Cottage Building Plans & Small Open House Plans From

This is a house whose forms grew out of an interaction of three primary forces. The first was the clients' desire to have a house with rooms that reflected the way they spend their day. Largely they work as writers and do the survival kinds of things that make living on a Maine island interesting, like baking bread and loading the woodstove. The second force was the very long and harsh Maine winter. Because this island site was a somewhat exposed field that faces south with long water views to the east and southwest, the house needed to grab as much sun as it could get to fill those work spaces with it. The house needed to spread out, grab hold of the ground and hunker down in the winter wind, but also exploit a great view from the second floor. The third force was the architect's desire to design a house that would be a comfortable neighbor to the very modest and friendly frame houses that were in the surrounding area.

The daytime spaces are strung out in a saw tooth pattern along the southern view. You get up in the morning at the east end with the sun, and move through the kitchen to the dining room. The end of the day finds you at the west side of the house on the screened porch. Decks facing south and east are tucked in the shelter of these saw's teeth. As usual in this climate, the east and south exposure is favored, as opposed to the west and south (but you could flip the plan east to west).

The one-car garage, while not a necessity, is mighty nice around this area in the winter. It shares the entry space with the front door, and turns the house's back on the cold northerly wind. This house is on a slab because it was a damp site, and the architect wanted the thermal mass of the slab to be able to soak up the sun's heat. You could add a basement and put a stair under the one that now goes to the second floor.

The architect comments that "While I've never really seen a house with this shape, it has a nice 'American' familiarity to me. Perhaps it reminds me some of the architecture where I grew up in the southern part of New Jersey."

Please Note
Due to licensing agreements, this home may not be built on Great Chebeague, Little Chebeague, Great Diamond, or Peak's Diamond in Casco Bay and in Hancock County, Maine.