At Last ....... I've Finished

[deaconblues]

Fantastic!! I'm a big fan of that clean, modernistic look. Congratulations!

[goofyfoot]

Forget the Rics. We're talking house here.....in a cool country with a cool mindset! That is one beautiful and efficacious effort, longboard_ric. Props to you and the family. I'm just diggin' that sublime blue hue on the front portico. It really fixes my gaze on the entrance. Best regards.....Goofyfoot.

[scotty]

Sharp,Fresh and easy on the eye.A nice home for sure!

[longboard_ric]

Hi Jeffrey ,

Cleveland sounds nice........is there any surf there though ???

Dan,

I much prefer the modern look, with clean sharp lines. I am not a great fan of "Period Houses": I find it odd that people will go to great lengths to reproduce a Federation Style home over here (C 1900), and then put in halogen downlights, SS appliances, Stone benchtops, and a big plasma over the fireplace. Still, everyone is different and it keeps the world interesting.

David and Scotty,

Thanks for your kind words.

[jps]

Hi Jeffrey ,

Cleveland sounds nice........is there any surf there though ???

Ask Aitch. In a word... uh, no.

[ram]

Sweet abode Shane. And bein that there is a picture on the wall it is a home now! Great job!

[wints]

Very nice job on the house there Shane, making the most of space, and keeping it light.

I'm a big fan of the contemporary minimalist style, and this is where I'd like to live, from an architectural standpoint.
http://www.johnpawson.com/architecture/monastery

Bit of a problem when you don't believe in god though...

[longboard_ric]

Hi Tom

Yes the pictures are up, but you have no idea of the amount of "debate" regarding which picture goes where !!!

Andrew,

It is all about light and space, mixed in with all those personal preferences. That is a striking design by Pawson, though I would probably go crazy keeping the outside clean !!!!

There is a UK produced TV series shown here called Grand Designs. It features selected housing projects of various styles, from concept to completion. The projects are generally carried out by owner builders with little or no experience in design or construction, and in some cases, budgeting, but they all had a clear vision of what they wanted both inside and out. They all have budgets far in excess of mine of course and the results are generally outstanding. I would love to have a go at a large project but I need to win the lottery first. Lots of glass not, too much space and a face full of ocean view, thats all I'm after !!!!

[woodyng]

shane-that is a really great-looking,clean design,inside and out. congrats. i am a big fan of contemporary design and am hoping to drag my newly purchased 1962 home into the millenium,updating kitchens,baths,heating,etc,with energy efficient products,but it is going to take a while. i have a link to a blogsite that is intended to be "the story of" the renovation,if you would like to check it out.........http://web.me.com/everedy/16576_Foster/Welcome.html oh and if you wanna come help,brookings,oregon is on the coast-although i don't think there's much surfing going on around here.....

[jps]

i am a big fan of contemporary design and am hoping to drag my newly purchased 1962 home into the millenium,updating kitchens,baths,heating,etc,with energy efficient products,but it is going to take a while.....

Shari and I are slllowwwwlllllyyyyyy bring our 1930 home back to 1930, for the most part.

[longboard_ric]

Hi Woody !!

There are a lot of places I want to see, so Brookings Oregon is now on the list, and I will be glad to help !!!! In the meantime I'll keep an eye on your blog.

Good luck with your renovation. Over here a lot of 60's style houses lend themselves quite nicely to updating and I assume the same applies over there. In Oz at present all new houses have to achieve a specified energy rating and this will soon be extended to cover all renovations. The ratings take into account window size and placement, wall and ceiling insulation, flooring (concrete or timber), lighting and appliances, rainwater tanks for recycling runoff to laundry and toilets and gardens. Double glazing of windows is very efficient in improving the energy rating, but still an expensive option here at the moment.

In this house we included a solar hot water system, though at these latitudes it really only works properly over summer, extensive wall and ceiling insulation and compact fluorescent lighting. CFL globes are relatively expensive but have an exceptionally long life and are quite cheap to run: an 11 watt CFL globe is roughly equivalent to a 40 watt 12v halogen globe. We have gas heating ducted through the ceiling but no cooling : we design our houses however to make use of cross flow ventilation to cool the house in summer. Most evenings here in summer see a brisk sea breeze blow in, so we just open the front and back doors and even on extremely hot days the house is comfortable again in 15 to 20 minutes.

There is plenty of information available, get out there and do your research and enjoy the process. As with pretty much everything in life good planning is the key.

[woodyng]

thanks,shane-i like the idea of rainwater recovery,as it rains quite a bit in oregon in the winter monthes,but hardly at all from june-september,and in the brookings area,we could definitely use solar panels to supply a lot of our need. the $$$ needed to put these systems into place is a lot-more than i have right now,but i am hoping as these ideas become more popular here in the energy luvin u.s.,the prices will come down. as it is.we are having mitsubishi systems installed that are supposed to be 75% more efficient than standard heatpump/air/ systems,and triple-pane windows. thanks for checking out the website,please feel free to leave comments/suggestions on the blog there...

[jps]

We have a couple of rain barrels by the garage and plan to add more near the house, a great way to save $$$ and use clean (relatively) water for gardening, washing the car, etc.