The Future House - Bathroom

My future house is somewhere between something "farm-y" and "English country".  I love the idea of a straw bale house coated with a specialized adobe/cement coating, and my plan is to remain rather rustic or antique considering this place will be a working farm.

I stumbled upon this beautiful tub, and it reminds me of all the old cartoons I used to watch - the barrel that always sat at the edge of the porch and caught rain water.  I'm dying to try my hand at wine making, so of course it reminds me of an oak barrel you'd age wine in.  Whatever it reminds you of, it might be one heck of a fun splurge on my end.

A Cool Conversation Nook and Oven Space

I really love the idea of a great outdoor space for my future house, and an adobe oven with a nice patio/gathering spot for conversation is high on my list.  It'd be great to have a place to not only cook, but to hang out and maybe toast a few marshmallows on a cool fall night.  I'm not sure if it's the smell, or if there's a good memory associated with fire, but a nice adobe oven where maybe some of the heat is vented out underneath the benches might be a perfect place to relax and let your hair down after a long day.

There are many styles of outdoor adobe ovens, and eventually I'll find "the one", but this could easily be a contender. 

This is a great kitchen space with an adobe oven next to a modern kitchen.  Although I love the design, it's too modern for what I'm looking to build.

I'd need more of an antique style stove like this...  It's a start, but the price is way too much.  I looked at some great modern stoves made in the antique style, but the price was still about $1,000-$1,500 more expensive.  There's one plus to the stove I was looking at in that it takes wood, so I could possibly do away with a separate wood/pellet stove, but we're back to the issue of efficiency, or lack thereof. 

This will take more searching - a baker can't do without a great stove, but where is it??  LOL

Rearranging the House

Sometimes the best way to avoid a mistake is to put everything down on paper and then spend the next few days looking at it.  In my case, I noticed I have two major mistakes in the layout of my house after having talked out a few things last night over dinner with Fred.

The main mistake is that the pantry and laundry rooms should be swapped with each other because I want to keep the plumbing as close to each other to limit the number of connections and reduce the price from long pipe runs.  This way, the kitchen, shared bath, water heater, and the laundry are in immediate proximity of each other.

My second major mistake was omitting where I was going to put the solar battery bank IF I don't build a basement, which I haven't decided if I want to OR if the land I purchase will be able to handle it (water table too high or earthquake prone, for instance).  You always need a "plan B"! 

The sealed gel filled battery cells can be kept inside, but the ones that need to be topped off with water give off gases, which require different a different storage solution.  So what I really need to do is to make an enclosed telecom style cabinet right next to front door (where the laundry room is in the old drawing), and install a small exhaust fan.  I plan on using the gel batteries for safety, but let's just assume I can't get them, they don't sell that kind by the time I need them, or funds run out and I have to buy the gas emitting battery.  Whatever the case - sealed gel or water top off batteries, I'd feel better having the closet exhausted outside.

What are my battery roadblocks?

• The batteries perform best when they're stored between 50-80 degrees F, so an outside box is generally a "no".
• A special outdoor locked cabinet outside wouldn't necessarily deter a thief, and to have a battery bank stolen would really tick me off, not to mention cost me a ton to replace it.
• Batteries stored outside are subject to more maintenance like the cleaning of terminals.  At least, that's my suspicion because they're not in a controlled environment.  Batteries stored inside tend to be in better shape since it's a constant and predictable environment. 

So as time goes by, I'll keep tweaking my future house plans and learn everything I can about how to make this dream a reality.  

How Poor are You?

Sometimes, we're much poorer than we realize, but I'm hoping for the kind of wealth mentioned in this story in the next few years.

One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from the trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad”.

“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.

“Oh yes”, said the son.

“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered:
“I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night.”

“Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

The boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added:
“Thanks, Dad for showing me how poor we are.”

I have several designs dancing around in my head for my future house, and this is one that finally made it out onto paper.  It definitely needs to be tweaked so the deck is facing south.  My other thought is to put the deck off the bedrooms, but then it's not as inviting for general use.  I can't claim the original design is mine, but the modification is.  You can find the plans for this house here. 

If you're into cool building styles from unconventional materials and are inexpensive to build, then you might also want to check this site for more information and tutorials as to how to build a straw bale house for yourself.