Why it's not a Tiny House

I designed the floor plan of the house that we're building. I used Punch Pro design software and spent many pleasurable hours (over many years) trying first one layout then another. Different sizes of home, building styles, and floor layouts were tried and discarded before I finalized the current plan.

I then took those floor plans to our architect so that he could turn them into something that would not fall down around our ears. After all, I'm an accountant, not a builder. I didn't know codes or building requirements. What I did know is what I wanted in the home we were going to live in for many years to come.

The tiny house movement has been alive and well for many of the years in which I've been designing. And when we built the Nest we did so with economy of space in mind. It's interior room is 12'x12' and it has an 8' porch. With the loft space over the porch we've been perfectly comfortable in this small space while we worked on site prep for the main house.

And although we've occasionally played with the idea of moving into it, that wasn't realistic for us. It simply wasn't the way we wanted to live. We believe there are reasons to live in a larger space - now I'm not talking about a McMansion of 4,000 sq ft - but if you're going to live somewhere for a long time, if you're going to invest man-hours and money in building it, then you should make sure it satisfies your wants and desires. When I read about people in their tiny houses, I find myself wondering - how long will they be happy there? And I realize that, for me, the answer would be "not long".

The Beech House will be 1,760 sq ft. Certainly not huge, but not exactly tiny either. Within that square footage it will have a kitchen that will fit all of my family when we get together for Family Baking Day; a dream pantry my cooking and baking supplies as well as the canning that I do; a room for music equipment and instruments, art supplies and drafting tables, as well as the electronics that make life more fun. Are any of those things necessary? Nope.

But we wanted space for the way we live - which is why we'll have a covered porch that runs the entire length of the house as well as a screened upper deck over the attached garage. Indoor and outdoor living areas designed to satisfy not only the basics, but the way we truly live.

A tiny house? No - but the right size for us.

And it begins

The meeting with the architect went well and we've already had the site visit. In case anyone is wondering how we found him, we asked another trusted contractor who he likes to work with. Still had to do an interview to make sure we going to be able to work together, but it gave us a jump start. We also met with another architect to get a comparison quote and see who we liked better.

Now we're picking windows and doors to establish opening sizes before he starts to draw up the plans. We want to minimize changes after the initial design so we've also been doing a last minute "are we sure we have everything where we want it" review. And we've added a thing or two that would make a difference in the design. For example, we want a utility sink in the garage and will run a pipe off that up to the second floor porch for water use up there (I'm thinking outdoor bathtub!). This is key because we're building on a slab and need to have it in the design for waste and water lines.

Heading to the Home Show on Friday to check things out and get some info on solar heating and radiant floor systems. Woo-hoo!

Professionals

I've designed (and redesigned and designed again) our floor plans over the last several years. We'd talked about building a home for quite a while and I purchased the Punch landscape and building software so that I could play around with designs. It actually become quite relaxing, a definite creative departure from my normal analytic routine. Some designs were fanciful and had no hope of getting built; most incorporated layout ideas based on the many houses in which we've lived.

We've chosen the building style and I've designed a floor plan that we think will satisfy our lifestyle and the site. Now we need blueprints to actually get construction started so we're heading to the architect's office on Monday. I'm sure he'll have suggestions to improve the layout and I'll have to be very careful not to get defensive. After all, I've spent years fine-tuning this. But that's why you go to professionals, after all. To make sure your stair well actually does fit in the space you've allotted and that the trusses can span the building width without all those pesky interior walls.

Winter is the time to relax (and plan)

Okay, basically caught up to the right time frame. It's now the season to finalize plans and get ready for the building year to come.
We need to get my floor plans to somebody who can draw up the blueprints as step one. Then we'll start the permitting process and get going with contractors. Lots to do. We've already started speaking with SIP manufacturers (that whole walk before you can crawl mentality coming back to haunt us). They've been extremely kind and helpful about telling us where we should start (crawling). We'll get back to them soon I'm sure.
But for now, we'll sit back, enjoy the fire pit, and do some skiing once the snow starts.

Happy New Year and may 2012 be productive and full of family and friends.