01-15-2010, 08:40 AM
Before we moved over here, we planned to build a B&B house on our property. Over a 6-month period, we used a computer program to design about 15 totally different structures. Every time we'd send a design to our potential builder, we'd get the same reply: "This is a great design for the mainland, but it would never work here..." In the process we learned the value of cross ventilation, open floor plans, extended roof lines etc. In the end, we abandoned the B&B business plan when the economy tanked, but all the lessons we learned in the design process helped us immensely when we decided to buy an existing house around the corner from our proposed B&B site. Dreaming and designing is indeed fun stuff -- and it can be very educational too!