I got a little wrapped-up in the Green subject for the last 3 blogs, but I am now ready to return to the dreaming and imagining side of things that are fun to ponder.

    Several weeks ago, one of my sales staff came to me and asked essentially, “Have you ever thought about designing a master bedroom that overcomes the problem of a loudly snoring spouse?”

     I had one of those bright lights go on over my head as I suddenly realized that this problem is one that has been around for centuries and it seems everyone has either had this situation or knows someone who has it.  I always say that great home designers should be aiming at solving everyday human challenges through better design.  Once I heard the problem brought to my attention, it just seemed so obvious that IF this could be solved through some unique new room or materials design, I wanted to be the first to find the solution.

     The more I thought about it, I see it as more of a separation based idea. That is to say, there are times when even the most loving of relationships, need to , or WANT to have some sleeping privacy.   I know that when my wife Jacquie can’t sleep, she turns on her bedside reading light .  To help mask the light from waking me, (it still does, but I keep quiet about it) Jacquie puts a pillow between my head and the headboard so as to be a mini pillow wall.  I also know that no matter how bright the light may ever get from her reading, I don’t want to get to the point where we sleep in separate rooms.   At times, Jacquie goes to bed first and I stay up to do design work.   Jacquie often calls me to bed and wants me to do my design work in bed so she can sleep better. I guess having your spouse next to you has been seen as a comforting thing,   mentally.

      I may wake up in the middle of the night and decide to turn on the television at our foot of the bed.   The light and noise I know must bother Jacquie to some extent but she does not complain.

     I stay up late,  so I usually wake up later than Jacquie. She usually gets up very early,  so she tries to not wake me by turning on the lights in the bed area.  It would be nice to have that bit of privacy to allow her to do “her things“, while I do my bedime “things“.  I remember my grandparents built a new luxury home in the early 70’s, and they built separate bedrooms with a bathroom between the rooms.  This struck me as odd and I hoped when I got married, I would not get to the point where my wife and I had separate bedrooms.   My Grandpa snored.

     As with most of lives little delemmas, such as needing more space for groceries, then creating the huge walk-in pantry, like wanting a porch where you could sit on it without bugs, then creating the hide-away , roll screens, like wanting to paint a front door less, and creating the fiberglass door, I know solutions can be found to about anything.   This one was/is  tougher than most becuase it is taking two people who are relaxing together and separating them into privacy WITHOUT moving one into a separate room .  As with any creative problem solving technique, after the main problem is identified,  I move to brainstorming.  I throw out everything that is trapping me into conventional “boxes” and norms and try to re-think the whole thing as if I was the first person to ever design a bedroom. What would this bedroom have to look like IF I were to have one double bed that needed to instantly have a “wall” put through the middle of the bed to create two separated beds in two different rooms. 

     Let’s explore the possibilities.  What if, for example, we could make a remote controled bed, that , as soon as one semi-asleep spouse was awoken by a snoring spouse, a” magic button”  could be pushed on the headboard.   The bed would then deparate on wheels and motor itself into another near-by attached room and the door would then close automatically?  This is an example of a “blue-sky” idea that puts many realities aside for the moment and just takes wild ideas to see if those ideas will either work, can be refined, or will lead to another idea.  If this idea can not lead to any of that, the idea is dismissed and at least we now know that this one path is a dead end.

     Let’s look at the problems with this solution as well as the possibilities found in this solution.

     * The idea of finding an existing electronic gizmo/device to motorize the bed, is not commonly available. If it was, it would not be inexpensive.

     * If we could make the bed be motorized,  WHERE would it travel too?  Building an extra bedroom off of the master bedroom is in fact not solving the issues of keeping the spouses together. 

     * The cost of building extra square footage onto a home is the opposite direction of where housing needs to go to economize construction costs and home size.

     * This idea DOES do one important thing that is desirable. When one spouse is semi-sleeping and is awoken by snoring, if the annoyed spouse is forced to wake up and phisically move to another room, this can awake the “moving” spouse. The best solution would be one where neither spouse needs to become fully awoken or needs to get up. This solution requires  neither spouse to get out of bed to solve the problem. Technology has solved the problem for them through good design, and technical innovations.

     The next step is to therefore imagine NOT needing a separate room to move the bed into. This means not needing to make the bed separate and travel away.  What other directions could we make the bed move into in order to separate it and not make the room much bigger?

    We could use existing elevator technology and when a spouse wants to get away from the snorer and not move or awaken themselves fully, they could push a button and the bed could move up into a loft area in the attic , or lowered into the basement.

     Either elevating up or down is simply too expensive and potentially dangerous if the semi-sleeping spouse were to awake while being elevated.  So, moving the bed up or down is likely a viable technical solution, but not safe or practical. This solution does however, not require adding too much extra space, so this solution , while not the answer, is at least closer than the automated traveling bed solution.

     Continuing to think of all the ways a bed could move and not take up too much extra space, it occurred to me that the bed could pivot apart. Essentially, one bed could hinge away from the other and a wall of some sort could drop from the ceiling or come up out of the floor.

     This idea now ignites another concept. What if the bed were NOT to move at all, but rather the bed(s) were 2 twin beds which at first glance, looked like a huge king-sized bed. There would only need to be about 2 or 3 inches of separation between them for a panel, or wall to drop from the cieling and separate the one big bed, into 2 separated beds. 

    IF a wall or panel was to drop out of the ceiling, this could maybe be done using some existing type of garage door technology.   The effect however again, could be dangerous to semi-awake spouses who may roll into the path of the dropping panel.   If the panel were to arise out of the floor, the same situation of danger (not to mention the contraption getting in the way of the bed blankets) would be present. Neither a rising or dropping panel seems to be the answer.   Besides , this is still just to weird of a solution. It  needs  to be simpler and more conventional in appearance.

     This idea does not seem to work,  but it does stimulate another off-shoot concept that hold s more merit.   What if , instead of dropping or popping-up, the separation device slides  across the room like a curtain on a track. HEY, why not just have a curtain on a track? 

      * The curtain might be too odd looking,   like out of a hospital.

     * The curtain would work inasmuch as  being inexpensive and uses easy technology. It could be motorized like a movie curtain, so it would not require the semi-asleep spouse to do too uch awakening to accomplish the goal.

     * The big problem is that this curtain idea is probably not going to provide the kind of sound-proofing we are looking for.   I t would however be a good device to block-away  reading or television lights.

      The next step is the big breakthrough!   A solution simpler , more discrete, and easier to use than all these rest of the ideas that preceded  it.   It would also cost less to construct and separate the noise and light.  What is it? Just like Howie Mandell on “Deal or No Deal“, I will tell you about it after our next “break”.  I want you to think what the solution could be and join me next time here on the blog for the innovative new solution that could be the next big thing in master bedroom design.

       Creating home ideas is fun. If you want to get a peek at our new Hybrid Ranch” creation,(read about it in my first blog entires)   my sales staff now has preliminary art for the home and would be happy to show it to you this weekend at either our main site in Monterey, or our homes in Jackson(on Sherman rd in Sherman Parc subdivision) ,  or Milwaukee (91st and Good Hope). We are open this weekend from 1 to 4.

    On another big creative item of this past week, I am pleased to say we found a way to bend laminate floors into an arch design edge. The installers say they have never seen it done before and with a little (or a lot) of prodding,   after they broke a few pieces of flooring trying it, IT GOT DONE!  C’mon out to see what I am talking about this weekend in Jackson. We have a really neat sneak previewing  of this client-owned- home , that is nearing completion.   This home also has the first exposed chimney pipe I have seen in any conventional fireplace ranch home.   The pipe comes out of the Mantle top and goes all the way , 12 feet high, through a plant shelf, to the ceiling! This is just so cool looking and , the fire place installers say they have only seen this done before  on pot-belly stoves. 

     Get your creative juices flowing and come to see us this weekend.

    Thanks for joining me.  I will solve the snoring problem next time.

     Blessings,

    Tom Hignite

     It has indeed been another busy day here at Miracle.  Last night I was up until 4 am drafting plans for both clients and our 2 (yes..2) new ,  totally NEW, model homes.   This afternoon,  we added yet another excited client to our happy Miracle  “family“.  This evening, one of our folks helped another great couple (seems I just met them a few weeks ago) put their offer together on a nice lot in Menomonee Falls.  If all goes well with their offer, we may sign and start the permit process next week!

     Before I get to my third and last (and last,for now) few words on the subject of building “Green”, I  wanted to mention some news that the media has been highlighting heavily for the last 2 days.  The new home sales numbers for America , for January were released yesterday and the number of new home sales across the country is the lowest January number in the LAST 50 YEARS!  Worse yet, that means the last 3 months in a row have all shown declines.   The seminars I attended at the International Home Show in Vegas a month ago had experts predicting this years sales would be UP 25% over last year’s sales and (looking to 2011) next year sales would go up 50% over this year. That was very good news indeed for my ears and America’s  ears as well.  

    I can tell you that according to my bank sources, while a few builders are showing acceptable sales, most are simply , as one put it, ” still dead in the water”.  I can truly thank God that somehow , we have had the strongest February since the good times of 2005!  Go figure.  I could say it may be because of our heavy advertising during the recent January Expo.  I’m sure this helped BUT, a big part of our success in sales I think goes to the relatively new product designs we have developed in our Dream Series.   Our “Rent Busters” , with $199,000 lot and 4 bedroom new home packages ( you get to choose your own lot about anywhere you want to build for $60,000) has been a red hot value and the homes DO NOT LOOK INEXPENSIVE, but rather quite “cool” and high end.  If you want to see a prime example , c’mon out to see our Dream 2000In Milwaukee, near Menomonee Falls by 91st and Good Hope. That home is nearing completion and we are keeping it open only a few more weeks until the new owner’s move in.  Trust me,….REALLY cool andit has a finished basement with wet bar. Open this weekend 1 to 4 in Oak Hills subdivision.

    Back to “Green”, as I have been explaining in my last 3 blog postings, I think green is great but so much of it is being used to hype home sales using people’s excitement about the “save the Earth” , Energy Star-type movement.  I am here to say, beware!   Not everything that seems to be a good/green idea, is cracked-up to be what you thought it was. 

     Take for example, how easy it is to get a “green certification on a home today.  The builder must fill out a worksheet where points are accumulated by checking-off what green items or practices you have used in building the home.  You do not have to do all of the items to get your home certified as being green.   You just need to get a certain number of points.  Did you use re-cycling with respect to your dumpsters?   Did you use at least one re-cycled product in the home?   Did you use Formaldehyde-free insulating products?  Did you use I-joist supports in your floor instead of solid wood timbers?

     Let’s take 2 of these items I just mentioned and apply them to reality.  One builder who builds in some  subdivisions that we build in, uses the re-cycled dumpster idea.  Instead of having a dumpster company drop-off a huge metal dumpster with tall walls, these re-cycling folks use a smaller, lower, open- topped,  plastic cylinder trash “can” on steroids.  These dumpsters are bigger than a trash can but so small (compared to a dumpster)  that I commonly see them over-filled and trash is usually piled next to the receptacle. The builder is able to get his green certification points because these dumpster folks separate various materials when they come to the site to pick-up the trash.  They essentially, hand empty and sort the trash. This sounds good and green.   We used this service for two prolonged periods in the pat 8 years. Both times, we discontinued using this service because we felt the reality was not matching up to the perception.  The point was that the debris that were put into this small open dumpster ( all of these I have seen are usually cracked and in terrible  shape for holding anything much at all.)  quite often is left stacked in the open air.   At the slightest wind, small trash debris go drifting near and far.  When the guys come to empty and separate the trash, they do not seek out the wind blown rubbish.  The work men throw their fast food bags and cups into the general direction of the open dumpster and it too, blows far and wide.  I am convinced that I am hurting the environment less by having a container that actually holds the trash than just throwing things next to a small container.  The re-cycling trash company said they had improved the process, so we tried them a second time.   The results were the same.  I think of myself as being a pretty “green” conscious person and I just could not get myself to knowingly allow trash to be thrown next to dumpsters and blown into the enviornment  just so I could put a check on a green certification sheet.   Does this kind of “greeness” make sense to anyone?

     If you went to the Parade Of Homes , for the last several years, it is hard to find any builder who still uses solid , dimensional,  ”real” , old-fashioned lumber for floor supports.  Lumber companies have been pushingthe floor supports that are manufactured out of  re-cycled wood chips and wafers.   You may know these “I” shaped 2 by 10 , or 2 by 12 engineered wood products by a common  manufacturing name of “Silent Floor”.   One of their main attributes is that they are made very uniform and do not usually change shpeas much as solid wood, due to humidity,  or temperature,  or aging.  This could mean les floor squeaks.  I can show you, however, that that claim is not true in practice.  The cost is just a little more than using a common grade Spruce, Pine, or Fir solid wood 2 by 10.  I-Joists can span (support) longer distances than many common grade solid woods.  

This all sounds good  AND I get to have more green certification points when I use them.    So…, what is the “problem”?   For years, one of our main concepts was that Miracle was trying to use better quality products than commonly seen in builder homes. We wanted to provide a more “custom” level of products for no extra cost.  We did this in everything from using higher wind-rated roof shingles, more steel in our basement walls, quieter bath fans, 8 Lb. carpet pad instead of 6 Lb. , copper water pipes instead of plastic ,  AND we used Douglas Fir solid wood floor joists instead of those 2 by 10 common species of wood, or particle I-Joists.  The lumber yards would actually have to order and stock it just for us since no one else used this expensive upgrade.  Because it was not common Fir , but Douglas Fir, it had a very long grain and thereforewas harder and a stifferwood.  We specified it to be double kiln-dried so it was not prone to such shrinkage or changing of shape.  The house was as solid as a battleship under foot.  Every time that a vendor tried to convince me to use the particle I-Joists to save a buck since “everyone else is doing it” I relentlessly resisted the temptation. Quality usually wins-out in the end, I  still believe. 

    When we developed our Dream Series of homes, I finally relented and agreed to use the Particle I-Joists.  I used to occasionally have someone ask what type of floor supports we used and they were usually glad to her my story of quality Douglas Fir 2 by 12’s.  It turns out that the big “problem” with the I-Joists is that in a fire, they burn….rapidly!  Kent Wainscot of Milwaukee ABC affiliate channel 12 had 2 extensive investigative reports on their news program  that showed fire fighters trying to get this product banned for home construction.    They showed how in a mere 15 minutes,  these I-Joists were resulting in collapsing homes. The solid lumber took several hours and allowed the firefighters to have less risk in putting the fire out.   The I-Joist’s rapid rate of burn collapse makes it entirely possible that by the time a fire is realized and sleeping families awake, the floor is already collapsing.  My sales people tell me that, even today,  they have model home visitors who ask what the floor construction is while they are first entering the model’s  foyer.   Inevitably, these visitors are either fire fighters or know of this publicity.  You may ask, why we are therefore offering this product on our Dream series.  I ask you to remember, we are building  our cleint’s choices, not our own desires.   All I can say is that many buyers apparently do not think this fire issue is either real or will be a problem for them in the future. It could be improved by simply putting a few more fire detectors in the basement to give an earlier alert to any basement fires.

     We are currently givng “free” upgrades to our homes floor joists that substitute solid lumber for these I-Joist floor supports.  The down side is that , once again, I will not be able to use this to get points on my green certification sheets.  I can livewith those missing points.  The bigger point here is that  I could go on and on about other work a green items that either don’t work as   well as traditional items OR simply are NOT truly green in practice. 

     I want to quickly bring up the subject of a “Wild idea” I have been working on for Master Bedrooms. I have been “teasing” this new subject but wanted to  respond to a request and touch on the  subject of “green”.  I don’t commonly promise anything unless I can deliver but, I PROMISE, my next blog will start with an unusual problem in the Master suite.

      Blessings,

      Tom Hignite

     In my previous blog posting, I started onto the subject of what I see as some builders who seem to use selling “Green” building methods and/or products much like the Snake Oil traveling salesperson from the old West.  They play on the general public’s Green and Energy Star appetite,  putting all else aside.  I mentioned how I have attended many of the same expert energy seminars as they have,   I read the same trade journals and go to the same energy product shows they go to.    I have come away finding the subject of being Green or using earth-friendly products chiefly being used as a marketing ploy. 

     I hate to be the one to tell the “emperor that he has no clothes “, but no expert has yet to show me the math that makes Solar Panel electricity generation, or solar water heaters,  or Krypton gas filled windows pay for themselves in any resonable near future after installation.

    I am not saying that these builder’s are purposely deceiving you, I AM saying that these builders like the idea of going hi-tech so much, they are blinded by the realities.   They really believe the stuff they are talking about with all of their heart.  Any product will pay for itself if you plan to live in a home for decades.  Since most people live in their homes for shorter periods of time than this, the real question is whether the item you are looking for will pay for itself in say, 5 to 7 years.  So, what green or energy star items do work, or are worht the investment?

     The best thing you could do to build the greenest home would be to build the smallest home.  Even the suggestion of mentioning that a family of 3 may want to consider building a 1,500 square foot home instead of 2,000 , turns a lot of home buyer’s off. I usually keep my mouth closed.   If  they really were concerned about saving our Earth’s resources, the best place to start is by simply using LESS of these resources to start with.  Sadly, there is no award for green given for figuring out how to build smaller, more livable, more efficient homes.  Besides saving raw materials,  it takes less fuel to heat a small house over a larger one.  It takes less cleaning products to clean a smaller house, less lights to light the home, and so forth.

     The second best thing you can do to be “truely green” is to use natural light to light the home wherever possible, yet limit the windows to the least number possible.  Again, most people want a lot of windows, so watch my words  on this as well.   Did you know that while most home owners are trying to get an R21 (the higher the R factor, the better the insulation value) or higher for their walls, they are getting only an R3 or R3.5 window glass.  While this may sound like something in need of improving, an R3.5 in a window is not reason to panic or upgrade.   You could spend three times as much as these normal windows to get an R5 or R7, or even an R11 window, but the costs to get this are going to take just too long for most people to ever see the savings come back in energy savings.  I have seen well meaning , studious home buyers get caught-up in getting the highest R-factors just for R-factor sake.   It becomes a contest to see who can spend the least each month on their energy bills.   These savings may surely make them feel good each month, but I could just as easily show you how saving your money and putting that savings into a bank would pay you more than those energy savings, IF you just want to feel good each month. 

      The reality of these high R-value windows are that those R11 or R7 windows are only rated that if the window is non-opening , stationary.  When you have the same windows built as ones that do open, they drop the R-values dramatically to about R7 and R5 respectively.   The upgrade cost for these high R-value windows may be $4,000 to $9,000 .  IF those windows saved you an extra $40 or even $50 a month ,(unlikely they will)  those $4,000 window upgrades would take you over 8 years to pay for the windows!  If the energy savings on these $4,000 upgrade windows were only $30 a month, that’s almost 10 years. 

      The first thing to tackle in saving energy is the wall and ceiling insulation.  Investing this same kind of money in this area by putting in foam wall insulation and R55 ceiling insulation (instead of R38 common ceiling insulation)  will pay back your savings in about 3 or 4 years. That, is a reasonable return time for most. 

     Spend your money in sealing the home properly.   I use Tyvek-type house wraps and they work fine, but if you want to do a better job of keeping your little flaws in wind-driven temperatures, tape all the seams of the exterior wall foam with the right tape.

    I used to get into debates over wall construction with builder’s and shoppers alike.  My position today is that we will build whatever kind of wall you want.  2 by 4,  2 by 6,  gosh I will even build 2 by 12 walls if that what makes you happy.  Most wall systems work.   Some work better than others for different applications.   If you want a stronger wall, use the 2 by 6 method and put plywood or strand board on the exterior.   The big issue here is that such a wall is quite poor for insulation value.   Sure you can stuff the 2 by 6 cavity with an R21 insulation but the cold will come in the home fairly quick though each wall stud.  Remember, you have solid wood(no insulation)  over most all of your windows(called headers).   You also have 2 or 3 adjoined studs next to each other for window supports or wall corners.  The state of Wisconsin says that a general figure for these wood areas is that 25% of today’s homes walls are non-insulated wall stud areas. Since wood has about R1 per inch, those half inch thich plywood walls and those 5 and a half inch thick studs 2 by 6 studs are only givng that wall an R6 over every window and each stud edges.   OVER 25% OF YOUR HOME WOULD BE ONLY R6. 

     The solution is to use foam 4 by 8 sheets over the wall exteriors. The Foam costs more than the wood, BUT it is MUCH better (1 inch of polyurethane foam has about R7 when you add that to the 2 by 6 wall stud areas)  in providing a superior insulated wall.  With the R3.5 foam sheets instead of wood sheets, you are now getting an R12.5 over 25% of the home. That sure beats the R6!

    Again, if you were really concerned about being green and saving the earth’s resources, I might suggest that you would not build with 2 by 6’s at all.   You could choose 2 by 4’s instead and save a few trees. I prefer 2 by 4 wall construction  because in my own home, I would spray the walls with interior expansion foam . My 2 by 4 wall could then achieve a stellar R27 or R28 rating.  I would use an inch and a half thick foam on the outside walls and hardie plank(cement sideing) over it for strength.

     Another big item that is surely not as “flashy” (or expensive) as Solar or Wind power, is making sure that all of your siding nails are nailed only into the wood studs and not nailed into open wall cavities. This is another reason why I am not personally (Remember,my job is to build to my client’s desires, not my own)  fond of using wood sheets on wall exteriors. When you use plywood or particle board for exterior walls, EVEN WHEN YOU ARE COVERING THAT PLYWOOD WITH  A SECOND LAYER OF FOAM SHEETS, it is very hard for the siding installer to know When he/she is nailing into the stud(as it should be) or nailing into the just the plywood/particle board.  The goal is that when your siding is done, and before you insulate,  you should not see ANY nail shanks poking into the areas that will be getting the wall insulation.  IF you are going to fill those cavities with expansion foam ( by the way, we have had this wall foam standard for about 5 years in our standard series homes) , protruding nails are not a problem.  If you are using most any other kind of insulation, these nails will attract the cold exterior temperatures directly into the relatively warm wall insulation areas and can be the start of  moisture condensation  and the (dreaded) mold.

     As you may now know, I could write for many chapters on energy efficiency in home building and by now, most people who are caught in one of my model home lectures are having their eyes “glaze-over”.  

     I will pick up next ime with more good practical ideas in going Green.  I may even finally get to the Master bedroom “wild idea” next time.  Thanks for blogging my way. I enjoy reading any comments you may have.

     Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

   As Kermit the Frog is quoted “It’s NOT easy being green”,  I want to take Kermit’s spin and pull it into a reversal.   For the 17 years I have been building (thousands) of homes,  I have had a passion for building safe, environmentally – conscious homes,  when the word “green” was only a name of a color!  I have an old brochure where I was passionately tyring to convince home buyers that they needed to be conscious of using materials that may cause mold in homes.  It was like beating my head against a wall in trying to get the Milwaukee media to take these “green” issues seriously.  Today, I doubt there are too many things that are being offered that I have not researched or built in this realm and I say to those of you who are serious about “green”, be CAREFUL, very careful.

      Every builder today is trying to jump on board this green-painted bandwagon and many of them, to my way of thinking, are using green to their advantage.  Their motivation seems honorable , but it is probably not to save the environment or NOT  to save you energy dollars, even though it may seem so.  Just like the snake-oil salesmen of the old West era, they are finding one key item that the public seems to care about, and are exploiting the public’s perceived need, into a greener (every green article is required to use the green=Green money pun at least once in each article, here-gos ) bank account for that builder.

    No where did I see this dynamic taking place more than at the last (August 2009) Parade Of Homes.   I had not seen this mis-use of information happen since the recent Waukesha “Trend House” was built and promoted as the next “big coming” of the future of green.   In the advertising business, the mis-use or exaggerating of information is known as ‘puffery”. That is to say, that real facts are used and then blown up to huge , over-the-top proportions.  The theory is that if the public has a worry about a certain ailment, the Doctor who has the best(or most )  ”cure(s)”,   makes the most money.   Those who are the sickest, (or “think” they are the sickest), will pay the most amount of money for the cure.  And the smartest Doctors of these naive consumers, always has the most number of cures and pills to sell.  In the interest of saving space and words, and at the potential cost of making my life a little tougher at the Metropolitan Builder’s Association meetings,  I want to lay a few things on the table that you likely will not hear from most any other area Home Builder.   

    First, green is not all that we are making it out to be.  Sure, it is important, but that being said , there are so many other building items that  are much MORE important.  let me say that most every builder in the area can , and does , have the ability to offer the  exact same  gadgets and gizmos as the most super “self-proclaimed” greenest builder.  We all use pretty much the very same subcontractors to install these very same green items.  I am talking about items like hi-tech insulation, windows,   solar power, water heaters,   Geo-thermal,  recycling, non-off-gassing products,  and the like .   This blog today is NOT to tell you details about any one particular green item, (I will save those for future blogs) , it is to explain  what, to my way of thinking,  is the unsavory way some builder’s are using this legitimate concern of others to turn a quick, bigger  dollar , or get folks to build with them rather than “take a chance” with another less green builder. 

     These builder’s are often the same builders who often have little else to offer, so they micro-focus on advertising “cleaner, safer, or healthier, homes.  Check their record. Many of these builders have been in business less than 5 years.  5 years is the magic number for builders since most builders who are going to fail at this high risk trade,  fail in the first 5 to 7 years.  I found this out when I used to have a good number of interested home buyers choose not to use me in my first 5 years in business.   I could not argue that they wanted to just make sure that their builder was going to be around for the long-haul.  Sure, I had been around for years in the building industry , working for other’s, but that was not the same as actually being the boss of my own business.  Knowing HOW to build and knowing HOW to operate a home building business were two very differnt things and not everyone was (or is) willing to chance their biggest investment to a good but short track record.  But ,  this is a side-bar.

     A few months ago,  I attended yet another of the many annual Builder Association green seminars they hold to teach the builders how to be the best at the leading edge of green.  I know what to look for and what sounds good to many but is not practical or really saves money.   To me, one prime example is Solar power.   Solar, , while it sounds good and is definitely green,  no one has yet to be able to show me a formula that works.  At the end of the seminar, there was a portion for audience questions.  I did not want to cause a scene, so i came up to the speaker afterwards to pose my questions.  He literally, had no answer to my querry.   Another builder was listening on and was thinking the same question as to making the math work.   It did not.

       At the Parade Of Homes (2009) we had an “all-green” Parade.  We all were Energy Star and Green certified for every home.  As my headline on this article says, IT’S SO EASY TO BE GREEN“.  We did not have to go far to get our certifications.    One big news item for the Parade was the two homes that had some form of solar power.   One used the solar to heat the water and one had a whole roof and solar tracker (a unit that looks like some Army field Radar screen that is computerized to track(follow) the sun to capture the maximum power of the sun. )   I deeply respect the builder of this home and what they were trying to do to try to make solar just one step closer to being cost effective and to becoming a real part of our lives in the future.  They had a difficult time getting the home to appraise out because the appraisers  will only put a small fraction of added value to their numbers for solar.  There is however a HUGE differnce in this  statement of praise to the builder, and in actually believing that having solar power today is an idea that it’s time has come.   It has not.  Even the builder’s own handout at the Parade showed that unless you calculated the gas savings of using an electric car into the  energy usage of the home (really, imagine  including your gas costs into your home operation cost .  Does this make sense to anyone?) AND, unless you used a figure to calculate how much energy costs would go up each year (hey did anyone notice that natural gas came DOWN last year?), The figures just do not work .   At least they do not work TODAY, the solar panel suppliers will even  tell you this much, but not the builders.   The problem with solar is that when the cost equation eventually does work, the tens of thousands it will now cost to put an electronic football field on your roof,  will make todays technology in solar panels absolutely obsolete! 

Ask Yourself This.

Would you really want to be the guy who thought those Sony 42 inch flat panel televisions were so neat that they were worth the $10,000  that Flanner’s, or American  had posted on their 2003 display models?   The era of those flat panels were not really here just yet.  Today, those televisions are bigger, much better, thinner, and cost WAY less.   I doubt you could get close to $1,000 for that $10,000 television on Craig’s list.   Anyone want to buy an 7 year old television for 10 tiimes as much?  Anyone who is looking at solar power today  is truly looking at the very same dynamic . I am here to tell you that putting this technology on a 30 year mortgage is verging on foolish.  As for myself, even if someone were  were to literally “give” you solar power with a home,   in 4 or 5 or 7 years when you go to sell that home, that roof- full of unsightly techno-panels will be about as attractive to re-sale as having a front projection three-tube tlevison , Beta video recorder, or cassette recorder.  The technology in solar panels is advancing so fast that , just like those flat panel , better, bigger, cheaper  flat televisions  of today, the time WILL be right to go solar. Just not today, or probably  not tomorrow either.

    As for another recent real- life example,   listen to this.  I have a solar panel house located right next door to a spec home we are building in Milwaukee.  This home has a big sign in the front yard saying “solar powered“. It is just under 2,200 square feet in size.  It has been for sale for many months before we even broke ground on our smaller 2024 square foot home , located immediately next door .  My home has a 3 car garage, theirs has only a 2 car garage.  Both have 4 bedrooms but theirs has a nice big upstairs loft that mine does not.   My home was priced at $269,000.  Their’s was over $275,000(as I recall) ,when it was first listed(remember, before we broke ground).    After we broke ground, it had  been reduced to $249,000.  It has been at this low price  for several months.  Ours sold a few weeks ago (we were still in the drywall stage) for close to  our asking price, and we had several interested parties at the time.  Each had said of the neighboring solar home,  they were scarred of the technology being “dated” by the time they would sell this home.  I did have a few shoppers who thought this might be a good idea but would rather it had nicer cabinets or counter tops instead of the solar technology.

     The bigger point is that when the market finally does see solar  makes mathematical and re-sale sense,   solar power will already be mainstream.   For those who wish to be on the front edge of this technology, our heating/cooling vendor are the same folks who did that neighboring home, and the Parade solar models as well.   The little secret is that even those who provide and install the productsto the builders  have whispered that the technology, if  strictly on a pay-back basis, is not the reason to use solar powered water heating or whole-house solar.  For those who want to do good for the  World’s resources  , we will gladly install them, and give them our thanks.  The difference is that you should be buying solar or any green product knowing the whole story and not just  the wishful ones.

     Judging by my word count,  I have now posted my longest blog yet.   I have so much more to say on the subject of being sold green for the sake of green.  I told you in my ending to my last blog that I would do a story on a “wild idea” for the master bedroom.  I will try to breifly wrap this up and start that segment in my next blog.   My apologies for going all green on you.  I will summarize what I do feel are the real green items to look for next time  we meet.

       Thanks to those who came to visit me yesterday at our “secret blogger’s” day at my Milwaukee model.   We will have to do that again some time soon.   I had fun, and hopefully, so did you.

     Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

     I just returned from the Oak Hill secret blog day , where I will also be tomorrow.   Thanks to those who took the time to visit with me.   I heard quite a few good ideas!  If you are wondering what I am referring to,  just read my previous blog.  I will have more “Hybrid Ranch” design hand- outs for tomorrow.   If you came early,  I was a little late,  as I was meeting with a nice (we only build for “nice” folks) couple tying up some details on their upcoming home project.  As for those of you who read my blog posting from 2 days ago,   HERE IS PART 2 OF OUR LAUNDRY MYSTERY.

     I have been telling you about the ups and downs of having a laundry upstairs when building a 2-story.   I firmly believe that in the not too distant future,  laundry room locations will be changing to an entirely new concept.  When I was recently in Vegas , listening to a slew of  national “expert” seminars at the International Home Builder’s Show,  I heard  several big- name home architects discuss this subject of the upcoming Generation “Y” buyers,  and what they will be demanding in homes built between 2012 and 2052.   Get ready for another “wild idea”.

     To set this answer up for impact,  go back a few decades to the time when bathrooms were outside of the main house.  When the first bathroom was put inside the home, the general public reaction (seen in an old news article) ,  was that this was a bad idea since getting rid of human waste  was something not fit for doing inside the home.   Shortly , after the inside bathroom became  the common “norm”,  someone suggested 2 bathrooms would be better than 1 , since everyone had to use the bathroom as a daily occurrence ,  each doing so many times each day.  This was seen as an outlandish luxury to have 2 bathrooms in one house.  As you know, having 3 or 4 or even more bathrooms today (counting one in the basement) is now the current “norm”.

     This  same thought process was attached to the first attached garages. Having a single -car,  attached garage was seen at first as an over-the-top outlandish luxury.    Imagine,  just walking out of the back door into the garage!  Most families only had one car back in the 50’s when this attached garage idea made it’s first appearance.   As families started to have more than one car,  the garage size grew and again,  anything bigger than a one car size was viewed as strictly a frivolous luxury.  Current trends have seen the 3 car garage become the new “norm”   (but surveys say, that is trending away to smaller 2 and a half sizes).

     I am convinced that if a new “wild” home idea does not strike the general public as a frivolous luxury when first introduced,  it probably is not fully realized.   If you have not guessed where I am going, let me” lay it on you” here .  The day of multiple laundry rooms is very close and may already be here for some.   Just like the bath room history I just mentioned,  who in your home does not generate laundry?  Just like having only 1 bathroom , let’s say,   on the first floor(we have all seen older homes with this layout), it is  simply more convenient to have laundry roomS, near each bedroom area. The fact is that most ranch homes now have one bedroom on one side of the home and the other bedrooms on the opposite side(often called “split” bedrooms  ), and  many 2-story homes homes now have the master bedroom on the first floor and the other bedrooms upstairs.  In some two story homes, there is another bedroom in the basement.  The first impression you may have when I mention putting in a second laundry is that this is a luxury and it would cost too much money that many folks might not want to spend.  Doesn’t this sound exactly like what the folks in 1960 would have said about having a 3 car garage? 

    We are NOT talking about having a full-fledged laundry “room” in 2 locations, at least not yet.   The new Generation “Y”  buyer will start by putting a simple closet right in the shared secondary bathroom or in a small closet located between the bedrooms, just  off the hall.   The cost of a small apartment sized stack washer/dryer is not expensive, and running a few more plumbing items directly next to the bathroom, is not expensive either.  Think of how convenient it would be for those in the secondary bedrooms to just plunk their dirty clothes directly into the machine each time they go to the bathroom .  The alternative is to plunk the dirty clothes into a hamper, then lug it across the home.  Which is easier?  Which makes more logical living sense?   In the  morning,  the ease of grabbing something out of the dryer would be wonderful.  And,  what about the shorter traffic path of only going a few feet from a laundry to get to the dresser and closets for putting the clothes away?

     You may be saying “What is this world coming too?   Are kids getting lazier that they can’t take all their clothes across the home to the main laundry?”  I might say, “Are we all getting so lazy that we can’t walk up a flight of stairs to use a bathroom?  Are we not healthy enough to put on a coat and walk outside to the garage?  Are we all so lazy that we can’t spend a few quality moments doing the dishes, or scrubbing our dirty clothes on rocks? (O.K. that last example crossed the line..a bit).   Do we really need a machine to wash our dishes for us?  This, of course sounds  silly today,  but I bet you this would have been the common response to the suggestion of these new “wild ideas” , back in those days.

     Today, I am designing more and more bathrooms that are shared exclusively by 2 bedrooms.  This is called the ‘Jack And Jill” bathroom arrangement.   5 years ago, THAT would have been a “wild idea”.  I can imagine taking that same shared bath idea and putting a laundry attached either IN it or directly NEXT to it.   I , for one , can tell you that I am designing my newest series of homes to have this as an a pre-designed option, not an afterthought.  By moving 1 wall,  the laundry can be put right between the 2 master closets, or into the back hall area.

     A home designers main goal should be, first and foremost,  to design  homes that meet their client’s requests.    Their second biggest goal should be to pioneer new innovative ideas to make lives easier for those living in their homes.  In the last 3 years, I have designed and built at least 6 homes  that had 2 laundry areas.  They are 2 story homes that have a first floor master with a small stack unit near the master bedroom and also have a bigger laundry “room” upstairs.  It just seems to be an easy-sell to the right clientele.  If someone does not want this, my standard arrangement would have a closet near the master bedroom main door, just into the hall.    If they  do ever want to do the stackable, the space  is alraedy there for it.

     I have enough new “wild ideas” to write a few more blogs on laundry rooms but this is enough for now.  In my next blog,   let’s shift gears and talk about an idea for the master bedroom that I am sure will resonate for A WHOLE LOT of people.  When you hear it, you may think it too is a frivolous luxury or you may say, “Wow, why has no one ever done THIS before!?”

     Stop out and see me tomorrow if you want to see some neat “before the decorating”  drywall ideas and the early concept of the new “Hybrid Ranch” concept.

     Blessings,

    Tom Hignite

This weeks blogs I have mentioned a few times to watch for a blog surprise this weekend which I would announce today. Here it is.

If your read about my current project of passion the “Hybrid Ranch“, you know I think this new concept is the best thing since ..well… walk-in closets or  split bedroom ranches. If you don’ t know what my “Hybrid Ranch “check out my very first two blog entries. Its on Milwaukee’s west side (near Menomonee Falls) .  It is in the Oak Hill subdivision just northwest of the intersection of Good Hope Road and 91st street.  This subdivision can also be accessed by using Calumet and weeding around Calumet going Southwesterly past 91st street. Once you are in the area, it is not hard to see from Good Hope.

Usually, before I introduce a new design, it is kept under wraps until the home is opened.  In this case, I will bring along a rough set of my art concepts and MAYBE (maybe) even have some copies to hand out.  I am telling my sales staff  that I will cover this one home by myself, so feel free to come out and talk about this or any other design or decorating question.

This home has some new drywall trim items that I guarantee, you have never seen done before ! This home also has a great finished basement , and a new wall building decorative idea, again, I just “invented” so you won’t see it anywhere else!

Take a quick tour of these new ideas and then be the first people outside of this Miracle roof to lay eyes on the Hybrid Ranch.  If you want to talk off your feet, I will bring along a folding table and somne chairs.

It’s not one of our glamorous decorated models, but you just might enjoy it this way, before the glitz.

As for the second part of my big secrets on (part 2 of my last blog) laundry rooms, I will get to that in the next blog, tomorrow.

Hope to see you all there tomorrow from 1 until 4.

Blessings,

Tom Hignite

Hello,

In blogging now only for a few weeks, I must say this whole thing still is a bit of a mystery to me.  I have been writing/posting, but my gut tells me these postings are maybe just a tad (or a lot) too long.  If you agree or disagree, please don’t be afraid to leave a comment.

I was thinking today about the ideal location and the ideal features of the ideal laundry room.   As in my last blog,   so much of what we each expect in a home is just because we are creatures of habit.  It takes someone to be the first to introduce some new  twist in home design before it can catch on and   (if the new twist makes sense or is attractive enough)   before it can become a “norm” of the industry.   For example,   how did we ever go from having ranches with all of the  bedrooms on the same side of the home to today’s “norm” of having the master secluded on one side and the other bedrooms on the other side of the home?   This split bedroom is so common that no one gives it a second thought.   As I said in my previous posting,  who ever decided that instead of opening the doors on a traditional closet,  we should “walk-into” the closet?   For years the “norm” in doing laundry was to have the machines in the basement.   Who was the first to think of bringing the laundry up to the first floor?  Microwave range hoods, laminate flooring, private toilet rooms in a master bath,  I could go on and on.

For the past few years, one idea that has been sputtering up the “norm” ladder erratically, is the 2nd floor laundry room. If you have a 2-story or a master on first floor/other bedrooms upstairs  design, the upstairs laundry is getting quite popular.   Years ago,   I knew someone who had a luxury lake house and had the laundry upstairs.  I was just breaking into the home design and building business and this idea immediately intrigued me.   So , I asked how that family, or to be more precise, the Mother (she did all the laundry for that family of 4 boys), how she felt about having her laundry upstairs?

She did not particularly like it.   Keep in mind, today,   I design and build a lot of 2nd floor laundry rooms.  ( If you are a ranch person,  stay tuned) .  She explained the drawbacks to her was that yes, while the dirty clothes ARE generated upstairs (assuming all bedrooms are upstairs), she spends little of her non-sleeping hours  upstairs.    Therefore having to do laundry upstairs means having to be constantly climbing stairs to do the various phases of the laundry routine.   Imagine the routine.  Put the clothes in.   Go downstairs to work or relax.  Go upstairs a 2nd time to take the laundry out of the washer and put them into the dryer. Go downstairs to relax or work.  Go upstairs again to see if the wash is dry. Oops, it still needs 10 more minutes. Go downstairs again to relax or work. Go upstairs to take the laundry out of the dryer and put it away.  The door bell rings or the cookies are done and once again you must go downstairs unexpectedly only to immediately go back upstairs to finish putting the clothes away.  Now,  you finally can go downstairs to relax or work  (mostly relax after all of this).

On the plus side, Mom probably saved money by not needing to buy a treadmill! Now imagine Mom is going to bed and when she had the laundry on the first floor, she would have always put a load into the washer first.   Or, in the morning, Mom gets up first and used to decide to do a load of wash. When the laundry is near the bedrooms, she now needs to consider delaying putting those clothes into the wash in fear of waking up the rest of the house. When it was downstairs, she could do the wash without regaurd to a sleeping family.

If you have been reading any of my blogs, you know I think great home design comes from evaluating the pluses and minuses of a particular design challenge then methodically getting past those problems by using a little creative problem solving.  The problem with an upstairs laundry is , firstly, noise. Secondly, needing to make trips upstairs to do the laundry.   Third, potential water overflowing may mean flooding a lot of the home if an accident was to happen.

We can surely (and easily)   really only adequately solve two of the three problems.  The flooding is easily solved by opting to put a pan with drain under the washer.  This is a mini -shower floor in it’s appearance with a drain in the pan’s   floor  middle area.

The privacy issue can be solved by using a heavy dose of creative placement in the design of where the laundry will be located upstairs.  The laundry could be placed in a location that is far away from the bedroom’s bed walls and then it could be sound (and even vibration) insulated.

As for solving the multiple trips,  short of installing a stair lift or elevator, there is no easy answer to this one.   One solution may be to have a staircase that goes up half way from floor 1 to floor 2 then has a flat transition landing. At that landing, the stairs then change directions and continues up the 2nd  half of the flight of stairs.   The laundry room could be located to enter NOT on either the first or second floors but rather on this landing between the levels.

The up and down routine becomes even more of a hassle if you have the master on the first floor and have some family members sleeping upstairs.  For this,  I do have a new “wild idea“ I am aching to share with you which will also work wonderfully for you many ranch people. It is an idea so simple, that like the first guy to invent the walk-in closet idea, you may find the solution at first odd but then (hopefully) agree it may be exactly what every house should(and someday might) have, that makes old laundry room ideas obsolete.  Think outside the box and see tomorrow’s blog entry.   As I started this blog today, I am trying to cut-back on my length  so I will cover these further laundry “wild Ideas” to make your life easier, tomorrow.

An hour ago, one of Miracle’s long time staffers informed me he had received an offer on one of our Jackson spec homes we are just roughing.  The roof just went on this home today!  I hope we can accept this offer because I know these good people have  grand kids living right next door to this home.   I can only believe this will be such a blessing to this family and serve to enrich folk’s lives  (makes me smile to think about improving living for folks any way I can).  About 5 minutes ago, another long time Miracle staffer came in and had just signed a contract to build a home for some nice  folks in Palmira.   I have not yet put this new name to a face but I can’t wait to meet them.  It is unusual that I have not met someone we are building for before we get this far,  but praise God they apparently have an adequate degree of trust in us, without me having had the honor to meet them first.   I will do all I can to be worthy of their trust.    I hope we never forget that, as a builder, we are having a huge honor thrust upon us each time someone selects us to build their home. Oops! here goes that sales-sounding stuff again.   Sorry.

I do have a special announcement to share with you blog readers tomorrow. Until then….

Blessings,

Tom Hignite

     Today as I was driving about the countryside  evaluating  potential lots  for  potential  client homes to be built on,  I was thinking hard about the funny things we have all convinced ourselves are important in a house, and asking why?  There are so many things in homes that we all just take for granted are needed.   Why do roofs have to always have pointy peaks?  Why do luxury minded folks insist on having two master sinks but only one toilet?   Why do so many folks like the idea of having a whirlpool tub in the master but only end up having the kids mostly use it?   Why  does siding look better going sideways and not going  vertically?    But, the question that stood out to me  today  , (I have thought of this many times before) is why do we all want , and seemingly need, a  door on every room? 

     If I may do my immitation of Andy Roony for a moment, “Why do you suppose people want a  door on , for example,  their master closet, then they never close it except when someone comes to visit, or to get it out of their way so they can get to the hanging clothes  that are obstructed behind the door?”   When I am sitting across the table and designing  homes for people, I have been asking just that question. In your current house, how often do you close your master closet door?  For folks who have non-walk-in  traditional closets, they usually answer they always close the doors. For folks who have a walk-in closet, they comment they hardly ever close the door and this door is actually , constantly, in their way and obstructing something in the closet. 

    I know, I know, the hair on most people’s backs just raises whenever I suggest any off the wall  “wild” idea like letting go of a pre-conceived, well accepted  notion that just seems so right.   The natural human reaction is for  folks to quickly start to self-examine why they would not like to change their perceptions.  They try to justify the reason for staying in their normal ways and resist change, even if it makes their lives easier and costs less.  Keep in mind, I am NOT just talking here about one meezly master bedroom closet door, but rather a whole host of other doors that , like this one, may just be hindering our lives and not enhancing them.   The usual reaction in defending this door question is to claim that,  without this door, any potential visitor would see their clothes which are deemed(rightfully so) to be of a “private” nature.    Some say, they don’t want to see their own “mess” in their closet and don’t want others to see it either. 

    In my past blogs, I have explained how I believe good home design trys to always identify problems then go about the task of finding a better way to creatively design ” to move past”,  or to solve the problem.  At some point SOMEONE had to say, why are we always opening two doors and searching through closets when we could just open one door and walk “into” the closet?  Thus, the walk-in closet is born. Today, the walk-in closet is normal and well accepted, even demanded.  When they were first introduced, I bet the public thought the idea “odd”.  Today, they just make so much sense.   My grandparents  “new” modern Glendale home in the late 70’s,  or my own  6 bedroom , family’s home I grew up in , (circa 1968) had loads of closets but not one walk-in. 

    So………….let’s again identify the ONLY problem I have ever heard about    WHY in the world we are still putting doors on (for this example) the master closet?   The problem is privacy or keeping things looking neater and out of sight.  On the flip-side, NOT having doors means not having to bother with opening and closing doors.  NOT having doors means less initial cost in the home, less matenence, less germs from dirty door knobs,  not cleaning or dusting of the door or oiling a squeaky hinge(that was stretch) , not having to move a door to get to whatever is behind it, and MOSTLY, just making living in the home a very little bit , easier. 

     Let me suggest that if you are thinking about how life would be if you simply took the door off your present closet, I agree, that would likely not look too good, since your home was not designed to work/look good without doors.   No matter how neat you are , seeing hanging clothes is just not visually agreeable to most people.   You DO need a way to not have guests see your “stuff” and a door seems the only logical conclusion.  It is not.  While this may not work on your present home(or for that matter, most any home I have seen in those new design/plan books), it certainly can work if you design your home to work with a door-less application.  If you have not yet guessed where I am going with this, here is the solution.

       For drama and to understand the solution, take the drama up a notch in asking what if  I designed a bathroom that had no door on it? Your saying “WOW   Tom,  I may have been with you on this closet thing but now you’ve really flipped WAY out”.   Now ask yourself,  the last time you went to the Milwaukee Midwest Airlines Convention Center , or any modern movie theatre, did you need to open a door before you walked-into the bathroom?  I am not suggesting (at least not today)that  you do a doorless bathroom.   I am suggesting you think of how you walked into that movie theatre bathroom and then apply that same method for getting into your closet. This is called creating a “blind alley”  hallway.  My newest designs are just now applying this  “wild idea” and they are working quite nicely!  I have yet to se or hear any other designer exploring this “doorless” concept.   These closets are now totally private from you and your visitor’s views but, just like those theatre bathrooms are SOO EASY to just drift in and out effortlessly.  C’mon, just remember how easy it was in that movie theatre!  No messing with doors, no doors in the way, no germs , in short,…easy living WITH complete privacy.

    Now let’s put that same idea to work in your foyer closet. Imagine how pleasant (not to mention , memorable to your guests) to have guests flow into the hanging area for hanging their coats.   Take this a step further and now apply this to a kitchen pantry.  Why would you want to open and close ANY door if you did not have to.   I  envision a day when every bedroom closet , front and back hall closet, as well as pantry, will be door-less. It will cost less and life will be just a very little bit easier.

     Before I close the door subject (close the door…almost had something there) for this blog, here is another quick idea for your consideration. Why do all of our exterior doors open into the home?   If you want to have a screen door, that may seem the only way to go, but on a commercial building fire safety dictates all exterior located doors MUST open toward the exterior.

      Just like in my last real-life observance about why we need doors  on closets, this will be the next thing you might want to consider if you are really thinking “green” and safe.

   In closing, if you really want to build your next home to be ahead of the curve in what is new, find a designer who has the passion to think ahead of the trends.  If you can find the guy who invented that walk-in closet,  hire him (or her)! Imagine building a new home then 2 years later finding door-less closets becoming all the rage or the new normal.

     This Friday, I will be telling you something on the blog that I hope is special just  to you blog readers.  There is so much to be thankful for here at Miracle. Our sales continue to stay quite, unusually, high.   One of our “old timers” who left us 2 years ago is back and making even happier Miracle clients.  I am in the midst of  innovating some new “top secret” home  inventions exclusively for our newest generation of Miracle designs.  This will make door-less closets pale in comparison!   I just met with the Parade Of Homes people today and we are working toward our involvement with this late Summer event.  We are also working on bring together our bigger Miracle Tour Of Homes  to once again, precede the Parade.   If someone wants to be a part of owning (building a home below, ((yes , I said BELOW)) builder cost) our most exciting new home design  in Richfield , get a hold of me fast.  I try to make these blogs non-selling so forgive me if I slip every now and again.  I hope you are enjoying some of the new Wild Ideas  here on the blog and look forward to your comments , corrections, and observations.

    Blessings,

    Tom  Hignite

     N

     About my last blog regarding the two buildings joined together as one building,  I have heard I was not being complete enough on explaining just how the “barn” and house would be connected yet visually separated. Let me breifly explain.

      From the road, it appears as though these two buildings are about 30 feet apart but they are connected by a 30 foot long (by about 8 foot wide) breezeway/hallway. The hallway is hidden by tall shrubbery and landscaping. I know it may be hard to envision but only Part of the breezeway is left revealed and this part appears like a protrusion from the barn that has an entrance door on it.  This door , which is on the front of the breezeway(adjacent to the barn) has another door on the immediate backside of the breezeway. This door arrangement allows folks to pass from the front “court yard” through by the garage/barn main overhead door area to the backyard of the home/barn area.

     On  this land, I mentioned that an old farm silo is present. This silo is viewed from the street to be adjacent to the rear of the barn. In fact, the silo is 20 to 40 feet behind the barn, and is in no way connected. From the street vantage point, observers could not tell exactly where the silo is located.   It “looks” like it is attached to the barn.   My kids want me to finish the silo to have it become a neat fort with spiral staircase going up to the top look-out tower.   I said we could make it a “camp-out” bedroom get-away and fit the inside with a glass roof top and a big round mattress to lay on and look up toward the stars . I think the money end of this deal will dictate it be left for the future owners to do as they  wish.

     I was out in the field today driving around to see some of our homes under construction.  The lake home we are building on Ocauchee now has the staircase to the walk-out basement finished. The basement has 12 foot high ceilings!  We did this so the sloping lot would be used to it’s best advantage and cost the least to build. If we would  have done a standard 8 foot high basement, we would have had to fill the site with about 4 feet of stone. This probably costs just a little more to build the walls 12 feet tall over the cost of filling the 4 feet of stone but consider the benefits two ways. You get a taller, more dramatic basement(get the basketball hoop!), and you get to walk out of the basement and not have to build so many stairs to get down to the lake level.

     I thoroughly enjoy designing full custom homes for any project but this  expensive lake lot left less in our client’s budget for building the home.  I love a good challenge and a creative solution was in order.  The first part of the solution was to take an existing plan ( our 4 bedroom Dream series T2000 and re-design it to work.   I did not want it to simply look like a re-design, and when we are finished with it, it won’t.  We started by making the side of the home, into the front of the home.   This made the home a comfortable 30 feet in lake lot width.   But the creativity was just begining! 

    Next: Lake house supreme on a less than supreme budget. The creative solution. I have some exciting weekend news coming, so …stay tuned!

     Thanks for reading the blog. Comments are always welcome.

     Blessings,

     Tom Hignite

     A few blogs ago,  I “teased” that I had been working on a new idea for what looks like a farmhouse. If you are not the farmhouse sort, don’t worry, the general concept could work for you even if “country” is not your thing.

     Let me say from the outset that at times I have gone  down the planning road only to find a dead end when financing is not available for the project. Unfortunately, in order to see if something will indeed appraise out at the needed dollars,   I must take the project through the full design and estimating stage. I DO have a pretty good feeling about this one, so      here it is.

      I am seriously looking into doing our “Hybrid Ranch“  (see first blog entries) in Richfield’s new Reflection’s Village development. This is looking like it may be a part of the big annual Parade Of Homes. This development has “miracle” written all over it! This is to be an old fashioned walking neighborhood complete with lots of amenities such as quaint shopping area, fishing pond, swimming pool house, community band shell, a park, and tremendous walking paths. What better place to have a ground breaking new design than this ground breaking new development in Richfield. I have the Hybrid Ranch design actually planned for inside the development in a prominent spot.   The demands of the subdivision is that all architecture must look like something out of an old neighborhood, perhaps leaning somewhat victorian in style, but not required.

     Just across the main street from the subdivision enterance is what looks like a poor,  less than desirable  parcel of land with a small building site possibility, on a somewhat busy road(Appleton Avenue/HWY 175). The backyard abuts up to existing/older backyards of other homes.   In the middle of this lot,  is an old farm silo and part of a buried foundation for a long gone barn. The roof of the silo is mostly gone. There is an old out house near the road on the front corner. It is NOT quaint. It is NOT private.  Anyone interested in this lot?     I thought not.

     Despite it’s unappeal, I looked into what could be done to make this unattractive lot work.    First, as in any design challenge, I wanted to identify the problems. The busy road could be overcome by designing a home that was long and perhaps “C” shaped with the open part of the “C” facing the backyard.   The rest of the privacy concerns could be overcome by extensive landscaing with well positioned trees.   I considered tearing down the silo (breifly) but the wild idea struck me as to how that silo could be used to be an asset. Since it was positioned on the lot about half way back,   it was possible to have some kind of building in front of the silo. Instead of ripping down a bit more of Wisconsin history,   I decided to see if it was possible to build a barn in front of the silo. Out buildings on such a small lot would make this barn seemingly impossible.

     Not wanting to give up on a good wild idea without a fight, I thought of perhaps finding a way to attach this barn to a popular home design I had already previously designed , for which I had wanted/needed  to build a model of that home.  If you check out web site’s photo gallery(bottom of home page)  of our 2009 Parade Of Homes “Little-Big House“, you will see why we are getting a lot of requests to see this home.   Unfortunately, ( did I say UN-fortunatly?)  the model was sold during construction and now we have to show other similar homes we are building for others.  SIDE NOTE; SEE ONE IN JACKSON- Just finishing.   The ideal model to have right now for us would be this “Little_Big House“.  I would , however not want to idealy have it inside Reflection’s Village since I would want to show it with a simpler exterior than Reflections might allow.

     The idea was to build a simpler , leaning -but not really-country-style/craftsman  (Think Grandma Moses meets Little House On The Prairie , meets generation Y ….”simple“) model home then connect a 45 by 50 foot barn to the home via a breezeway/hall to the garage of the model.  If done well, I can use landscaping to hide the fact that these two buildings are in fact “one” adjoined structure. This completely avoids the issue of having an allowable outbuilding.   The barn can be done in such a way that it is not really a traditional barn in appearance , but rather a modern/simplified Generation Y barn done in designer browns and perhaps grays.

     A single driveway will service both the “barn” and home’s garage sides with what appears to be a 35 foot wide separation between the two buildings.   Both buildings (actually …err…it is ONE , connected building,… I forgot) have side entry garage doors which face each other.   I have even designed a small bathroom into the 8 foot wide by 35 foot long breezeway that connects the two/one building(s).   I hope you are getting the mental picture.

    The visibility of this homestead would be fantastic and if you ever wanted to hold a rummage sale or sell items out of the home OR work out of the home OR  have a great workshop OR build the interior to act as a guest house (dare I even suggest duplex in usage for the right situation), or just have a few boats, campers, or “toys” to store or work on, this is the perfect house to do any or all of that!

     As for a model,  folks can easily see the normal house model and the extra storage can be used for a few years by myself to eleviate some of my warehouse storage space needs ,  saving me monthly storage payments. Since it is right outside of Reflections,  home /lot shoppers can’t miss seeing this home.  If done with good taste, it could be a landmark home for the area and a nod of respect to Richfield’s farming past.  A way to preserve.

     Do you want a bigger storage building than allowable on your lot due to outbuilding restrictions, this could be your answer. If you want to see the concept on paper, just drop me a line for your own private “sneak preview”.

   I can’t let tonight pass by noting that yet another fine client  family was added to our happy Miracle “family” just an hour (or two) ago.  I got to know this family a little when we went out to dinner last week.   Last week was a record breaking sales week for our company.   A sales period that saw 7 sales in a period of under 10 days. I have not seen that happen since the housing market took a sudden decline about 4 years ago! Today, we had another happy thing happen.   We have just re-hired a staff member who was s superstar with us for many years but left to pursue other passions .   Times change and we are thrilled to have him back .  One of my happiest moments of the day was , while I was diligently working to design a 5 bedroom version of a T2500 for a client, I heard children loudly , gleefully, playing in our office’s  video arcade room.  I know it is hard to believe, I know it sounds fake to say this,   but  I truly like making( or seeing) people happy , more than anything I can think of.   The desire to make folks smile  is why I wake up every morning.  I don’t always succeed (that is for sure).

     Thanks for reading the blog.  Please  e-mail or call me with any of your questions or comments. Until my next WILD idea ,….. 

      Blessings,

      Tom Hignite