The house is designed with nine skylights in two different sizes. These can be reduced or eliminated for some climates but this opens the house up to light and connects it to the outdoors and the sky. Because of this openness, this house feels much larger than its 698sf of heated floor area (up to 1000sf counting lofts). The place has two or three sleeping areas and a separate study or home office. The low-ceiling sides of the lofts make excellent storage areas.

The bathroom has a tempered glass window that comes down close to the tub so you can slide the window open and soak while you look out at the view. Notice that the plumbing on the tub is easier to reach than most layouts.

Loft Plans - a choice of two different layouts

Here is the Bridge loft option. The 16' x 28' main module has two lofts accessible by a short stair and connected by a sky bridge. In the main Living room below the ceiling is open up to the ridge.

• The rear loft is 7’- 6” deep, the front 5’- 6”. Each is 15’ wide with 11.5’ above 6’ headroom.

• The total upper floor floor area over 6’ is 189 sf. This allows the steep cottage stair to be used.

Here is the Full Bedroom Loft Plan. This more complete loft has more usable floor space and is the loft plan used in the photos of Victoria's house.

Full Bedroom Option

• The upper level bedroom is 11’ x 11.5’ or 133 sf. (above 6’ headroom).

• The total upper floor floor area over 6’ is 260 sf.

Stair Notes

• Plans include information on three types of stairs. The steep cottage stair shown below (takes the least space), a 5' diameter spirial stair (see the photos), and a full sized code stair that goes up to the loft and could also be used to go on down to a basement from a kitchen access door.

• You can adjust your plans to use any of these stair options.

The main floor is shown with a heated concrete slab. The slab can be stained and sealed as a low-cost finished floor. It is heated by a high-efficiency hot water heater or tankless water heater in the Mechanical room. A small circulating pump sends the hot water to two separate heating zones, main and bedroom, depending on what the thermostat calls for. This floor also serves as a heat sink for solar inputs.

The house can also be built with a standard wood floor over a concrete crawlspace or an easy to build post and beam foundation (see below). The plans include a floor system using engineered lightweight I-joists for quick assembly and solid squeak-free floors. You can even add a topping slab to the wood floor if you want to keep the radiant floor heat. Most builders can use the crawlspace foundation plan and build a full basement foundation and daylight one end if you are on a sloping site.

Another modification that is included in the plans is a simple rafter system with collar ties that can be tilted up into place and attached to the wall plates with a sturdy metal framing anchor. Such a roof system would be cheaper and easier to build with a small crew.

The simple pier foundation shown above would be the most cost effective construction system — and the easiest for an owner builder to build.

The Victoria's Cottage plan set includes foundation plans for a slab on grade, concrete perimeter foundation and a post and pier foundation. You can choose whichever is most appropriate for your site. It comes with two different loft configurations each with an exposed beam and deck ceiling below.

The plans also include a very simple to build studio house version of the 16' wide cottage that can be built in any length - the plan shows it 28' long but it can be extended in 2' increments. This is for folks who want to build something larger than the 14' wide Builder's Cottage but with the same owner-builder simplicity. You can layout your own floorplan to the footprint you decide is best for your project.

Click HERE to view and order plans.