And after the porch railing was installed:

The interior from up on the loft:

And from below towards the loft. The loft will be the bathroom/laundry area with the loft being my bedroom(9x12)

And here was a mock floor plan I had created. A bit has changed(laundry/bath will be one room and the living room will be setup differently).

And here's the design I'm running with. I was originally going to pebble stone a lot of(and eventually, the entire) home, but I really liked this log siding and decided to go that route. I had also picked out a stain and painted the front of the cabin, but I'm not really a fan of how it turned out, so I'm planning to whitewash the entire cabin like I had initially planned anyway. Here's a picture of the sink(well, close to it, mines not a double) with the tile I bought and the distressed whitewash I'm going to try and recreate

Looks wonderful. I really like the white washed logs inside. A little rustic yet light and bright. I also think it is a good idea to have the bath and laundry the same room. We did that in the small house we built and it worked out really well for us.

Congrats on realizing your dream. What state are you in?

Ohio, I would guess.

It looks great. Will this be your full time house? For how many people? And can you stand up upstairs?

You're making the little wheels turn in my rusty old brain. I can't wait to see your next step.

Thanks everyone! Yes, I'm in Ohio and yes I can stand upstairs. The sidewalls are 10ft high and with the gambrel roof it allows me to be anywhere upstairs without hitting my head(I'm 6ft). It's tight on the sides, but I can still stand lol. A gambrel roof was actually a last second change with the builder to add head room. I didn't like the look of them as much, but it makes the interior a lot larger. I'll eventually add a couple dormers to the front of the roof line to break it up a little.

And, it will just be me living here, but the loft could easily be extended for a second bedroom or fully for a second floor and a lot of extra square footage. I wanted a smaller loft with high ceilings to make everything look and feel bigger.

At the moment, we're waiting for electric to go in and searching for a good plumber. After that the floors will go in and the wall panels. Here's the flooring I picked up from lowes(photo is a little dark, but it's ceramic wood look tile).

I'm also going to have the place insulated with closed-cell styrofoam and heat it with a corn or pellet stove.

This post was edited by ohiohomestead on Tue, Jan 28, 14 at 17:11

Oh I like that flooring. It looks more like wood than any I've seen.

Is the cabin a kit, or one you had designed?

It wasn't a kit, just a shed that we had them turn into a little home(hence the shed doors I've got on there currently haha). Dad will be helping me change those out shortly and we're also putting in 6x6 beams in place of the 2x4s currently overhead in the cabin.

And how does everyone feel about these gray stained cabinets? I'm thinking something like the below picture, with white counters and the light blue/green tile shown earlier? I want to break up the walls and cabinets a bit, but don't want to add to much color in the main parts of the house(I'll be doing that more through accents and furniture). I would contemplate doing them in a slightly lighter shade of gray(or something with a bit of white popping through).

Won't the ceramic floor get cold sitting on top of a cement slab in the winter? I am now hating my ceramic tile floor - my house is on pilings because I am near the beach and it is my first winter here - definitely need more insulation under the house! I love your house though - I especially like the gambrel roof.

I like the gray cabs a lot, do not white wash them. They have just enough color to stand out from all the white, but not enough to be a bold slap in the face.

I am with Gail about the cold and the floor. Especially this winter! I can understand that you want to be independent and not use electric heat under the tile floor, but there are hydronic warm floor systems. Check out Warm Floors and see if there is anything you could run off a pellet stove.It is probably far too late for that, though. Your floor is poured and in. At least consider an electric heat mat under the floor tile in the bathroom and bedroom, where feet will be bare. You will thank yourself in the winter for doing it. Really, you will. Ask the guys in the Flooring or Bathroom forums.

I love the light gray color of the cabinets. We have only had one house with cement floors. I remember the two rooms with two layers of vinyl added, because the house was 40 years old , were much warmer on the feet then the single layer of vinyl. I assume the tiles would transfer the cold easier than the vinyl. I did not realize your house was built with the slab in the inside. Hard to tell in the pictures. I can see the slab under the porch. But the inside of the house looks like 4 by 8 sheeting not cement???

I like the gray cabinets too. If you have 4x8 Masonite or plywood on top of a cement slab, I'd do some more research. On the flooring forum, they said that the plywood next to the concrete will wick up moisture and warm or delaminate and then whatever floor on top will come loose. Plus, it's easier to put ceramic tile directly on a cement slab than on a subfloor.

Wow, I love it! Thanks for sharing these pictures. I'm still in the planning/dreaming stage so it helps a lot to see what others have done. I will be living alone also so I don't need or want and can't afford a lot of living space. Something like this is just perfect for one person.

Was it very expensive to build?

One problem I'm running into is minimum square footage requirements. Did you have any trouble with that on your land?

I love it! How much land do you have?

Thanks again for all the compliments. I'm building the home on 23 acres of land and the cabin wasn't too pricey. It was 12,500 before I started adding the railings and insulated windows and everything. I could have easily built it for much less, but that would have required trusting my building skills, which I did not haha. I also had no issue with minimum square footage, but that's mostly because I avoided all plots of land that had land contracts in place.

And as far as the floors, we plan on insulating under the cabin, but I won't be adding heated floors. It's just not in the budget, so house slippers it is lol.

Oh, and I forgot to say, the interior is not a slab. The home is on a slab, but the interior is not cement.

I like all of your choices for your cabin. It is going to be a fine small home at an incredible price. I like your kitchen layout and the greenhouse right next to it. Are you hoping to grow veggies year round in the greenhouse? What will be your heat source? Or is the green house a passive solar heat sink for the house?

I see the stove in the utility room. If you are going to be heating with corn or pellets, maybe you should have the door enter into the utility room, then move folks into the living area. No, that can't work! That is your bathroom, too!

I looked into a pellet stove once, and folks talked about how dirty it was to move the big bags around. Bags of shelled corn can't be much cleaner. You may not want that moving through the living room. Perhaps that is why you said you have re-arranged the living area, though. Or can you get the 40 lb bags through that larger window at the end of the house in the bathroom/utility area? Maybe you could put a big container right under the window to catch the bags as you push them through? Or just keep a nice clean wheelbarrow on the porch that you use for wheeling the bags past the clean areas and into the utility room (but not out into the yard or off the clean porch)? I get hung up on the darndest things! I am sorry!

I cannot wait to see the place all done. It should be cozy with the insulation, your design, and all the whitewashed interior walls.

Your house reminds me of some plans by a Houston architect, the late Roger Rasbach. Like you, he advocated a straight roof rather than peaked to allow the option of a second story. a kitchen very much the same design as yours, and a greenhouse off the kitchen. Did you think of these design features on your own? I think you're very savy to be this creative yet practical. Can't wait to see more.

I think it's gonna be an awesome little house! great that you have that much land too. My type of living - just not OH - lol! too much cold and humidity for me - and snow.

Look forward to seeing the process as you work on it.

Ohhhhh!! Love the cabinets!!
I also am in the planning stages because my home/acerage is still for sale...
I want something very open, with flat/minimal slope roof-MCM style. No walls except bathroom. Want a 'moveable' 3/4 wall that would be my wall between living/bedroom. I too am in a very cold climate now-Wyoming, but dont know if I will stay there.
I want to pick your brain re 'things'!
As for the pellet stove-I had a Harman. It was bad for my asthma-worse than the Blaze King wood stove. I wouldnt do it again. If you do, I had a pretty, painted metal trash can next to it. Whenever someone came over to visit, they would put a bag or two in the can. It is still a mess, bringing in bags, opening them. Just pour the pellets into a container SLOWLY TO MINIMIZE THE DUSTY PARTICLES.
If you are VERY WELL INSULATED, would a mini-split be an option? I understand that a small, tight bldg can be heated, even in a cold climate. Then a smaller wood stove for backup...
And yes-the tiled floors in a colder climate are da@* cold in the winter-wouldnt do that again, either! The cold floors suck the heat from the house.
Will you use a tankless water heater? Maybe point of use at kitchen?
Outside shower for summer? Or maybe in the greenhouse to reclaim water/provide humidity.... Will your bathroom be a wetroom? If not, why?
Please tell and show all! You will be living in about 400ft2 home- I/we will want to know how you make every INCH a masterpiece!
After years of looking at closed cell insulation(for minimal amount of space used), I now hear more and more that it isnt what it was made out to be and sprayed cellulose is tighter...
What kind of windows are you using? Triple pane for less use of heating over the years?
Thank you for sharing. Please post every move.

Colder than a witch here in Wy...

Ohiohomestead, I have that exact wood-look ceramic tile floor in my living room, dining room and hall. I absolutely love it and it's so easy to take care of since there is very little grout line. People can't believe it isn't wood and actually get down and tap on it :-) Hope you enjoy yours as much. My only regret is that I didn't get it in the gray tones. I love the gray cabinets just as they are. You are going to have a wonderful home when you're finished.

I love this. I am a big proponent of tiny homes, especially if you have great outdoor spaces. Look forward to seeing more.

Your home is going to be wonderful and it will be great to see photos as you go along.

FlowerLady

You're probably too busy building to blog, but more pictures please with current updates.

May 25, 2014

Ohiohomestead,
Pretty please post current pictures of your progress. I am so in love with your vision! Your new home is an inspiration.
Thanks!

Oooh, I can't wait to see more pics!

Pretty please?

Wow! I love it!

How many square feet is it?

I used to think I wanted a log house ... until I encountered carpenter bees which, apparently, you don't have in Ohio. Still love the look of logs. Just not where I live.

Naw, we've got carpenter bees in Michigan, so they must be in Ohio, too. I sure wish Ohiohomestead would come back and show us pictures of his/her progress!

It's been a while lol, but I've got some random updated photos for everyone. I started to paint and ended up not liking the color(its a little purple for my tastes lol). I'll end up painting it some shade of gray later this week. As you can see I strayed from the original design a bit. My uncle is currently designing my cabinets and will hopefully begin on them later this week. They're going to be pine and I haven't decided if I'll whitewash them or not yet. Anyway, here are some pictures(first being the ceiling light). You can also see the pine ceilings.

Another of the ceiling

The TV will be wall mounted shortly with the entertainment stuff on some sort of shelving I've yet to decide on.

Kitchen area

The loft

Another of the loft.

The shower going in(may have gone a tad too large here and would recommend smaller for the space, but I still love it. There was a good deal on this tile at Lowes so I bought it all and it came out like this

The showerhead I got on a good black Friday deal. It's a tad high at the moment so I'm working on getting it lowered)

Other side of the bathroom

This isn't of the house, but of the walk to the pond. I'm going to throw down a wildflower mix of seeds this fall and make a path this spring. Hopefully it will turn out just as nice but with a wider range of flowers(and won't need to.be mowed or cared for)

Just another of the wildflowers

Everything looks wonderful! Love seeing your progress. I actually like the color of the kitchen!
Diane

It looks great! And I love your meadow too.