Project Background – Part 1, Background and the First Plan

These first couple posts will basically get you up to date on the history and background of our project and how it evolved. Things are going to start happening in the next week so we want to get some of this background out of the way.

We bought this house approaching 4 years ago. House prices here in Tahoe were climbing and we wanted to get “in the door” before it shut behind us. Let me be clear that this is a REAL, original Tahoe Cabin, not one of those 4000+ sq ft second home “cabins” that people are building and selling up here nowadays. Our house has a footprint of about 600 sq ft with another 200 sq ft of loft/storage above the original house. The original house was built in the 1950’s with the bedroom addition happening sometime in the 1960’s. It’s a 1 bedroom, 2 full baths (yes, really!), a small kitchen and living room and then the loft/storage area on the second floor.

So, after being in the house about 1 1/2 years, we decided that it was time to do something. Prices had climbed to the point that selling this one and buying something else was nearly out of the question. We liked our neighborhood, being a couple blocks from mountain bike trails and a few blocks from downtown Kings Beach and the Lake. After weighing all the pros and cons, we decided to stay where we are and started developing plans for an addition with a remodel of the existing structure. It was during the research for this original project and some green building seminars and tours that really sold us on the whole idea of green and smart building. We eat organic and talk all this crap about environmentalism and everything else that goes with our lifestyle, we decided that this house remodel was really a chance for us to walk our talk and hopefully convince others that this is doable, especially if you keep perspective on your needs as opposed to “keeping up with the Jones.’”

Over the course the winter of 2005-2006 we worked on plans. We took these plans all the way through the building department to the point where in the Spring 2006 we were ready to write checks to get this project permitted. At that point, we sat down and had a serious heart to heart conversation about what we wanted, not only out of the house but out of our lives, future, etc. The next day we pulled the plug on the project and decided we were going back to the drawing board to get it down to a point where we would have a minimum amount of space to maintain and clean, could still afford to travel and do all the other things we like to do as well as eventually buy property somewhere else and build our own completely off the grid green home. We live in Tahoe to be outside doing things, not to just sit around inside a great big house that we have to clean and maintain.

I don’t mean to say that the original plans were big by any scope of the imagination; we were only adding about 600 sq ft. It really came down to what we really needed. In the course of the design process I’ve purchased and read a lot of books about small space design. As a result of all my reading, I’m a huge fan of Sarah Susanka who has written many books about Small Houses. While most of the houses she writes about are much larger than our house, it’s really the principals and the philosophy that she talks about in her books that really impress me. She talks a lot about the “Quality of space over the quantity of space.” That gives you an idea and I won’t go on right now, but I definitely suggest you check out some of her books if you’re interested in learning more.

I’ll try and get a copy of the first set of plans up so you can see where we were last year and then compare to where we ended up. Many would see going from plans for an addition to no addition as going backwards, but we see it as a huge forward step toward our goals.