Small Houses

Even though the house we currently live in is a three bedroom monstrosity built around the turn of the century (the last one, not this one) I have a yen to live in a more efficient space. I realize that most of us live in homes that are way more than what we need to exist, yea verily, even live in, and with that in mind I'm always looking for smaller, greener homes. I keep looking at the space that we actually use in our own setting and realize that a two bedroom home with a large living area/kitchen would be optimal. A bath and a half is a must though, I really like having a two toilets for emergencies!

Of course if we could down size on furniture or make what we have more livable, the great room would not need to be so great! There are somethings that we have which we would have to keep--Shorty has items that are family heirlooms which we would need to incorporate into our living. Truthfully, if used properly, they would be great additions to a small space living.

So to those ends, I've been on a eternal quest for that "perfect" design. I've looked at Earthships, but after my visit to the Earthship compound in Mew Mexico some years ago, I was less than thrilled with their approach to the concept, or maybe it was the fact that the creator of the Earthship design doesn't even live in one himself! So the quest goes on....

Container homes was my next big WOW. I like the idea of using a prefabricated shell and creating my home out of existing materials. I am one of those who thinks that we as a race needs to look at reusing the space which we have already soiled and stop the outward expansion of our urban areas. As I write this I am sitting in the nearly vacant downtown of Akron, Ohio, and am amazed and shocked at the number of acres that are not being used because it is "downtown". I really think that we need to look at reurbanization of our cities. I digress. Using the containers you need to keep your design plan to the 40'x8' (or 30'x8' or 20'x8') restraints of the container. A single container is not really optimal width-wise and I found that designing a home around two containers in a "L" shape still requires me to add a considerable amount of footage for a hallway. Of course that hallway would be glassed looking onto a patio for passive solar, but it's still not exactly what I want. Here's a really nice site about container living with some cool plans http://container-life.com/. The quest goes on for a place that it IT though.

Today I found this one http://liveedge-prefab.com/ and I really like the "one bedroom" design. I think it would be awesome as a weekend getaway or even a place for a couple whose teenagers have finally moved out. It requires that you get rid of extraneous shit. I'm down with that, but being a prepper, I find that much of my extraneous shit takes up a good sized room in the basement, which includes the firearms that I seem to acquire. Other that that crap, I have almost no furniture that I have to keep other than my grandfathers rocking chair. Like I said before though, Shorty would have to have her heirloom stuff, which would need to be incorporated into the living space.

The question I ask sometimes is "How small can I go?" http://www.littlediggs.com/ asks that question and tries to answer it as well. While I've lived as a single guy in less than 500 square feet, for two people I think that's asking a lot. You'd need to have a space to escape too, and frankly, if both are not "outdoors" people, it would get tedious. Another place that explores the small living is http://tinyhouseblog.com/ and http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/category/tiny-house-kits/ both of these are pretty god resources for not only small living but solar and passive solar and alternate energy sources.

I've got a place designed, I know what I want, but getting there is going to be a few years away. My passive solar "L" is pretty much the place I want to be. I have a vision of what it should look like, I have ideas of how I want the house--passive solar, solar panels or hydro-powered energy for the electrical needs, large, open areas, lots of windows that overlook not only my patio but a wooded area, be it a lot of the expanse of some south-western mountain range and a really nice great room to build a fire. My debate is what materials to use? I waffle here. Should it be straw bail? How about earth banked? Container pre-fab that is earth banked--tire construction like an earthship? The questions just keep coming. I really like lofts in homes, do I redesign the roof so that I can have my loft area? I want to keep the place as efficient as I can, so that means the loft is probably out, that's a lot of empty space to heat. Regardless, I quest on.

So there's my blog rambling. have a great day.