The Missouri Journal, by Mark Chenail, continued

Page 2

 

     PLANS, PLANS AND MORE PLANS

   

 

Thomas Jefferson once wrote, "Architecture is my delight, and putting up and pulling down one, of my favorite amusements."

I couldn't agree more.  In fact, if I were more mathematically inclined, I would probably be an architect and not a librarian. For years I have scribbled on reams of paper and built castles in the air, but my 12 acres in Missouri gave me the first opportunity to really build something I had designed. For months I made drawings and models, trying to design something I liked that we could afford to build. I wanted something relatively simple in plan and facade, suitable to the area, but with a touch of whimsy. The drawings on this page show a couple of my ideas. The one constant in all the designs was that the basic frame would be a pole structure of one sort or another.

 
   
 


 

Even the most un-skilled carpenter can manage to cob together some sort of pole building, improve it bit by bit, into a comfortable and suitable home.  Pole buildings are extremely flexible and forgiving of small errors in the laying out and general construction.  
 

Once we bought the shed and built that first addition, the plans began to shape themselves around the existing building. I discovered that I wasn't allowed to build under the power lines, which meant I couldn't build to the south. All through the winter of 2000, I worked on variations of one l shaped plan that would give us 3 good bedrooms, a dining room, as well as a great room for living and entertaining. I also wanted to put the bathroom and kitchen in one area to save on plumbing. I intended to heat the whole place with fireplaces . There were also provisions for a guest building, a drive through loggia (a sort of glorified car port), and a separate room for all my dogs.

 
 

 

 

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