Change of plans on the Tiny House! Options?

We decided to think ahead, to keeping everything on one level.... Also the fact Hubby wants to build as much as possible with his own hands, so simple is better...

This house gives us that, as we plan on it being our last home...



http://www.coolhouseplans.com/mobile/details.html?pid=37822

We will be building the basement version though, so we have storage and room for a rec room, and spare room for company as we will likely make the upstairs into one bedroom with a tiny computer room and larger bathroom... Slight changes... And we are putting a covered verandah across the entire front...

There is one other plan we are considering, as it allows for cathedral ceilings, the front is brick on the drawing, but ours will be natural with again, a verandah... It's below:


http://www.coolhouseplans.com/mobile/details.html?pid=38925

I should add the second one we'd have to reverse and would enlarge the bath to include W/D so only the freezer would have to be in the basement.

We are also installing an outdoor wood furnace between the house and shop that will heat both buildings, which is a huge savings on heat

Personally, I like the layout of the first one much better, although I have been stuck in a bedroom that size and it was REALLY, REALLY small -- and that was for one person!

My old house only has one bathroom and with just me it's fine, but when there were two of us it was inconvenient. Another half bath would have been great.

10x11? That's not bad, as long as you only need one dresser or only have 1 closet to fit furniture around. I've never had a bedroom bigger than 11x11 (including my shared college dorm!) until I bought my current house, where the bedroom is 12x12. It's cozy with a queen bed and oversized dressers, but it works.

The bathroom thing though I completely agree on. If you ever plan on having anyone come visit/stay with you, I'd want at least an extra half bath. I lived in a 3b/1ba house for almost 2 years (just zach and me) and it was rough, especially when we had guests!

We will be basically making the house 1 bedroom (with one or two finished in the basement) so the bedroom size in the plan is not the size ours will be, we will be enlarging the bathroom and 1 bedroom and eliminating the second bedroom upstairs. We may put a second half bath in the basement as well, but we are used to one bathroom, until John passed we had one bath for us, John and my son to all share! So one with just the two of us should be heaven LOL

With the first house we would basically move the bathroom into the smaller bedroom and then make the master bigger by the space where the bath used to be..

We also were told this would save some on plumbing because all your plumbing is close together, trying to build mortgage free has challenges LOL

I like the one where you don't walk through the front door into the kitchen. And I love the brick. Brick is natural. lol. A covered veranda would be super. That would be too small for me, (I like a fair amount of space) but it is definitely cute and very pretty. (especially the brick) LOL.

We are going for the "Cabin" look, so brick won't fit the plans, if we were not putting a verandah on I'd have to consider it... Brick is also pricey, both in cost of brick, masonary talent and the basement would need tobe thicker. Were we are truly trying to build this one mortage free, any savings count...

I lean towards that one as well though, now that I've looked at them more, with the living space laid out that way it would allow for cathedral ceilings which would add a bit more spacious feel to it..

Small spaces are not an issue for us, we raised the family in an 1300 sq foot bungalow, and had at one point two seniors and a teen in the same space... When we were first married we had a 600 sq foot house with both kids.. LOL

With the full basement and only the two of us it will be more free space than we are used to in a way...

I think the cabin look is very nice too...quaint and cozy. And you're right...brick is very expensive. Hey, in much of Europe, the apartments and homes that the average person can afford make your little houses look huge. lol. Seriously. I've watched my share of House Hunters International and it's just amazing what tiny spaces people get along in. I think you'll be comfortable since you're already use to smaller places. And that will cost so much less to run in every way. Can't wait to see as your project progresses...very exciting! Will you be on a lake like that first one pictured? Isn't that cool! You could fish right off your deck.