I am designing a new home and one, I hope will prove both to me and others that “size matters” but this time I don’t mean “bigger is better”. My goals are 1000sqft footprint - that means it includes all interior walls, furnishings etc and thus the traditional definition of living space will be some [...]

As a kid, I loved hearing John Banner(Sergeant Schultz of Hogan’s Heroes)’s exclamation, “Flat … as a pancake!” It was the first thought that popped into my head as I scaled the dirt pile at my construction site and looked out across my farmhouse …
Yes, the piles that stretch far and wide represent [...]

I decided I should do a parody on the Kohler ad that depicts a pair of snooty DINKs* visiting a gallery and talking with an egotistical architect.
In my case, I won’t be using some fancy pants faucet. I am building a “working kitchen” and the emphasis is on the WORKING. I have not yet settled [...]

I talk about the farmhouse construction ad nauseam. One comment (other than “SHUT UP”) that has been repeated, is “you could not build this place without the internet”. I’d agree, at least in so much as to say I would not be able to do as much of the work myself and with the [...]

If you are curious as to what bamboo cabinets might look like, you could use the Google image search but that vast majority of what you will find are very stark very modern design - perfectly flat and no character. That would be very easy to build but not my style. So, I used GIMP [...]

I struggled with the quickest way to mock up the kitchen cabinets so I could get an idea of what design I’d like and what paint colors or species of wood I might want. Given the kitchen will last a long time, I want to get something I will like for a long time.
I have [...]

Today I had the “pre-concrete” inspection. I got good and bad news. The good news is I have well respected reliable contractors. The bad news is the plumbing drain lines did not pass.
I learned a few important numbers today. First, the farmhouse is 10,000 feet from the nearest telephone company hub - well [...]