New design heading for the catalog: XHouse5

Wait a minute? XHouse5? What happened to 4? Good question. Before we look at this design we'll recap the state of our development efforts.

First: Yes there is an XHouse4 design, and if you follow on twitter or facebook you have seen sketches of it posted. If twitter or facebook are not for you, no worries - our stream of posts on those platforms appear in our MiniBlog on the right hand column right here. So if you keep up with the blog here, even when you see no new posts, you should watch the MiniBlog for updates.

Both the XHouse4 & 5 are similar designs - 2.5 story, 3 bedroom houses, with home offices on the ground floor, and the option for a finished attic floor. Both are in the range of 2,000 - 2,400 sqft, very consistent with our other designs. These houses will follow our Lagom House designs in utilizing our energy efficient USA New Wall high performance construction, and the innovative Swedish Platform Framing method. Both of these techniques debuted in the Lagom House, and the XHouse4 & 5 is our effort to take these into a slightly larger house. Its possible to apply these techinques to any of our designs, but these houses will include the relevant details directly in the Construction Print sets.

The XHouse5 has a an open living dining kitchen plan, with a home office at the front of the house, and a mud room at the rear corner. The kitchen is set into a niche to one side. The house has a front porch and a rear porch with the option to roof and screen one or both of these. So the house is tightly organized with all the utility and plumbing space in this same zone to the side. This repeats on each floor where the bathrooms and laundry occupy the same utility zone. The XHouse5 is a 24ft wide plan, while the XHouse4 is a 28ft wide plan.

Also in the queue are two versions of the Lagom House oriented for narrow lots. For now I believe once these 4 are complete we will stop introducing new designs to the XHouse Group for the time being. We still need to return to the XHouse1, and a few designs from the Original Collection to complete Construction Prints. Beyond that - the Blueprints Collection awaits our attention. These will be fun, and I'm looking forward to working on them.