Sounds like your home will be wonderful-I am in my forties husband in fifties. We still have two teens at home and hope to stay here for many years after they leave the nest. Our home is about 1300 under air and we just spent the summer remodeling and really love our small home. Enjoy your new home!

Well, no, you very possibly are nuts -- but you have a lot of fellow nuts, Smaller House Nuts, right in there with you! ;-) Welcome to the forum. Is there any chance you can share a floorplan with us? I'd love to see how you're fitting all that in 1170sf!

Skagit goat man, are you in Washington State? If so, I'm down in Enumclaw and I love small houses too!

We're on Whidbey Island about 60 miles NW of Seattle. I did get a digital camera to document the construction but am pretty illiterate with it now. Will post the floor plan when I can figure out how to shoot a document and then post it. The basic floor plan is 38x30 with two "bumpouts". One for a desk and one for the built in sofa. Tom

Well since a photo won't be coming soon here's what's in the 1170 sq ft. Two bedrooms, one as a study, two bath - one with a soaker tub and one with a walk in shower and walk in closet, a kitchen the size of the one that was in our previous much larger house, a separate processing kitchen for canning, sausage making, beer and wine making, built in dining area, living room with built in sofa. We like cooking & food preservation so the kitches take up 1/4 of the house. The house is an open design with concrete floors and in-floor heating. There is also a 10x32 storage area in attic trusses accessed via pull down attic stairs. The two car garage also has storage above in attic trusses. There are built in desks, one in the study and one by the kitchen and built in bookcases. There is one hallway, 4'x6'. Lets see, a front porch 8x38 and a 6x12 deck off the master bedroom. We had a basic box plan for what we wanted but the architect took it to a level we could not have achieved. Contractor's bid should be ready in two weeks. Tom

Tom, it sounds like a very well thought out home, and one that you will enjoy.

I think that homes should fit the people living in them, and their needs and lifestyles. My mother's friends have been buying larger homes, also (in their 60s), and my mother told me that the last thing she would want at her age is more home to keep up with.

I hope that you will share photos of your home when you are ready! It is nice to talk with you...

Hi, Tom. Welcome to the forums. I was happy to see your user name. I'm just outside La Conner.

Dodgevalley, We're building in Freeland on Whidbey Island but also have a small farm in Birdsview, near Concrete.

Well we sent out the bid package to our #1 choice for a contractor. If his doesn't work out we'll go to to #2 and then #3. But hopefully we've done enough research that our first choice will give us a bid in our range even if it means making a few changes. If we've completely miscalculated construction costs around here we'll sell the land and move back to the farm. I know costs vary all over the country but we've budgeted $150/sq ft. We did interview one contractor whose low end construction price was $200.

We just got our clearning and grading permit and will be ready to go on that as soon as we have a contractor. Have been making minor house plan updates and changes on windows and doors. Because the design is engineered we have to stay within the rough out dimensions on the plans. I just want to get the logging/clearing done and the foundation in before the rains start. That will be sometime between tomorrow and late November. So this is a very frustration time, just waiting for the bid. So it's time to head on a weeks vacation and sit at the seaside and sip martinis. The work will all be waiting for us when we return. Tom