My dream house.

[trof]

This was prompted by midnight armadillo's 'giant house' thread.

I've often thought it was stupid and wasteful (even more so given the current economy and cost of utilities) for the two of us to live in a 2400 sq. ft. house with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms.

The situation:
We live in just 3 rooms 90% of the time: Kitchen, bedroom, office/den.
Maybe less than 1000 sq. ft.

The only time we use the huge cathedral ceilinged great room (combo living/dining) is when we entertain. Maybe once or twice a month. There's no way to close it off, so it's heated and cooled year 'round.

The two guest bedrooms are normally occupied for less than two weeks a year.
I keep them closed off and HVAC vents closed when they aren't in use.

After many years of sharing a bathroom, this house happened to have 'his 'n hers' and we've come to like that. So I'd keep them.
The guest bath is used as often as we entertain or have overnight guests.

My Ideal House:
Clustered/connected kitchen, bedroom, office/den, and two bathrooms.
A connected great room/party room that could be closed off from the core unit.

A separate structure guest house.
Possibly connected to the main dwelling by a breezeway, or some such, for inclement weather.
Two bedrooms, with one bathroom connecting the two.
It could be closed up, using no power, for most of the year.

This is probably the house we'll die in, or otherwise be removed from, so it's a pipe dream.
But it's fun to dream.
Comments?
Suggestions?
Criticisms?
Flames?
;-)

[Raven]

1. I actually got to build my dream house and if you are ever in

SW NH, come and take a look. I live essentially the same way you do...I tend to "nest". I don't have a SO.

My house was built for a 80 year old woman...me, eventually, so everything is handicapped accessible. The doors and halls are wide and I have a "roll in" shower in my bathroom. The house is essentially on one level with a step down into the living room to break up the monotony. One wing of the house, off the kitchen, is mine. It has my little den which I live in and my bedroom and bathroom and large closet. There is a french door so that I can close off the entire space and escape. The other wing has two guest rooms and a bath and that is at the other far end of the house and can be closed off also. I have a mud room...best thing I ever did especially with dogs and I have an emergency generator which is hard wired into the house...also the best thing I ever did given the ice storm here this winter. People who have stayed here say it's wonderful to be in their own space and I like that too. I also positioned the house to get the maximum solar advantage and you can really feel that in the winter.

Have fun with this. I dreamed for years and was finally able to do it!

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. I always thought that if we built our own house we should do the same. I want

a first floor master suite. Hubby wants a house with stairs but I would only give in for the 1st flr master suite, the washer dryer also on the first floor, and the ability to close off the upstairs in the winter. And of course the house would be as green and self-sufficient as possible. :)

[Gidney N Cloyd]

2. 'His 'n hers' bathrooms may be the ultimate key to a happy marriage.

Big houses can be built energy-smart and green. Unfortunately most of the 'mcmansions' we've seen the last 20 years are just... big.

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. And actually pretty shoddy. Really no better quality-wise than the trailer I live in.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

6. Really. I was visiting a friend who was housesitting for a relative in a new development>>>

>>> a year or two back. West of the Chicago area.
The house was big and quite nice looking but I had the opportunity to look closely at the construction detail and I was really unimpressed. I wouldn't call it 'shoddy' but it was like a movie set. The stuff you could see was well done. Look behind that and you see where they saved time and money.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. My dad saw one place that got in trouble during heavy rains. One corner of the building

became exposed and was mostly particle board like my trailer.

And yeah, I agree with the movie set look. Another thing in common with the nicer trailers you see now. Nice, but not quite there you know?

[kentauros]

3. I think you have a fine dream there, and you could build it into reality

:)

I don't get the idea that architect design for practicality. They try to appeal to the aesthetically-inclined without much regard to either affordability or efficiency. You might look at Treehugger.com as they have some great ideas on home design, though not always on affordability. People call them on that all the time ;)

However, they are big on prefab, and that's where you can get things like clustered amenities and a practical breezeway while being green and efficient :D

[midnight armadillo]

8. Sounds great to me!

My dream house is pretty simple...2000 sq ft tops, for our family of four (5 someday?) And I'd build a partly earth-sheltered, passive solar design, superinsulated house to absolutely minimize our energy requirements and expenses. Ideally the styling would blend into the landscape, and it'd be such an odd duck the assessment would be low, saving me on property taxes. I'd add a greenhouse for winter vegetables, and some workshop space could be part of the detached garage. You know, not too big to live in and maintain when we're empty nesters, not so small we're tripping over each other like we do now in our apartment.