I have been scouring the web for "simple" houseplans, because it is a hobby of mine to think about building a house with my own two hands. Please note the very important word - think. I don't know if I'll actually ever have the gumption, opportunity, and strength to actually build anything larger than a backyard shed from a kit. That particular venture was more difficult than it should have been because a)It was frigid cold January rain the entire day, b)The kit was designed to fit on a 8X4 pallet, even though the end walls were 10ft tall, producing lots of irritating connections that wouldn't have been neccessary if we'd done the thing from scratch, and c)It was the first time I'd ever tried anything that big before.
Today I ran across a website for kit homes at http://www.shelter-kit.com/. I wandered around the site for way too long, looking at all their info. and wondering if I would buy the barn-house, the lofthouse, or just a barn (interior work on any option is done onsite). The thing that I keep coming back to is how to make something like that simple, yet functional and beautiful. I also keep coming back to all the hoops one has to jump through in order to build a house. I know there are permits, inspections, subcontractors, supplies, lenders, yada-yada-yada. Then I just think, the simplest thing to do is buy a house already built, that meets as many of our needs as possible, and adjust from there.
Which leads me into my main question: What are my NEEDS? Do I need 4 bedrooms? Could we squeeze into three? If the house had a loft, could we make it a bunkroom and toss all four up there? Do we need a large kitchen? Do we even need a dishwasher? Do we need a "master suite"? This one I can answer in the negative, seeing as we've lived without a "master suite" for all but about one year of our marriage.
Then I think about all the stuff. I didn't think we had a large amount of stuff, until we had to move it all last month. We have a ton! It's outrageous! And in our new house (which is bigger) I look at bare spots and think, "What do I need to get to put there?" It's crazy!
Here's what I think our family needs. We need a bathroom with a bathtub. We need a functional kitchen. We need a bedroom separate from the offspring. We need bookshelves for our books. We need seating and lighting. I realize even some of those may seem more like wants than needs, but to be happy at home all day with homeschoolers, we need access to books and comfy spots to read, as well as a sanctuary from others.
Shonee and I sometimes toss around the idea of living in a very tiny house and clearing out a lot of the stuff we have accumulated. I doubt this will happen while we are still raising our kids. They come with a lot of stuff, multiplied by 4. But maybe our retirement home will be some ultra-efficient, super-streamlined, cozy cabin in the woods.
So, simple is a pretty complex thing to figure out. But I think just recognizing that I don't really NEED all that much will help me as I keep working toward simplicity.
Today I ran across a website for kit homes at http://www.shelter-kit.com/. I wandered around the site for way too long, looking at all their info. and wondering if I would buy the barn-house, the lofthouse, or just a barn (interior work on any option is done onsite). The thing that I keep coming back to is how to make something like that simple, yet functional and beautiful. I also keep coming back to all the hoops one has to jump through in order to build a house. I know there are permits, inspections, subcontractors, supplies, lenders, yada-yada-yada. Then I just think, the simplest thing to do is buy a house already built, that meets as many of our needs as possible, and adjust from there.
Which leads me into my main question: What are my NEEDS? Do I need 4 bedrooms? Could we squeeze into three? If the house had a loft, could we make it a bunkroom and toss all four up there? Do we need a large kitchen? Do we even need a dishwasher? Do we need a "master suite"? This one I can answer in the negative, seeing as we've lived without a "master suite" for all but about one year of our marriage.
Then I think about all the stuff. I didn't think we had a large amount of stuff, until we had to move it all last month. We have a ton! It's outrageous! And in our new house (which is bigger) I look at bare spots and think, "What do I need to get to put there?" It's crazy!
Here's what I think our family needs. We need a bathroom with a bathtub. We need a functional kitchen. We need a bedroom separate from the offspring. We need bookshelves for our books. We need seating and lighting. I realize even some of those may seem more like wants than needs, but to be happy at home all day with homeschoolers, we need access to books and comfy spots to read, as well as a sanctuary from others.
Shonee and I sometimes toss around the idea of living in a very tiny house and clearing out a lot of the stuff we have accumulated. I doubt this will happen while we are still raising our kids. They come with a lot of stuff, multiplied by 4. But maybe our retirement home will be some ultra-efficient, super-streamlined, cozy cabin in the woods.
So, simple is a pretty complex thing to figure out. But I think just recognizing that I don't really NEED all that much will help me as I keep working toward simplicity.
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