As the snow piles up in Iowa, the ability to get work done on the house each weekend gets hard. That’s why we thought it would be a great time to talk about what our plans are once we start construction. As you know, we’re dealing with a house that is much bigger than our needs. So our goal is to make this big house…a little less big. We didn’t make this purchase blindly. Thankfully, before any offer was made on the house, we did a walk through with our contractor. He roughly figured up the costs. The idea came to all of us almost simultaneously, the second floor has got to go!

So are we crazy? No! And here’s why:

        1. Cost to finish

Just thinking of all the flooring, trim, drywall, doors, etc. for an extra 3,000 square feet really adds up quickly. The cost to finish off the second floor would likely cost much more than just taking the whole floor off. A couple cranes and a sawzall. Boy, won’t that be a fun blog post!

       2. Cost to heat and cool

That’s an extra 3,000 feet to heat and cool! With the cold, cold winters and hot summers we have here in Iowa, it would be very hard (read expensive) to keep the second floor at a comfortable temperature.

       3. Reduces square footage

This is a no-brainer. As my husband says, “We’re not running an orphanage!” We tend to be modest people and ,honestly, feel a little uncomfortable when we tell people that we bought a 10,000 square foot house.

       4. Design

As we’ve come to the conclusion that the second floor has got to go, we’ve really honed in on the style we’d like this “new” ranch to be. We’ve enjoyed adding some Arts & Crafts elements to our current house. With the beautiful land around our new house, we think the Prairie style will complement it well.

A little about the Prairie-style:

• Made famous by Frank Lloyd Wright
• Hipped roof, pitched low
• Strong horizontal lines
• Over-sized eaves
• Entrance is typically secluded
• Windows are set in groups
• House blends in with the landscape

Here are a few examples:

Stay tuned in the coming weeks as we share more of our plans for the house.

Till next time…