IT’S TIME FOR THE BRIBITLEY HALL OPEN HOUSE!!! COME BY BETWEEN 2-5 PM ON OCTOBER 2, 2011. DETAILS IN THE ATTACHED PDF:
Because it will be built on a hillside, our house will have a vertical layout. We’re planning on eco-friendly construction and are considering: ICF foundation and exterior walls, solar panels, sustainably-harvested wood, sod roofing, geo-thermal heating, energy-efficient appliances, waterless urinal, and many other “green” choices. We’re hoping to achieve both a Minnesota Green Star Rating and a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. Other house highlights will include:
We’re planning on a blend of Tudor, Craftsman, and Contemporary Styles for the house. Check out our gallery of inspirational house pictures that we’re using as idea fodder below:
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Your input:
Let us know what you love or hate about your house! Sample comments below:
• You can’t have a large enough kitchen or master bedroom. Also, think about little bonus spaces like landings and window seats. – Rob Oden II
• Put your breakfast area in an east-facing location so you can enjoy morning sunlight. – Teresa Oden
• Think carefully about where you place your child’s bedroom! There are a number of factors to consider, including negotiating stairs at night and distance from guest-entertaining areas. – Jennifer Schlupf and Janet Peyton
Lots of fun seeing the great lot and imagining in my mind the finished product. We were so glad you made the effort to get down to Northfield and to see the relatives. We look forward to sharing many happy times with you, Jason, and the boys at 8951 Poplar Bridge.
Love,
Mothra
Sounds great! Looks great! It must feel great! Congratulations and we look forward to bring some house warming gifts, wine, or other delicious things!
Very cool! I love the idea of the polls. Everyone wants to share their opinions. Keep ’em comin’!!
I LOVE your ideas for green building. How neat that you have a website now!! 🙂 And that picture of you on the front page is total beefcake. You guys are just so America’s Next Top Gay Model!!! 😉
Lots of love,
Darcy
What a cool location! I love the “green” aspects of the house and especially the “dumb waiter”! Can’t wait to visit the finished project and see your Mom and Dad.
Have fun planning everything and keep stress to a minimum!
Dear Matthew and Jason,
Great website. Thank you for the tour of the property yesterday. It is truly a great site. It felt like you are out in the country, not in the middle of Bloomington. I look forward to following the progress.
Love,
Dadyada
WOW!!!
Take lots of pictures at each stage of the process and put together an “Our Home” album as you go along. And don’t forget to keep track of all the ‘horror’ and ‘angel’ stories that happen along the way. If I ever want to write a book that includes building a house, I’ll want to hear all about your very own voyage through this House Beautiful construction process!
Love to all from me in Mexico,
Harriet
Be sure you have plenty of natural light. Even on dark winter days, I almost feel as if I’m outside because of so much glass.
Oh! And be sure you have some sort of “something” to sit down on and take off boots, etc., when you come home. I failed to remember that; big error!
What an incredible homesite and house plans! I can’t wait to compare notes on construction and design ideas with you guys. I especially like the geothermal energy and am planning on doing that with our place. WE GOTTA TALK!
It does not suprise me at all to see such great detail on your website. You both will have an amazing new home.
One thing: My knees hurt just “thinking” about all those stairs! Could you just put all the important stuff for an old lady on one floor? Alas, a dumb waiter has many uses 🙂
Big plans, it looks like a great layout for your lifestyle. I could enumerate all the good things to outweigh the long things below, but you already know those. 🙂 A few opinions, with requisite salt:
It’s too bad the laundry isn’t on the top floor. Having that near the primary source of dirty clothes would be great. At the very least, plan for a laundry chute.
Where’s the dog room? Grooming, crates, food storage, etc. Easy access to outside.
I’d consider combining the sunroom/2nd floor guest room into a suite. The space would be much more special to the guests, and wouldn’t diminish from the availability of the space when guests aren’t there. Move the closet to the east, combine the two doors from the hallway into one, and enter on the center between guest/sunroom spaces. (or is that space 3+ season?)
I’d rotate the orientation of the theater 90 counter-clockwise, and move the exterior door to the rec room. This would maximize seating and distance from the screen, as well as adding more visual opportunities to the outside from the rec room, when the theater doesn’t need that.
I’m torn about the chimney. It will be a major piece of the street facade, but the pragmatist in me chafes at building such a huge structure for a holding a 6″ metal flue. If it weren’t for the west window in the 3rd floor, you could move the fireplace to the SE corner and share some infrastructure.
Ben – thanks for all the suggestions; you really took a thorough look at the plans! As you know from my email to you, these are mostly things we have thought about and have workable solutions to given the idiosyncracies of our lot. Nevertheless, good food for thought…
It is such a joy to share this process through your website. Your excitement is palpable.
If your bidge game is a predictor of results in other areas of your life, then I am confident that you will achieve eah of the goals you have set, with very few setbacks in the process.
And should you experience frustration in this process, just remember that 60% is a GREAT result.
Water less urinals? I know I could google it, but it sounds interesting, yet a little strange. Everything else sounds pretty awesome.