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The back of the XHouse5 has a pair of doors into the living room, and right beside it a door to the mud room. Above is the master bedroom, and bath.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 backyard"
If you've been following along with us we've been on a slow walk up the stairs to the attic floor of the XHouse4. And here we are - we've arrived! The attic floor is one large room, with wide dormers that admit a lot of light. There is a full bathroom, and an hvac closet, and storage closets under the sloped ceilings. This space can be split into two rooms if you wish, used as bedrooms, a great home office, a playroom for the kids, or anything else you can think of. So enjoy, its does not get much better than this.
Continue reading "1299 XHouse4 finally! all the way upstairs"
On our way up stairs in the XHouse5, the last stop is the finished attic level. From the middle landing to the attic we can see the big common room on this top level, as well as the second floor hall and a sliver of a view into one of the bedrooms. The big attic room can be divided if it makes sense into another bedroom, guest room, or home office. Or remain a big play room or family room for all.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 top of the stairs"
The back half of the second floor of the XHouse5 is the master bedroom suite. To the left is the master bathroom and out of frame to the left the walk-in closet. A big window faces the rear yard, and a high window for privacy faces the side towards neighbors.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 master bedroom"
Looking at the living / dining space of the XHouse5 entering from the foyer, kitchen in its large niche on the left. There is lots of room for two seating areas, and for the daily table to expand for holidays as needed.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 living spaces"
I can tell you this much, if you manage to find the right site, get your plans and a good builder, and get yourself a sweet XHouse5, then some busy summer afternoon you're gonna just walk out to the curb to look at it, and take it all in. I can't believe I got this cool house.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 here's the deal"
We'll get back to the yard in a moment, but right now lets step in the front door of the XHouse5. We're greeted with a bright entry hall/stair hall - the hinge point for the whole house. There is a coat closet right there under the stair, and a powder room a discrete distance from the living and kitchen spaces. Light comes in from the transom and sidelight at the front door, and from on high at the stair.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 entry foyer"
From here at the back of the yard in the vegatable patch we can see the back of the XHouse5. There are two sets of doors. A pair of sliders from the living area, and a regular door into the mud room. So when you are enjoying the yard, you can come and go through the sliders. When you come in from the garden you can go direct into the mud room and ditch those muddy gardening shoes.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 view from the backyard"
Please, come on in. I know you've been reading about the XHouse5, looking at the exterior images, so please come in and see how it lives... The home provides true open plan living, but puts the kitchen in a discrete niche off the living and dining areas, so, you know - you can give it a rest and let your dirty dishes accumulate just a little without their beady little eyes staring out you endlessly, muttering "waaasssshhh usssss, WAAAHHHSHHHH USSSSS". You won't see them, so cut yourself some slack - they'll still be there later. Where was I? Oh yes, so we have an ample living space here, two sitting areas to live in, and the room to expand the everyday meal table to a large holiday table. But beyond living and dining the ground floor also metes out a home office/study and a functional mudroom with a home desk.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 step inside for a moment"
Here it is, the XHouse5, a modest 2200 sqft, just under the national average home size this is a the definition of a mid sized house. Three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths big enough for a family, not too big to retire in. But its more than that. At 2 1/2 stories tall it offers a stand up attic that can be finished into more living space, or more bedrooms. You want an in-law suite, or a guest room, or a really big family room. BOOM, its there under roof waiting for you. Your house is now a 4 bedroom 3 1/2 bath home. U R Welcome.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 is the hugest mid-size house you've ever seen"
You've all been places like this, house after house on narrow lots, front porches overlooking the street, modest front yards (but who wants to be cutting the grass anyway). Maybe your grandmother's house was in one of these neighborhoods, maybe its the new "Traditional" neighborhood across town. We've come full circle to realize that this kind of suburban pattern promotes great neighborhoods and the smaller lot sizes support the reality of todays development pressures and density targets. The modern house should not be blocked out these kinds of places because of a lack of designs. The XHouse5, and its slightly wider brother the XHouse4 are made to slide right into this kind of neighborhood. Heck, if we're lucky a developer near you will build a whole neighborhood of these just for you.
Continue reading "1201 XHouse5 is living the good narrow lot life"
The XHouse5 is now complete and ready to order, and ready to build.
Our favorite news is news of new designs in our catalog, so I'm thrilled to announce that the XHouse5 plan set is complete and available for order.
The XHouse5 is the second plan set to implement the high performance USA New Wall and Swedish Platform Framing designs first offered in our Lagom House family of designs. Now this energy efficient design is available in a bigger 3 bedroom house, one with room for expansion in the attic level.
The XHouse5 finds itself in our Stealth House Group as it lends itself to fitting well in existing neighborhoods, as well as new neighborhoods following traditional planning methods.
Continue reading "XHouse5 - Construction Prints complete"As promised the new XHouse5 design has gone live in the catalog this weekend. Design prints are available now, Construction Prints will follow on your demand, or lacking that then when we get to them!
The XHouse5 is a fusion of the the XHouse Collection's mission to introduce a line of modern houses with contemporary design themes, and the energy efficiency mission laid out in our Lagom House designs. The XHouse5 incorporates the energy efficient USA New Wall and Swedish Platform Framing into the Construction Print set as do the Lagom House variations. If you are not familiar with these features, this is our well studied wall system recommendations for building high performance houses with familiar and common materials.
The XHouse5 design is also the narrowest floor plan we've introduced in this 3 bedroom, 2,000sqft range. It will fit on narrow lots, in particular infill sites and new developments following traditional neighborhood patterns. We think this is a good one, and we hope you will like it too.
Continue reading "XHouse5 - new in the catalog"Wait a minute? XHouse5? What happened to 4? Good question. Before we look at this design we'll recap the state of our development efforts.
First: Yes there is an XHouse4 design, and if you follow on twitter or facebook you have seen sketches of it posted. If twitter or facebook are not for you, no worries - our stream of posts on those platforms appear in our MiniBlog on the right hand column right here. So if you keep up with the blog here, even when you see no new posts, you should watch the MiniBlog for updates.
Both the XHouse4 & 5 are similar designs - 2.5 story, 3 bedroom houses, with home offices on the ground floor, and the option for a finished attic floor. Both are in the range of 2,000 - 2,400 sqft, very consistent with our other designs. These houses will follow our Lagom House designs in utilizing our energy efficient USA New Wall high performance construction, and the innovative Swedish Platform Framing method. Both of these techniques debuted in the Lagom House, and the XHouse4 & 5 is our effort to take these into a slightly larger house. Its possible to apply these techinques to any of our designs, but these houses will include the relevant details directly in the Construction Print sets.
Continue reading "New design heading for the catalog: XHouse5"
