Hello all,

I'm a big not so big house fan, and have been a lurker on these boards for some time. One thing that has always irked me is that 'not so big' still seemed to mean 'pretty darned expensive'. However, my partner and I are starting our new home this spring, and are pretty pleased with the intersection of not-so-big concepts and cost. Not that it's cheap! Anyway, I've recently started my own Blog to track the home-building process, and I hope to keep it updated 2-3 times a week throughout the summer until the house is done. If you are interested in the experience, please check out my blog at:
http://vthomesteadadventure.blogspot.com/

Thanks!
Shawn

Oh, Shawn, your house looks beautiful! If i lived in Vermont I'd insist on an invitation to dinner.

I hope you and Loralee will love living there.
jenney

Thank you!

I guess I should post an update here:

My wife and I really had a blast with this project. It was exhausting and stressfull, but I am really glad we did it as it was also incredibly fulfilling. The builders we worked with were great.

Now, for the nitty gritty. We managed to build our post & beam for a little over $130/sft, but this did require a lot of sweat-equity on our part. The house is small-ish for today's standards but with the relatively open floor plan it lives very large (a good thing- we have a little one on the way!!). The basement is un-finished but has radiant heat and lots of south-facing windows, so if we need more space we can grow into that.

Friends remark that our home is the kind of place you want to go to, and not leave, which is exactly the feeling we get there as well. It's not IMPRESSIVE, but rather HOMEY, which I think is the point of building Not-So-Big. Lots of light, lots of wood, lots of brick.

I hope others of you find our project as inspirational, and good luck in your own!