The journey to find a building designer was a difficult one.  I reached out to many different firms, looking for someone who had previous history with green buildings, but turned up empty handed.  I finally found a lovely couple who agreed to draw up the floor model and the structural plans.  This process took a lot longer than I had anticipated.  I thought I knew what I wanted, but the idea is far from the final product.  I realized how crucial all the decisions were and before finalizing the design was the time to make all of those decisions.

I knew my home needed to be designed to suit me as a single dweller, but also hold the possibility for groups to arrive.  I wanted to ensure a few features were present for my own use and ‘needs’.  One thing I deemed necessary was my physical health and fitness so I decided that I would look into a swim spa.  I discovered quite quickly that this was exactly what I wanted, a miniature pool (8×11), that opened up the possibility for year round movement.  Living in the middle of the prairie on a unlit highway limited my ability and desire to go for walks after work once the sun started setting early.  I absolutely love swimming, always have. So, this is one of my indulgences that will feed my body and my spirit.  It has also made a huge impact on my house design as I have had to add on space for this inside of my home.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted to create a space inside to grow food, I felt like the pool room would provide the most amount of moisture and would create a good space for growing.  We will see how this plays out.  Right now, I am not having a very easy time of growing anything edible.  I tried to grow some squash, kale, green onions and herbs in pots this summer to practice for growing indoors, but none of them produced much food at all.  Granted, it was the hottest, driest summer I can remember, which came into play.  I am sure my solarium will be a learning experience as are most things I am doing out here on my land.

Another feature that did not come into play as much as I thought it would during the design phase is my masonry stove, a focal point of my home, the literal heart, pumping heat and warmth throughout.  I recently found a mason, who I have yet to speak to, but my general contractor vouches for him, so I am excited to have someone to fulfill this artistic and necessary part of my home.  I have already started to gather rocks near the build site as I want to use as many things from my land as I can within my home.  I have been blessed with help from family and friends picking rocks from rock piles and old gardens and sorting them into colours.  I figure the more of this type of work I can do before hand the smoother the build will go.  I have not settled on a design for the stove yet, but I know it will include a mixture of field stone in a pattern of some sort and cob or some earthen plaster, so I am gathering materials.

I currently have the second draft of my floor plans and am hoping to finalize them within the month.  If I can do that then I only need to wait for the structural design as well as the site plan before I can get all of my ducks in a row.  I have the finance duck waiting to see if the plans are insurable through their insurance and then I have the insurance duck for my personal home insurance.  The next duck I have is the hydro duck, so they can start planning to extend hydro to my new build site, the driveway/road duck to build a road from the hwy to my new home, the septic duck who will put in the septic field and tank and lastly, the well duck so they can drill a well in the right place for easy access.  Once all of those ducks are in a row and starting to swim together then we can start laying out the foundation and get to the building.  I am not sure on the timelines for any of that really, but I am hoping we can get going as soon as winter releases its hold on the land and be finished before it grips it again.

The joy of a custom built home is that I can customize it to how I imagine I will use it, the challenge is I am not really sure how that is.  So, I am doing my best to create a space that is open and flexible, beautiful and welcoming, functional and smart and most of all gentle in its creation.