While I have found many cabin plans for small houses, what about plans for small english cotswald type cottages - you know, with sweeping rooflines, shilged in shakes...roses up the doorway, and dormers with gingerbread? Everything I've found so far is very angular (roofline), and nothing that fits my desire for a storybook cottage. Stone, timbers - yes, surfaces can change, but what about rooflines that are circular, sweeping, curvy and bumpy? Anyone come across anything like this? If I could find these plans, I would be all set to build. I am seriously almost considering becoming an architect just so I can design in. Even though I've seem...mmm...I think they're called staphen wilcott? cottages in some small house books, theyu aren't very small...and they don't ever include floorplans. Any ideas?
What I want to do is build a small "treasure box" house - since I could never afford an english manor - I want to build a little english style cottage - something that looks like you stepped into a fairytale. Even if you have a name or company...ay tips...even books to buy? I've been planning this for years, but always come against a wall here. Every architect I've talked to doesn't want to take the time to custom design a tiny (small money) house...yet I can't find any "stock" plans out there. I'm looking for a no garage - no bigger than 20x24 (and preferably about 18x20) square foot cottage.
Just in case anyone is reading this - other narrowing the field issues are - I need to modify to full basement (easy enogh) and I have five kids - so I need three levels (with daylight basement bedroom for kids).
Maybe searching in UK forums?
HI, sounds like you are planning to build something similar to my dream house.
I'm planning on using John's Victoria's cottage plans or the Expandable Cabin design kit and working from there. I'm researching soilbag(calearth.org) infil for the 'wall thickness' rather than strawbale, lathe and plaster, or stone, so for me this route seems the most workable option. (And yes, John, my plans are for a 'western front'
option for a guest house)
If you want to specific plans rather than work from a basic model, I think this is the place you want to go http://www.storybookhomes.biz/
They have two sets of plan books you can order depending on the sq. ft. size you are interested in.
My favorite site for inspiration is http://www.lanasthelittlehouse.com/index.htm
In the "press center" section are many articles published on the house, this one shows the floor plan. http://www.lanasthelittlehouse.com/hb_magazine.htm
I love the layout, it reminds me of John's 'eco cottage starter house' (I think it was on the old forum long ago)...which I think evolved to the Victoria's cottage....(am I right John? if not please correct me) Spend some time at this site, looking at all the guest photo's and articles and it will give you more information than most of the books I've read so far.
This link is informational, no specific house plans though, http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-cotswoldcottage.htm
Good Luck,
Deana
The Storybook homes are so darling!
(https://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e44/kathykrn/arch.jpg)
(https://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e44/kathykrn/ivy.jpg)
(https://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e44/kathykrn/winbrickS.jpg)
Can't wait to look at the other sites! Thanks Deanna, for the "eye candy" :)
Just had to post one more picture - from Google (linked from the last reference you cited...)Cottswold cottage (kinda small, though)
(https://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e44/kathykrn/cotswold_cottage_180.jpg)
Sounds like you want a real David Winter cottage. I think what separates those from the typical cottage is a very steep roof, and the flair at the edge. Any plan will do that suits your fancy. Just have your carpenter make the roof steep and there are some simple methods of furring out the lower sections to get the flair. There are even companies making synthetic thatch for that authentic look. Custom doors with the gothic type arch are available, and the cultured stone siding can make a very believable cottage at a cost that is much less expensive than real stone.
We where drawn to the english manor houses from my wife's vast collection of DW cottages and that led me to design my own house since nothing was available on the net that pleased us.
Good luck! :)
Wonderful! I love the site at http://www.storybookhomes.biz/tinybook.htm and also much thanks for the roof info! A steep pitch is easy enough - I wonder how hard it will be to find a builder who can "flair" the ends, though? This is a great site - so glad I came across it. The accompianing site with the 16yr old who build her own house was so inspiring. Thanks for all the help! If anyone knows of sites where I can find anything else cottagy - details - please post them. Like gothic architectual details - and those artificial thached roofs - I'll have to look into that. Again - thanks! I think I may have to go buy my 19th pad of grid paper - ha ha - inspiration hits! Also, thanks for the David Winter info - I'd never heard of him.
Not full size homes, but maybe you will see something inspiring... Uncle Eddie's World (http://www.uncleeddiesworld.com/)
I gather that the flared ends are pretty easy--in fact in the "just do it" range. Build up the ends of the rafters. Might have to sheath with several layers of thinner plywood. Asphalt shingles--or thatch--can go on with no trouble. Not metal, unless you were using the metal shingles.
And there's somebody whose plans are in a lot of those plans periodicals who designs houses somewhere between that and the camp-meeting places. I'll see if I can find it later. Speaking of camp-meeting places, the Tiny Houses books are really neat.
Remember, though, that being able to actually live in the place is at least as important (I'd say more so) than what it looks like.
The tiny Storybook plans are cute beyond belief. But I can't imagine them fitting in with the house across the street, or in the middle of my field, etc.
Which partly contradicts what I just said. but I'll stand by both. ::)
AH - but at the top of a wooded hill with no neighbors in sight - partilly covered by old-growth tress - it's going to look great! I am so excited. Finalized my plan today. It's basically a 32x14 rectangle, with two 10x10 "arms" that flank the front courtyard entrance. Thanks for the flared roof info - I can see how that will work...esp since I am only going to flare the 10x10 additions. I want to put an old-world style steep hip roof over the main part of the house - with two eyebrow windows. Anyone have any advice on this kind of roof? I'm attaching some of my inspiration pictures. Hope they come through ok. The main house - entry I am deisgning from in is Sue Susanka's book Home By Design - called "Not So Little Cottage" - of course - I'm making it a very little cottage. But the entry is so ideal, I want to replicate it almost exactly. I have two pics here of it. It's a little courtyard that opens into a circlular room ( a circle inside a square, made of stucco by thickening the walls - not a circle in the footprint)...my guess is about 8x8, but I'm going to use a 6' circle.
Here's the outside of the courtyard
ANd here's the inner circle - note the steps upto the study on the right - moving.
Other inspiration
Looking through pics for a steep hipped roof, I found many cottages have a sortof modified hip - it's really a gable roof with the corners sheared off at the top. Nayone build this? Seems much easier to build than a full hip roof - esp as we will be using the upstairs under the roof. Here's an example:
Or this roof may show it better:
It's pretty, but how much did you have set aside to build it? Eyebrow windows cost the earth.
I'll have quite a lot, I hope...but I'll only be able to do it if I keep it small. We live in a 3000 sq ft home now - my husband likes big. And I agreed on the condition that when our five kids left, I GET TO CHOOSE the house...and now they are all getting ready to head off on their own. When we sell this house - I want to build a little cottage on some property I was given by my parents. So - yes - expensive...but like I mentioned, a little treasure box. Expensive details, but a little footprint. I would make it smaller, but I want to have room for three guest rooms in the basement for when the kids come to visit/summer breaks. I don't want them to feel "kicked out". The plan I have decided on will be about 700 sq ft, per level (of course the upstairs won't be as big because of the rooflines). We're also planning on doing a lot ourselves...and with friends.
Found some more links, one of these days I'll actually get around to cleaning up and organizing my bookmarks
"Chaplin Court"
http://johnrobertmarlow.com/sb--profile--chaplin%20court.html
and main website:
(be sure and check out the 'links' section )
http://johnrobertmarlow.com/sa__storybook.html
http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/plans/7017.pdf
page 2 shows construction details of a swayback roof.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/05/HOG726V4TS1.DTL
slipform 'castle'
http://www.hollowtop.com/cls_html/stone_home.htm
Deana
Wow - thanks Deana. Those sites were all helpful, and I never came across them in everything I searched for. It's such a pain to try to get info just surfing and searching! I use Google - maybe that's the problem...I have to wade through so much refuse! The last one is especially of interest.
Just got the new mini Garden catalog from Lee Valley. It has a truly gorgeous shed on the cover. With curved rafters that are curved rafters, i.e., no build-up to form the curve. Looks like the sheathing is made of smallish (something by 3 inch?) boards. That works if you don't need the anti-racking strength of the plywood. and it's a small shed.
Unfortunately I don't see the picture on the web site.
I'd guess that the math on the "dutch gable"--just hipping the top--is just as bad (or as easy--they can all be done with a tape measure and/or a standard storeboughten square, IIRC) as that for the full hip roof.
What you lose with it is an easy place to put a vent into an unused space.
Ah - Dutch Gable, is that what's it's called? It's all greek to me. Thanks for the info. Dutch gable sounds a lot better than "gable with the corners lopped off"! I can't wait to get started! Anyone want to buy a big vinal-sided house in Vermont? Ha ha. I'll order Lee Valley's catalog and hopefully get the same one. Gardening is my second passion - to planning my dream house.
What a unique website Amanda! Thanks for posting it! I see a lot of victorian cottagy details here I can use! http://www.leevalley.com
Lee Valley has four different catalogs. I have bought from them all. ::)
I think I saw Dutch Gable in a couple of 1920's era reproduction plan books and that's what it was.
But there do seem to be a bunch of things called Dutch Gable. Some not at all what we are thinking of. Wikipedia doesn't have a picture but says that it's a hybrid of hip and gambrel (classic barn) roof.
Seen a couple of things with a false end on the gable--e.g., this:
http://westerncape.lodgesafaris.com/images/klippe_rivier_lodge_280b.jpg
Here's an Australian carport with what purports to be a Dutch Gable roof--kind of the reverse of what I've been thinking. Which is what most of what I'm finding looks like.
http://www.homesite.com.au/outdoors/garages-and-carports/carports/dutch-gable-carport
Help!!!! :'(
Well, after I walked the dogs this site turned up.
http://www.theconstructionlibrary.com/index.php?option=com_glossary&catid=6&func=display&search=hipped+gable
It calls it a hipped gable. Which makes a pretty good description.
I still think that book of houses from the twenties called it Dutch!!!! >:( But I could be wrong. And I no longer have the book.
The carport resembles our house roof in the valley -- I was told it was a Dutch hip.
Well - a picture of what I mean is here http://www.storybookhomes.biz/tinybook.htm on page #18 in the tiny book - plan named "Gimlet". I can't get over how adorable these houses are! Why would anyone build anything else?!?
I think I'd want what is being called "universal design." Something that I can live in when I'm 80.
And I like the idea of being able to see the "most beautiful" part of my property while drinking my morning coffee--even when it's snowing. (a la Chrisopher Alexander).
But good grief, those places do make me think that I want them. And they'd look great (including from the inside!) tucked in a mature forest.
Wanna hear something funny? I happened to mail my sister (in Minnesota) the storybook website and now her and her husband are bound and determined to sell their house, come to Vermont and build one too! LOL maybe we can get a 2-fer-1 deal from the Post and Beam guy up here. I'm really concerned about the cost of the conservatory additions, though. Every website I've looked them up in has "quotes", but no hard cold price...scary. We may be able to fake the look though, with some fancy ridgeline work and spires, and build them ourselves - like a glassed sun porch with skylights.
This is the one I like for the main part of the house - with the two gables facing forward...
But, I would add the shed roof addition seen here, to the left side of the house (for the kitchen)....
....and a conservatory, similar to this one, to the right side of the house to act as a sunroom/away room. I gridded it out and it comes to roughly 650 sq ft, all included - main floor.
Hello everyone, I just wanted to say "Thank you" for the nice compliments about my cottage designs ( I especially got a kick out of clipping images from our web site). I really appreciate the nice words, it keeps me going because I truly have a passion for cottage design and think if you're going to be living in a house it may as well be the cutest thing around. By the way, I am the owner/designer of Storybook Homes and was wondering if any of you may have any specific questions for me????
Best to all,
Samuelh
Oh Oh -caught with our hand in the cookie jar -- at least we were sharing the cookies.
Welcome Samuelh. Please feel free to sign up as a member and answer all the questions you feel like. Lots of our members love your cottages and we are trying to compile a vast wealth of knowledge here.
Thanks for having a good attitude about people using your images --- we use images under the fair use provision and refer to the owners site but will always remove them where the copyright owner objects. Many have noticed traffic to their sites go up when they get referenced here --- even though we're a small group.
Looking forward to you becoming a regular here. Thanks.
John is very open minded and generous and many times brings attention to other designs himself. He just loves to share the wealth of knowledge. Everyone benefits.
Samuel - I totally agree! Your houses are gorgeous, and why live in anything just average?!? Well - actually, I live in an average home now - a stick build vinal sided - nice little cape...but one of your homes is where I plan to retire. I got an email from your company, and I forget exactly, but what is the average cost per square foot to build your home? I recollect it was similar to a handcrafted log cabin cost per square foot. As far as fitting in with the neighborhood (or resale value) there are 10 little cottages in a row on the main street nearby in North Adams, Massachusettes...I have even stopped by and they walked me through one - nice guy. Anyways - In the last 10 years, they have occasionally gone up for sale - at very high prices, and always been off the market in about a month. I almost bought one (about 600 sq ft for almost $200,000), but the yard was too small for my liking - only a quarter of an acre or so. The only question I can think of now, is do you have any actually photos (rather than b+w conceptual drawings) of any of your cottages built?
(ps. thanks for not minding about the pics - they were not blocked for rightclicking as web sites which do mind usually do with their art)
1) Images of our cottages that have been built.... I have been patiently and anxiously waiting for some of our clients to send us some but nothing as of yet. We will certainly post them on our web site when we receive them and notify you when we do.
2) Cost to build: This really depends upon each individual client, how much they follow our designs and suggestions and where they live in the US. For example. if you live in the south our Midwest (some states) the cost for labor is generally less than where I live (north of Seattle, and West Coast) or in the North East where the costs of labor and land are generally more expensive. The cost to build probably varies from $175sq.ft. to $400sq.ft+. Once again, this really depends on what YOU as the owner decides to adorn your cottage with. If you use real stone vs. artificial stone, or use real clay tiles vs. asphalt shingles. We spec them "high end" and then of course you can choose to use these types of beautiful embellishments or find some less expensive nice alternatives.
Great questions!!!
Thanks again.
You should start a forum that will allow people to post their pictures or progress on your web site!
I would visit it often.
Remember....If you build it ... They will come..... :D
I am looking for plans for a storybook cottage too. I am ready to build now, but try as I might, I haven't found anything. Have you yet? I found some really cute children's cottages at www.customplayhouses.com. I really like Audrey's and Gina's. Has anyone found a site yet for full plans along these lines? I'd like to use strawbale for the walls.
Not plans to buy, but have you looked at the projects sections from places like cob cottage? Some of those are story-book enough for nearly anyone.
e.g., http://www.cobcottage.com/taxonomy_menu/13/16/29/25
(drawing at the top of the page looks to be Heart House.)