What it is like working without our architect?
It was kind of like having a favorite pair of shoes on, then realizing once you took them off how much you like being barefoot!
I must emphasize that we thought highly of our architect. She had great ideas, we learned things from working with her, and she was very enthusiastic about our project. But I guess we were ready to fly free.
Possibly, I speak as the queen again, for the king is the one who has taken over the intense work of designing our dream house. He has, of course, wanted my input. And I think I have had a few good ideas.
The engineer goes wild!
He was very glad to be able to go back and start from his cardboard house ideas. It is good to be free of the constraint of waiting between appointments with the architect, and just be able to re-design at will.
(photos coming below)
Plus, he has actually managed to get the square footage to be 400 square feet less than our current house! We have heard SO many stories, both on building programs and from friends, about how downsizing ended up being anything BUT downsizing! Our architect was having trouble cutting down the square footage, too.
The challenge of walls
There are 3 photos below:
- one of the upper level,
- one of the lower level, and
- one showing how he has been working with the slope/elevations of the lot.
I tried to make a lot of notes on the drawings, but if you have any questions, ask away in the comments!
You can see that he has even drawn in the dimensions of the wall this time around. The outside walls are thicker than inside walls, (info for newbies like me). The thickest walls are cement.
You may notice that we still are not adding the lookout room from the original model. That is because the view of the river here is so fantastic without it.
You should be able to make any of those photos larger by clicking on them.
Monopoly, anyone?
It has been a bit of a convoluted path to get to this point. As recently as this weekend we have been playing what you might call Monopoly, Marsing-style. County politics about building permits on anything that has been used for agriculture was like getting a card that said “pay $30,000 dollars and wait 5 years to get out of jail.” I guess they want people to live in high-rises in the middle of miles and miles of open space?
So, we are just going to build on land we already own. We do already own 2 lots… 3 if you count the house we are in. Greg was just trying to see if he could find a temporary location that didn’t involve traveling over the bridge to Marsing that looks like it is going to be under construction for the next few years. Sigh.
The next steps are:
- Greg will build a 3-D model of his design
- We will make an appointment with a company that specializes in selling framing.
We have been looking at this company, Idaho Pre-Cut ever since we considered putting up a quick manufactured home for a temporary relocation. The deal is that they build the framing in their shop, then show up at the site and assemble it all lickty-split!
They have over 30 floor plan designs ready to order, but they say they also will do custom work. It is possible we could use them for both our temporary relocation and our final build. The trick is to come up with a temporary build that will not be too complicated.
Is this really it?
Well, it’s not over until the fat lady sings, but both Greg and I looked at these floor plans and for once didn’t think anything needed to be tweaked. We also visited the riverside lot again last week and positioned ourselves where the house would be.
It all feels very right.
