October 1, 2006
Well, good news! We received our septic and driveway permits. Now we just need to get our building permit. Kirk and I worked on our house plans on Saturday and they are coming along nicely. We expect to be able to submit them sometime in the next couple of weeks. It’s coming together even though it’s been really hard to go through so many iterations of plans trying to work out how much square footage we need and how to fit everything into that space. You would not believe how many house plans we have made. Kirk actually started a set at Pole and we came up with several different plans while there. Then after coming back to our property and actually living there for the summer we changed our minds about many things. That’s the great thing about actually living on your property prior to building though is figuring out what will work best at the site through witnessing the weather, the natural light at different times of the day and just getting a general feel for how it will be to actually live there permanently.
We started with a rectangular design with about 1000 square feet of space including 2 bedrooms and one bathroom. We like the idea of the living, dining and kitchen being all part of an open type space. This is because I am a very social person and enjoy throwing parties. Having an open kitchen that communicates with the rest of the living space just feels right since that is typically where a party tends to congregate. So we started with those thoughts in mind and I think I made at least 100 different floor plans. Our architect friends gave us their input and told me that my plans were a little too crammed. They also gave us some great plan ideas. Then I had a friend email me a website with plans of some modern prefabed homes. I loved the plans! So I took one of those floorplans and modified it to our liking. As of yesterday I think I finally have it the way we want it. It took a long time to figure it all out, but with a lot of other people’s input and our own ideas we sorted it out. Now I just need to get the final details on the drawings in order to submit them. It looks like we’ll have to have a structural stamp for our foundation and roof plans, but thankfully we have a couple of friends that will do that for us. We ended up with a plan that is about 1400 square feet of exterior space and 1200 square feet of interior space. We managed to put in 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a loft. It will be a modern looking house with 2 flat roofed spaces split by a high walled entry area with a shed roof in between. We think it will be beautiful and very functional for us.
The foundation will be slab on grade so we won’t have a crawlspace or a basement. That’s just fine with us though because for a solar home it actually works better to have a slab on grade foundation that is insulated. It also isn’t really worth it to us to pay extra for square footage that will only be for storage anyway. We plan on making our garage big enough for plenty of storage and we’ll have our 8x12 shed as well. Our philosophy has become that the more space you have the more you fill it with "stuff". We already have enough "stuff" and we really don’t feel it’s necessary to acquire more. It’s funny though. Everyone seems to think that when you build a house it should be your Barbie Mansion Dreamhouse. That just doesn’t fit our lifestyle. As you probably have figured out by now we are kind of minimalists. We are also trying to do this without a mortgage. The whole idea of owning a house free and clear is very appealing. We look at it as we traded our lives of quantity in Denver for lives of quality here in Buena Vista. We hope to only have to work part time so that we can go out and enjoy the big playground of outdoor opportunities that surround us. We can’t wait to leave a message on our phone saying, "You’ll have to call us back tomorrow...it’s a powder day!". This is the life we dreamed of while at Pole. Now it’s finally happening. Sometimes it’s surreal and we think, "Oh my gosh, what if this is all a dream and I’ll wake up back at Pole." Ugh! But then we look around us and realize it really is happening. I know sometimes I make it seem like everything is so great. Well, honestly we have our struggles just like everyone else. But it does feel so good to appreciate what life has given us now knowing how low we can actually feel like we did at Pole for our second year. In the end Pole gave us a better outlook on everything here despite the hardships of every day life. I don’t regret going to Pole for that reason, but I know now that I would never go back. I wasn’t so sure about that when we were about to leave Pole and even while we traveled. But after being home I realize that I want some roots. I want to unpack our stuff out of our storage unit and have a house and home to call our own.
My sister and I were talking and she said, "You and Kirk certainly haven’t chosen the easiest path for your first couple years of marriage." Isn’t that the truth! But in our challenges we feel great accomplishment. Sometimes we get muddled in the process, but we always seem to make it through. I guess we both like to challenge ourselves and we’ve found that we enjoy experiencing life in an unconventional way. Occasionally it gets to me and I get impatient. I mean, I’m very ready to have a house, but I’m not ready to move out of the tepee into a rental situation. Everyone keeps asking us how long we’re planning on sticking it out there. We don’t know, but certainly as long as we can. Yes, sometimes it’s inconvenient and sometimes it’s chilly, but it’s also wonderful to wake up everyday knowing the land you are standing on is yours. No one can take it away, you don’t owe anyone for it and it’s surrounded by beauty. That’s what makes it so worth it to live in the tepee. I honestly think we would get depressed if we move out and move into a rental house in town. It’s not that we’re not willing to. If it gets cold enough we’ll do it. We have heard of other people living in tepees (and I’m not talking about Indians) through the winter, so realistically we think we can too. My dad thinks I should have been born in the pioneer days. I think that’s hilarious. I’m not a pioneer by any means and I’m not really all that tough. I think the American people’s visions of life nowadays are just watered down with materialism and necessities that really aren’t necessary. All we really need in life is food, water, clothing, shelter and heat. We have all of those things. We cook our meals in our shed on our campstove. We have several 5 gallon jugs that we fill with water at the park in town (for free..yes we’re dirtbags) and haul up to our land. We have plenty of clothing and lots and lots of fleece. We have a tepee and a shed for shelter and we heat the tepee with the patio heater. We also have several down sleeping bags for warmth. So there you have it. All the basics are covered.
We started with a rectangular design with about 1000 square feet of space including 2 bedrooms and one bathroom. We like the idea of the living, dining and kitchen being all part of an open type space. This is because I am a very social person and enjoy throwing parties. Having an open kitchen that communicates with the rest of the living space just feels right since that is typically where a party tends to congregate. So we started with those thoughts in mind and I think I made at least 100 different floor plans. Our architect friends gave us their input and told me that my plans were a little too crammed. They also gave us some great plan ideas. Then I had a friend email me a website with plans of some modern prefabed homes. I loved the plans! So I took one of those floorplans and modified it to our liking. As of yesterday I think I finally have it the way we want it. It took a long time to figure it all out, but with a lot of other people’s input and our own ideas we sorted it out. Now I just need to get the final details on the drawings in order to submit them. It looks like we’ll have to have a structural stamp for our foundation and roof plans, but thankfully we have a couple of friends that will do that for us. We ended up with a plan that is about 1400 square feet of exterior space and 1200 square feet of interior space. We managed to put in 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a loft. It will be a modern looking house with 2 flat roofed spaces split by a high walled entry area with a shed roof in between. We think it will be beautiful and very functional for us.
The foundation will be slab on grade so we won’t have a crawlspace or a basement. That’s just fine with us though because for a solar home it actually works better to have a slab on grade foundation that is insulated. It also isn’t really worth it to us to pay extra for square footage that will only be for storage anyway. We plan on making our garage big enough for plenty of storage and we’ll have our 8x12 shed as well. Our philosophy has become that the more space you have the more you fill it with "stuff". We already have enough "stuff" and we really don’t feel it’s necessary to acquire more. It’s funny though. Everyone seems to think that when you build a house it should be your Barbie Mansion Dreamhouse. That just doesn’t fit our lifestyle. As you probably have figured out by now we are kind of minimalists. We are also trying to do this without a mortgage. The whole idea of owning a house free and clear is very appealing. We look at it as we traded our lives of quantity in Denver for lives of quality here in Buena Vista. We hope to only have to work part time so that we can go out and enjoy the big playground of outdoor opportunities that surround us. We can’t wait to leave a message on our phone saying, "You’ll have to call us back tomorrow...it’s a powder day!". This is the life we dreamed of while at Pole. Now it’s finally happening. Sometimes it’s surreal and we think, "Oh my gosh, what if this is all a dream and I’ll wake up back at Pole." Ugh! But then we look around us and realize it really is happening. I know sometimes I make it seem like everything is so great. Well, honestly we have our struggles just like everyone else. But it does feel so good to appreciate what life has given us now knowing how low we can actually feel like we did at Pole for our second year. In the end Pole gave us a better outlook on everything here despite the hardships of every day life. I don’t regret going to Pole for that reason, but I know now that I would never go back. I wasn’t so sure about that when we were about to leave Pole and even while we traveled. But after being home I realize that I want some roots. I want to unpack our stuff out of our storage unit and have a house and home to call our own.
My sister and I were talking and she said, "You and Kirk certainly haven’t chosen the easiest path for your first couple years of marriage." Isn’t that the truth! But in our challenges we feel great accomplishment. Sometimes we get muddled in the process, but we always seem to make it through. I guess we both like to challenge ourselves and we’ve found that we enjoy experiencing life in an unconventional way. Occasionally it gets to me and I get impatient. I mean, I’m very ready to have a house, but I’m not ready to move out of the tepee into a rental situation. Everyone keeps asking us how long we’re planning on sticking it out there. We don’t know, but certainly as long as we can. Yes, sometimes it’s inconvenient and sometimes it’s chilly, but it’s also wonderful to wake up everyday knowing the land you are standing on is yours. No one can take it away, you don’t owe anyone for it and it’s surrounded by beauty. That’s what makes it so worth it to live in the tepee. I honestly think we would get depressed if we move out and move into a rental house in town. It’s not that we’re not willing to. If it gets cold enough we’ll do it. We have heard of other people living in tepees (and I’m not talking about Indians) through the winter, so realistically we think we can too. My dad thinks I should have been born in the pioneer days. I think that’s hilarious. I’m not a pioneer by any means and I’m not really all that tough. I think the American people’s visions of life nowadays are just watered down with materialism and necessities that really aren’t necessary. All we really need in life is food, water, clothing, shelter and heat. We have all of those things. We cook our meals in our shed on our campstove. We have several 5 gallon jugs that we fill with water at the park in town (for free..yes we’re dirtbags) and haul up to our land. We have plenty of clothing and lots and lots of fleece. We have a tepee and a shed for shelter and we heat the tepee with the patio heater. We also have several down sleeping bags for warmth. So there you have it. All the basics are covered.
posted by Kirk & Jodi Roberts at 7:55 AM
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