As an architect and builder the idea behind my own house was to create a small, affordable home that would be easy to construct.
Our site is 10 acres located 3 miles south of Helena. There are plenty of trees, a spring fed creek and pond on the site and my wife and I wanted to bring the beauty of the outdoors into the house as much as possible. Many windows and two sets of double doors help accomplish this connection to the outside. The exterior is clad in masonite lap siding in two widths in a repeating pattern and cedar shakes in the gables and dormers.
Our family is comprised of two people and many more dogs and cats so we wanted to have a house that could stand up to the beating it would take from the animals. Hard surface floors throughout were a must. Carpet is in the bedroom only. A master bedroom on the main floor with a bathroom that is shared with the rest of the house was one cost saving measure we employed. The bathroom is linked to the master bedroom by reclaimed double doors that I purchased from a window shop for $70. They even had the original deco hardware.
I had collected quite a few solid wood interior doors over the last few years. Most of them have a blemish or two on them so the lumber yard sold them for next to nothing. I don't mind a dent here and there but I do mind having flimsy hollow core doors. By using damaged doors that don't match throughout the house we were able to afford solid wood doors. I used some single pane windows I salvaged from a 100 year old home on two interior walls in the new house. One is located in a divider wall by the toilet and the other in the laundry room. This helps particularly in the laundry area to let natural light into the room. It is the only room without an exterior wall. We used 9' studs on the main level to make the small floor plan feel bigger than it really is. By using 2x4 and insulating with foam we picked up 2" of floor space around the exterior walls that otherwise would have been eaten up by 2x6 walls and r-19 batts.
The view through the kitchen of the pond was achieved by installing large windows in deep framing, which provides an oversized sill for setting plants or baskets. Upper cabinets were minimized in order to allow the windows. The cabinets were all constructed from reclaimed maple flooring salvaged out of a gymnasium in Missoula. Granite tile on the counter top was an affordable way to get the look of granite with out the cost of a solid piece. The wood floor is rough sawn alder that we purchased for less than a $1 per board foot. What we saved in material cost we spent in labor making it suitable for flooring. We had to straighten both edges and plane one face. We ended up with boards varying from 3 to 9" in width which is a nice look. The wood stove was purchased on ebay for a fraction of the cost of a new one. The surround uses a cast in place concrete hearth top and concrete pavers with a reclaimed timber mantel.
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