You design the house you want, you build the house you can afford…
Months ago, before finding the land, a builder we met with told us, You design the house you want; you build the house you can afford. Didn’t think we would face this dilemma just nano seconds into the design phase. With only a few non negotiable items: many windows, some steel casement, french doors opening onto the long, deep porch, wide plank floors, ten foot ceilings, garage with a guest crofter…. We spent the budget without building the house, digging a well and septic, or a driveway. Who knew?
Redirect: first a size/dimension study of our current home to use as comparison for smaller house plans, second, a harder look at non negotiable’s, third, begin research on alternative building materials and styles.
Most important, persuade our wonderful designer to retain us as clients, albeit ones with a conservative budget (read small).
Picture Credits:
Lead Picture from Kitchen Design Tips from Mick De Giulio | Traditional Home
Black casement kitchen windows from Elements of Style Blog | Current Obsession: Steel Doors and Windows | www.elementsofsty…
Porch from Houzz.com Bayou Oaks
Design inspiration Darryl Carter:
- Table. TheFrenchProvincialFurniture.com We will have a large table built
- Grandfather Clock on Pinterest. Need to place our beautiful clocks
- White window kitchen from CountryLiving.com. If we can’t do steel casement…
See our Pinterest Cottage Project site for more design inspiration

I don’t read many blogs, but I’ll keep reading this one. And when I do look at blogs, I often find I’m done with the entry before the author is. But this is the rare one that makes me wish each entry were a little longer, because the writing is lovely, the subjects are interesting, and the recipes look great!
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agree! longer entries please!
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