No duct tape required.

The other day I was walking around my property with a building contractor and ... well I guess it was meal time for the local deer family. They took a look at us, realized that we were in the way of my hostas and then crossed over to the neighbour's yard for some nibbling...

They did not bother my Italian plum trees...

So to recap, I was back to the house design and find a contractor stage. 

It looks like I will build a box. It will be cheaper if it's just a simple box.  I will go with just a front porch rather than a wrap around deck.  I will have a cold room in a basement. Yes, a basement or a storage area with outside access. Inside stairs take room and make it a bigger house.  It will still be a compact house on top of a storage basement that could be a suite someday. This does mean I will be building a much bigger house than I had originally planned. I will still live in a compact home.

So to help with the new design I searched the web for existing floor plans and then I found an App for my iPad and I modified what I saw on the web and I designed my house myself. Then it went through many revisions and finally I sat down with a designer who will make me permit plan drawings from my plans. These plans I can use to get more accurate quotes from builders as well. I hope to apply for my building permit this month...

Then I got out my lot survey and some tape measures and I decided where the house will go.

I staked it out.

This should be the view (below) from the bedroom window.

And this should be the view from the guest/ storage room

The weather is so nice right now that it was time to hike to the top of the local hill. 

Below you can see the neighbourhood where my small house will be.

...I don't think I will have an ocean view, but that is okay it's still close by... And so is this view.

Another nice day and so I finally decided to get back at it in the greenhouse again. 

I had previously dug out the old door, but it was in pieces that needed some work.

A few new screws and presto ... It's a door again!

The plastic hinges are in fine shape!

A golf ball has been sitting on the ground outside the greenhouse for some weeks and 

I decided to use it as a door knob. And then I improvised a swivel latch.

Next up .... Put the new piece of plastic found in the shed into place over the hole in the roof.

This was harder than it looked because I could not climb on the outside of the frame, for it would surely collapse and I would fall through. (This from someone who fell off a 2 ft stool in my rented cottage two weeks ago!) Finally I figured out how to make it work and duct tape was not involved

Next I climbed through my fig tree and put in a few screws on the end. Hopefully it will withstand the winters wind storms.

Now I can get back to clearing out the weeds again without getting really wet. I say really wet because it does leak in a few places. I suspect in a few years I will replace or redesign the walls and roof.

Now I can plan out next years garden.....