10 Acres, 3 Generations and Many Animals in North Carolina
William Britten and his wife, Sarah, came up with a brilliant plan to lure their loved ones — a son, a girl, the spouses, six grandkids — into a place: Purchase a farm and invite everyone to reside there. The plot worked, and now their kids and grandkids, in addition to goats, chickens, ducks and alpacas, share the 10-acre property, which sidles up into the Pisgah National Forest outside Asheville, North Carolina.
The Brittens also built a rustic weekend cottage for themselves, where they could escape to if not running their photo gallery in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The design is a throwback to conservative cottages in the region, with a steep roof and easy all-wood design. “We wanted it to echo the flavor of an Appalachia hillbilly cottage, though more comfy,” William Britten says. “This really is a contemporary version of this.”
in a Glance
Who lives here: William and Sarah Britten
Location: Outside Asheville, North Carolina
Size: 480 square feet, with a 100 square-foot loft; 1 bathroom
Total construction cost: $74,000
Total time: 3 1/2 weeks
William Britten
The property is nestled in a geographical cul-de-sac. “One way in, one way out,” Britten says.
The design for the cottage highlights affordability and simplicity. “We are spartan minded,” Britten says. “Nothing fancy. No Web or TV. Keep the design simple.”
Pure water has been also very important to the Brittens. They tapped into the fresh community water by digging a well 325 feet down for $3,000.
William Britten
After about six months of false starts — and saving heaps of photographs for design ideas — the couple decided to function as their own general contractors. They’d spent time exploring every bit of wood going in and out and were interviewing the subcontractors anyway, so it was a natural transition.
River Birch Builders did the huge majority of the construction, while the Brittens hired an electrician, a plumber, a roofer and a local craftsman to do the remainder.
The exterior is board and batten rough-sawn hemlock. Front porch and rafters are locust, a obviously weatherproof hardwood that may last 50 years without treatment.
The steep, galvanized metal roof slopes in a 45-degree angle, a rare design these days; it pays homage to antique cottage roof styles. It cost $3,000.
William Britten
William and Sarah Britten (seated in rear) obtained the property and built the cottage to be near their loved ones, to possess their grandkids develop in a unique way and to move retirement cash “in the stock market into something real,” he says. “Something that everybody could use today. Something that would sustain us in a real way.”
Britten’s daughter (holding her son, in an orange shirt) resides in a four-bedroom, 1,700-square-foot conservative farmhouse on the property together with her husband. She tends the gardens, chickens, goats and alpacas and home-schools their five kids. She makes goat cheese and sells duck and chicken eggs.
Britten’s son (with the beard), a freelance software programer, resides onsite in an RV with his wife and infant while they construct their own house on the property.
William Britten
Britten is a retired university professor who led various library sections, such as one for rare books. Approximately six years ago he started another career as a photographer, shooting wildflower and other nature photographs in the Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, about an hour and a half off, where he and his wife have their main home. They have a gallery, where they sell Britten’s photographs to tourists.
William Britten
“Everyone comes into this cottage and their jaw falls,” Britten says. It is one open space, with a separate bathroom. The floors are reclaimed heart pine with three coats of Vermont PolyWhey, a finish made from cow’s milk.
The wall windows is walnut retrieved out of a barn. A local craftsman created the door by hand out of walnut for $600. The siding is cypress.
All of the windows in the cottage are double-pane low-E; they cost about $3,600 complete.
William Britten
River Birch Builders built the kitchen cabinets onsite out of leftover walnut wall boards for $1,600. The countertop is black walnut, hand made for $1,000 from precisely the same craftsman who made the door over. The ceiling is the floor into the loft above, and is wormy maple.
The Brittens place the coloured lights up throughout Christmas and enjoyed them so much, they never shot them down.
William Britten
Since the wood screens such beautiful grain, there was no requirement to hang some artwork or items. But Britten photographed and created a poster montage to cover the electric panel onto the wall.
The Brittens hunted to utilize everything that came to the site. The boat ladder consists of 2 leftover hemlock rafters.
William Britten
The 100-square-foot loft is currently used as a meditation space. Leftover wormy walnut floor boards make up the loft railing. The ceiling is walnut.
William Britten
The cottage has hot water, plumbing and electricity. “In that sense, it is not rustic,” Britten says. The plumbing price $3,000; the electricity, $3,400.
A ductless mini split heat pump program for $3,400 provides the most important heating and air conditioning.
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