The growing house

What if you don't want to build too big, but lots of small houses are too small? Another option is to build a small house that grows in time.

For example, a kitchen with an open space. At first you sleep in the open space and eat standing up. Then you add an addition with a couple sleeping rooms, and the open space becomes the dining area and social space. Maybe you add a den.

It has many of the advantages of the small houses approach, without requiring nearly as many walls. You have to get a lot of the planning right up front, though, or you end up with a very awkward layout. You also end up with huge exterior walls taking up interior square footage.

I think that an addition has to big enough to justify good construction. A tiny add-on space won't be worth the time, materials, and money of good insulation and foundation.

I suspect that we'll build the house in one go, but there are a few add-ons that might make sense.

An attached greenhouse is interesting. It can extend the growing season and sprout seeds. It can capture solar energy to heat the house more. It can act as an airlock to the main entrance of the house. It sounds nice to enter the house through greenery, year-round.

I'm toying with the idea of making the the greenhouse be a sitting room / enclosed porch, too. Somewhere that adults go to socialize or read. TV-watching and kids toys are in a different room, which could eventually become the 3rd bedroom. Not sure where this goes, just pondering it right now.