Someday, I want to buy a fixer-upper or just a parcel of land, out in the countryside somewhere, and build something I'll be happy with for the next 20 years or so.  If it's takes 20 years to finish, all the better!  My overall plan is to create a fantastic woodworking shop and build a house around it, but we'll see how far I can keep that priority.

I've been doing a lot of research on extreme energy efficiency and green building techniques and I want to be able to incorporate a lot of these ideas.  I'd like to achieve the Energy Star Home Program and the Department Of Energy Home Energy rating of at least 90.  Top on the list is to be electricity-neutral by installing a solar power system.  The local utility has to buy any power you generate at the same rate they sell it, so they key is to size the system to come out as close to $0.00 at the end of the year as possble.  Unfortunately if you generate an excess, they don't have to pay you for it...

I bought a home design program, Home Designer Suite based on some product reviews and I have to say it's pretty good.  It's very easy to lay down walls and it has a good selection of cabinets, flooring, colors, etc. that allow you to not only lay out the floorplan but visualize what it will look like in the end in 3D.  As the model got more detailed, the ability to pan around in 3D mode became almost unusable so looks like I need to build myself a better machine....

The shots below represent an accumulation of ideas I've had but the final plan is not expected to look like this.  The important factors I want to include are:

• overall Arts and Crafts design style with oak trim and furniture that I will build
• woodworking shop with a dust-free finishing room
• fireproof roof and exterior walls
• near zero exterior maintenance
• highly energy-efficient walls, windows and spray-in insulation
• radiant floor heating
• solar system (6-10KW)
• flexible tube plumbing
• no air conditioning due to smart cross-ventilation and site placement
• full basement for storage and wine cellar and an at-grade entrance
• home theatre
• complete home automation system (lights, audio, video, phone, networking, security)
• fire suppression
• central vacuum
• 2 bedroom apartment to generate revenue (luckily zoning outside the city itself allows for it) likely in a separate building

Here's the 2D floorplan of the basement, followed by a 3D rendering:

Next comes the main floor along with a rendering of the kitchen.  Note the oak and glass cabinets, crown molding and window trim.

Upstairs you can see the apartment on the right with side entrace, kitchen, living room, two bedrooms, bathroom and laundry.  I've designed in a sound-insulating gap between the halves of the house, and a double set of doors for when I don't have tenants but a lot of guests stay over.  More details as time goes by.