side views

Mary and I figured out how to use floorplanner.com to make a crude side view plan of our designs.  So here’s The House viewed from all sides.  I tried to make everything to-scale but this program isn’t really made for this and there are some bugs too, so it’s not perfect.  But it’s more or less accurate.

south side, front of the house. clockwise from top right: shows windows of four bedrooms, entryway, living room

west side. clockwise from top right: shows windows of kid's bathroom, bedroom, living room, office, sewing room

north side, back of house (half underground). shows laundry room window on top floor

east side with retaining wall and side view of front porch. clockwise from top right: shows windows of bedroom, master bedroom, master bathroom, kitchen (door), dining room, and entryway

more house changes

New changes!

ground floor

1. I removed the side porch and deck, which allowed me to remove the door on the west side of the house.  Then I was able to make a semi-closed office area.  I’m thinking I will have a short bookshelf behind the couch, with a see-through bookcase on top of that, so the office is separate but not totally closed off.

2. I removed the bar w/chairs and used the extra space to make the entryway a little bigger.  It was kind of tight.  There is still a small ledge where the bar was to have a place to put food or something.

3. I made the front porch bigger.

4. I removed the shower in the bathroom and replaced it with a pantry.  Without a shower, the bathroom won’t need much ventilation, so I removed the window too.  Now the north wall has no windows at all and can be completely underground.

5. With that in mind, I moved the kitchen door over a bit so there wouldn’t be such an abrupt retaining wall from the north side being underground.  Now the ground can slope a little more gently before it stops with a retaining wall right before the door.  I had to sacrifice a window above the sink for this (because now that wall is underground) so I put a cupboard there instead.  I’d like the door to have a window in it so the kitchen gets a little light.

6. I put in a little woodshed next to the garage, so it would be convenient to carry wood through the kitchen door to the masonry stove.

7. I added a kitchen garden between the driveway and house, and a larger garden in the front of the house.  Both of these areas will get lots of sunlight, so I don’t want too many trees here.

8. I put trees on the west side to help cool the house off during summer evenings.

9. I switched around the futon and the fold-out cutting table in the sewing/guest room because it seemed to work better that way.

upper floor

1. Because I took out the deck, I was able to make the closet on the west side really big!  It’s got three sets of small double doors.

2. I took out the bedroom closets and put in wardrobes instead.  Not sure if I will keep it that way or not.

We are making applesauce today because I accidentally bought a bag of very bruised apples a while ago.  We ate the ok ones (actually they were really spectacular apples except for the bruises) but there were several left that were really bad.

We’re going shopping to buy toilet paper today, but I just wanted to brag that Samuel and I have not bought anything (except gas and bills) for the past few weeks.  It helps that we get free milk and eggs and stuff.  There are plenty of things that we want or even need to buy, but we simply cannot, and so we don’t.  Samuel still doesn’t have a job and so we have no money coming in.  We can only spend money on the things we absolutely need right now.  I’m not whining, just saying what our life is like right now.  It is surprisingly not that hard and we have become quite inventive.  Yesterday we made dinner out of ground deer, the last tiny amount of homemade spaghetti sauce that nobody wanted, sour cream, and milk, mixed with macaroni noodles.  It was really good.  Today we’re making applesauce out of those apples.  I’ve never made applesauce before, and in the past probably would have thrown these apples out or made some kind of dessert with them.  We get free cereal, milk, eggs, and juice, so we always have good breakfast food.  We’ve got tons of flour, sugar, rice, beans, potatoes, onions, and some pasta, and we’ve been making our own noodles too (SO GOOD!).  The only thing I miss is fresh fruits and veggies, but WIC supposedly will start giving me those in August thanks to a change in the program.  And we’ve gotten some yummy things from my family’s garden.   We also get peanut butter from WIC.  I will be very happy when we have the money to buy some more things, but we’re definitely very well-off right now as it is.   I plan to try and be more inventive in the future, even when I don’t have to be.  It is very fulfilling.

a few minor changes

One nice thing about planning to build a house in ten years or so is that you have lots of time to modify and improve your design, and find out what you like best.

Here’s a new version of the house:

Main changes on the first floor:

kitchen door added (near garage)
masonry heater moved to be in front of stairs (more centrally located)
desk moved to original corner for heater
exchanged grand piano for normal upright, put in front of window

Main changes for second floor:

kids bathroom: door & tub switch sides
added large closet on landing area

House dreams

Note: since writing this my lovely sister Mary has made me a much nicer, to-scale version of the floorplan.  I have now switched the images to these new ones.

While I was in Kansas my sister Mary inspired me with her knowledge of passive solar heating and home design. I used her latest house design and made it my own using floorplanner.com . Someday Samuel and I would like to buy some acreage (at least five acres) somewhere outside a decent-sized city in the Midwest, and build a house. It may never happen, but hey I can dream.

I’d like the house to have a well for water, wood stove and a heat-efficient house design for most of the heating (Samuel grew up with a wood stove–he knows how to chop wood! What a hunk!) We would probably have gas heating too just to keep the pipes from freezing. Also I’d like to have at least partial solar power for electricity. I know next to nothing about solar power, except that it’s expensive to install, but again, I can dream. Who knows, maybe in ten years it will be cheaper.

Here are the plans:

This is a drawing of the side view of the west wall of the house.

The south wall will have the front door, and lots of windows to let in as much sunlight as possible year-round. Solar panels will be installed on the sloped roof eventually, hopefully. The north wall will have very few windows, and will be partially underground to conserve heat. There will be a clerestory window all along the east-west axis of the roof, to let in sunlight, and to let out hot air in summer.

First floor: north=up, south=down, east=right, west=left.

The house is 31×31 feet square, with a small front porch on the south side, a possible side porch/sunroom on the west side, and a garage on the east side (path to garage is pictured). The front door is on the south east corner. There is an entryway with shelves and cubbies and hooks, followed by an open room with a bookcase, piano and lots of plants. On the right is a large dining room with a huge window. On the left is the living room. The wood stove is in the living room in a corner. The tv is in the other corner, computer desk behind the couch. There are windows all around, with short bookcases under them. Further left is a screened porch or sunroom. In the northwest corner is a sewing room, then moving east there is a bathroom, laundry room, and kitchen with pantry. One thing Mary taught me was to have all the plumbing in the same area, if possible along one wall, to make installation easier. The kitchen is on the opposite side of the house from the wood stove to contribute more even heating when the kitchen stove is used (which will be a regular gas or electric stove).

The staircase is in the center of the house. Light from the clerestory above filters down through the stairwell to the first floor, giving the house a central core of sunlight and heat.

Second floor, same cardinal directions

There are six bedrooms (we want lots of kids). Each bedroom will hopefully have a loft bed with desk and/or dresser underneath, or possibly bunk beds if we have more than five kids! There are two full-size bathrooms, one in the master bedroom. Yes, the bedrooms are small, but really all they are for is sleeping, studying, and privacy. You don’t need much room for those things. Again, the north wall has as few windows as possible. The clerestory window will run across the entire house, giving light to the open room at the top of the stairs, the stairwell, and the master bedroom. There is a balcony on the west side, on top of the screened porch/sunroom below. We don’t want air conditioning –again, something Samuel grew up not having. I hate air conditioning with a passion, though sometimes it is tempting– so we will have to use lots of fans, and open the clerestory window to let heat escape in the summer. We might have another wood stove directly above the first floor one.

While I’m at it, I also want to have a dog, cat, couple of horses, an amazing garden, a fruit tree or two, beautiful landscaping, perfect weather, and family close by.

At the very least, when we are permanently settled, I would like to have some kind of decent house on at least 5 acres, with a dog, cat, and a couple of horses. I WILL HAVE HORSES. We had a pony when I was a teenager, so I know basic horse care, and I’ve always wanted to have a horse. It’s one of those dreams I’m really willing to work for.

Samuel isn’t really into house/floor planning, but he is willing to at least look in to building our own house, and he wants to live in the country. He grew up in a house his dad built in the country, so to him it is not an impossible thing.

We’re talking ten years or so in the future, but it’s fun to think about.