There is still nothing better than hashing out ideas on trash paper. Check out this flickr set of sketches where we explore many different plan layout concepts:
Hard Working Doodles
in Design
Parking Sticker
The joy. Picking up our street permit parking sticker really struck home on the foresight and planning that has gone into making the Louisiana Street Light Rail Station a true neighborhood bonus. It is the first tangible thing that we’ve put our hands on to become a part of this street and of this great public transit project in Denver. Long live the light rail.
Boulder Solar Home Tour
Boulder is known for it’s tenacious commitment to sustainability at all levels. From government all the way down to the single family house, recycling, energy conservation, etc. is paramount. We were excited when the flyer came via e-mail that they hold a solar and green home tour each year. However, after asking around, we were forewarned that even though the technologies used might be highly advanced, we should not count on any great modern design being a part of it! Luckily, the first house we hit was done by a cool Boulder Firm called Vast. Using SIPS and a solar water panel heating system combined with great space layout and design, this kept us intrigued for the better part of an hour. The other three houses were “design challenged” and not particularly inspirational.
Boulder Solar and Green Home Tour Site: Center for Resource Conservation
The Dwell Factor
Anybody involved with modern residential is probably going to know about Dwell magazine. The magazine is a great inspiration to us, although so many of the homes they feature are way out of our league. We still fight over who gets the read the issue first.
Dwell has included modern prefab design in numerous issues. The idea has been around for a very long time (and had many fits and starts), but to their credit, what they spearheaded has really taken off. We both find modern prefab very intriguing, and we’ve pursued it as a viable alternative to a custom site built home. We met Charlie Lazor (FlatPak) and others from Empyream and discovered that a prefab house costs around $250-300 SF. And since I am an architect, naturally I really wanted to design the home :-)
Freak Out Week
in Site
We hadn’t really planned on building a new house so soon. After a number of small to medium renovations, a new house still felt like a pipe dream. How in the world would we make the numbers work? The price for the lot was not cheap, although it was typical for land value in metro Denver. How could we afford to build anything that resembled a custom quality modern home? Each day was a roller coast ride of emotion..Should we do it? Can we do it? After meeting with various banks we found a creative way to finance the project.
Contractor Discussions
in Construction, Contractors, Site
We started talking to a few contractors around town, and each had a different take on the project. We explained that although we wanted to build a new house, it would be small by Denver standards (2400 sf), and simple and modern. One mentioned that he didn’t think it’s possible to build a custom home for under $200 a square foot. Another stated that $150 is totally doable. Time will tell.
The Discovery
in Site
We had been looking for a lot in the Platt Park neighborhood of Denver. Although only a few minutes from our current home, this particular neighborhood really appealed to us because of its access to a small main street filled with restaurants, coffee houses and boutiques, as well as its proximity to the new light rail station two blocks away. Our realtor found a lot with a tiny run down house on it... going on the market the next day. We scrambled and ended up putting down earnest money that same day. Then we proceeded to freak out! The house is in the photo above, it’s just covered with a lot of vines...