The House on Mt. Rubellite: Design (rinse and repeat)

Even before we had the deed to our property, Carol started designing. We recently joked that the final house design is version 12.8.65. We knew we wanted at least three bedrooms, a big kitchen and pantry, a living room with lots of sunlight, a screen porch, a two car garage, and a large wood shop (although it turns out the definition of "large" is dependent on whether it's Matt or me who is speaking.) Matt wasn't too keen on a basement, and since we were building on ledge, it probably wasn't feasible without a lot of dynamite anyway.

During the design progress, courtyards and second wings came and went. A tower grew, shrank to a bay window, and was ultimately reduced to a window. There was a long, extended mudroom, then there wasn't. The outdoor grill was never in the right place until it was, then we couldn't understand why we never thought of that before. We spent a lot of time in Carol's studio, drawing and erasing. There was a lot of "no that won't work...how about...not quite...what if...that's it!" It was exciting to think about the possibilities, but at the same time, very stressful (academics might see the parallels in research.) At the same time, we were going through some other personal issues, including two surgeries, and no doubt that didn't help. Often after our meetings with Carol, Matt would be pumped up, and I would be stressed about how to pay for it. I've been assured by a psychologist friend that this falls right along the gender lines.

The design we finally settled on is a version of the one shown in the model at the top of page. Essentially, a box on a box. From left to right on the first floor: screen porch, living room, wood stove divider, dining room, kitchen, pantry, entry/stairs, bathroom, bedroom. The second floor covers all but the living room of the first floor, and has a master bedroom/ dressing area, master bath, stairs/study, bathroom, and bedroom. There is also about 300 sq. ft of storage in the second floor, to make up for the lack of basement. The second floor overhangs the south side of the first floor, to prevent the high summer sun from baking the first floor. Originally, both the living room and the screen porch would be cantilevered over the side of the hill, though the living room was later moved back onto land. The garage is on the north side of the house, with the woodshop in the back of the garage.

Matt used the program SketchUp to model the interior: