The city has approved our plans and handed over building permits which means it’s now safe to show the house to you!

In the posts below this one, you can read about a few of the hoops we had to jump through to get this project approved.  Wind Bracing, Environmental Impact, and Heat Loss/Heat Gain Studies are just a few examples, but there was one city issue that could’ve changed the whole look of the house. You see, they didn’t “like” the pitch of our roof – for clarification, the powers-that-be approved the completely flat roofs, they just wanted the top roof changed to a steeper pitch.

For the technically inclined, the roof pitch in this design is 3:12 and the city requested 6:12 (it’s my understanding there were no structural reasons for this, it was pure aesthetics).

Altering the pitch of the roof would’ve changed everything and I felt there was no reason to tempt fate by posting pictures of the design before it was approved.  The city ultimately signed off on the original 3:12 roofline so we’re moving forward with the design shown here.

Side note – these images are courtesy of my very talented husband, whose drawing skills have given me the opportunity to see this house in a way that my imagination could never accomplish on its own.

Some images appear sort of barren while other images show trees/landscape and neighbors’ homes. This allows us to see both an unobstructed and a more “natural” view of the house. The unobstructed view is particularly useful when you want to imagine a full-blown Romeo & Juliet scene while the “natural” image lets you know if neighbors can see your Shakespearean antics.

The image above is the back side of the house and the water you see here is the “lake” (Spring Lake, specifically), which is really just a very large pond. This large pond/lake should not be confused with the spring on the side of the house.  We still haven’t figured out a coherent way to name the various bodies of water around the house – but I gotta admit, I like calling the spring our Cement Pond (à la The Beverly Hillbillies) while referring to tiny Spring Lake as a real lake (à la Lake Superior).  All we’re missing is a moat (which would work well with some Shakespearean reenactments, dontcha think?).

This was already an oddly shaped lot, but the city easements made the space on which we could build even more restrictive. The architect used every possible inch of land that our budget – and the city – would allow.  Not pictured, but a part of the plan: decking, retaining walls, and a badminton court.

Here’s a little peek inside the house. The term ‘open floor plan’ takes on a whole new meaning when the architect wraps the living room and dining room in glass. Don’t worry – we’re environmentally friendly. Remember, we passed the Heat Loss/Heat Gain Study.