Green Building Geeks discussion
How large or small are you building/planning?
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My plan is to keep it as small as possible. I plan to start with a sleep in kitchen and expand from there. I like the plans for small houses that includes an outdoor kitchen so that you spend more time outside in nature, but winters get pretty cold here in Missouri. I am visualizing a kitchen with a sleeping loft above and a livingroom and that's about it.
Kathy wrote: "My plan is to keep it as small as possible. I plan to start with a sleep in kitchen and expand from there. I like the plans for small houses that includes an outdoor kitchen so that you spend more ..."
One of the quirky but I think very cool features developed by Mike Oehler in his $50 and Up Underground House Book, is the idea of a window which opens up to a grill, or fire pit so that you can cook "outside" but remain inside where the conditions are far more favorable to human comfort. I've decided to incorporate that feature into my own home so as to reduce my reliance upon purchased fuels, and to force me to live more intentionally.
If you have not already checked it out Kathy, if you are looking at that small a home you might look to Tumbleweed Tiny House Company to get ideas.. I believe for the finished homes they are very expensive and not very energy efficient, but for style and nifty design ideas they are great!
I remember some Missouri winters.. and all I can say is be glad that they are not Kansas winters.. ! :)
Good luck and good building to you.. I hope that we can all get ideas from one another!
One of the quirky but I think very cool features developed by Mike Oehler in his $50 and Up Underground House Book, is the idea of a window which opens up to a grill, or fire pit so that you can cook "outside" but remain inside where the conditions are far more favorable to human comfort. I've decided to incorporate that feature into my own home so as to reduce my reliance upon purchased fuels, and to force me to live more intentionally.
If you have not already checked it out Kathy, if you are looking at that small a home you might look to Tumbleweed Tiny House Company to get ideas.. I believe for the finished homes they are very expensive and not very energy efficient, but for style and nifty design ideas they are great!
I remember some Missouri winters.. and all I can say is be glad that they are not Kansas winters.. ! :)
Good luck and good building to you.. I hope that we can all get ideas from one another!
We've taken to heart the oft-repeated advice to start small, and that's our plan. We're really interested in clever design elements that maximize space and convenience. One idea we picked up on our honeymoon was using small loft bedrooms with little more than sleeping space, using a larger bathroom that incorporates closets for the family's clothes, so that instead of bringing dirty clothes downstairs to launder and then taking clean clothes up to the bedroom, dressing, undressing, and laundry can happen in one place. Clever storage using what's often dead space is also good stuff.
I have developed plans for homes ranging from 300ft sq to one for more than 1200 ft sq, settling on an 800 ft sq footprint, with another approx. 100 ft sq in loft space. My own size was determined largely by the location, but also by a desire to have a small enough place to maintain easily, while large enough to feel comfortable and spacious. I am accomplishing the spaciousness by having the ceiling rise from 8 feet on one end to 15+ feet on the other.
What are your own plans for space?