Home owner/builder resource center. Books, articles, and web sites on all phases of home design, planning, construction and maintenance.

Alternative Homebuilding is a resource to be used while planning, building and maintaining a home. It is a resource for exploring the relationships between the household occupants, the dwelling, its contents and its surroundings. It provides information and links on a broad range of subjects that relate to the home and its occupants. In addition, it provides articles to introduce you to many of these subjects.

The Dutch originated home as a term. For them it "brought together the meaning of house and household, of dwelling and of refuge, of ownership and of affection." Home "meant the house, but also everything that was in it and around it, as well as the people, and the sense of satisfaction and contentment that all these conveyed." Witold Rybczynski 1987 )

The home is more than a house or dwelling. It is the physical structure, its contents and surroundings, the occupants and their relationship to the house. These relationships are defined by the sense of ownership, of refuge, of satisfaction, of contentment, and of affection the occupants have for the dwelling, its contents and its surroundings.

Thus we use the definition of alternative homebuilding as the alternatives for planning and creating a home for the entire household, its members and their needs. Major resource areas are thus arranged around planning, construction and maintenance, the role of the occupants and their activities in the dwelling and around endeavors to provide ownership, refuge, satisfaction, contentment and affection at home.

House Designs

House designs include reference books, web sites and on line library works for different aspects of home design. Landscape designs, home design and sustainable architecture focus on the design decisions that are important to developing house plans. House plans, home addition plans and energy efficient home plans focus on the plans used to guide construction and home improvement. Handicap accessibility building products are important to consider during alternative homebuilding when elderly people or handicapped persons may be using the home.

Interior Decorating and Remodeling

Interior decorating and remodeling references provide interior design ideas such as bedroom interior design ideas, basement remodeling ideas and remodeling kitchen ideas. Interior design references also provide ideas for the use of furniture in interior decorating and ideas for bathroom remodeling.

Building Your Own House

Building Your Own House resources provide information for construction planning and for new home construction. It also provides information on new building construction products. Both new construction and house construction for remodeling are found here. An important part of the project is construction project management. Information for do it yourself homebuilding are in focus here to aide house construction by the homeowner. Some resources provide a homebuilding checklist for homeowner managed home construction.

Work From Home

Work from home references provides home business ideas and other aspects of work at home office designs such as home office furniture and small business loans. One of the oldest work from home occupations is farming. Farming topics like permaculture are referenced. You may want to start a home business or you may be looking for other work from home opportunities.