In addition to drawing your plan on graph paper, I suggest marking things on the floor or outside in the dirt to help you visualize your future home. (This assumes you’re building a small structure.) You can scratch an outline of your rooms on the ground with a pointed stick or use stakes to define the shape. You can do something similar indoors using masking tape, etc. for individual rooms. Twelve inch floor tile is particularly convenient in getting a quick feel for dimensions. You can even use cardboard, clothes baskets, etc. — anything that’s around the house — to show the position of furniture and other key elements. This process can be very helpful in visualizing actual sizes versus relying on just drawings.
Hey there Owen, I see you are enjoying your CAD software, which makes for nice viewing and explanations. I built this website to gather people in a NationWide Yellow Pages of Who’s Who in Natural Building and its just sitting there, so if you know of people who would like to be on it (or share it) its there for those who need it.
I am starting my first house project and are looking for cheap land (location, location, location) and a simple house design that can be built upon later. I want to stay away from straw bale, for now, ….earth bag, adobe brick, nubian vault….to save on expenses. Any house plans you might suggest will be taken into serious consideration. I like that your plans have one wet wall, but I have two females to consider and so need a 2 bathroom design.
Hello. Nice site. Hope you get lots of people to sign on. You can add my name after it’s filled up more.
Email me from my About Us page and we can talk more about house designs. Be as specific as you can and keep in mind that many designs can be added on to or clustered. (See Clustered Designs.)