I love old stone houses. Old stone houses like in these photos can be found in older, quiet neighborhoods from a bygone era. Many of them were owner-built or built by small companies. Most are fairly small, well made and built to last. Many stone houses last for hundreds of years. Every stone is unique, as the stones naturally vary in color, size and texture. The end result is often very beautiful.
do it yourself
Affordable Luxury Homes
Home design ideas that may seem completely unobtainable for most consumers are possible if you build it yourself and cut out the obvious budget killers (home entertainment rooms, gold embossed trim, etc.). The photos shown here are likely from multi-million dollar homes. But if you break it down, decide what features are most important, eliminate the unnecessary, and possibly reduce the scale… then some dream designs can be affordable if you do the work yourself.
Millions of Americans Are ‘Squatting’ in Own Homes
The focus of our blog is on low cost, low tech housing solutions. But sometimes it’s good to stop and look at what’s happening in society. Even though I read about the economy every day, this article about the true rate of foreclosure is still shocking. Who wouldn’t be moved by what’s going on? Due to financial hardship, more people are investigating lower cost DIY housing alternatives such as earthbag building, straw bale construction, adobe and pole building.
Rustic Twig Furniture
You’ve built your sustainable home with low cost, natural materials. Now you want to look at furniture options that match your new home. Rustic twig furniture can be built practically for free if you make it yourself, and is quite attractive. “Rustic furniture is furniture employing sticks, twigs or logs for a natural look. Many … Read more
Durable, Affordable DIY Concrete Countertops
We needed an inexpensive way to make durable countertops for our outdoor kitchen, and after a little head scratching we came up with a pretty good solution at a fraction of the cost of custom made – about $20 instead of $2,000. (This cost is for 12.5 lineal feet of 25-1/2” countertops.) This savings more … Read more
Updated Step-by-Step Earthbag Building
My Step-by-Step Earthbag Building article at EarthbagBuilding.com has been updated. I built a demonstration wall and photographed each step. YouTube videos have been embedded to further demonstrate the process. All the latest tools and techniques are shown, including use of stronger sheetmetal sliders, 2-gallon cement buckets, bucket chutes, bags turned inside out, and filling bags … Read more