Philip, Jen and Peyton's Pages

Green with Envy

We have fallen in love!  In this economy, we are keeping all options open.  Just in case building is not the right decision for our finances, we would buy a house.  So we went house-hunting. We saw four properties: one that had construction problems, one that was not the right fit, one we could live with and one that we fell in love with.

The house that we love is probably exactly everything we could ask for in our dream house. It definitely has a “WOW” factor in every room, we wouldn’t have to change a thing. It is the perfect color (green), the perfect setting (under Live Oak trees), the perfect layout (almost), the perfect finishes (wood, tile, fixtures, ceilings), but NOT the perfect size. Actually it is massive for us! This house is about 2700 heated square feet and about 4000 total square feet!

My hubby and I had a heart-to-heart discussion about this house. We listed the pros and the cons. We probably could afford the monthly mortgage, but I worry that it is too much house – in utility bills, cleaning, maintenance, etc. I’d worry that we would stretch ourselves too thin and wouldn’t be able to enjoy anything else. It is also far from our work and Peyton would go to a different school district. This house also would require maintenance in the next few years – painting the siding, a new roof, etc.

Then we thought about what our builder told us.  Start with the smallest home possible and grow from there in your plans. Basically, start with only what you need. The biggest the house, the bigger the bills in the future.

I believe that seeing this house reassured us that building may be our best choice. When you build, you get exactly what you want and how you want it.

The Tiny Green House Concept

I have been following the tiny house movement for a while — and for those who aren’t aware — there are some people who live in as little as a couple hundred square feet.  Advocates of the tiny house life boast the benefits such as living without a mortgage, decreasing your carbon footprint and even the mobility — since many tiny houses are psuedo-recreational vehicles on wheels.  I really admire the movement, but I readily admit, I just can’t commit to downsizing that way.

But, as Jen has begun to blog about, we are beginning the home building process.   I think that 1,500 square feet might be plenty of room for my family and I, however, we can’t seem to fit everything we ‘need’ into that amount of space.  Realistically, we are looking at 2,000 square feet as a workable size.  This is still a considerable sized house — approximately the same as the one we just recently sold.   This size is still well below the average sized home today – that average sitting at approximately 2,400 square feet.

Last week, we met with a builder and one of the first conversations that we had was concerning the sizing of the floor plans we had brought to the table.  We had found a set of stock plans from an architect and we liked the flow of the layout and the style of the elevations.   The sizes of the screened porch, living room and the master bedroom were very large – in some cases, double what may be needed.  We had a real conversation about removing some of the excess space.  Our builder’s goal — to at least begin the process with the smallest possible house we will be happy with. That clicked.  This is step one of any green build – start with the smallest possible house to fit your needs – whether its a tiny house or not.

This made sense to me.  I have been concerned about the size of the house we’d chosen since we first fell in love with the plans.  Our builder took us on a tour of several houses and we were able to gauge sizes of rooms and he was right, the rooms we had were excessive.  He is now working to draw a set of custom plans in line with what we like both in style and flow but also trying to determine the smallest possible house at the same time.  And, we’re thrilled.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the tiny house movement, check out these blogs:

• The Tiny Life
• This Tiny House
• Tiny House Blog
• Mini Mobile Cottage
• Little House on the Trailer
• Small Living Journal

New house, new washer & dryer, and paid mortgages

Holy cow!  What a few weeks it has been… I am happy to report that we have completed our move and are settling into our rental house.  Its pretty comfortable.  We refuse to unpack a lot of what we own since we know this is all temporary and so we have a lot of (non-necessary) things packed away for safe keepings.  We have unpacked the things we need – kitchen stuff, clothes, office stuff, and furniture.
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Great story about my high school’s football team

One of my Facebook friends from high school found and posted this article from the Charlotte Observer. The article talks about my high school’s recent football success and their overall impact on the town… http://www.charlotteobserver.com/preps/story/1052870.html

The move begins today

Today begins the moving process as we begin moving some of our non-essential stuff into the new house for storage.  We have cleared out mostly the things Peyton has outgrown and those will begin moving along with some of the things from our garage which we have been storing there.  We’ll see how this progresses, but we plan to be completely out of our house on Friday.

We also need to send out an email with our new, temporary address to everyone.  If you’d like it, please send us an email – philip dot sellers at gmail.com or sunluv72 at yahoo.com.

Building Green Steps

My blood runs green. I remember always falling in love with animals and the outdoors when I was little. All those elementary school field trips to the nature center were my favorite days. However, I have to confess that I didn’t officially start recycling or being aware of my impact before I got my ‘green’ job. As a county recycling coordinator, it is my job to educate the public about waste reduction and recycling. Most of days are dedicated to guiding tours around the landfill and the recycling facility. I ride a lot of school bus around trash and I have to admit, I love it!

My investment in my career has pushed me into the next phase of my life and my family’s life. My green blood has affected my husband and my daughter into living the green life with me. We do all the basics: recycling, avoiding Styrofoam (except for Chick-fil-a sweet tea), donating and repairing things, and buying less products. But now, we are in a position to build a home. Of course, it is going to be GREEN.

My husband and I have spent hours on the internet researching green features and watching several shows on HGTV and Planet Green. We have a Green Wish List for our new home.

Green Wish List:

• Metal Roof
• Grey Water Filtration System
• Tankless Water Heater OR Geothermal System
• Solar Panel
• Recycled Composite Decking
• Energy Efficient Insulation
• Items from Salvage Stores (front door, interior doors, light fixtures, cabinet knobs)
• Low-Flow Toilets and Showerheads
• Low VOC paint
• Energy Efficient Appliances
• Drought-resistant landscaping
• Rain water collection

With all these features in mind, we also have to consider our budget. Some features are just not realistic in this economy, but we will be trying our best to get some of these.