Potenial Solution...?

I just came across a blog from a couple living in Ontario, who built a straw-bale house that exists off the grid...solar power + straw bales = joy?!

Quite possibly!


http://www.glenhunter.ca/2002/08/

New Website!

Zomg! It is totally the 21st century all up in this hiz-ouse!

I have a personal website, which is to say, I use it for business. It has some of my films (more to come) and some of my photography (also more to come).

But I highly recommend that you check it out, if only because I like getting hits.

Please do not hit me. Hit my site instead: here

Long time, no update.

I never call, I never write, I know. I'm a really bad blogger.  Well, actually, that's not entirely true...

I'm really bad at taking a huge overwhelming task/idea/plan and breaking it into bite-sized pieces of accomplishable goodness. Really bad at it.

After delving deeper and deeper into the ins and outs of building the cabin...well...it's making me more and more of a crazy libertarian. I'm mean, I'n no Glenn Beck, but those crazy rednecks out in the Arkansas back country are looking more and more sane.

Basically, here's the rub:

1) We own a cottage on 10 acres, of mostly unused forest
2) We've paid taxes/etc there for over 40yrs
3) We want to put up a winterized cottage so we can enjoy our property year-round
4) we can't.

And to say we can't is more accurately to say that we can, IF:

1) We appeal to the county to have the zoning by-law bypassed so we can build a second structure
2) We appeal to the county to have a 2nd hook up for the well
3) We appeal to the county to have a 2nd septic system installed
4) They say yes.

So while we are NOT allowed to build any other sturcture on the 10 ACRES OF UNUSED LAND, we are allowed to operate an automotive repair or a hair salon out of the current structure.

...

ARGH.  Srsly you guys?! The government will get neither an oil change nor a haircut from me!


...The net effect of all this is I'm stuck back at the beginning, have gotten overwhelmed, and haven't written anything because the only thing I can write about is my current failure to succeed.

In the meantime, here are some interior pics of the current (non-winterized) cottage from a trip this weekend. It's a wacky 'Canadian-log-cabin-pioneer-y" alternative to the usual Scandinavian design pics I usually put up.

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p.s.
A humble offering to apologize for my lack of updates: the funniest shite you will ever read.

Spring = lack of blogging

Ah yes, spring has sprung, and the snow has melted to reveal months-worth of soggy dog poop & cigarette butts...and this inspires me to frolick outdoors to the detriment of this blog. Ah well, c'est la me.

I'm in the process of tracing documents dealing with the zoning of the land/septic system installation/permits/land surveys/etc... In the meantime, some luverly inspiration pics, and a comic from me to you.

I lovewantneed these floors... http://scandinavianretreat.blogspot.com

 

Gorgeous kitchen cabinets, and awesome wall/ceiling treatments.  http://scandinavianretreat.blogspot.com

 

Boo-ti-ful fireplace mod that doesn't fit with my design but is ohsopretty anyways, and a cabin in the woods that just makes you say "Ahhhhh".  http://scandinavianretreat.blogspot.com

...

Oh, and wasn't there something about a comic in there? Yes. Yes there was.

 

The moral of this is don't leave animal crackers and Comic Life in the same room...

 

Hehe, poop.

County Guidelines on poopy-disposal

Ah yes, poop. What's to be done with all this poop? Hehe, poop.

The original (original, like, "O.G." original) plan was to build a pioneer-type cabin without power or water that would rely on an outhouse and a woodstove for everything, as well as a supply of water brought in for cooking, drinking, and bathing. I decided fairly early on that if I was going to the trouble of building a whole house, I might as well go to the trouble of making sure I could go potty there.

And that's where the problem lies... The old cabin is on well-water and on a septic system, and I'm 99% sure that the county will NOT let me run some plumbing between the two buildings to put the new one on the septic system and the well water...which means I get to research the rules and guidelines for septic systems put down by Huron County. Fun.

Stop the Presses!

Last minute update!!!! Below, a beautiful love-child solution? I think YES.

 

zomg yes.

Gi-normous update.

I promised gi-normous. And it is. Oh, it is. I spent the weekend making truffles, going to brunch, and learning the hell out of Google Sketch Up...which I highly recommend to those of us that are low on teh ca$h, but big on teh de$igning. Hmm, I'm not sure why there was another dollar sign in there...symmetry?

ANYhoo, I've roughly (oh so roughly) sketched out the general floorplan/size/flow of the cabin. It has tall ceilings at the entrance (14.5feet) that slope down to 7' in the bedroom. Which I think makes for a cozy little bear-den I can hibernate in. It also has a sauna sketched in (well, I did say it was a Scandinavian cabin...), and a bathroom filled with actual sized bits n' pieces that I sourced from Home Depot's website and on IKEA's, based solely on price and not aesthetic appeal...sigh. Which reminds me, if you haven't hacked IKEA (here) you should.

 

And the fireplace that I am in love with (yes the one that doesnt actually exist yet, but that I am in love with...). Although since the fire will be the only source of heat I'm debating abandoning its loveliness and going with a woodstove like the one below...thoughts? Does anyone find a difference between the two in heating abilities?

 

Gorgeous fireplace designed by me                vs                  Woodstove goodness