Building my wooden dreams

For about three years now, my dad and I have been chatting about building a little house-slash-studio together, for me to work and live in. Dad has been designing and building houses since before I can remember, and a lot of my love of architecture and structures comes from the input he always let me have in the projects he was working on. Even as a child, he would ask me for my advice on what windows to use and how I liked the layouts he designed. As a trained accountant, with no professional experience in architecture and building, my dad taught himself all he knows about it - which I find so uplifting. The idea that he could teach himself such a marvelous skill, one that has been used to build  four of our houses and renovated many others, is so motivating to me. 

Recently, we have dug a little dam at the bottom of our garden to be used to irrigate the property, and there is a raised level overlooking the dam that we'd like to use to build on. I am so excited to get stuck into the designing of the studio this year. My dad bought me my own drill and other little tools to encourage me to get stuck into the project. I have already used my drill in constructing displays for FEAT. sock co., and I can't wait to use it now to build my own little house.

I am inspired by so many different structural elements. And I'm finding it tough to straddle the line between the more rustic, log-cabin type cottage and the more contemporary, simplistic structure. There are certain features that I'd really love to include in some way:

Rough wood that fades with age, used in layered panels (as seen above). Narrow, bulkier panels set in-between wider, flatter panels to create noticeable ridges.

Open-plan space with a loft-area for sleeping. Large doors and panels of glass will let light in and create an outdoor-indoor space when left open.

I love the idea of using walls of poly-carbonate or glass to bring the outside inside; especially since it will be set in a forested area with the mountain as a backdrop. I also love the idea of exposing the skeleton of the structure in this grid-like way.

In some ways, the barn above looks both rustic and modern to me. The lines are minimalist, but still so inherently barn-like. The iron framed shutters are quite industrial and utilitarian, which I'd love to play with.

The sliding door = a must