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UntoldGlory

UntoldGlory

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So we'll be moving before too long and we're getting our house ready for the market, and looking at houses in the city we're moving to and such. It's definitely a different experience when you're trying to shop with the potential of a second wife coming along. I'd rather not have to turn around and sell again right away so trying to pick a place that is ready for or could be easily converted into a poly home really highlights how the standard housing market isn't really built for that, lol. "What do you mean this house doesn't have dual master suites?"

Then *boom*, we see them! Two houses that are actually ideal for a two-wife family! In one, the entire 3rd floor becomes the "adult's suite". It's got two large, nigh identical bedrooms, and separating them is the stairs and a bathroom. Then the 2nd floor has a couple of good size kid bedrooms and bathroom. What a fantastic setup!

The other great place is a beautiful, completely remodeled 4 bedroom Victorian. This one also has two equally sized large bedrooms, these on the second floor (though one is semi separated into a bedroom area and sitting area). We can't tell if either of those bedrooms has a bathroom or not, but there are two really nice bathrooms upstairs, in addition to the main floor bathroom.

Plus, both are like, more than 20 grand below our max price, so bonus. I really hope we can get one of them, assuming they hold up in person. They present way better options than a "standard" 4 bedroom. The Victorian is gorgeous, but it doesn't have a garage and I think I like the location of the other one better (which is an attached, tandem garage). I can't wait to see them in person!

Anyone else done any house hunting with poly in mind? I mean, I know a couple families that built specifically for their large family needs, but I'm curious.
 
My wife and I were just having this conversation yet again this morning actually. We have been house & property hunting for quite a while now. As things are going wonderful courting my possible second wife, of course we have that in mind concerning the living space we will need! ...

We have looked at big houses as well as dual dwelling properties. There is a nice spot in the area we found with two houses right next to each other on 16.5 acres that I'm drooling over, but can't quite afford. So we are still prayerfully being patient and hoping for some financial miracles!

You pray for us and I'll pray for you brother! Lol ... God will provide what we need I truly believe!

Shalom,

Rusty
 
Being a man of meager means with not much hope of actually finding a second wife I am commenting in order to keep an interesting topic going. I have a lot of kids and limited bedrooms so we've gotten pretty good at improvising sleeping space. I made a fourth bedroom out of a dining room and pallets. Despite how it sounds it actually looks pretty good. My next project is to knock out the wall between two closets that combined will make an adequate micro room for a boy or two. It will cramp closet space in one of the girl's rooms but that is a sacrifice they may have to make. After that, I have been saving concrete block from demolition projects around town and have enough for the foundation of an addition that can be built pretty cheaply if I do it traditional log cabin style.

Of course I am waaaaaaay out of the mainstream on standard of living so what I think is acceptable most people would consider a mission project. I'm kidding of course. I did have an outhouse growing up though so I'm not being too facetious.
 
I applaud the creativity! In our first place we did some pretty, uhhh, non-standard "upgrades" because the more standardized ones were so far outside our budget. They had varying degrees of success...
 
Yeah, some of my projects have not lived up to the propaganda. I have greatly scaled back my ambitions. I still have some big plans though, including a root cellar, a solar water heater and geothermal cooling.
 
Geothermal heating is sooooooooo nice. We've wanted that for quite some time. Sadly it is a lot more expensive to add to an existing house than it is if you happen to be building one, which we are not. We did look at straw bale construction one time, but didn't pan out.
 
There is a redneck geothermal option that is very effective at a marginal price. A 12 inch pipe beried 6 feet underground for a 100 foot run will condition a steady air flow in the 55 - 60 degree range. That is all your cooling and a huge jump on your heating. The pipe can zig zag and double back on itself so you don't have to have a straight 100 foot run. It should be able to be done for about the price of a septic system, $2,000 -$5,000. The cost to run it would be only the cost of a fan.
 
Just for S&G I've looked at online house plans to see what would theoretically be available "somewhere" and there aren't very many options even when looking at dual masters. Most of the time one of the masters is on a separate floor and would not be comparable in regards to size or quality. And then just the fact you're looking at big houses usually means a bunch of grand features you don't need and oversized rooms you then have to divvy up or split in half.

However I did find one plan that could easily be modified. By default it had 15 bedrooms and 15 half baths. Each room was around 150 sqft, outlying the perimeter with the kitchen, laundry, pantry and huge living area in the center. Looked like it was designed to be a lodge of some type. But it could easily be converted for poly living. Take any two bedrooms and make a master. Instead of individual 1/2 baths, i would do Jack and Jill 3/4 baths between each of the other bedrooms. And because they're all the same rough size, no arguments over whose room is bigger (thinking kids here) and can be repurposed if needed (office, storage).

I was pretty nice. I liked the idea even for mono living.
 
15 Bedrooms? Gooooooood night that's a big house!

GloryGirl and I collaborated on a "dream home" design for poly that I started on my tablet and ended up building in Google Sketchup.

Features:
"Master Suite" (the whole section of blue flooring)
-Three 12 x 15 bedrooms, each with a walk in closet. The closets provide sound barrier as well, though some acoustic paneling wouldn't be terrible.
-Master Suite linen closet off of hallway
-Two Half Baths with dual Vanities and Toilet
-One bathing chamber with corner whirlpool tub and walk in spa-type shower

Shared Living Area
- 4 "Kid Bedrooms" off of the main living room 10' x 12'
- One "Den" (left room with couches)
- Grand Entry with dual coat closets
- Main living room. The idea would be a retractable screen and projector set up where the screen comes down to separate the living room and kitchen for family movie nights
- Formal dining with plenty of seating
- Mud room (just below dining room) with benches and places for shoes/coats coming from garage
- 4 car garage with depth for trucks/larger vehicles/workshop space and an additional rear overhead door for a lawn tractor
- Flex space, just under the shared living bathroom. Ideally would be stairs down to a large basement with gaming room and utilities, if not then utilities.

Kitchen related
-Large kitchen partially inspired by Andrew's actual kitchen
-Designed to have multiple people all functioning in the kitchen simultaneously
-Large double oven
-Large fridge sunk flush with the wall
-Breakfast bar along bottom cabinets
-Big center island
-Open concept to living space
-Door leads to pantry/laundry space with dual washers and dual dryers, along with work space and food storage
-Laundry also has a door to the Den

The basic idea is that the adult's have a "no kids" retreat. In a two-wife family I'd have the center bedroom and remain stationary. We know enough 3 wife families though that it leaves expansion space as well, or if we ever do have an architect design it 3 wife families could make use of the design. The house is nice but not exorbitant for a larger family, and is designed for things like short plumbing runs and reduced construction costs (rectangles are cheaper than sweet Victorian looking designs). Kitchen and adult suite bath are the real "luxury" spots where a major portion of the cost would come in. There would also be skylights in the central line (kitchen and living) to provide natural light in places that otherwise wouldn't get it.



 
Yeah well, I did say it was a *dream* house. Though really I'd bet it could be built for less than double our house shopping budget, so it's not "Malibu beach mansion" crazy. It is handy for thinking about what to look for in a purchase home.
 
It's a good template. And it could be built fairly affordably I imagine. Especially if you went in stages, leaving portions that aren't in use yet unfinished until a later date.
 
I bought my house about two years ago. I had poly in mind when I found one with two masters and 6 total bedrooms at about 4k square feet. Of course, there are other reasons to have a big house if you can get blessed with one. My in-laws have become feeble and have moved in with us recently.
 
But awesome anyways!

I was given a bigger house than I needed, and my wife and I knew right away that God didn't just give us a big house to fill with toys. To whom much is given, much will be required.
 
We looked for a house that would work for a poly family for a while. We found some houses that could’ve worked. Most of them would have needed some remodeling or they were too far out of the area. In the end we felt it better to build. We looked at a lot of plans and found that several builders offer homes with dual master suites, most seemed geared toward use as in-law suites though. We ended up doing a custom build.
 
Nice! We thought about plans with in-law suites as well, but yeah, they didn't really seem right. Same with buying a duplex or something similar.

Any nifty details you can share about your design, or maybe a floor plan kinda deal?
 
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