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Updated 16 December 2021
Situated on three acres with a barn, canning building, fruit trees and large garden, we do as little or as much gardening as we like - when not spending time with family and friends or otherwise enjoying retirement.
We call our retirement home "the farm" and even though it only has three acres of land, it includes a 50-year-old barn with lots of character and a small house built 80+ years ago. The small house now serves as our canning building.
And, oh yeah, we also have several outdoor cats who help keep down the garden-consuming critter population.
Dining Room and part of the kitchen.
Living room.
Living room.
We have a tall hallway also.
Our initial two acres before construction in 2014 (we bought a third adjacent acre in 2019).
Our original two acres after construction.
The overall house dimensions are about 81 foot x 62 foot, with a 17 x 17 foot master bedroom, 17 x 12 foot second bedroom, and a hexagonal 17 x 14 foot third bedroom.
Excluding the 25 foot x 33 foot garage and covered porch, the interior of the home is about 2,300 square feet. With the wraparound porch surrounding 75 percent of the home, the roof covers approximately 4,550 square feet.
Back of the home.
Driveway and sidewalks finished.
Washer and Dryer connections and venting completed.
Sinks, showers and toilets all operational (heated tile floors in the bathrooms).
Fireplace.
First day of flooring installation... shown here in a 36-inch wide doorway. The boards are rustic six-inch wide, 3/4-inch thick wooden planks with a hardwax oil finish.
Flooring installed in front of the fireplace.
Furnace and A/C installation completed and operational (although not needed on many of these comfortable April days).
Four geothermal wells being installed in the back yard (each 150 feet deep)... to help lower summer air-conditioning costs.
Sheetrock taping continues... next comes priming, painting, floor-to-ceiling stone on the fireplace, and lots more...
Because the wall of windows has yet to be installed on the back of the house in this image, the combined living room/family room seems quite large.
The roof above the guest room and wraparound porch takes shape.
Lots of snow - not much progress during the Christmas and New Year weeks. Waiting for arrival of the roof trusses.
December 2013
The back of the house. The master bedroom is the nearest corner.
Looking across the back porch into the family room/living room. The walls are beginning to go up. The lowest walls are built for nine-foot ceilings, and the walls supporting the vaulted ceiling are eleven feet tall. When built, the peak of the roof above the vaulted ceilings over the family room will be about 21-feet above the ground.
Looking north, the entire subfloor is in place (one-inch thick water resistant Advantech). Plywood scraps lie in the sand where the concrete floor of the garage will be eventually poured.
Assembling the floor joists.
The foundation - and it's a good four-foot deep crawl space.
Putting molds in place for the foundation to be poured.
Footings poured - the outside (perimeter) footing is for the wraparound porch.
Holes for the footings are ready.
Looking north. The garage is demolished.
Looking north. We took these photos a few months after buying the two acres. We kept the 50-year-old barn at left, but tore down the garage on the right. The barn is 36 x 38 feet.
Our home during construction (panoramic composite of five images).
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