Continuing to discuss the overall vision for the farm…

The garage/apartment

Liz really wanted an indoor parking space. We also want a one bedroom/one bath apartment with kitchen and living area for guests. My original thought was to have a three car garage with an apartment above. I quickly realized that this wasn’t a good option for several reasons. 1) Cost. That is a big building and lots of square footage equals lots of dollars. 2) Aesthetics. That is a big building, and there was just no way to hide its bulk. It would overwhelm the main house and not be very attractive. 3) Accessibility. We hope that the apartment will be occupied by all sorts of people, but some of the most frequent users will undoubtedly be our parents. As much as I love them all, they are no spring chickens, and having everything on one level just makes everything easier. So we cut two parking spaces and put everything on the ground. I’ve never had an indoor parking spot in my life, and can do fine without one. Our guests will just have to deal.

We want to make this living space pretty cool, while building it quickly and at a reasonable price. We will be able to use a number of items from the house – namely the bathtub, some kitchen cabinets, water heater, and possibly a vanity. We aren’t trying to totally replicate the look of the main house, which will help keep costs down. The two buildings will be connected by a four foot by four foot “nubbin”. The kitchen will be full sized and the living room will be spacious. When there are no guests the apartment will be used as “flex space” for other activities. I plan on having a vaulted ceiling and lots of windows so that plenty of light comes in. The walls will only be eight feet in order to keep the overall profile of the structure low. A wood burning stove would be nice, but a nice one is too big of an expense for the time being. We’ll have one in the main house and another in the workshop.

As mentioned above, we really want this apartment to get a lot of use. The farm should end up being a really fun place for people to come spend a weekend. I would like it to be a nice retreat for people looking to escape city life for a bit. We will also look into the possibility of listing it on AirBnb. That could be a nice way to help pick up some extra cash. I actually wouldn’t be opposed to listing the whole house at the right price, especially on a weekend when we could just go up to Monteagle.

I think that this will really help resale value too, as in-law suites are now considered pretty desirable. Not that we plan on selling anytime soon, but you never know what life holds. Sorry that this post lacks pictures.