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Has Achieved Nirvana |
The place has all the charm of an airplane hangar, the advantage being there is a lot of it.
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
So I live in a Chicago suburb that was founded mid-19th century and that has expanded over the years from the original town center. We have a whole host of homes in various sizes and architectural styles, from hundred plus year old Victorians, to 30s vintage Chicago style bungalows, to 50/60s suburban subdivisions, to the all-too-prevalent McMansions. We're both feeling like less is more for a lot of reasons, so a smaller home geared to aging in place is foremost in our thinking. We love our town and the amenities so we'd like to stay around here. We've been looking, but only casually, and haven't really seen anything that is tons better than what we have. I should also mention that we have a bad case of inertia.  Anyway, I love Sarah (Not So Big House) Susanka's design style. She did some designs for a small project in a nearby suburb and I went to take a look. It was everything I expected it to be. Here's a bungalow style kit house that she's done so you can see what floats my boat when it comes to the house I'd love to live in....now if it could magically appear in the right location at a price point we could afford that would be lovely.... https://susanka.com/the-not-so...1-of-4-introduction/ sorry, SK....no room for a grand piano.... 
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| "I've got morons on my team." Mitt Romney Minor Deity  |
Nelson county is an interesting place. The Wintergreen ski area is there, as are three breweries, a bunch of wineries, Bold Rock cider, several distilleries ... and other tourist infrastructure is developing. It's also ruby red rural. I think you could probably find a retreat in Nelson that is much less of a fixer-upper. | |||
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| Pinta & the Santa Maria Has Achieved Nirvana  |
P*D, for pique, what about near Charlottesville? It's less ruby-red, it has UVa and associated amenities, airports, etc. I've always liked the area (my sis-in-law teaches at Sweet Briar College), but I'm not at all familiar with it as a place to live. I'm assuming like all college towns the area near the uni is gentrified or overrun with students, but on the outskirts...? | |||
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| "I've got morons on my team." Mitt Romney Minor Deity |
Nelson county is really close by Charlottesville. Charlottesville is embedded in Albemarle County, which is one of the wealthiest counties in the US. I'm sure you can get more house/property per $$ in Nelson county, and drive to Charlottesville whenever you want to. It's only a half hour drive away from the northern part of Nelson County. My wife and I like to go out to Nelson once in a while, stay at a B&B, hike in the mountains, and partake of all the various alcohol producers! Oh, and Sweet Briar is in Amherst County, which is actually south of Nelson county. Nelson is sandwiched in between Amherst and Albemarle. | |||
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| "I've got morons on my team." Mitt Romney Minor Deity |
Well, this isn't exactly IN my neighborhood. I don't see any homes in my neighborhood for sale. But it's just across Hyde Park Road (the access road to the ski area) from my neighborhood and just on the other side of the ridge we always hike when we want to take a walk. You can actually see our "ridge" toward the end of this house's promo video. The ridge contains the Dale Ball trail system, which is a wonderful 28 mile network of hiking trails open to the public. Just Looking This place is in a gated neighborhood that is just outside of the Santa Fe city limit. Plusses and minuses. Lower taxes, but not on city water or sewer or road cleaning. It's also in the highest fire risk zone in the area. This is the kind of place that's about 400-500 feet higher in elevation, with better views as a result. Way too large for us, and $$$ too. If you like clean modern interior lines with Santa Fe touches, you may like this. A little too contemporary for me. Our place is more ... Santa Fe-ish, I guess. | |||
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Minor Deity |
I missed the open house today on this one...dang! This is a flip that was on a double lot around the corner from me. It is known in the neighborhood as the Gingerbread house. They bought the house and subdivided and built a new colonial next door. But this house has kept it's charm..The contractor is very sensitive to its original features and we have enjoyed seeing it brought back to life.  The shutters! They are something that kluurs would like! They are squirrel cutouts.  They were all removed, repaired, repainted and replaced. (Though one went on backwards!! Makes my teeth itch!)I have gone by and looked in the windows at times..that long livingroom is beautiful and they kept all the beautiful woodwork. I expect this will be off the market on Monday. Belvidere Gingerbread House
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| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity  |
WTG those designs are great. Except for the straight-up stairs, yikes! We'll all age out of those! There are lovely photos here: https://plans.susanka.com/plan...plans-2-garage-33473 I was surprised at all the Japanese influences (full disclosuer, I didn't read anything on any of those pages, maybe it's explained?) After seeing my mom's place (when she downsized, she moved to an open concept where the kitchen, dining area and living room are all open) I also don't want a house where the kitchen is open-concept.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
I think Susanka is influenced a lot by American bungalow design. But I can also see some elements that are common with Japanese approaches. The ladder is a bit extreme; there was one in the Libertyville house I looked at around here a few years ago. For the bungalow kit, she does mention an alternative that allows an actual staircase to be built instead of using the ladder. The pics you linked to are for a house she designed and had built for herself, and that was featured in her original book. It's a bit larger (extra bedroom and bath, I think). She incorporated a lot of those elements in the bungalow kit I posted. She's really a nice person. I went to a talk she gave at a library near me and had a chance to chat with her afterwards. I have all of her books, but only took one with me to get it autographed.....  I've lived with an open concept kitchen and with a kitchen that's separate. I don't have a strong preference either way. A kitchen with a large eat-in area is a decent compromise....and that's what we have here....
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| knitterati Beatification Candidate  |
This is right up my alley, dark wood floors, dark windows. Lots of light. So pretty.
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| Minor Deity |
WTG, I live in a 1925 bungalow with nearly the same layout as this. In the 1960's or so, the family blew out the wall between the front bedroom and the living room for a lovely open "L" shaped living dining area. A small addtion to the back increased the size of the kitchen to a bit bigger than a boat galley and converted an old screen porch to a sunroom that added two more bedrooms and a bath upstairs though you can't see them from the street. I love, love, love it. Bungalows are so practical and comfortable. No need of a new expensive architect, there are plenty of house plans online! 
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| czarina Has Achieved Nirvana  |
There's a lot to like in that design, and some ideas I may use! If I were to build that house I would find a way to put in a grand piano.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
pique, here's a link to Susanka's design principles. Lots of photos that give you a feel for her approach. https://susanka.com/not-so-big...t-so-big-principles/ They can be applied to an existing home as well as a new build.
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| Has Achieved Nirvana |
In my experience good architecture is more than just the floor plan; those are easy to find. We went the online plans route with our vacation house in Wisconsin. The finished product was OK structurally, but I think the aesthetics and functionality would have benefitted from an architect. We were lucky our builder was experienced and suggested some changes. Otherwise we would have been left with some pretty major design flaws, things the original architect who did the sell-it-online plan didn’t take into consideration. There are also local building codes that need to be addressed.l It's about all the details. IMHO, a good architect is invaluable to the design and building process and well worth the expense. And this comes from a big time cheapskate.
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| czarina Has Achieved Nirvana |
My realtor just sent me this listing. Hiking out the door. Farm and boarding barn just up the road. Most desirable part of town... What should I take note of? What do you think of this 4 bds • 2 ba • 2,340 sqft home I found on Zillow? https://www.zillow.com/homedet...?utm_medium=referral
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