Phase One

If our current printer has the capability to scan documents to the computer I don't have any idea how it works. So rather than messing with figuring it out right now, I used my camera. It's not the best but there aren't many details on the plans anyway.



























This is a general idea of our first phase. The "livable" phase. Like I mentioned the other day, the only walled off room to begin with will be the bathroom so I'll start there. Jeff's mom is having her bathroom remodeled and trading out her jetted tub for a huge walk in shower, soooo...guess who's getting a big jetted tub in her new bathroom. I am! Thanks Bob and Jackie!! They give the best hand-me-downs ever! We'll probably have a concrete counter top vanity with open shelves below and for our linen cabinet, I'll probably start with using a medium sized book case we built this past winter.

I love concrete counter tops. Jeff made them for a couple of our houses in the past (have I mentioned we move a lot?) Concrete is great. It can be stained or acid washed, sanded to show the aggregate or whatever you put in the mix (shells, colored glass...) It's very durable, versatile and cheap! ...if you do it yourself. Jeff says it's really easy.

The bedroom area will be closed off for privacy with big canvas painters clothes. If I remember right they're about $20.00 for 9'x12' at Harbor Freight. I'll let you know if that's right when we actually get them. I love their natural linen color and because they're canvas they'll be heavy duty curtains.

While we're starting with only four windows and one exterior door on the first floor we'll go ahead and frame in where we want future doors and windows. That way, when the time comes we'll just open up the correct spot on the wall and pop in a new window. I'm sure it will be just as simple as that too. heh heh.

The washer and dryer, also temporarily closed off with canvas, will eventually be in a laundry room next to the bedroom beside a walk in closet. The fireplace (or wood burning stove) will be placed permanently where you see it and with a coil going up the flue, will be a part of our radiant floor heating system. The other source of heat for the system will be from the water heater on the second floor which will eventually be in a small closet of its own, surrounded by a bathroom and two bedrooms. We'll be using some type of ladder style stairs, thanks to little to no building codes, to get to the second floor which will eventually have an open balcony overlooking part of the living room. The stove and refrigerator are in a temporary spot until we build another interior wall to place them on.

The exterior of the house dimensions are 20'x40' (a small 800 square feet) and the roof pitch will be 12/12 which will mean the second floor interior ceiling height will be approx 10' high and slope down to 4' high side walls. (The side walls are in the future so they're not shown on these plans.) Taking into consideration the open space for a balcony, this will gives us roughly 1200 square feet of living space including three bedrooms and two bathrooms. We also have hopes of adding on more space in the future but we have to move in small steps to avoid taking on more debt.

Jeff may have some editing to do or comments to add later but from this woman's point of view, that's about it. As we move along I'll share future floor plans with you too (scanned, not photographed.)

In other Dixon news...check out some of my fresh from the garden produce.

Yes, I'm in Missouri and just now getting veggies from the garden. With our looong, never ending to do list our gardening fell behind and I didn't plant anything until the first weekend in June. I should have started in the middle of April but I cut myself some slack (I am, after all pregnant with #5) and decided that if June is planting season for my sister in Iowa, surely I can plant a few things then too. The shell peas didn't agree with me on that but the other plants are putting better effort into feeding us.
One of the things we're most looking forward to is the Dakota Black popcorn. I hear you can pop it right on the cob!
I know it looks like Sadie's doghouse in the garden but it's actually in a pen behind the garden. My garden is strictly "No Dogs Allowed!"
Here's something we made the other night with the squash and tomatoes...

Pizza! Just put whatever toppings you like on a flour tortilla (precook the meat) and pop it in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes or so and you have these yummy, little, crunchy pizzas. Don't think squash and pizza doesn't mix because it does! Even the kids love it.



Never mind the small pile of tomato bits on Isaiah's plate. I'm sure those just fell off on their own.