About Noah Bradley
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White cabinets
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:21:17+00:00I’ve always admired white farmhouse-styled kitchen cabinets. There is something “homey” feeling about them. Especially when there is a grandma in the photo.
White cabinets might not be as rich looking as natural wood cabinets but they are universally loved, easy to clean and hold up better than natural wood finishes.
Originally posted 2015-09-16 13:38:11.
Staircase size
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:21:16+00:00Problem solved.
I’m often amused when I see hand sketched floorplans from folks that have drawn their future home plans on the back of an envelope and I notice how small they have scaled the size of their staircase.
Often these stairs are shown to take up about the same amount of space as a closet, or less. Not once have I seen someone draw the staircase too large, rather they are always too small.
The reality is that staircases are hogs when it comes to eating up our interior square footage.
One trick is to throw the beast outside like this stone building has done.
Of course this does make life “more interesting” when venturing from the bedroom to the kitchen. lol
Originally posted 2015-09-15 22:02:59.
The power of the number 18
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:21:15+00:00Tall and Proud.
Almost all farmhouses that I have encountered are 18 feet wide.
And I’ve been in hundreds of them.
Anyone care to guess why eighteen?
Well, there are several reasons…
One, is that an 18 foot floor joist provides a stout floor… and a 20 foot floor joist is “bouncy”.
Two, is that 18 foot floor joists tend to stay straight and true for centuries, whereas anything longer tends to sag.
And three, an 18 foot sill log is manageable to put into place with the aid of two men, buy it takes four men to move a 20 footer.
Originally posted 2015-09-15 15:16:18.
Texas log cabin
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:21:14+00:00Clearly, Texans know how to build a log cabin.
And of course, by their very nature they just have to do things differently than everyone else.
Folks in New England often build their chimneys on the inside of their homes to get every ounce of heat they can from the warmed masonry.
Here in the Mid-Atlantic and further South everyone builds their chimneys on the outside of the house (the theory being that the chimney can be pulled over to save the house in case of a bad chimney fire)
But Texans… if you look at this cabin… want it both ways. This chimney is half inside, and half on the outside of the home.
God Bless Texans.
Originally posted 2015-09-15 15:05:22.
A free log cabin
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:21:13+00:00You can build a log cabin for free, all it takes is a bit of effort, and a stand of trees. The expense starts when folks start thinking about a large home, one with lots of extras, and having someone else build it.
This fellow has a nice cabin… I hope he has a freezer in there big enough to handle all the venison that he has brought home.
Originally posted 2015-09-15 14:51:24.
Three wonderful features
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:21:11+00:00This little home offers three features that are well worth your consideration when building your next home.
(ok make that four features… if you count the wonderful gardens right out your front door)
1) a parged, or stucco, exterior… attractive, cost effective, historically common, low maintenance, air tight, easy for the do-it-yourselfer, and adaptable to many forms of construction.
2) a small addition off of the main structure providing visual interest (in this case timber framed… but log, stone, or brick would work just as well)
3) the well designed open shed on the other end of the house to keep the firewood dry and provide shelter for those who enter on that side. (I bet there are openings in the home designed for easy pass through into the house of that wood, perhaps even to a stove in the lower level of the house).
Originally posted 2015-09-14 18:12:40.
Camp kitchen
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:21:10+00:00Here we have a backwoods kitchen so commonly found in hunting cabins or “camps”. The woodstove keeps the room plenty warm and there is just enough room on top to heat water for coffee and to have a pot of something cooking… stew if the hunt was successful, beans if not. And, there is enough countertop nearby to make a few sandwiches on… ahhh the good life! lol What more do you need in a kitchen?
Originally posted 2015-09-14 14:39:22.