Possibilities

It’s been about five months since I moved out of the last garage I lived in and into an actual house. I might have made some bold statement at that time about, you know, never living in a garage again. I mean, the mice were fun and all, but other than that it’s just a lot of stuff crammed into an itty bitty living space.

And this is the part where I strongly consider eating my words.

The question that’s been plaguing me most since I knew I’d be leaving the Memorial House behind in MysteryMan’s capable hands is, what’s next?

I’ve considered spending a year or so fixing up a house to flip, or spending more time to fix up a house to live in for a while. I know I’m definitely not up for the challenge of building a whole other house right now (I have to sleep sometime) but it’s occurred to me that I might be able to build something a little smaller. It’s just me, the cat, and my 4,678 power tools, after all. (And if I’m lucky, a couple of little donkeys.)  And then maybe sometime in the future when I’m sufficiently recovered from this little adventure I can add a house on to it.

So for those of you who get as excited about floor plans possibilities as I do, here are a couple of options I’ve been mulling over…

This barn-like plan has two covered areas (hey, donkeys like covered areas) and a one bedroom apartment upstairs with a “clay” space, which sounds much more fun than a kitchen.

Here’s a larger kit-barn plan with several stalls, or possible garage area on the bottom floor, and a 1200sf living space in the loft. It may be a little excessive, but a girl can dream.

 

And this one that has a garage, shop space, and covered working area on the first floor, and a decent sized loft (with its own bedroom) on the top floor. The nice big space for the tools makes my heart feel all warm and fuzzy.

I haven’t decided what direction I’m going to take when the time comes, but it never hurts to have some floor plans in your back pocket.

19 Responses

  1. Oh man, K. These are too perfect. At first I wasn’t sure what you had in mind, but looking at the floor plans (and yes, I too have an affinity for admiring and daydreaming over floor plans) I’ve decided that this is DEFINITELY a reasonable possibility for you. If you have the means to do it, I’d say go for it. You’ve got the house-building experience under your belt already that this type of project would be a good “starting over/new beginnings” activity. But where would you stay while you build it? Would you look for another plot of land with a small garage-like building on it?

    1. Nicole, you identified the crux of the problem… I actually think I would hire a crew to build the garage, but it still wouldn’t be until spring. Clearly I’m still figuring out the details!

  2. A Kit-barn? really? Hahahaha – perfection!

    That last one is sooo freakin charming… that balcony?! Seriously adorable.

    1. I know, right? Made for me. I’m not good at assembling things with instructions though, so maybe not…

      1. Obviously you need a Kit-kit-barn, rather than a standard-kit-barn. The instructions would be something like “Now get out a wide variety of power tools, and go to town!”

  3. My house is less than 1200sf – you wouldn’t need to build a house later if you choose the one in the middle!

    So how close to Katy & Brandon and that empty lot are you???

    1. I love looking at floor plans – had to come back and look some more!

      I like the fact on the first one that you could modify it to access the stairs from inside the garage – might be nice to park in the garage & not have to go back outside to get to the living quarters.

    2. Right now I’m about 30 minutes away from the Turtle house, and that empty lot is somewhere in the middle.

      I agree, 1200 SF is way more than enough, but I’d like to tackle a whole house by hand one day which is why I’m looking for something smaller now. Also, indoor stairs are definitely a must.

  4. Cheryl, I was going to comment about the same thing – my family of four lives comfortably (well, maybe not so comfortably now that the boys are adult-sized) in 1,100 sq ft, so that second plan could be for the long-term. We have looked at similar plans for years as we considered a garage apartment addition to augment our space! Never got around to actually doing anything though, and with the boys on road to moving out, maybe we’ll just tuck in and enjoy our little house. All the best as you dream/plan/do!

    1. I’m half tempted to do that! Just drive around the country and work on other people projects for a while… lol. I’d totally live in your closet!

  5. Kit, I love the 1200 sf most because though it may seem large to you for just you, what’s to prevent you from using it as income property when you build your house or turning the whole second floor into a 1200 sf workshop and keeping the heavy machinery (riding lawnmower, truck, some small yellow Tonka machines – LOL) & donkeys in the lower level? I live in a 2 story Cape style home that’s 1280 sf and it’s not a big as you might think!

  6. i’ve been drooling over floorplans since i was a kid, so thanks for those. totally charming. yes, build your own little place. maybe a barn-raising party?!?
    if you go with the 1200′ one, consider adding a second bath beneath the bath. handy with overnight guests.

  7. My first “fixer-upper” was a 526 sqft house on 1/4 acre out in the boonies. It was just me and my cat, and it was perfect. Small enough to afford to fix it up real nice and still have time to garden, play in the yard with the goat, and take a few vacations. And if I impulsively decided I wanted to paint the whole interior a completely different color I could do it in 1 weekend. 🙂

    I now live in a 4800 sqft house and spend all my free time cleaning the damn thing. I’ve lived here for 3 years and I still don’t have every room painted.

    There’s a lot to be said for living in small spaces 🙂

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