16' wide Victoria Cottage project

Started by jraabe, December 22, 2005, 07:59:51 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

jraabe

I got an email today from Brady Quinn with these photos and project description.

"I bought your plans for Victoria's cottage about three years ago and broke ground in the spring of 2004.  The foundation, heating, plumbing, and electrical work I had done by contractors.  The rest of the work I have done with the help of friends and family.  In October, I got the c.o. and moved in with just some finishing work left to be done.  So I would say it is now time to invite all who helped for a party to thank everyone for their help!

Some modification were made to your original plans but all in all, it follows your design.  I love my home and find it wonderful to live in."



(Click here for larger image: http://www.countryplans.com/images/quinn-1.jpg)

Here is a link to the plans Brady started with: http://www.countryplans.com/victoria.html

Notice that the porch was dropped, the extension wing moved forward and the main entry shifted to the enlarged Dining pop-out area.

I'm sure the interior layout has been modified from the initial plan.



(Click here for larger image: http://www.countryplans.com/images/quinn-2.jpg)

Brady reports that the house is in upstate New York about an hour north of the city.  

"The foundation/main floor is a concrete slab that I had colorized a Terra Cotta and finished with poly. It is a radiant slab using propane as the fuel source.  So far, we have had some very cold weather but it seems to be very efficient.  When winter is over, I will see just how much fuel I've used. And I love walking around barefoot in the dead of winter!"



(Click here for larger image: http://www.countryplans.com/images/quinn-3.jpg)


dan614

Great house. Where did you get the old time out door light?


peg_688

Nice job I really like  that you hit all your major window sizes with both courses , upper/ lower , spot on  :)  Lots of planning on layout , well you did lay it out or you'd have been willy nilly with those details . Outlets appear the same etc  :)

[highlight]  Very color full ,[/highlight] roof looks to be either purple or Red , well that's all camera work .   But for a   Vic colors are what you like , [highlight]just joking really [/highlight]nice job on exterior details , I like it  :)  I don't think I'd be so bold with color but that really is just a your choice / my choice .  Wish I could be so bold sometimes  :-[

 Theres a lot of skylights  :o Natural light must be nice inside :)  PHOTOS? ??  :P

 Great job  ;D

 PEG


achildofthesky

John:

  Hi, I am wondering if it is possible to view pages with pictures so I don't have to scroll down then up then over a bit then repeat or feft to right then down a bit then repeat? It is frustrating to not be able to read the text and view the pix this way. Since the change in the forum pages I have not been able to just scroll down to read all the text and view pix full width. Please excuse me as if this is a painfully simple fix but I am a wanna be geek and do not have great experience in all things computer...

Patty


glenn-k

#5
Generally I've seen this problem when pictures were too big for the resolution of the screen so they went bigger than the browser page or possibly you may be getting the big print page from the Main Countryplans template -still should display ok it seems.  Pix have all been ok on my screen lately.

Check in your profile for countryplans -click modify - put in password - click options - template -select default template - makes print smaller - if that works - resave your bookmark so you will sign on with the new settings.

or

Do you know what the resolution of your monitor is set at? Go to a blank place on your desktop -right click in a blank space - select properties - select settings tab - check screen resolution - see if you can set it to higher - that will make more fit on your page but it will be smaller.

Maybe someone else knows something else that may cause it.

Daddymem

Yeah it is either link lengths or picture size that causes the annoying scroll bar within the post.  The old site put the scroll bar on the entire page which was worse in some situations.  The fix is on the poster's side, shorten links with tinyurl or other, and shrink images to fit the posting width.  An alternative way for dial up users would be to turn off image loading.  You can then load the images when you want to.

ketdryn

I love how you modified the orginal plan.  And your choice of color is fantastic.  Given how much of the year parts of Canada are covered in snow, I like the idea of brightly colored houses.  They look so much warmy and cozier surrounded by all that white stuff.  I bought the Victoria Cottage plans earlier this year and am curious about how your modifications impacted your allocation of space on the inside.  Anyway, the house looks beautiful!  

spinnm

Looks great!  Sweet proportions.


As to the lights....you can get them at Lowes.  Imagine the web would yield a greater selection.  Come in black, galvanized and "rust".  Differing sizes.  That style has a name...can't remember.  Maybe someone else will.


Brady

Gee, thanks everyone for your compliments!  Glad you like it.  I will get some photos of the inside for you and post them.  Still unfinished, but working on painting, trim, countertops, etc. and so on.  I think it will end at some time.  Maybe.  I hope.

Shelly was right, Lowe's is where I got the outside lights.  My guess is that she has spent more time there than I have!  I am down to just three days a week.  And you Shelly, how often do you find yourself there and do you suffer withdrawal if you don't go daily?  In fact, I unknowingly painted the loft Lowe's blue, guess it's time to go to Home Depot and paint some orange.

Nice to hear the positive review of the colors.  Winter came too soon, so I didn't have time to finish the painting.  Still have a second coat to paint on most of the hovel and the trim to paint olive green.  The colors are not for everyone, but for me, I have had enough of beige, taupe, and off-white to last a lifetime!  As to the question of the roof color, it is a barn red and is from Lowe's (those bastards should be paying me for hawking their products!).

To sum up, I love my home and find it wonderful to live in.  Thanks to John for the wonderful design.

Brady

spinnm

Actually Brady I'm having serious withdrawal.  100 mi round trip to visit either one.  Can no longer just bop down to either for a whatchamacallit.  The local lumber yard is lame beyond belief.

jraabe

#11
Patty and other folks who were having problems with the images...

See if this is better. The images were probably too large for your screen resolution and thus forced the strange scroll bars. I run at 1280 x 1024 so the large images worked fine.

I've edited the post for 800x600 screens and shrunk images down to 480 pixels width. I added links to the larger images for viewing better detail.

I will try to remember to keep these images smaller in the future and others might keep this in mind as well when sizing photos for posting. Check to see if folks running 800 x 600 screens can still get a good view. (You can run your browser in a window and size it to 800 pixels wide.)

Let me know if there are still problems.

John

glenn-k

 I noticed that Firefox has an option to shrink images to fit the page - probably turned on by default so I was not seeing the problem. :-/

FrankInWI

 :P  Sometimes I am ASTONSIHED!  at the determination of many of the people hanging out here in actually getting to the task and getting it done!  Amazing....building a house isn't a small venture.  
This place looks GREAT....what a awesome job you did.  I hope you enjoy for many years.
Frank


Amanda_931

Apparently there are places in the country where--I don't know what they're called--high reflectance maybe? roofs are manated.  

I.E., white.  

This pains me because I tend to think that the only realistic color for roofs is

[size=18]Red  [/size]      [size=14] Red      [/size]  [size=14]Red[/size]
Especially barn roofs.

Although I think I could get used to purple on a house roof--maybe more gingerbread to handle the purple--consider pictures of the Painted Ladies in San Francisco.

Looks good!  

And, sigh, it's finished!

jraabe

#15
A white roof in a cooling dominated climate will save you money every year. The solar energy office in Florida built two test houses next to each other and the one modification that was the most cost-effective energy upgrade was going to a white roof.

In cold climates where you don't use the AC much, a darker roof will usually make more sense and, I agree, look better. Red is a great color for metal roofs but I also like dark green and charcoal.

jonseyhay

Mine's silver, and I'm darn glad it is. We had 44dgr C here yesterday and it's looking like it could make 47 by the end of the week. (That's 111-116 in American) ;)
jonesy.


achildofthesky

John:

  Thanks so much for the tweak to the pix format. It is a pleasure to be able to just run down the page. Again thank you and by the way, a happy, safe and prosperous New Year to all...

Patty Smith

glenn-k

That's way too hot Jonesy- I'll bet you'll be dusting off the old Bikini if it stays like that too long. [smiley=laugh.gif]

Amanda_931

I know that a white or at least very light roof is good for this climate.  I occasionally had to go up into the attic in my Nashville house in the summer--aaaakkkkk!!!--finally put an attic fan up there--that helped but it took electricity to run it.

But.....

I think I read about some sort of roofing material that did reflact more than one would think, given the color, can't find it right now--this is what the official Energy Star site says about reflective roofing:

What is an ENERGY STAR qualified roof product?
It is a reflective roof product that lowers roof surface temperature by up to 100°F, thereby decreasing the amount of heat transferred into a building's interior. ENERGY STAR qualified roof products save money and energy by reducing the amount of air conditioning needed to keep a building comfortable.

Here's that site--if I find the other I'll post it:

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=roof_prods.pr_roof_faqs



rampage

its funny that most new construction here in Fl has dark roofs. I have 2 houses that both have black roofs. Stupid, I know, but looks great with the coquino siding. Someone mentioned the attic getting hot. I remember going into my rental to run wire for some outside lighting in June and the heat literally fried my brain. I think I lost more braincells that day than the 2 years I spent in the 12th grade. :-?

Brady

#21
OK, now that I read ALL the directions on how to put a photo on this.....

A photo of the stairs that I got from Mylen Stairs out of Peekskill, NY.  I wanted the stainless steel version but thought that $35 grand would be a budget breaker!  It was nice though.  The view is from the living area looking towards the kitchen.

.

Click here for full sized image: http://www.countryplans.com/images/quinn4.jpg

This is looking from the kitchen into the living area with the door on the right going into the bedroom/workroom on the first floor.


Click here for full sized image: http://www.countryplans.com/images/quinn5.jpg

And a photo of the loft area.  I left it open with just half walls, making it seem much bigger and airy.  This is the room that I plan to use as my bedroom.  



Click here for full sized image: http://www.countryplans.com/images/quinn6.jpg

Brady

(PS, I resized these images a bit, John)


dan614

Glad to see your colors. They work and I know from my main house are great conversation starters. Could you post a few more of your loft? How long is your place? How much WERE the stairs

Amanda_931

I do love colors.

Even Lowe's Blue and Home Depot Orange.

Especially since it seems like they're going to work in the house.

The deal on dark roofs in Florida is that they'd be fine if they were something called "infrared reflecting"--I came across a (not particularly relevant to the discussion) press release from some plastics company who was bragging on their nice black that absorbed a lot of the visible light, not very much of all of the infrared--heat-producing--light.  I still think I saw something about roofs the other day.

And if you want the contrarian view--

Why the bleep don't they outlaw coating your now nicely to medium gray asphalt parking lot with stinky shiny black stuff!  My guess that in the suburbs, shopping centers that would do more to prevent heat islands than roofs.  Nyah!