One
approaches the house down the drive, with the garage on the left. The garage
has a 16ft double door, To minimize the bulk of the garage on the front facing
the road, four 2ft square windows into the storage area of the garage match
the other 2ft square windows around the house. Having a deck with rail on
the garage roof also makes the garage seem less obvious. The arched door leading
onto the garage roof deck is 8ft high and recessed 1 ft. All the 2ft square
windows throughout the house are 6ft off the floor - tops are at 8ft - all
ceilings inside are 9ft.
One approaches the 8ft high arched front door by stepping up onto the entrance
porch. There are two 2ft square windows looking out onto the entrance porch
but they're too high for any visitor to look into the house. The door opens
into an entrance room which has two 4ft coat closets, and two 2ft square windows
for light. A second (air lock) 8ft arched door opens into the living room.
One will be struck by the 26.5ft glass wall looking out at the view. These
and the other windows in the house start at floor level to 8ft high. With
9ft.ceilings there's space to accommodate a roll down blind - which could
also be placed on the outside if one wanted to use a metal security blind.
The mullioned windows conform to a basic 4ft square dimension - or as close
as possible. The flat roof trusses run side to side so there's no necessity
for a lintel (header) above any of the windows.
To
keep the costs under control the house has a concrete slab for the 1st floor
- including the entrance porch and the patio. By sloping the garage floor
to drains under the cars the floor could be level with the inside - making
the whole house wheel chair accessible (apart from the upstairs rec room of
course). Tiled floors (except for the bedrooms perhaps) run right out onto
the entrance deck and front patio - so the living room tiles would run out
onto the patio with only the window mullions screwed and waterproofed to the
floor tiles. Heating pipes in the concrete floor are fed by an electric hot
water heater located in the closet under the stairs. Oil and gas prices fluctuate
considerably, and may do so even more in future - electricity prices will
remain reasonably stable because everyone is so dependent on electricity.
But, in case of power outages, an airtight wood heater has been placed in
a 6ft by 4ft alcove in the living room. The primary problem with wood burning
heaters or fire places is the mess - getting the wood to the heater etc. This
mess is avoided by having a wood storage closet right next to the wood heater
- the fire wood loads from the outside. This wood heater will heat the whole
house. There's an arch over the wood heater alcove, and the hot air that rises
to the alcove ceiling will be pumped through the ceiling trusses (6"
diameter metal piping) to the utility room - to move the hot air around. There's
also a casa blanca type ceiling fan in the rec room above the stairwell -
air movement when heating is most important.
Notice that there's a closet on the other side of the wood heater too. If
one's into minimalist living plenty of storage closet space is required. Notice
also that there's a closet for patio furniture storage on one side of the
patio.
The
kitchen is open to the view - cut off from the living room by a 4ft high half
wall with a shelf on top of it. On the dining side is an eating counter. The
fridge is against the stair wall (hinges on the left) with a counter next
to it. The dishwasher is on the left of the kitchen sink - easy access to
putting clean plates and things in the upper cupboard above the counter next
to the fridge. Above the stove top is a large round vent pipe - vents through
the ceiling trusses above the entrance room to outside. The vent hood can
be whatever shape one desires - or can afford! Next to the fridge is a 6ft
pantry closet. It's fine having an open kitchen but storage is limited without
those upper cupboards - hence the pantry closet - though there are two corner
cupboards in both corners next to the stove top. The dining room window is
also 8ft high - floor up - with 4ft square panels - matches the window above
in the rec room.
An
8ft high arch leads from the living room into a 5ft wide passge which provides
access to a storage room (with pocket door) and the stairs leading to the
rec room above. A second arch leads to the bedroom/bathroom area. A similar
5ft wide arched passge leads from the dining room to the utility room - and
this passage has a 7ft coat closet - residents will come in from the garage
and use this as the coat and boot closet. In the utility room there's a 4ft
wide and 8ft high floor-up window - plus a 2ft square window above the utility
sink. The washer and drier are under counter - counters provide laundry folding
space. There's also an 8ft linen closet - though the 6ft closet in the passge
next to the stairs could also be the linen closet. Notice the 2ft square sky
light above. The door into the space beneath the stairs provides access to
the domestic hot water heater, as well as the infloor heating unit and zone
controls.
Another
sky light provides light for the passage space outside the bedrooms, though
the windows in the upstairs rec room will throw light down the stairs. There's
a sky light in the 2nd bathroom, and two sky lights in the main bathroom.
The main bathroom has a soaker tub plus a tiled shower -and two 2ft square
windows. The main bed room has a walk-in closet - 7ft deep, while the second
bedroom has a 9ft closet. Notice the floor-up windows in the bedrooms, plus
the 2ft square windows in the outside walls above the beds - the beds drawn
are queen sized.
Notice
the storage closets off the garage. Given a wide enough lot a second 16ft
garage door could be placed opposite the first door - with a circular drive
- eliminates backing out of the garage.
Upstairs.
The stairs are 4ft wide - 12" steps with 6.5" risers - easy to navigate.
At the top of the stairs is a toilet with neat sentry box type windows. The
main roof deck is above the living room. There are also two storage rooms
off the rec room. To disguise these doors and the doors in the living room
that open into the wood closet and storage closet, the doors are built-in
shelving units - visitors won't know these are closet doors.
There are no beams in the house - the room spans are all flat trussed - the
largest being the living room which has an inside dimension of 26.5 feet -
big room - especially since it flows out onto the patio deck. The patio deck
could be larger if required.
