When I was a kid, and everyone else was looking at Shaun Cassidy photos in Teen magazine, I was busy designing home plans. I’ll never forget the first one I drew. It was eleven stories tall, and included a skating rink and a bowling alley. For all I know, there may actually be people who own houses like that. Hip hop moguls come to mind.

As I got older, my house plans got a bit more realistic. I got interested in drawing plans for small houses that could be built very simply and cheaply. I became enamored of straw bale and rammed earth houses. I drew several designs for a straw bale house, and even bought property near Taos to put it on. Then I learned that Taos does indeed have bad neighborhoods, and that the property I bought was smack dab in the middle of one. So I changed my mind about that. Straw bale house plans have been put on the back burner due to living in a particularly drippy part of Texas. I think a rammed earth or straw bale house would literally melt here. The same goes for those darling cob houses, which I also love.

I think if I ever actually build my own house, I’ll end up buying a plan done by a professional that I find on the Internet and then modify it to suit my tastes.