Friends

Look, walls have thickness! And we finally realized that building round walls is much trickier than building in straight lines, so the towers are now octagonal. What else?… This version offers a basement level in addition to the ground floor and lower level.

The letter that officially presented our floor plans and self-build concept to prospective housemates. (Although Jacob and I were calling the house “Blackwood”, we wanted the final choice of name to be a consensus decision, hence the request for suggestions here.) Welcome to… …well, let’s just start by saying this place needs a name. Put…

Ah, Version 4… Not significantly different from Version 3, perhaps, but a major milestone. I think we decided that instead of a lower level and a basement below that, it was more efficient and cost-effective to build UP. So we split the previous “lower level” in two, putting half of its rooms in an expanded…

We wanted feedback—we got it! There was a Version 4.1, with a radically different layout, then Versions 5 through 7 were back to the original concept. Then there was a Type II, again with a very different L-shaped footprint. To open a window on the thought process, here are the notes accompanying Version 5: fireplaces:…

After months of wrangling different plans, it was slowly sinking in just how difficult consensus decisions were. I posted the following missive almost exactly one year after sending out the initial introductory letter: Just when you thought it was safe to check your mailbox… …OK, I know I’m the one who said it was time…