3 Stage Home

I have often thought when musing about tiny houses how they would make good starter homes. They are affordable and quick to erect. But they don't leave much room for expansion. It would be nice to start with a small home, with the ability to expand on it latter. This is one design I thought up that might do the trick.

This home is built in 3 stages. The first stage is the biggest, there seems to be no way around this, you need to be able to live in it, and to leave anything (like bathroom or kitchen) out would make it un-usable.
-Stage one would be a small 2 story, one bedroom, a small kitten living room and bath.
-Stage two would add an extra bedroom and expand the living room an kitchen.
-Stage three might add an extra bath room, and bedroom.

Small Home A

The sketch seen here is one of my favorite small home designs, I just really like it. It is The Micro Cottage from Sheldon Designs and is  354 sf on the first floor and has 524 sf total living area. However, I also really like the idea of this house:

But there are no plans for it to be found. So I decided to take the plans from The Micro Cottage from Sheldon Designs and modify them to something that might look the the house in the pict above. Blow you can see my rough design on the top and the The Micro Cottage on the bottom.

Talking with furniture arrangements: The Living Room

When you think of communicating with a room you may think of the standard concepts. Warm and inviting, open and welcoming, cozy and intimate come to mind. But that is only half the picture. What does your choice of furniture and arraignment of it say about you and your family?

In a movie every set is carefully decorated by a set dresser, no prop or peace of furniture is placed by accident, everything about the set communicates to the viewer clues and information they need to know. Nothing simply placed because it merely look good that way. Every photo, every peace of furniture, every pen is chose beforehand, discussed and approved to ensure maximum intended effect.

In most modern homes the living room is the hub and center of the home. It is where guests are entertained and get the biggest clues to your family. What is featured prominently? What is easily accessible? What is not?

Here are 2 examples, they are going to be a bit pointed and extreme for the sake of clarity.

This room is all about the TV, it is obvious anything other than TV is not often done in this room as the seating makes for poor community and interaction.

This room has no TV, and no computers, it is obvious that community interaction is important to the function of the room.

What your room says about you: Living/Dining

In this example, we have 2 identical rooms with the same furniture, only in different arraignments. What you choose to display, how you display it says things about you and communicates to those in your home.

1. In the top arraignment we see a standard modern north american furniture arraignment. We have 2 spaces here, and in a way two rooms that are open to each-other. A Living room and a Dining room, with the living room taking up the larger portion of the room.

This arraignment says "Come on in and sit down and chat. Our family likes to sit back and relax. We like to be comfortable."

2. The bottom arraignment takes the table and features it prominently, there are still two spaces, but it still feels like one room.

This arraignment says "Come on in and eat! The table is the hart of our home."

Grand Dining Room Plan

Black: Walls
Blue: Windows
Brown: Tables
Beige: Table Chars
Red: Arm Chair

Bunk Room

This is an idea for a bunk room in our basement. The room as six 6' twin beds a walk in closet, built in shelving, and a counter with a small sink.

This room plan allows for 6 beds comfortably where normally you would find 2 or maybe 3. This room would allow us to hose large family, and have friends and guests over without worying about beds.


Not only is this a efficient use of space, the room has character. One hole wall is dedicated to built in shelving and a counter spanning the room with cupboards below.

Small house sketch A

This floor plan has a small foot print, and rather then a bedroom a half loft. It features a full kitchen, full bath, L stairs, and a loft. Inspired by my tiny house research.

Tiny House A

I have buncombe very interested in the tiny house movement of late, here is one of my designs inspired by that idea. I am not sure if the stare are functional though.

FloorPlanner.com

FloorPlanner.com is a fantastic free resource, you can create fantastic looking floor plans online. The free version requires a email address, and only allows 3 floor plans to be stored at a time. Many of my vector looking floor plans are made with this program. It is worth checking out even if to just play with.

http://www.floorplanner.com/