or stone to hold the heat.

Ive always had a basement and really miss it that would be number one

I have my dream house designed on paper.
20 by 42 foot, over a basement with inside and outside access.
Ground floor large living, dining, kitchen. Also a bedroom and bath.
Two lofts, one at each end of the house, these would be about 12 by 16.
Center part of the house open all the way up. A cupola type structure in very center of house with windows that can ne opened, closed with a rope/ pulley system. Basicly a cooling tower.
House would have a 12 foot covered wrap around porch.
Heated by wood stove, hot water by wood, cooling by natural heat radiation. Heat rises through the house and out the cupola, while drawing cool air in the lower level windows.

The 12 porch off the back of the house would actually be a breezeway, connecting the house to a 20 by 16 building that would be combination summer kitchen and storage room.
House would be situated in such a manner that mounting solar panels on the roof would be in optimum location.
Roof would be metal, siding would be board and batten. Walls 6 inch, spray foam insulation. Carpet in bedrooms only, rest of house wood and tile.