Since I’m not likely to get my dream house with 3 bathrooms, I propose my Possible House, based off the house in which I am currently living.
The house I currently have is 900 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a small laundry room, a large kitchen, a moderate sized living room, a library. 1 outdoor shed, set on just under 1/2 acre of land. I have zoning restrictions that will limit some of my remodeling and financial restrictions that will limit the rest of
I can probably shave 2 feet off one wall of one bedroom and add that to the bathroom. The bathroom will still be smaller than most closets I’ve been in, but that added 2 feet of space will help. Converting all the interior doors into pocket doors will increase useable space. Converting the wall between the living room and kitchen into a kitchen island with support columns and cabinets above and below will make both rooms seem larger and more functional. Removing the west side laundry room wall and opening it up will make a world of difference in the laundry room, and I may actually get the laundry room of my dreams out of it.
Before I can make any major structural changes to the house, I need to finish upgrading the plumbing and re-do all of the wiring. This house has its original 1952 wiring and that’s utterly un-green and unsafe. I can convert the power for the refrigerator, freezer, and computer to solar power and I’d like to do that so even if the power goes out, the essentials will still function. Almost everything else I have has a manual counterpart that only needs muscle power to work. The rest of the house needs much more modern wiring and it needs a breaker box with more than 3 breakers in it. While I’m upgrading the wriring for the house, I’d like to install outdoor wiring, too, out front with a locking cover, on the patio, and in the shed. These can be partly solar powered only because I’m not sure how many watts of power I’d pull with the lawn mower and power tools. Without those, just for lighting, I can use solar power.
My one great lack is a wood burning fireplace. I’m undecided about putting one in either the living room or the library, and I think I may put one in both. It can’t hurt.
After I upgrade the plumbing and wiring, I can proceed with the structural changes. Most of that involves moving the wall between one bedroom and the bathroom, converting the wall between the kitchen and living room, and removing the wall between the laundry room and the storage room. Pocket doors open up all the spaces thet were behind the doors, adding functionality to the house and making it seem bigger than it is. Putting in the fireplaces doesn’t alter the structure of the house. However, I’d like to convert the living room window into a bay window and that’s the only major external difference I want to make. The rest will be adding in the external roll-down shutters (http://www.stormsecure.com/rolling_shutters.html, http://www.qmiusa.com/rolltec/) with glazed and screened windows inside the shutters and the chimneys for the fireplaces.
The wood portions of the house probably need siding, and I definitely need to put up gutters, but that has to wait until I know if I will be able to do the bay windows and chimneys. I can probably put up temporary gutters and capture rain water for gardening purposes anyway until I decide. Gutters are not that expensive and they make such a difference.
Once the structural changes are completed, I can work on the cosmetic changes. The freezer will be moved down into the laundry room since it won’t be used on a daily basis and I need the space it occupies in the kitchen far more. The laundry room will get a make-over – tile floors on the cement floors there now, better insulation all around, a new screen door and back door, the hot water heater converted to tankless, and a stacked washer and dryer to take up less floor space. A fold out ironing board, a fold out folding table, and a place to hang wet laundry to dry, and shelves to hold laundry supplies would complete my ideal laundry room – and except for the stacking washer and dryer and the tankless water heater, I could have that in a week of sawing, hammering, nailing, and gluing. Add in a ceiling fan to cool the room and speed indoor drying, and I’d have the most perfect laundry room. The freezer would fit comfortably in one corner without in any way taking away from the rest of the room. In fact, I could probably build shelves all along that outside wall for canned goods and have a little extra pantry space and still not compromise what I want in a laundry room.
The library is the next room to look at. To make it good, all it needs is enough booksleves, the fireplace, and some comfortable furniture. The library will double as a game room, and I have a folding table and podium we can bring out for that. The sofa down there will be a futon sofa so the library can do triple duty as an extra guest room. There’s a pull-down staircase that goes into the floored attic which needs to be repaired. It’s a simple matter of flipping the staircase so it opens from the other side. A hammer and a step ladder and a weekend, and I should have that done. The attic will hold storage bins for seasonal items. The library has a good carpet in it that needs a serious cleaning and I may have a professional do it since it has car grease embedded in it near the doors.
The kitchen and living room are next. These will be blended into one large room. Along the west wall is a closet and the computer center. These will stay as is – tidier, and with shelves and better lighting, but essentially the same. The center island will have cabinets above – the kitchen side will store kitchen items, the livingroom side will hold shelves with movies and memorabilia. The columns will also contain shelves with memorabilia on the living room side and more kitchen storage on the kitchen side. If I put a fireplace in the livingroom, it iwll be in the center of the livingroom side of the former wall, with the sides open into the kitchen. The lower living room side of the island will have shelves for books and memorabilia.
In the kitchen itself, the window where the air conditioner is will be bumped out into a bay window for a dinette set and small kitchen garden. The refrigerator and stove will be placed in more convenient locations, the cabinets and countertops re-arranged so it’s more logical and expanded some. Counter space is always at a premium in kitchens. I want to put in a dishwasher, which means I can use a smaller kitchen sink. I may brick up the current window and replace it with 2 windows. One end of the kitchen will be shelved with Swedish style shelving for the pantry. The current cheap and flimsy linoleum sheet floor will be replaced. I’m leaning towards recycled rubber floors, but if bamboo proves as durable, may go with that instead. The cabinets are actually pretty good, I just want to move them around. The countertops are old and have nicks in them that hold stains and don’t come clean anymore, so new countertops. I haven’t decided what I want, but it will be a while before I have to. I don’t need any new appliances, the stove, refrigerator, and upright freezer are fairly new. I didn’t buy any of them, I got them all second hand – the stove from a fellow writer, the refrigerator from the landlady who sold the house I was renting out from under me. She gave me the refrigerator by way of apology. The freezer I took from Mother’s house with my family’s consent after Mother died. OK, I may need a new microwave, the one I have is 27 years old. It’s not very energy efficient, but it still works and my frugal soul can’t let go of it just yet.
I can decorate the kitchen in the zwiebelmuster design I like so much and even manage to tie it into the living room decor. Instead of medieval/roman/oriental, to blend it with the kitchen, a Pennsylvania Dutch/oriental decor would work. The zwiebelmuster is a German interpretation of oriental design so that’s hardly any kind of stretch at all. The livingroom needs new flooring. A decade of teen-aged mechanics and model airplane builders, teen parties, and critters makes that pretty much a given. If I pick the right flooring, I can use the same on in both kitchen and living room and then put large area rugs down in the living room. I don’t know if I can afford the bay window, but I can convert the current window into a garden window with a window seat and shelving surrounding it. I need to find some good living room furniture that will fit my decor, and with the change in TV systems coming up, I’ll probably need to buy a new TV. I’ll wait for that until after the buying panic ends and the prices fall to something reasonable. It’ll probably be a flat screen and I’ll hang it above the window so it can be seen from the kitchen. I don’t know that I actually need to get one since I get my news from the internet and buy or rent movies. I hardly ever watch the free network TV and don’t have cable TV. The current TV will continue to do well for watching movies. Maybe that’s an expense I can delay indefinitely.
There’s not a lot I can do about the bathroom without some major restructuring of the house. I can add the 2 foot wide strip from the front bedroom, and that’s about it. That strip will let me put in a nice linen closet and expand the “primping” space. I’ve already purchased a pedestal sink and stand to eliminate the cabinet sink in there now, which will make the room feel more expansive. I may be able to alter the window from being long and narrow to being up high and wide, which means I can then add a plant shelf over the bathtub/shower. I have a nifty tub already but it needs a new enclosure and shower/tub fixtures. It needs a new floor with the change in lavatory and expansion of space. And I want it colorful, not the stark white I’ve left it so far. I’m torn between making it feel all cave-like and cozy or making it feel like a desert oasis. Both will work with the garden window, it’s just the accessories and paint that would be different. It already has a fairy door in it and that would have to be redecorated to match.
And now we’re at the 2 bedrooms.
I want the front bedroom to be the arts and crafts, sewing, and guest room. I’ve made it narrower to expand the bathroom a bit, and I can put up shelves on all the walls and inside the closet to hold supplies. A small sleeper sofa will quickly convert it to a guest room. The edges of the shelves will be the part that bears the decor. And since it’s a sewing room, I’d prefer to have a hard floor rather than carpeting in there. It makes it easier to find dropped pins and needles and to clean up craft spills. I’d like to build in a pull-out cutting table – or have it drop down from the ceiling, and the sewing cabinet will go under the east window (pretty much where it is now). I can rotate out the sewing machines at need.
The back bedroom will be mine and I have plans for it, yes, I do. All the rest of the house is public and anyone will be able to see any of it, but this room will be mine alone and I’m not willing to share how I want it done.
This brings us to the outside. The front yard will be landscaped in a combination of ornamental and edible plants, hedged with low growing fruit shrubs. There will be a small seating area under the redbud tree (which will be seriously pruned this year), and I plan to plant a burr oak in front as well. All of the gardening is in raised beds. There’s currently one cubby holding a small amount of gardening supplies and another is a shrine, and I’ll add a couple more of both kinds. The yard will be decorated with whimsical beasts and solar lighting. Bird feeders will hang from the trees – a recipe for disaster some might think, given the strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, peaes, spinach, and so on. A little bird netting and row covers should help with most of that as well as full bird feeders. There’s a bird bath among the lavender and I may convert that to a fountain. The bulk of the pet burial grounds are under the redbud tree, marked with plantings suited to the critter buried there, although some critters were buried under special flower beds.
The back yard is more complex. I will build a garden closet near the back door, put a cover over the patio, install an outdoor sink (that’s only $90, and so worth it), build a potting shed against the workshop shed and pave under the gazebo for added strength. Most of this will be lit with solar lights. Between the gazebo and patio, I’ll build a woodburning oven for baking bread. Near that, I want to put in a koi pond, an above ground one surrounded by raised beds for vegetables. There’s a mulberry, a pecan, and a row of cedars back there that will stay. Behind the shed is space for a small orchard of nectarines, plums, apples, and cherries. Behind the orchard, maybe under the cedars, is room for a nice tumbling composter. If I can get city ordinances changed, that’s where my composter will go. I may plant another nut tree, there’s room for at least 2 if I place them well. The rest of the yard will be devoted to growing food in raised beds.
And that’s it – my Possible House. If I do most of the work myself and with friends paid in lasagnas and cheesecakes and beer butt chickens and fresh bread and vegetable sout of the gardens, it may take time, but eventually it will be a nice place that meets all my needs.
I’ll have two guest rooms, plenty of room for hosting Celebrations, enough food to supply the feasts, and space for different types of altars, lots of planning space for our few charities, and places to house some shrines. As an Elder, it’s the least I can do for my community.
