Cottage 101

A few years ago we were tremendously fortunate to get to build our dream house with the amazing folks at Build LLC.

I had wanted to carve out some future work for myself for the property, so the idea of the Writer's Cottage was born - a detached space that worked as a shed (as far as building and land use code was concerned), could be used as private space from time to time, and matched the design of the house precisely. Since we had a bunch of the siding panels left, we might as well do something with them...

The existing house is clean Danish Modern with a simple shed roof, aluminum windows, and a mix of aluminum panel and wood siding. On the inside, the windows are floor-to-ceiling and all trim is museum-style, i.e. recessed.

I wanted to keep the cottage as simple as possible, if there is such a thing, so I settled on an 8'x12' footprint with a door on the bottom left, full-height windows in the front and back walls, and a clerestory window along the back wall wherever there wasn't the full-height window. The roof is a simple shed roof at the same angle as the existing house's roof, with the interior ceiling height going from 8' up to 9' and a bit. The roof also has a 3' overhang over the door, with a small deck underneath that.

Off to AutoCAD I went...

And a sketchy-looking perspective rendering showing the back elevation and the entry door.

I wanted to get power and internet to the cottage so we ran some trenches last year while our landscapers were still around.

We also poured some footings at the time in holes generously dug by our landscaping crew.

And now - we build! I'm treating myself to engineered lumber (LVLs, I-joists, PSL studs) wherever possible so I don't have to keep sorting through bent-as-hell studs every day. We'll see how that goes...