I'm not liking the door to the bedroom in the kitchen. Any way you could move it to be right by the closet. Yes it is a conflict of doors there, but flows better.

Also you might want to consider switching the master closet and bath and allow access to the bath from the office area. If you ever have guests staying in that area they don't have to go downstairs to use the bath in the middle of the night.

What are the suicide doors for that opens over the lower part of the stairs from the office?

I'm not liking the door to the bedroom in the kitchen. Any way you could move it to be right by the closet. Yes it is a conflict of doors there, but flows better.

I'll try that out. Our construction advisor also mentioned perhaps moving the guest bath door to the pantry so the toilet doesn't look out into the dining room.

Also you might want to consider switching the master closet and bath and allow access to the bath from the office area. If you ever have guests staying in that area they don't have to go downstairs to use the bath in the middle of the night.

I had tried to make the master back adjoin both the master bedroom and the office but couldn't make it work. I want the bathroom to have windows on exterior walls, that is more important to us than easy access for guests, which truth be told we won't have many of.

What are the suicide doors for that opens over the lower part of the stairs from the office?

Those doors are for ventilation, it's a passive solar house with no A/C so being able to open up the house for ventilation in the evenings is very important.

Sorry off topic, but what software did you use to create your plan?
thanks

Sorry off topic, but what software did you use to create your plan?

Chief Architect 10

I really like your plan! I love the windows and the arches. I am confused on the interior pictures. Is that two different ways to do the living /dining area? One looks like the stairway is exposed and the other looks like a wall? I am sorry if I am mixing up rooms! Either way, I love the house!

I would be concerned that those beams in your kitchen will become a major dust collector above your food.

Consider tweaking the master bathroom. It seems awkward with the outward swinging door and walking into the toilet. Another reason to switch the closet and bathroom: the plumbing will have less distance to run.

Also, the pantry seems very far from the kitchen. Will the be a problem for the way you live?

Hmm... you have a most unusual hobby. Tell me, what does one need armour for?

I like the exterior so much better now! I think that the changes are quite nice. The one gothic window in the front is complementary now rather than distracting. Still no way to find space for a more formal entry?

I am confused on the interior pictures. Is that two different ways to do the living /dining area?

Sorry about that, there are some older 3D renders thrown in there and one accidentally had a wall covering the stairs.

I would be concerned that those beams in your kitchen will become a major dust collector above your food.

Good point, I guess there is always a choice between practicality and aesthetics.

Consider tweaking the master bathroom. It seems awkward with the outward swinging door and walking into the toilet. Another reason to switch the closet and bathroom: the plumbing will have less distance to run.

I'll try some tweaks to the bathroom but we like where it is located

Also, the pantry seems very far from the kitchen. Will the be a problem for the way you live?

I'm tweaking the design a bit so that the wall between the kitchen and bedroom can have a bunch of wall cabinets, so the pantry can mostly have storage stuff and not everyday items.

Hmm... you have a most unusual hobby. Tell me, what does one need armour for?

http://www.sca.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8779Q0Mnig
That's me in the greek armour

I like the exterior so much better now! I think that the changes are quite nice. The one gothic window in the front is complementary now rather than distracting. Still no way to find space for a more formal entry?

Thanks! I like it too. Formal entry is really low on our list of must haves...

Ah the 3'd pictures makes sense with the doors in the office and master. I like how you did those. Very cool.

I have an idea for you on the downstairs bedroom and since you want to keep the master bath where it is at it might save you some plumbing costs too. How about moving the downstairs bath to be at the end where the bedroom is and make it 5' wide. Use the little piece of the bath that has the shower and the door as the closet. Move the door to where the current closet is.

I've not drawn it out on paper, but I think if that would work then you'd get rid of the view of the bath as well as some privacy to the bedroom in that you can't see straight in there either AND your plumbing will be in the same area as the master bath and save you money since it is closer and close to the kitchen as well.

I have an idea for you on the downstairs bedroom and since you want to keep the master bath where it is at it might save you some plumbing costs too. How about moving the downstairs bath to be at the end where the bedroom is and make it 5' wide. Use the little piece of the bath that has the shower and the door as the closet. Move the door to where the current closet is.

By just looking at the plans without it being put in context of it's placement on the site I can see how that would be an attractive option. The thing is, the views out that bedrooms windows are awesome so giving them to the bathroom instead would be a waste. Here is a picture looking out from the bedroom. I have cut down the smaller trees so it's clearer now.

I am failing to understand how this is a passive solar house. Passive solar houses maximize windows on the south side. You don't seem to have many windows on the south. In addition, half the lower floor southern windows are blocked by the porch roof.

I LOVE all that covered porch area! Very nice design. And great view!

I agree with not having the guest bedroom not open into the kitchen. My BIL's house has a similar setup and they have a short hall that allows more private access to the guest bath and guest bedroom and prevents a view into either from the public space. In that hall is a coat closet since there is no room next to the exterior doors. The closet for his guest bedroom is on the wall it shares with the bath.

I know this setup would eat into usable space but it is something to think about!

Beautiful location! I don't blame you for not wanting to give up any of those views.

OT: Nice armor! What period is the Greek armor?

DH and I were early SCA people and were among the first members of Oldenfeld in Trimaris. My SCA name was/is Anne Pomeroy of Woodswell (Counter­vair, a mare courant reguardant Or.) ;-)

I am failing to understand how this is a passive solar house. Passive solar houses maximize windows on the south side. You don't seem to have many windows on the south. In addition, half the lower floor southern windows are blocked by the porch roof.

It's a passive summer solar not a passive winter solar. Our summers here are much longer than the winters and the house is extremely well insulated and we have an unlimited supply of firewood for heating. Since it's off the grid A/C is not an option so most of the passive solar design is to keep the house cool in the summer. That's why there is the wrap around covered porch that shields all the Low-E windows and why the ceilings are 9ft and why careful attention has been paid to where windows go for cross ventilation. I also hope that we'll get some thermosyphoning in the open area, cold air drawn from the bottom windows and hot air exiting out the high clerestory awning windows.

I LOVE all that covered porch area! Very nice design. And great view!

Thanks! We can't wait to be living out there!

I know this setup would eat into usable space but it is something to think about!

I'll try it out, space sure is limited downstairs though so it's really hard to make a lot of changes there.

OT: Nice armor! What period is the Greek armor?

Thanks I made most of it myself, took a while to cut out the 930 scales! Greeks didn't usually wear much armour so I took some liberties but I like to consider it around 326 B.C. Wow always great to hear from SCA people! I started in Caid and now am in the West, Achilles of Sparta.

It's not really what I would consider either Victorian or Farmhouse, more like Gothic Tudor, but it's nice.

Since you aren't planning on having central heat and air, I think you'll end up wanting some type of overhang on the office windows, especially the south facing ones. Hopefully, you'll have trees on the east side, to keep the sun from heating that space up early in the day, but if not, some type of awning or deep overhang would be good there too.

I can understand wanting the view for the bedroom rather than the bathroom. But honestly, how often, (and for how long) do you think anyone will be be standing in the bedroom looking out the window? You'll have a theatre sized home theatre room, not to mention a charming hearth and a spacious kitchen to hang out in; who would want to stay cooped up in a bedroom? (Well, maybe a teenager, but they get over it and move out soon enough)

OTOH, if you did move the bathroom, and replace the shower with a tub/shower to soak in, it seems like you'd have the perfect place to relax and enjoy the view. ;^)

I'd call it tudor as well. Or perhaps "Olde German" or Swiss. Love the porches.

I know you're off the grid, but do you have children? or heirs that you care about?

Someday, you'll be gone and the home will go up for sale. No AC will mean no sale.

Perhaps your design should anticipate eventual connection to the grid so that if someone wants to install AC at a later date, they don't have to rip the house apart, or install the components as a clumsy afterthought.

Are you off the grid because of distance from utilities or for some other reason? Utilities may someday approach your property so that hook-up becomes feasable. Having a space set aside for the evaporator and having duct work in place makes sense to me. Your heirs will thank you.

I hate utility lines so had them run underground 500 feet to my home site. Perhaps you could have that done as well so that if your home is eventually joined to the grid, they can hook up to your pre-dug wires, rather than have a ditch witch tear up the roots of mature trees much later.

I have a few swords and armor pieces of my own by the way.

I think jedon is going for a stick style victorian which this isn't too far off. Here is a link describing it.

Stick Style Victorian

jedon- I think littledog has a point about the view and how often you'd really use it in the bedroom. A soaking tub and that view sure would be nice. What is the view like to the side as it looks to me like the view wouldn't be that far off on that side either.

Holy Hannah! Who told you that you could design a house? This thing is horrendous! Please don't build this and hire someone who has an idea of how to use form, function and balance to create an attractive liveable space. It may be the design program but.....the gothic windows(fighting with the other window style) combined with tudor accents and the vaulted ceilings(which are one of the biggest offenders for inefficient heat usage) just doesn't work. The floor plan has major issues such as the placement of the pantry....why is it there? Why is there a window in the shower and the washer and dryer in your office? Is there a reason that there is a bedroom and bathroom next to the kitchen(and why have you placed all those beams on the ceiling?) and between the kitchen and panty. I don't know what a construction advisor is but you should find a different one.....someone who will be honest with you about your plans and the need for some professional design advice.

bellamay: Did you read his earlier post about the design? I think resale will never be an issue. Seems like he owns two adjoining tracts of land and will one day sell the larger one for a good bit of money. There is apparently a limited supply of cash at the moment for this build. But he will never need to sell it. It's just his interim house till he has the financial means and time to design his permanent home.

SO, he has the rare opportunity to design and build what he truly wants, within his current budget. Whether anyone else likes it now or in the future is irrelevant. From following his 2 threads I gather that he is merely looking for suggestions to see if anyone comes up with anything he likes better. He is not necessarily looking for good design ideas.

It's "purple polka dots" time! What a luxury!!

SHEESH JEDON! Youre just not following the program! (the nerve!) what next...no cultured stone? No 3 car garage? No two-story entrance foyer? No 2,000 sf master bath? No butlers pantry? How do you expect to move in 5 years???
If you keep spreading these kind of ideas, people might actually think they can design a house for.....(dont freak)...themselves! HONESTLY!.

jedon: Are you getting the kind of input you want here? I think you might get something more useful if you could define for us what you're unhappy with in the plan as it has evolved. What areas of the layout; what functions; any circulation problem areas; any ways you feel it fails to meet your daily living patterns; anywhere you feel the aesthetics falls short.

I don't know what you are looking for now. It's pointless for us to say how WE would like things to suit US. (Ex, I have allergies/asthma and the beams in the kitchen would be anathema to me, but that's not relevant to you unless you share the dust concern, or abhore cleaning. Maybe you'd be happy to let them collect dust. See? I have no clue.)

If the kitchen beams are suspended below the ceiling - hard to tell from the drawings - they may pose a massive dust collection problem. If not, still make sure you have a good lighting plan in order to avoid creating aggravating shadows in the kitchen workspace.

Check with your local code guys - if you have them where you're building - on the suicide doors on the upper floor. Make sure what you want will be something that passes inspection before you actually get started. Same with the upper landing of the stairs. It's looks kinda tight as you have it drawn.

I'm not wild about the idea of the laundry in the office space. I think I would find that distracting. But, if it works for the way you live - and work - fine. My personal preference would be to create a mudroom/laundry area in the currently drawn pantry space.

My suggestion for the downstairs bedroom and bathroom would be to reconfigure the doors. Delete the door from the bedroom to the bathroom. The two rooms are so close that there's really no need for another door connecting them and it eats valuable wall space in both rooms. Next, turn the closet into a short hall that houses the doors to both the bedroom and the bathroom. You can relocate the closet within the bedroom, or simply use a wardrobe for storage. Something like I've roughed out below, but you might need to fiddle around with the door sizes and bathroom layout.

{{gwi:1489029}}

I've been trying to figure out how to design the main level bath and bedroom as housewitch did it. But I couldn't figure out where to put the closet. Actually, if you're willing to make the room smaller you could back a standard 24" deep closet up against the bath wall.

One other thing, my parents have the arrangement that housewitch drew, but they kept the entry door she removed, creating a closeable foyer into this so it can be a suite if needed. It's nice for guests. They can at least close the outer foyer door when traipsing from the shower to bath, etc. Also, it makes a good sick room that way if someone is confined and needs to be downstairs.

I don't think many things are an issue for Jedon, including guests.

Jedon, why are there two doors to the home theater? The one at the back of the house doesn't look very functional because one would have to walk around the couch in order to be seated. Also, I would think that the fewer doors, the better the sound quality.

Also, I am curious... is there a passive solar reason that your kitchen is up front or is this your personal preference?

Are you planning on having operable gothic windows (perhaps operated by a long pole) to let out the heat in the vaults? I am just curious how those play a part into your passive solar plan.

Perhaps I need to learn more about passive solar in order to understand your plan. Do you have any recomendations on where to start?

I like the house, but have a few suggestions beyond my earlier rant about designing to allow for eventual air conditioning:

The columns that support the porches seem too thin, but that could just be the computer graphics. Perhaps they need to be a little more proportionate to the beams through out the house and especially the exterior tudor framing.

I also think the interior would look better if instead of concentrating most of the beams above the kitchen, you were to spread the beams around the house, especially the living room. I think if you would reduce all those beams over the kitchen and have more in the living room, you'd get something that looks like authentic timber frameing.

Having most of the timbers in one room seems unbalanced to me.

The downstairs bedroom and bathroom designed by housewitch is much better than the OP, but I would modify a little - you don't want to open the bathroom door and look at the toilet and I don't think you want the toilet under a window, therefore the vanity and the toilet should change places.The window should move up towards the shower to allow for a mirror over the vanity.

In the master bathroom, you don't want to open the door and look at the end of the vanity. The vanity would be better placed along the shower wall and with nice mirrors above the sinks, it would be much more attractive when you open the door. The door should open inwards also, and lie against the wall when open - this takes up less space. The master closet only needs to be 6feet wide, so you could give an extra foot or so to the master bathroom to make it more spacious.

Does anyone here read Barbara Michaels? I think I've seen this exact house described in several of her novels.

Cheers!
Heather W

Here is a link that might be useful: Our ICF Home Construction Journal

It's not really what I would consider either Victorian or Farmhouse, more like Gothic Tudor, but it's nice.

I called it Victorian because I live in a gold rush town and there are tons of houses labeled as Victorian that have the exact same exterior shape. The Gothic and Tudor influences are our own, although I have found examples of those styles incorporated into Victorians. I guess its all semantics in then end though.

I think you'll end up wanting some type of overhang on the office windows, especially the south facing ones.

IÂm so embarrassed, I put the direction arrow exactly backwards, it should be pointing the other direction! I didnÂt shade the office windows because they face north and west.

who would want to stay cooped up in a bedroom? (Well, maybe a teenager)

We do happen to have a teenager for that room, and IÂm sure guests will appreciate the view. When it gets decommissioned as a teenagers room it will probably be a library / sitting room, so a view will still be nice.

OTOH, if you did move the bathroom, and replace the shower with a tub/shower to soak in, it seems like you'd have the perfect place to relax and enjoy the view. ;^)

We have a big jetted tub in our current master bath and never use it. We plan on putting a wood fired hot tub in the roman ruins on the other side of the pond at some later date. ( no the ruins arenÂt there, yet )

I know you're off the grid, but do you have children?

An 18 year old daughter who is there off and on, away at college and then back sometimes.

or heirs that you care about?

Saying we donÂt care would be a bit insensitive, but we arenÂt worried so much about it that it would affect our building decisions, we are building this house for us and nobody but us.

Someday, you'll be gone and the home will go up for sale. No AC will mean no sale.

If my wife and I are gone, other people can find their own way in life and not be mad at us for not wasting money on a planet destroying A/C system. Do you really think that A/C tech is going to stand still and HVAC systems in 50 years are going to in any way resemble what we have today? ItÂs impossible to look or plan that far into the future.

Perhaps your design should anticipate eventual connection to the grid

If IÂm generating all my own power, why would I want to connect to the grid?

I hate utility lines so had them run underground 500 feet to my home site.

Dig 1100+ feet of trenches and bury thousands of dollars of copper wire for some possible future eventuality??

I have a few swords and armor pieces of my own by the way.

Cool! Ever put them to use? âº

I think jedon is going for a stick style Victorian which this isn't too far off

That is the closest Victorian style and we threw in some other touches as well. Thanks.

Holy Hannah! Who told you that you could design a house?

Why do I need someone to tell me what I can and canÂt do?

This thing is horrendous!

Our sense of aesthetics must differ, perhaps you could post some links of your own designs?

the gothic windows(fighting with the other window style)

There is only one gothic window and itÂs in a place where rectangular windows arenÂt visible close to it. Plenty of "pretty" buildings mix gothic and rectangular windows. Here is a shot of Notre Dame Cathedral http://www.bornemania.com/civ/gothic_architecture/notre-dame-front.jpg , OMG it has gothic arched windows right next to a big circular one and the doors are rectangular! EEEEEK!

combined with tudor accents

Victorian Stick Style, see above comment for link

vaulted ceilings(which are one of the biggest offenders for inefficient heat usage)

The house is highly insulated (R22), almost airtight, and compact. I have a virtually unlimited supply of firewood and a woodstove rated to heat 3000SF of "normal" house. I really donÂt think heat in the winter is going to be an issue. Keeping cool in the summer on the other hand is very important to me, thus the vaulted ceiling thermosyphon system with cross ventilation.

The floor plan has major issues such as the placement of the pantry....why is it there?

I roped off the plan onto the building site and tried it out, itÂs 5 steps from the kitchen to the pantry. There are lots of wall cabinets in the kitchen for often used items so the pantry can hold the full freezer and 50lb bags of stuff along with enough beer and wine for a protracted stay if we get snowed in.

Why is there a window in the shower

Because we like the light and to be able to gaze out onto our lovely property while we shower. The parcel is 97 acres, nobody can see you showerÂ

the washer and dryer in your office?

ItÂs close to where we remove our clothes, the master bedroom and there was room there for it as opposed to downstairs where itÂs already cramped for space

Is there a reason that there is a bedroom and bathroom next to the kitchen

The home theater needed to be on the north west corner so it was in the least desirable place for looking out, the kitchen and dining and living rooms want to face the pond to the south as well as the view of the 300ft cliffs. That pretty much only left that corner for the bedroom and bathroom and since a small bathroom doesnÂt need nice views, the bedroom went in that corner.

and why have you placed all those beams on the ceiling?
Because it looks nice and also to hang a pot holder off of etc. It will look a bit different when we actually build it, hard to get everything looking just right but if you look in books and magazines you will find a whole lot of kitchens with beams.

I don't know what a construction advisor is but you should find a different one.....someone who will be honest with you about your plans and the need for some professional design advice.

We went and looked at the houses our construction advisor has built and they were very nice. He loves the design and would like to live there himself.

It's "purple polka dots" time! What a luxury!!

pinktoes, you have hit the nail on the head! If bellamay doesnÂt like this place, wait till he seeÂs the castle!

SHEESH JEDON! YouÂre just not following the program! (the nerve!) what next...no cultured stone? No 3 car garage? No two-story entrance foyer? No 2,000 sf master bath? No butlers pantry? How do you expect to move in 5 years??? If you keep spreading these kind of ideas, people might actually think they can design a house for.....(dont freak)...themselves! HONESTLY!.

Now there is someone who understands where we are coming from! This is our final resting place. Even if it isnÂt it will be a special person who would want to buy our project anyway, no matter what we build first. I donÂt care about resale value at all and there are no home owners association rules etc so we can do as we please.

jedon: Are you getting the kind of input you want here?

I have gotten some good feedback and ideas, as well as the input from people who donÂt really understand our situation or aesthetic vision but I have a thick skin.

I'm not wild about the idea of the laundry in the office space. I think I would find that distracting.

I used to have the laundry downstairs but it took too much room away from the pantry, and the clothes would just have to be carted up and down the stairs anyway so it made sense to put it upstairs. I agree that it could be distracting, I'll be sure to put extra sound deadening material in the floors and walls of the laundry room to help with that.

Check with your local code guys - if you have them where you're building - on the suicide doors on the upper floor. Make sure what you want will be something that passes inspection before you actually get started. Same with the upper landing of the stairs. It's looks kinda tight as you have it drawn.

The drafter and I were trying some different ideas to try and make the landing larger but nothing worked out nicely. Thanks for the tip about code, I'll ask about that.

My personal preference would be to create a mudroom/laundry area in the currently drawn pantry space.

My wife really wants a large pantry, since we are a couple hours away from places like Costco it will be good to be able to buy in bulk and stock up. Our mudroom will be the huge porch âº

My suggestion for the downstairs bedroom and bathroom

I had a version where the show was where the closet is now, that worked great for the bathroom but really cut into the bedroom area since I then had to put the closet jutting into the bedroom. I donÂt disagree that that bed/bath area is a little less than optimal but the space limitations really make it difficult. I like your version but without a good place for the closet itÂs not doable.

If the kitchen beams are suspended below the ceiling

Sorry, in the rendering the beams are actually a foot lower than the ceiling but that was not on purpose, I had raised the ceiling height from 8' to 9' and hadn't moved the beams up yet.

still make sure you have a good lighting plan in order to avoid creating aggravating shadows in the kitchen workspace.

The kitchen will have a combination of spot task lighting, 4' fluorescent area lighting and ambient LED lighting. I've tried to give a lot of thought to lighting since I know it can play a pivotal role in the aesthetics and mood of the house but of course that doesn't really show on the plans since I haven't done most of the electrical schedule yet.

Actually, if you're willing to make the room smaller you could back a standard 24" deep closet up against the bath wall.

That room is already pretty small. I did try and have the closet in the room but it was taking up too much room and looked awful. Even that 3x3 closet isn't enough, there will be a armoire in there in addition.
don't think many things are an issue for Jedon, including guests.

Hehe that's true for sure!

Jedon, why are there two doors to the home theater?

hmm you have a point there, the entrance by the foot of the stairs was there first and I added the other door later, I didn't even think of removing it. I'll try taking that out and see how it works, thanks.

Are you planning on having operable gothic windows

Due to the high cost of custom windows the one remaining gothic window in the master bedroom will be a fixed glass window. The vaulted area in the living/dining room area will be vented by the clerestory awning windows. Maybe we could use a fan to pull the hot air out of the master bedroom vault.

Is there a passive solar reason that your kitchen is up front or is this your personal preference?

We wanted the views of the meadow and pond from the kitchen as well as morning sun to make it seem light and cheery.

Perhaps I need to learn more about passive solar in order to understand your plan. Do you have any recommendations on where to start?

This article mentions some of the guidelines for passive solar with regards to heat:
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/121/cool
The things I tried to pay most attention to were: Lots of insulation - SIP panels R22, Cross ventilation, Low-E double pane windows, covered porch around the south and east sides of the house shading most of the windows on those sides, having a garden around the house and using thermosyphon theory to allow cold air to be pulled from the lower windows filtered through the plants and exiting through the high clerestory awning windows.

I think if you would reduce all those beams over the kitchen and have more in the living room, you'd get something that looks like authentic timber frameing.

I would love to put more timbers throughout the house, we'll see what the budget allows. I do think the 3D view doesn't accurately reflect what we will have in the kitchen, it will probably be some larger beams mixed with smaller beams and not look quite so domineering

The columns that support the porches seem too thin

The program automatically generated those, since part of the porch has a second story porch I bet the engineer will specify some larger timbers there.

Jedon, just a couple of ideas for beams in the kitchen you might like. We have structural beams in our current house and the one we are building.

In our current house they are criss crossing and it looks good although we still only hang pots etc on the main beams. I don't have a decent picture but here's the idea:
{{gwi:1489030}}

We decided to go with one directional beams in our new house and here's what they look like so far:

Hi Jedon, what fun to be able to dream, and then actually build.
A thought on cooling, How about a hot air exit, at the very top of the house? And intake,[low in the house]? With an industrial, or greenhouse fan? And a protective overhang for most rain.

A small, square, or circular openable, window, in the wall, could be tilted and set at the very top of the roof line.
A vent there, at the top tip of the wall, would work too.

*There should be a strong exhaust fan there, facing out behind a screen. [ We took the window off in the summer and replaced it with the screen. Then set the fan in place there and plugged it in.]
A cupola, / cooling tower, with an openable vent?

Is there a place where cooler air will come from in the evening? [We used to open the door to the "painted> cellar, when we turned on the fan.]

-The gothic doors upstairs, to air..... how about a balcony, with an openwork floor? Wood or steel. Colonial Peru put in exterior wooden balconies on solid buildings, in the 1500s. It's another period influence to explore. They were pretty much solid, but you could do an interpretation
Have fun with your dreamhouse, florey

"We have a big jetted tub in our current master bath and never use it. We plan on putting a wood fired hot tub in the roman ruins on the other side of the pond at some later date. ( no the ruins arent there, yet )"
I know what you mean, I wouldn't use an energy hog like that either; I was thinking more along the lines of a cast iron tub. The kind that heat up with plain old (uncirculating) hot bath water and stay warm on their own. But the ruins sound nice. ;^)

"I used to have the laundry downstairs but it took too much room away from the pantry, and the clothes would just have to be carted up and down the stairs anyway so it made sense to put it upstairs."
Lots of builders are doing that now days, moving the laundry upstairs with the bedrooms. Then again, you could think of it as the perfect excuse to add two of the best Victorian era details; a laundry chute and a dumb waiter.
(just the thought of pre-planned, built in elegance like that is almost enough to make me wish our little house had a second story...)

As this is going to be your final resting place (on second thought, unless you're designing a crypt for the basement, perhaps the phrase "forever house" would be more appropriate?), have you planned the doorways wide enough for walkers or wheelchairs? Even if you're all currently the picture of youthful good health, you never know when someone might have an accident, and discovering once you get home from the hospital that you can't get into the toilet by yourself is really a bummer. If opening a door that wide will eat too much into the floorspace, there's always pocket doors... I think it's also a good idea to at least plan ahead for the day when you might need a handicap accessible way up to the house; have some idea where will you put a ramp, especially in relation to the front door and where you will be getting out of the vehicle. Something you might not have thought about adding is a portico; a porch connected to the house designed to be wide enough to park a vehicle under in case of inclement weather. It's not an attached garage, or even a covered carport, but a temporary place to stop the car close to the house. They're perfect for unloading groceries (or grandpa and his wheelchair) on rainy days.

We had a neighbor who was forced to sell his home and move into a "managed care" facility when he was barely old enough to retire. He'd lost a leg to diabetes, and the house was so poorly designed he was literally unable to take care of himself. He tried to adapt and had his bed moved next to the potty chair in the living room, (the only room with a door wide enough for the wheelchair), but he had no way to empty the pot, or bathe, or do his own laundry. Even though the house was a ground level single story, it was almost impossible to roll a chair from the door to where the car was actually parked (50 feet away around the corner) because there was no solid surface walkway. Since then, I've become a big proponent of Universal design, and I figure it doesn't hurt to remind people to plan ahead. It's great that the house is designed to maintain a comfortable temperature off the grid, but if you can't get yourself into the shower, you won't be there to enjoy it. ;^)

ajpl:
Those beams in the picture that isn't your is pretty much what I had in mind, larger beams with smaller beams in between and I'd like the beams to be as antique/rustic looking as possible. The beams int he kitchens of 16th century farmhouses we saw in England were beautiful ( had slate floors too! ).

florey:
You read my mind :-) I already have planned to put a whole house fan in both the attic and cathedral ceiling area in order to keep the attic and high ceiling cool. I love the idea of making those door/windows into a little balcony, thanks!

littledog:
When the laundry was downstairs I had a chute from the master closet into the laundry. I investigated a dumbwaiter since that would be a very cool feature but the only ones I found were electric and cost more than $5K, you have any more info on them?
In my castle design I gave a lot more thought to universal design than I did with this house so I have had it in mind, all the doors in the house are 36" wide. The bathrooms might be an issue, they are on the small side. I'll take a look with that in mind and see if there are some small changes I can make.
A covered walkway from the carport would be very nice, we'll see how that fits in the budget when we are done. For now I'm concentrating on affording the shell!