Dreaming about our Dream House

Paul and I are WAY too excited about moving to South Carolina...or rather, moving anywhere as long as it is AWAY from crappy Milwaukee. :) We are so excited about moving, in fact, that we are having a difficult time motivating ourselves to focus on the present and try to get everything ready for our big move. It's hard to think about packing when you can snuggle on the couch together and look at pictures of our future dream home instead... :)

Anyway, we have been constantly changing our minds about what IS our dream house. It will really be interesting to see what we end up with, though that seems clearer as time goes on. The more we think about future houses, the more it becomes clear that we will be happiest in a small house that is good for the environment. We also would strongly prefer designing it ourselves and we would like to have a nice chunk of land for my super ambitiously huge garden dream... :)

So without further ado, here is the evolution of our thought process on what we want for our dream home. It ends with the dream home that currently seems like it will become reality (we've been researching it thoroughly!), though any of these would probably make me happy for life. :)

1) A small cottage on a beautiful lake:

**Who cares if your house is small and dumpy and old if you live on a lake?!? We planned on spending most of the day/night either working or on the lake anyway.  The problem? Some houses are a bit TOO old and dumpy and lake lots are expensive. Also, everyone wants to live on a lake, so lots are small and cramped. I hesitate about living in a suburb-type environment...I really am a country girl at heart.

2) A monolithic dome house:

**This type of home is pretty sweet. First, Paul LOVES curved walls, as will become evident in the rest of our dream houses. Second, monolithic domes are virtually indestructible. They are made with concrete, they are circular, and they are made with steel, so fire/winds/earthquakes/tornadoes/hurricanes/etc. cannot destroy them. Third, we could design it the way we want, which is always an exciting thought. One problem, however, is the price. It's pretty expensive to make because you have to hire the specific monolithic dome construction crew to come make it since it's a difficult thing to make. Also, your entire house is a circle, making floor plans a bit awkward (though Paul was excited about having that many curved walls...)

3) Making an Earthship home:

This was an intriguing design for a house: it is made almost entirely with garbage or recycled goods! You use old tires rammed with earth to make your outside walls, which produces thermal mass, which helps keep your house at a constant temperature, reducing the need for using electricity. You have solar panels help give you your electricity. You use a passive solar design (windows on the south wall of your house that help keep your home naturally warm in the winter and cool in the summer). You have an indoor hydroponic garden to not only give your herbs and veggies in your own house year round, but that same system helps you use water in an environmentally amazing way (you keep rain water in rain barrels or a cistern and have a water cycle that means you don't need to be hooked up to city water). You can design your own home, help build it, and not only that, since you are using basically garbage, it is fairly cheap! Our concerns were about the intense labor that is need to ram dirt into the tires as well as the fact that there is still no proof yet that garbage used in this way will last long time. This type of house plan, though, was really making us excited of our possibilities!

4) Making a Cob house:

Okay, this picture is not of a finished Cob house, but it gives you an idea of how it works. You mix clay, dirt, and straw together (most do this with their feet!) and build your house with it. This is the most "close to nature" and "green" concept of all of our dream house ideas. What better way to help out nature than to use nature's leftover resources? Trees take years and years to mature to the point where they can be used to make homes, which is why there is such a concern about deforestation. However, if you use the dirt and clay found on your plot of land (especially from the part already dug up for making your foundation) and use straw (nature's natural garbage), you are really helping out the planet and imagine the pride you can have from making your own house in this way! Don't worry, you plaster over the straw bits... Again, you can design your own home and build it yourself. There are a few problems though. First, Cob houses are more vulnerable in humid/moist environments. This type of housing is PERFECT for the desert, but if you don't do it exactly correct, you could have problems with mold later on. Since mold makes me barf (a nasty allergic reaction of mine), this made us hesitant. Also, this is extremely hard work: you spend days making the cob, then slowly building it up to make your house. But we were getting closer to what we wanted...

5) Making an Earthbag Home:

**With Earthbag homes, you basically pour soil from your plot of land (or scoria, gravel, etc. if you want to buy stuff) into earth bags and make your walls. You can have support from other supplies if you want, or you can just build with it. You can make your own house plans; you can incorporate solar panels, passive solar heating, recycled/hydroponic water system, etc.; you can do this cheaply (it's your own soil!) and though it is still labor-intensive, you can make your house in a reasonable amount of time. It produces thick walls for insulation and thermal mass, you can make curved walls or straight (guess what Paul wants?!?). It is still made with mainly natural products (duh, dirt), it is fire proof and if you use curved walls, safe from winds/tornadoes/etc. This picture is before putting on plaster. Here's another picture of a more finished home:

So an Earthbag home is currently our idea of a Dream Home. It took a few years of looking and research to find out about it, but we are really, really excited to try to make our own home! (Though if interested, we could use some volunteers when we start making the walls...) :)

I can't promise you that this is the FINAL idea for our Dream Home. After all, we still need to move to South Carolina and find jobs and a plot of land in order for this to happen. And in the meantime, we could discover an even better home-making idea. But hey, it's fun to dream, right? Time will tell if this dream becomes a reality.

What would YOUR dream home look like? What would it include? What is important to you in a home?