Recycled Pole Building Home With Greenhouse

This blog continues to amaze me! It's been a very busy summer and I haven't posted since June 9th, but I still get an average of 30 hits a day! And most of those have been from legitimate sources, not spammers :)

What I've posted so far is the result of sitting around and dreaming about stuff I'd like to build. Today, I want to show you a project Grampa Tom and I are planning to actually do!

The 16'x72', 4 bedroom portion in the middle is our current trailer. The roof and some of the windows are leaking, so we've got to do something. We decided the most practical solution would be to just put a pole building roof over it and then enclose it.

We've been talking about doing something like this for years, but a few weeks ago Grampa Tom was talking to a couple of friends of ours. They thought it was a great idea and offered to help us with it. That is a very good thing, because Grampa Tom and I remodeled a 5'x6' bathroom one time and nearly got a divorce :) Neither of us are carpenters, but our friends are very talented carpenters! Anyway, they came up with all kinds of neat ideas about using recycled materials and we are thinking we can get it done for under $10,000. 

Our trailer sits at an angle, so there is no true south side, but that's going to work out fine, because that means we have two south sides to make into a huge green house. Our plan is to build raised beds just outside the pole roof line and place cattle panels at an angle so they reach from the beds to the inside of the roof line. We will have retractable green house plastic that we can cover these with during the winter and during the summer we can grow vines up them to shade the house. We are planning to find used brick to cover the inside of this area and we'd like to build a rocket fired thermal-mass wood stove for supplemental heat on cold nights or cloudy days. 

On the north-west side we will have an 8' wide shed. We need a place to store fresh vegetables during the market season, so our friend Dan suggested that we partition part of it off, insulate it and put a window air-conditioner in it. Sounds good to us! Grampa Tom thought we ought to close in the north-east wall to provide a wind break. We hope to find a whole lot of used windows to frame into it. We also want to put a mudroom/entry at the back door. 

We were also thinking we need to put large tanks at each corner to collect rainwater for our gardens. A summer kitchen out in the green house would be nice too!

Between the utility bill savings, the additional income we will be able to earn from the greenhouse and the ability to keep our produce fresher on hot summer days, this project should more than pay for itself in a few years.

Here's our list of stuff to scavenge for this project. If you know of someone who is tearing down an old house or a barn in our area, please let us know!

Used electric poles

roof or siding metal sheets

2"x6" or larger lumber

large beams

old windows

bricks

concrete blocks

cattle panels

fire brick

an old water heater

6 inch diameter stainless stove pipe

large tanks for rainwater collection

nice oak pallets for the front deck and steps

Styrofoam sheet insulation

Thanks!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

House Under a Pole Barn

Haven't been posting much lately. The gardens and markets have been taking up most of my time. It's summer, that's how it goes :)

But, the other day I was doing a little care giving job and there was a show on about buying property in Hawaii.  Did you know that the average daytime temperature there is 75 degrees all year long? and that on occasions it might get down to 60 degrees at night? I've never had any desire to go to Hawaii, but those temps make it kinda tempting to live there :)

The farmer in me was thinking if you bought 5 or 10 acres there,  you could really grow a lot of food and you wouldn't need much of a house. Throw up a pole barn roof and build a bathroom, a kitchen and a few movable walls to provide some protection in cases of extreme wind, screen it in and you'd be good!

Anyway, the next day on the way to the market, I mentioned these thoughts to Grampa Tom. He wasn't so crazy about moving to Hawaii, but he really liked the idea of building a house under a pole barn roof, so the discussion morphed into how to adapt that idea to living in the Midwest. When we got home, I was exhausted, but it had to be drawn before I forgot it. I've been tweaking it for the last few days and I have a little time today, so I thought I'd share it with you. Looks like on the last tweak, I forgot to put the door from the dining room into the hall that leads to the mud room back in. Hope you will forgive me, but I my program doesn't allow me to post directly to the internet. It's a pain to do and I don't have the time to fix it right now, but here it is:

This home sits under a 2 sided 72'L x 48'W x 10'H pole barn. The walls are on the north and the west sides of the home to provide a windbreak. The house sits 8 ft. in from these walls to provide a nice air space between the walls and the house itself. They also have garage doors that can be opened in the summer to provide ventilation on nice days. When it rains, all the windows can be open without fear of it raining in.  I'm thinking the doors on the west side ought to be glass like this, to allow a view from the kitchen and master bedroom windows. I'd also make liberal use of solar lighting tubes in this house because I'm afraid it would be rather dark without them. My dad used these at his place a while back and it was amazing how much light they brought in even on a cloudy day! The south side sits right at the edge of the pole roof and has a full length sun room to provide passive solar heat. The east side over hangs 16 ft from the mud room to provide a carport that would fit a couple of cars, a mower and various bikes, trikes or other small vehicles. 

You could make the mud room quite a bit smaller, but Grampa Tom wanted to be able to bring in eggs and veggies to wash them in the mud room so I made it big enough for a couple of people to work and for our commercial sized refrigerator to fit. :) He's also really big on having a huge open walk in shower, so I put it right next to the mud room and stuck a little sink and a toilet in there for an extra throne accessible from the family room.

Grampa Tom is an introvert. Company and grandkids can get a little overwhelming at times so I like to create a couple of basic spaces in the houses I design so he can have a place to hide. The family room can be shut off from the kitchen/living room area if he wants, but the double doors open up the space if he wants to be sociable. 

The kitchen/ dining area has an extra large sink, a hand sink and a desk. I'm thinking the bottom cabinets in the dining room ought to have solid doors, but the top cabinets should have glass doors with lighting so I can display a china set  and that Swarovski crystal collection I've always wanted :)

There are two entrances to the basement, one in the middle of the home and one outside. Grampa Tom is a big advocate of outside entrances to basements for fire safety reasons and just to make moving things in and out of the basement easier. He also wanted an outside entrance to the master bedroom with an outside shower so I accommodated him. You might just want more room in the bath room. Since the bathroom has two doors, I put the toilet in a little cubby hole that can have a curtain hung across it for privacy.

Hope you've enjoyed this little dreamland excursion in the midst of planting season!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy 

Mother's 

Day! 

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

The Farmer/Gentleman II

A while back, I posted a floor plan called “The Farmer/Gentleman”. I decided to revisit that plan and came up with a slightly smaller home that I really like better. The living room and the study in that plan were pretty big, which is OK if you want a big house, but with this one I decided to carve a nice front porch out of those two rooms.

The master bedroom is still nice and big with doors connecting it to the bathroom, mudroom and the study.

The study can be used as a nursery or a private sitting room for you and your spouse when your kids are teens or if Grandma and Grandpa need cared for in their later years.

The mud room has a large walk-in closet and a locker style walk-in shower. It connects to the master bedroom, the study and the kitchen to help you keep the dirt out of the living room!

The kitchen, which is open to the living room has plenty of counter space a pantry and a cozy dining area that opens into a large inviting sun room.

On the other side of the house from the master bedroom are two more bedrooms, with generous closets and a second bath.

This is nice smaller home with lots of room for your family throughout your years.

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Grampa Tom's Favorite

Well at least so far it's Grampa Tom's favorite. Every now and then I come up with a plan that he looks at and says, "That's the best design you've come up with so far." and I did it again with this one.

Last week I shared a 2400 square foot inter-generational home with a storm room, 2-3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a formal living room and a very, very cool master suite. But, it's really pretty big so I thought I'd work on it some more to see if I could shave a little square footage off it. I did it! This one is 1762 square feet, with the option of putting a basement under it if you want more room or just some storage space.

I kept the master suite with the large window seat, enclosed porch, the whirlpool tub that is accessible from both the porch and the master bathroom, the private toilet stall, the huge walk-in shower and the large attached mud room. 

Then I created a large great room with a guest bath just off the kitchen, a long sun room for passive solar heat and another large room off the kitchen that could be used (depending on your needs) as a formal living room, an office, or an extra bedroom that's big enough for your folks have a bit of private space if they can no longer live by themselves . If you don't want a basement, turn the stairwell into a combination storm room/ pantry and you are all set!

This home also follows dimensions that could be easily accomplished by a modular home builder.

What do you think?

Are there any changes you would make to this home?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Birth to Grave Romance

This is the third major revision I have made on this floor plan, but I think I'm satisfied now. This 2/3 bedroom mid-sized home has lots of built in privacy and storage. The pantry even doubles as a storm room and has a strategically placed mop sink. I would hate to be stuck in there and not have a drain!

Check out this master suite! It's big enough for Mom and Dad and a crib when the little one is to small to sleep in her own room or a little bit seating of a few years later. No need to plan a date night out here. Just hire a babysitter and retire into your own little bit of heaven! Off the bedroom is a cozy enclosed porch  that opens into the master bathroom whirlpool tub. I think I'd spend every night out there, and probably a few mornings and afternoons too!

The master bathroom also has a huge walk in shower that is located close to the mud room for filthy people coming in from outside. It also has a private toilet stall.

This mid-section of this home contains a large country kitchen and a spacious family room. The kitchen receives natural light from a row of celestory windows along the hall/living room wall. There is lots of counter space and plenty of room for multiple cooks. A handy hand sink and a breakfast bar make this kitchen the perfect social and/or family space. 

All the bedrooms have window seats. Use both for little ones while the kids are home. Later, turn one into an office and the other into a guest bedroom until Grandma needs some extra care. She will be close to the kitchen and bathroom and can still have her own space because the family and the living rooms are on opposite ends of the house. 

What do you think?

What would you change about his home?

I thought this was the last revision I would make on this home, but I was wrong. There's one more. It's  smaller, with a basement. Grampa Tom says it's better than any other's that I've done. I'll post it next week!

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Jesse's Place

My youngest son is a farmer and he absolutely loves houses with wrap around porches so I named this one after him. It's an  inter-generational home designed for country folk who produce a lot of their own food with a wrap around porch to satisfy his heart's desire! Maybe he'll build something like this by the time I need to live with him :)

The spacious 20' x 15' mud room sports a walk-in cooler and freezer, a large closet, and plenty  counter space to process either your meat or veggie harvests. There are plenty of sinks. A hand sink, a mop sink and a deep double laundry sink make keeping things sanitary easy.

The mud room opens into an attached garage, the family room, the kitchen and the master bath (which has a large handy walk in shower right inside the door).

The gigantic country kitchen gets plenty of natural light from a row of clerestory windows along the family room wall. If you don't know what those are, (I didn't.) Check out the windows on this garden shed from the Mother Earth News. It is at the heart of the home. 

The second bedroom opens into a sitting room that has a private outside  entrance. The sitting room could also be an office or a third bedroom depending on your needs. The living room has double doors for ease of moving furniture in and out of the home.

The master bedroom has a large walk-in-closet and a window seat. And the master bath has a large whirlpool tub!

In my book, this home has plenty of room, but if you have a lot of kids like my boy wants to have, you might want to have a little more room. I wouldn't put a full basement under it unless it sat on a hillside or the basement went all the way out to the edges of the porch. I just have this thing about natural light and fresh air. 

What I'd be more likely to do is put a  root cellar/storm room under the laundry room and then put a second floor over the sections that have the kitchen and bedrooms.

You could put two or three bedrooms and a bathroom up there. This is just one of a few options that might work for you.
Showed this to Jesse and told him I'd be moving into the granny suite someday. He told me I'd be going to live with my daughter. No way! She lives in the city!

What do you think?

What would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Margret Mae's Courtyard

You and your folks will be fighting over which master bedroom suite you want in this generational home! Both feature large closets, plenty of room for a king size bed and a chair or two, direct access to the spacious inner courtyard, whirl pool tubs and large walk-in showers!. 

We currently live next door to my wonderful in-loves and plan to care for them should the need arise. If we were to build this house, I'd put them in the 18 x 14 bedroom, mostly because their hermit son would be more comfortable if he had a little more privacy. He could hang out in the office and living room area. There are double pocket doors between the kitchen and living room that could be closed to give him the privacy he needs. 

Mom and Dad on the other hand have always been very public people and would be quite happy with the semi open family room area for their primary living area. By the way, I named this plan after my mother-in-love, Margret Mae :)

Besides the courtyards and the two master bedroom suites, the other really awesome thing about this house is 4, count 'em, 4 toilets! Old people tend to sit on the throne for elongated periods of time. With four of us in the same house, we'd always be able to find a place to rule from!

Are you planning to take care of your folks when they are older?

What do you like about this house?

What bedroom would you choose?

and What would you change about this home?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Carol's Court Yard

The #1 floor plan on this blog so far has been  Olivia's Court Yard. A couple of weeks ago, I asked my mom which was her favorite and it was her's too. So I decided to do a couple more court yard plans. This one is named for her.

If you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

This plan is a little smaller and I've tried to incorporate some alternative energy into it too. The court yard has a rocket thermal mass stove with a hot tub providing the thermal mass. The court yard would have a translucent retractable roof and a large ceiling fan to circulate air. It opens into the great room, the formal living room and both bedrooms. 

The master suite has a large dressing room, a garden tub and separate his and hers sinks that can be custom designed to suit each person's height. It is also close to the mud/laundry room which features a large walk in shower and a large walk in closet.

The second bedroom, the guest bath and formal living room are grouped together and separated from the main family area. This way they could easily form a second designated living area for an inter-generational family. 

Off great room is a green house which maximizes the passive solar and food production potential of this home. It also provides a delightful walk way from the garage to the great room and the mud room.

What do you think?

What changes would you make to this plan?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Mobile Home Makeover

Got one more makeover of my 72x16 foot trailer. Like the other two, it has sun room with a
rocket stove mass thermal heater with a hot tub for the thermal mass. couple the passive solar gain from the sun room and the thermal mass heating system with a heat exchange pump coiled under the hot tub and there should be very little need for additional heat energy.

Remember, if you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

 

Double pocket doors connect the large living room with the kitchen/entry enabling these two rooms to be one open area or two separate areas when cooking in the summer. A large closet in the living room and the guest bathroom may not be something you'd want, but I'm a pretty light sleeper and Grampa Tom is a morning person. Right now we have his closet in the TV room at  the other end of the house. That way he can get up and shuffle around without bothering me.

The  kitchen is gigantic because I love big kitchens! It has a triple sink washing dishes and processing  veggies, a professional range, a hand sink, a gigantic pantry and a breakfast bar.

Off the kitchen is a bump out that I have put over a basement storm shelter and storage room. If you want more bedrooms, there would be room for one or two down there. The bump out is connected to the master bedroom and the sun room and has a direct door going outside. 

I've been having a lot of fun with these. All of them could easily be built by a modular home builder and even be put over a full basement. I'm thinking about playing with some 12 and 14 foot wide mobile homes soon,   but I have some variations of the court yard home that I want to post next. 

What do you think? 

What would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

 There's lots of great pools and hot tubs on this site!

Red Neck Heaven

Victims internalize shame when called a derogatory name. Winners find the positive things associated with the name and own it. Red Neck, Trailer Trash - hard working, innovative people with a different set of priorities than a Yuppy. It's what I am. Both are valid life styles. No need to be ashamed. This mobile home design is on the fancy end, but still under 1700 square feet. 

Remember, if you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

This home is a 16 x 72 foot mobile home with two bump outs, an attached garage and a large sun room. It incorporates passive solar principals and could be set on a full or partial basement. 

The guest entrance, the garage and the mud room are on the north side. The garage opens into both the mud room and the kitchen. 

The kitchen/living room is a spacious 30 x 14 1/2 foot area. Like all the other living areas, it opens into the sun room to take advantage of the heat produced there. The sun room has a rocket fired thermal mass stove to keep the hot tub warm and act as a buffer against cold nights in the sun room for all the plants you'd be able to cultivate there. 

Off the living room sun room is a study that could also be used as a second bedroom. Off the kitchen is a large pantry and a full bathroom with a door close to the bathroom so you don't have to run through the house in a wet bathing suit.

Way down the hall is a private master bedroom suite with a walk in closet, a large bathroom and private access to the sun room. 

I'm in love. 

What do you think?

What would you change about this design?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Trailer Gold

We have some friends who took an old trailer, gutted it and added on to it. The result is a beautiful home that didn't cost them much.

We have lived in our 16 x 72 food trailer for 15 years now. It's paid for and we've talked about doing this too. The other day I thought, I'm just going to sit down and play with this for awhile. I came up with two designs that I like. This is the simpler one. I'll post the the other one next week.

Remember, if you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

I left the master bedroom and bath that are currently there, but I put a door where the water heater currently is. I'd move the water heater to the closet just outside the master bedroom and I'd leave the furnace where it currently is in the pantry. Either that or just build a little utility shed out in the sun room near the rocket stove heated hot tub so some heat from the thermal mass could be tapped.

One of the things I dream about a lot is adding some passive solar capacity to my home. I probably wouldn't go so far as to put a permanent sun room on. This space could be as simple as patio and a hoop structure with clear plastic tarps that could be rolled up or removed in the summer. I think I this would be cooler in the summer and it wouldn't be taxed like a real sun room.

My oldest son has a hot tub. We went out there last fall and had a chance to play in it. A hot tub is now one of my highest goals! But I don't want to pay the electric bill and the idea of running through any amount of cold snowy weather to get out to one on a deck like they have would keep me from using it. I don't think I have an ounce of Viking blood in me! But, I came across instructions for how to build a rocket fired thermal massstove a while back and I thought a hot tub would be the perfect thermal mass. I could put it in a sun room! Voila! Problem solved. This concept is in a lot of my designs now.

The pantry and ½ bath are carved out of what currently is a bedroom and the kitchen/dining room area are what currently is the kitchen/living room area. I really miss the gigantic kitchen we had in the old farm house. This area isn't quite as big, but the pantry ought to make up for that.

The other end of the house then becomes a large living area that opens to the kitchen/dining area with sliding pocket doors. They allow an open feeling when wanted, but the kitchen can be closed off from the living room during the summer so the living room can be kept cooler while cooking.

I also added a mud room with a toilet room, walk-in shower and a large closet.

If you wanted to build this home new, I'm sure any modular home builder could build this. If you put it on a basement there would be plenty of room for bedrooms for kids and storage.

Your feed back would be greatly appreciated!

What do you like about this home?

What would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

. 

Intergenerational Homesteader

This home is for the inter-generational family that  is serious about producing their own food.  In between the mud room and the kitchen is a processing  room for washing and packing fresh vegetables and meat. It's a little bigger than some of my other homes because of this, but  the walk-in cooler and freezer make the extra space well worth it.

Remember, if you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

When you enter this home from the attached garage, there is a large closet to your left and a door to the master bath on the right. My bladder would really appreciate that! Grampa Tom would also appreciate it because right inside the bathroom door is a large locker style walk-in shower. He could take off his stinky clothes, throw them in the washer and step right into the shower. 

The master bath also has a double sink and a Jacuzzi type garden tub. Did you know that at one point I was considering making a run for president on the platform of "Cash for dub tubs" I really think there ought to be a government program where you can trade in your plain old dub tub for a whirlpool tub. Think about it! All of us would be relaxed and stress free. The production rate in this country would make the GNP soar!

OK, enough campaigning. The mud room also opens into the family room. The family room is at the back of the house, has it's own little half bath and access to the sun room. Double pocket doors to the kitchen allow it to be closed it off to the rest of the house when company comes. 

I envision the roof line of this home like two shed roofs with a row of clerestory windows on the wall separating the kitchen and the family room. This would give natural light to all of the middle rooms. To see an example of this type of roof, check out this garden shed plan from Mother Earth News.

 Off to the side of the kitchen is a granny suite with it's own sitting room, access to the sun room and deck and a door to the company bathroom. I love this arrangement. I've done elder care for many years. Having easy access to the bathroom, the kitchen and a nice sunny space would be such a delight for someone who is having trouble getting around. This home, like all my other homes has 36 inch doors and is easily handicapped accessible. 

The kitchen is center of this home. It opens into the the family room, dining room, living room,  processing room and granny suite. There is lots of counter space. a pantry and a breakfast bar. There is also a handy mop sink and hand sink right inside the processing room door.

The front of the home has a formal living room and dining room. If a basement wasn't wanted, The stairwell could be eliminated and the utilities could be located in a closet along the freezer/cooler wall.

There is a small office off the dining room that could be used as an extra bedroom if you didn't want the office. I put it at the front of the home so that if the home has an entrepreneur among the members, the clients would have easy access to the office without going through the family areas. I am currently the township assessor. In the boondocks here, that is a home office type of position. It would be great to have a place like this in my home to meet with taxpayers. As it is, I go to them. My house is just to small. 

Hope you liked dreaming with me!

What do you like about this plan?

What would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Garage Wrap

This is one of my favorite floor plans. I don't know about you, but one of the things I really appreciate about a home design is a quiet bedroom. Grampa Tom is an early morning person and I am a night owl. For years and years our bedroom shared a wall with the main family area of the house. In our current house, the TV room is a bedroom at one side of the house and my bedroom is on the other side. I am a much happier camper as a result!

How do you get 3 quiet bedrooms in a 1903 square foot home? You wrap it around a garage! 

Remember, if you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

The master suite of this home is tucked away on the west side of a generous two car garage.The master bath has a large garden size tub, a double sink and the toilet is tucked back in the corner so that the walk-in master bedroom closet muffles those midnight flushes  :) 

Just off the master bedroom is a large mud room with a walk-in closet, large walk-in shower and a private toilet nook. It opens out to the sun room which is heated by a rocket stove mass heater with a hot tub providing the mass. It also has easy access to the garage and family room. 

The garage is 28' x 28', leave it as is or if you want a basement, put the stairs in there. I put the door the door to the basement in the garage, but you could easily put it in the family room too. 

The family room is separated from the large country kitchen by a half wall. 

The kitchen features a professional range, built in refrigerator and freezer units, a wall oven  and a large pantry that could be re-enforced to make a storm room if you didn't want a basement. It also has double doors out to the sun room (which also has double doors) making moving furniture in and out easier. 36 inch doors though out the home and a wide hallway also facilitate this. This home is also very handicap friendly.

The east wing of this home has 2 bedrooms that are buffered from the hustle and bustle of family life by the space of a living room and generous closets. A 3/4 bath with a shower serves both the bedrooms and guests.  The living room is open to the kitchen, making for awesome parties where the cook is never exiled!

Hope you've had fun dreaming with me!

What do you like about this plan?

What would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

The Farmer/Gentleman

Grampa Tom has absolutely no aspirations to be a gentleman, but there's a lot of classy college educated farmer's out there. This home is for them. This guy can come in from the fields covered with mud on one side of the house and emerge in a smoking jacket for an evening of intellectual pursuit in the study on the other side of this 2000ish square foot home.

Remember, if you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

The spacious mud room connects with the master bath, master bedroom, the kitchen and the study. It also has a large walk in-shower and a walk-in closet.

The master bedroom has a huge closet and  connects to the mudroom, the study and the master bath. The master bath has a jaccuzi style tub and a double sink for the gentleman and his lady. The study could also be used as a sitting room for the gentleman and his lady or as a nursery for a growing family.

The study has double pocket doors on the living room wall making it a versatile space that can be private or used as an extended living room space when entertaining. 

This arrangement also makes this home quite suitable for inter-generational living that can give both the homeowners a sense of privacy with a buffer "public" space between them and the two bedrooms on the other side of the house that could easily serve as a Granny house. 

If no basement is desired the area for the stairwell could be enclosed and made into three big walk-in closets, one for the living room, one for the bedroom and one which could be used as a bigger pantry than the small pantry that is just off the dining room. One or more of these could also be fortified to become storm rooms. 

The compact kitchen has lots of cabinets and counter space and is open to the living room and dining room.

The dining room has double doors which open into the sun room, which also has double doors to the outside, making it easy to move furniture in and out of this home. Face this side of the home towards the south and the sun room also becomes an important source of passive solar heat. It could be extended along the entire side of the home to maximize this potential. 

This home is designed so that it can be manufactured at a modular home factory and transported in two 16 foot sections. It also has 36 inch doors through out the home for ease of moving furniture and wheel chair access. 

Hope you are having fun in my play land and getting lots of good ideas! 

What do you like about this plan? 

What would you change?

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Homeschooling

Posted this then realized I posted it to the wrong blog! It should be on Grama Sue's Rainbow Farm DUHHHH!!! But I think I'll leave it here just for those who might stumble upon it. DUHHH!

Off on another tangent! It's boring here on the farm right now, what can I say? About 25 years ago I started on the adventure of my life. I started homeschooling my 2 oldest children. After several years, I found myself homeschooling other area kids. I wound up with an effective system of homeschooling that uses little to no curriculum and actually can cost less than the cost of paying the book and other fees involved with sending children to a public school.

Over the years, I've posted almost all of these ideas and suggestions in one place or another on the internet and I've kept a file of them on my personal computer. This winter, one of my goals was to gather all that info into a book for anyone who is interested in homeschooling or who is interested in ideas to cut the cost of teaching their own. It won't be a terribly big book, I suspect less than 50 pages. But, in spite of what the education establishment would have you to think, teaching your own isn't as complicated as you think. I'm on page 12 now. Hopefully, I'll have it all together and ready to sell at the markets and on the internet this summer.

I'm toying with a couple of titles, which do you like better? Grama Sue's Tried and True Homeschool or Almost Unschooling Grama Let me know!


God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue

Gambrel Barn Home 24 x32

Last week, as I was finishing up my post, I started thinking about how to shrink my barn home even more. Here's what I've come up with!  

Remember, if you want to see a bigger version of the plan, all you have to do is hold down your Ctrl button and push the + button!

This home has a laundry room with a large closet and a walk-in locker style shower. Just across the hall is a bedroom with a walk-in closet and a beautiful window seat. The full bath has a large tub for soaking in and is reasonably close to the bedroom :) A large pantry is right next to the galley style kitchen in the great room. And the great room is open to the loft above the back rooms. The loft is accessed by the grain bin stair well. (My program doesn't do round so you will have to use your imagination a bit here.) If you didn't want to do the grain bin and were willing to sacrifice the pantry and the walk-in closet, you could put a staircase to the loft there.

There is also a large front porch and a patio. The porch could easily swing all the way around to the grain bin, but I've been a tax assessor to long. Patios will cost less than porches in taxes, especially if you don't use mortar. I really had to reach to put as large of a porch on it as I did. Most people who want a home this small are looking to save money.

I left the loft open here, but it could easily accommodate a small bedroom or two or a master suite.  You could also open part of it to make a second story porch like I did in one of  the second story options in my last post.  Which, by the way, would cost less in tax $ than having a fully enclosed second floor. This picture of it isn't the same scale as the picture of the first floor, but it's the best I can do. I'm including the picture so you can get an idea of what it might look like.

This plan is set up so that it could be built by a modular home builder and be brought in in two 12 x 32 foot sections. The grain bin would probably be something you'd have to come up with yourself. Fortunately, they aren't to hard to come by. 

So, what do you think? 

Anything you would change?

I'm not sure I'm up to a tiny house. 

God Bless You All!

~Grama Sue