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Simple House Project

The Building of the Simple House – Story by Story

simple house project

The Simple House At The Farm

Simple House ProjectBelow, we take your story by story through the challenges, trials, tribulations and excitement of building “Our Simple House.” From permits to plans, construction of the foundation, walls and full exterior – right down to creating and pouring our own concrete counter tops and finishing off the interior. If you want to know about building a simple house step by step – then this is it.

Our goals for the house are simple and straightforward: Design and build – as much as possible on our own – a minimal cost, energy-efficient, low maintenance home that utilizes only the space we need. A simple home that allows us to live and enjoy the farm now and forever.

When it comes right down to it – every person, every couple and every family has different needs for what works best for them. With that said, one thing is for sure – there is an awful lot of wasted and unused space in many of the homes built today, and that space is costly, time-consuming and increasingly difficult to maintain as we all grow older.

We hope that by eliminating the wasted space and only building what we need – we can create a home at the farm that allows us the freedom to enjoy life.There is a tremendous amount of freedom in living with less. In reality, it will allow us to live with so much more.  

Here are the articles, and the story of building our Simple House.

Creating A Simple Home Design To Live With Less – Comfortably

Creating a simple Home Design. This article is parts of our "Building The Simple House" series.  This series covers the entire process of building our simple home from start to finish. From permits to plans, construction of the foundation, walls and full exterior, to finishing off the interior - our hope is to document the…

The Simple House Floor Plan – Making The Most Of A Small Space

Today is the 2nd installment of 24 articles in our year-long series called "The Simple House Project." Every 2 weeks, we will publish an article or video covering the process from start to finish. From permits, plans, and construction of the…

The Exit Plan – Remodeling, Downsizing, and Preparing to Sell While Building

Today is the 3rd installment of 24 articles in our year-long series called “The Simple House Project" - including the secrets to downsizing.Every 2 weeks, we will publish an article or video covering the process from start to finish. From permits, plans, and construction of the exterior, to the complete interior finish – we hope to…

The Simple House Project Update #4 – Determining What We Can Do – And What We Can’t

Today is the 4th installment of 26 in our year-long series called “The Simple House Project.” Every 2 weeks, we publish an article or video covering the process from start to finish. From permits, plans, and construction of the exterior, to the complete interior finish – we hope to document the challenges, trials and tribulations of…

The Simple House Project Timeline – Finalizing What Happens When

Today is the 5th installment of 26 in our year-long series called “The Simple House Project.” Every 2 weeks, we publish an article covering the process from start to finish. We hope to document the challenges, trials and tribulations of creating a simple house that is extremely cost-effective, energy-efficient and earth-friendly – using only the space we…

Downsizing Room by Room. Less Space, Less Stuff Equals Less STRESS!

It's time to let the downsizing begin! This past week, we put our suburban home up for sale in anticipation of building and moving into our “Simple House” at the farm this summer. IT's official - the house went up for sale this week - and the move to the farm is…

Staying Calm Through Chaos – One House Sells And A New Life Begins

In our haste to stay calm amid the chaoe - we accidentily published this post to the wrong URL - you can find the correct article here: Staying Calm Through The Chaos.  Thank you!  Jim and Mary

Staying Calm Through Chaos – One House Sells, And A New Life Begins

It happened. Less than one month after going on the market - our current house is now under contract, and with that, the move to the farm and the building of the simple house is full steam ahead! We are so excited to now start work on the Simple House at…

Breaking Ground On Our Version Of A Tiny Home

It happened! This past week, after a few years of designing, planning and re-designing, we finally broke ground on our future "Simple House" at the farm. I have to say that for both of us, it was a pretty incredible moment to…

The Farmhouse Build In 19 Seconds – A Simple House Rises At The Farm

After a tremendous amount of dreaming, planning, and preparation - the walls and roof line of our farmhouse finally went up this week at the farm! Around 10:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, after a powerful set of overnight storms, the building crew from Weaver Barns rolled in and went to work. 90…

The Simple House Photo/Video Tour Update – 41 Days To Completion!

The end is in sight! It seems hard to believe that exactly two months and eight days ago, the first bit of earth was scraped aside to make way for our Simple House Project at the farm. In those short 70 days, we have gone from a pile of dirt – to now sitting on our…

The Beauty, Simplicity And Ease Of Using Shiplap Walls

Shiplap is everywhere! In fact, all you need to do is turn on any home improvement show or check out the latest Pinterest board dedicated to decorating, and you'll quickly find out that using shiplap siding for interior walls is all the rage. Shiplap goes up in our main room of the…