Starting a New Company.

[Wifezilla]

I would never use a separate dinning room. I like counters with bar stool type seating. A friend of ours just knocked a wall out of their kitchen and installed a big l-shaped counter that is set up for bar stools. Their dining room just gets filled with junk and everyone hangs out around the counter.


Just a side note about building materials, are you familiar with this?
http://www.grancrete.net/videos/index.cfm

 

[Wallybear]

I would never use a separate dinning room. I like counters with bar stool type seating. A friend of ours just knocked a wall out of their kitchen and installed a big l-shaped counter that is set up for bar stools. Their dining room just gets filled with junk and everyone hangs out around the counter.


Just a side note about building materials, are you familiar with this?
http://www.grancrete.net/videos/index.cfm

interesting stuff. I wish they would tell you what it is made of.

 

[dragonlaurel]

You have some great ideas. Those benches sound cozy and I love the idea of having multiple ways of making your own power.
Solar and LED lighting are the best. I wont buy fluorescent bulbs till they stop having mercury in them.
The garage door extend-a-room is very creative, but I'd rather have a regular door leading to a screened porch.
When you're making dinner after a long day, a concrete kitchen floor is too hard on the feet. I love wood floors. Bamboo and tile are good too. Vacuuming sucks- pun totally intended, but still true.
Many of us would want a root cellar. They used to dig into the North side of a hill or make an unheated small room in the basement. The rest of the basement could be for anything.
That food dehydrator use with the heat exchanger is a great idea.

Having the dining table in the middle of the kitchen would really get in my way. A table at the edge of the kitchen is handy. I also don't want to see the cooking mess from the table.

" Because of the living roofs I will be using for energy efficiency and for space efficiency this will not allow for rain water collection. Grey water collection is a very viable option and I will look into a cost effective system. "
Any sheds, coops, and barns could still be set up to harvest rainwater.

 

[Marianne]

I absolutely hated our table in the kitchen, and didn't like the island, either. The island was the dumping ground for anything that someone didn't want to take care of right away. Everyone thought they needed to stand in the 'path' when I was cooking, too. I'd rather have space to have something on casters that I could pull out to where I needed it, lock the wheels, then roll back out of the way when I was done.
We have three solar tubes. With the hot summer temps, we have trouble with them sliding apart. We have a ridge and soffit vent system in the attic that works real well, but still have problems with the tubes. I'd go with the older style ones next time.

Although the garage/outdoor living space sounds wonderful, we only have about 6 weeks of the year that we have windows open. The rest of the time, it's heating, a/c, bugs, wind blowing dirt, skunks, humidity, repeat.

I have thought a LOT about this after I found the thread. As much as I love living in the country, urban sprawl might be a consideration. What about a community that was keyhole in design, with homes spaced far enough apart for privacy - in a large circular layout? Then everyone would end up with big, pie shaped small acreage (5-10 acres?), large enough for some animals and growing space.

I guess this would be Utopia - like minded people who respected others, big community farmers market, bartering for skills or provisions (game, milk, etc), sharing knowledge, willing to pitch in and help the community as a whole with solar and wind, etc etc.

Works in theory, maybe not so much in reality. As soon as you start platting, the government (county/city) gets involved...agh.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

Y'all have reminded me of so many things I have hated and loved about various houses. I could second most of it.

I have always like pie-shaped lots, or anything with a small ornamental area but a large useful and private area. I might even want a private patio/courtyard type area in front since I DO want an outside living area and it's best if chickens and goats don't visit!

I love the idea of a country farm table in the kitchen. Not smack in the center though. Close enough to be useful but not right in the way. It should have drawers too.

My last kitchen was not TOO small floor-wise, but had almost NO countertop or cabinet space. There was a hallway just off that had lots of cabinets that I used for most pantry things, but what I ended up doing was buying those low plastic 5-drawer units from Wal-mart and arranging 8 of those against one wall under the window and topping it with a large finished piece of wood (from a huge desk). This served as an off-center island, worktop, and plenty of storage. I MUCH prefer mostly drawers over deep, dark cabinet spaces you have to crawl into to reach the back, though drawers need to be sturdy to hold kitchen items.

I also need low counters or worktops. I am not tall, and kneading bread or any great number of kitchen tasks are tiring at high level.

One thing I LOVE about my house now is the fireplace. It was huge, and painted an ugly color (still is!) but I discovered it FAR outperforms any other fireplace I've ever had for heating. It has vents in the face and sides. I looked it up and it SAID that any fireplace built like mine is a "heatilator" fireplace, which I guess is a brand name. I really don't know anything about it, but whatever makes this thing so wonderfully efficient is much appreciated.

Oh, and as far as the garage door, which sounds pretty cool -- what about sliding glass doors in the same way, which could let in more light and also a nice view of your outdoor area? If I DID have a moveable wall, I'd want to be able to hang pictures, etc. and it not just be a bare wall -- that would look odd to me. I suppose you could attach them someway though?

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Y'all have reminded me of so many things I have hated and loved about various houses. I could second most of it.

I have always like pie-shaped lots, or anything with a small ornamental area but a large useful and private area. I might even want a private patio/courtyard type area in front since I DO want an outside living area and it's best if chickens and goats don't visit!

I love the idea of a country farm table in the kitchen. Not smack in the center though. Close enough to be useful but not right in the way. It should have drawers too.

My last kitchen was not TOO small floor-wise, but had almost NO countertop or cabinet space. There was a hallway just off that had lots of cabinets that I used for most pantry things, but what I ended up doing was buying those low plastic 5-drawer units from Wal-mart and arranging 8 of those against one wall under the window and topping it with a large finished piece of wood (from a huge desk). This served as an off-center island, worktop, and plenty of storage. I MUCH prefer mostly drawers over deep, dark cabinet spaces you have to crawl into to reach the back, though drawers need to be sturdy to hold kitchen items.

I also need low counters or worktops. I am not tall, and kneading bread or any great number of kitchen tasks are tiring at high level.

One thing I LOVE about my house now is the fireplace. It was huge, and painted an ugly color (still is!) but I discovered it FAR outperforms any other fireplace I've ever had for heating. It has vents in the face and sides. I looked it up and it SAID that any fireplace built like mine is a "heatilator" fireplace, which I guess is a brand name. I really don't know anything about it, but whatever makes this thing so wonderfully efficient is much appreciated.

Oh, and as far as the garage door, which sounds pretty cool -- what about sliding glass doors in the same way, which could let in more light and also a nice view of your outdoor area? If I DID have a moveable wall, I'd want to be able to hang pictures, etc. and it not just be a bare wall -- that would look odd to me. I suppose you could attach them someway though?

I have worked in kitchens that had bread counters.
Its a section that is set about a foot lower then standard, to allow for kneading bread with ease.

 

[Shiloh Acres]

That's about the height of my makeshift table.

I originally thought I'd build a fold-away table attached to the wall there, but my storage drawer/desk wall table was great. About 3 foot by 4 foot, a foot lower than countertops. A GREAT work surface and all storage drawers underneath except a very small extra dead space in center.

Oh, one other thing I loved there, there had been a fold-away ironing board in the kitchen, so there was this tall shallow cupboard. PERFECT for spices. I just LOVED opening that door and smelling all those spices. I have a good sense of smell, but I'd never smelled my spice cupboard like I did there. It might sound silly, but I loved it so much it was going to be one of the top things I'd miss if I moved away.

I don't know how practical it would be to implement, and mine was on a bare wall about 2-3 steps from the stove and 2 steps from my worktable, so not practical itself. But I sure loved it!!!

 

[Shiloh Acres]

I did just think of something else. I've never had it, but someone posted I think on this board and I've considered building one.

It was extra hidden storage for canning jars. It looks like someone took advantage of the dead space in an interior wall and removed the drywall to expose the studs. It made a great place for building shelves for canning jars. You could easily hang a quilt over it to hide the jars.

Come to think of it, I have a pretty big DVD collection I don't want to look at. Hmmmm ...

And I may be mis-remembering the exact details, because the picture I have in my mind MAY be what I'd envision it like if I did it in this house. But that the gist of it anyway.

 

[Marianne]

I have a friend that has the same set up, but with cabinet doors over the front. She has an insanely little kitchen, so they used the space between the studs in a near by area. It looks just like the kitchen cabinets until you open the doors. Then the 'shelves' are just one can deep. Sure gave her some much needed space.

While we are making the wish list, can I please have a bathroom vanity that is taller??? Something that is made more for grown up people? My aunt (5' 10" tall) actually had a huge argument with a contractor because she wanted the bathroom vanity built up on 2x4's. With a 6' 7" tall son, he was bending over practically to his knees to wash his face every morning.

Okay, now I'm nitpicking. Way back someone wanted a house for $90 a square foot or less. By picking up stuff on clearance, mixing miscolored paints ($5 a gallon), etc, we have kept our house project around $43 a square foot. That includes buried electrical and any labor costs, but the bulk of it we have done ourselves. It's not finished yet, but we'll come in way below $70 per foot, I bet. And we have a lot of features that new houses don't have - radiant heat, wood burning furnace, and more.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

I did just think of something else. I've never had it, but someone posted I think on this board and I've considered building one.

It was extra hidden storage for canning jars. It looks like someone took advantage of the dead space in an interior wall and removed the drywall to expose the studs. It made a great place for building shelves for canning jars. You could easily hang a quilt over it to hide the jars.

Come to think of it, I have a pretty big DVD collection I don't want to look at. Hmmmm ...

And I may be mis-remembering the exact details, because the picture I have in my mind MAY be what I'd envision it like if I did it in this house. But that the gist of it anyway.

I think Kerry Ann over at www.cookingtf.com has pictures on doing just that for extra food storage.