Designing a "Catholic" House

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Hey folks,
Wife and I just had baby number 1, and less than a week earlier, we purchased a empty residential lot. We plan on building a house in the next two years and have begun the design process. Maybe I’m over-thinking this (it’s just a house, after all!) but I have a couple objectives in mind for my design: I want a house that encourages family closeness, spiritual development, and a modest lifestyle. Yes, I realize our house design cannot achieve these goals itself, but I figure I might as well have a design that fosters as much as possible a positive environment for my little Saint(s) In The Making.

So far, I have thought to have the house be fairly small (to encourage modesty and closeness, not to mention easier financially), have a large kitchen where can cook together as a family, have the living room be without a spot for a TV (perhaps relegating the TV to the unfinished basement!)… any other thoughts? What aspects of your house encourage your family’s spirituality? What aspects hinder it?

I know this is a bit silly but I hope to have our home for a long time, so I’d love the (name removed by moderator)ut of this great online community.
 
I’d suggest, if possible to add a room for a library. Peace and quiet area to study, pray, etc.
 
I love the idea of a library, and also consider a nook off the side of a main room for a home altar.
 
It sounds like a great project, and it’s sure making you think about faith, spirituality and the family.

I agree with the big kitchen - maybe include a pantry so you keep your home canned food! (this would combine frugality, home grown fruit/veggies, and working together as a family in the growing and canning process!)

So I would make sure I could have a fruit and veg garden, and also an area for chickens and a chicken coop - the more food you can grow and produce at home the better in my mind!

No phone, internet or cable hook-ups in bedrooms!👍
 
That sounds beautiful, God bless you and your family!
In my house we have holy water fonts by every door and a home alter in the corner of the living room where my sister and I say the rosary. It has two icons, one of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the other of Our Lady of Good Counsel, there’s also candles and incense, and some prayer books. We have a crucifix above all our beds and all over my wall I have loads of prayers and pictures of saints. We don’t have a TV.
It sounds so sweet to have a big kitchen to cook in all together. Make sure to invite your priest over to bless the house (and holy water!) for you when you move in. 😛
 
Think about how many children you might have and where they will sleep. Not only should there be separate rooms for boys and girls, consider enough space for older children to have privacy from younger ones.

Ensure that a bathroom can be reached from the bedrooms without having to pass by public rooms. There was a popular floor plan that had the upstairs hall bath be directly opposite the front door, which meant anyone in the foyer could see people going in and out (possibly to or from the shower).

Reconsider putting the TV, game console, or computer in a private space since it will be harder to monitor use that way. While the TV doesn’t have to be centerpiece of your living space, if it is too far off, it may be too easy to deviate from your rules about what can be watched, when.

Consider how long you may live in this house and think about accesibility issues for when you are older, or if you have older family members visitng or living with you. Our main level has a “sunken” living room which is very difficult for our older relatives to navigate.

Congrats on the house and the baby!!
 
I’d think about what personal practices are important to you + the fam in context of spirituality and your faith – what space would make it easiest to pray together as a family daily would be a fundamental question for me.

Sounds like a wonderful experience. Best of luck! 👍
 
triumphguy said:
It sounds like a great project, and it’s sure making you think about faith, spirituality and the family.

I agree with the big kitchen - maybe include a pantry so you keep your home canned food! (this would combine frugality, home grown fruit/veggies, and working together as a family in the growing and canning process!)

So I would make sure I could have a fruit and veg garden, and also an area for chickens and a chicken coop - the more food you can grow and produce at home the better in my mind!

No phone, internet or cable hook-ups in bedrooms!👍
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Great suggestions on the garden! I would have a landline phone hookup in the master bedroom, but agree about no TVs in the bedrooms at all.
 
RCIA4 said:
Isn’t a home altar a bit extreme? 🤷
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Why would that be extreme?! I love Jesus and love to be able to kneel and pray the rosary whenever I want. It’s so comforting. Home alter sounds weird, we call our a prayer corner.
 
domandcarols said:
Why would that be extreme?! I love Jesus and love to be able to kneel and pray the rosary whenever I want. It’s so comforting. Home alter sounds weird, we call our a prayer corner.
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No such designation was necessary when I was growing up when the rosary was said in the kitchen, the one warm room in the house.
 
camerong said:
So far, I have thought to have the house be fairly small (to encourage modesty and closeness, not to mention easier financially), have a large kitchen where can cook together as a family, have the living room be without a spot for a TV (perhaps relegating the TV to the unfinished basement!)… any other thoughts? What aspects of your house encourage your family’s spirituality? What aspects hinder it?
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I am not sure how a smaller home will encourage modesty. :o
If your family isn’t going to watch TV, why get one? I know many families without a TV. They just don’t watch it. Mom doesn’t want them to watch. That is fine.

I also know a family that has a TV, but it is small and in an out of the way place. The mom loves to tell everyone that “no one wants to watch TV at our house.” When really it is that no one wants to sit in a hard backed chair in the back room watching. The mom is kidding herself.
I know this is a bit silly but I hope to have our home for a long time, so I’d love the (name removed by moderator)ut of this great online community.
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Keep in mind home owners live in their homes for an average of 5 -6 years.
triumphguy said:
No phone, internet or cable hook-ups in bedrooms!👍
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No phone in the bedroom? :eek: That means no phone calls late at night, which in theory sounds great. But in real life, many emergency calls come in after bedtime. Do you really not want to know that your father is dying? (Our call came at midnight.)
 
FANTASTIC ideas everyone, thank you!

I hope for this house to be very long term. I had hoped of having three bedrooms (including the master) on the main floor, and if God blesses us with enough children, we can finish the basement and add several more down there for the older kids.

Mrs Sally-I hadn’t thought about planning on having multiple same-gender children sleeping in the same bedroom. I really like the idea. I did it when I was quite young, but its pretty unheard-of around here. But why not? I don’t think younger children need privacy and it would teach them patience and cooperation. What a thought! Would require longer bedrooms to accommodate several beds, so I’m really glad you brought it up.

Triumpguy, I’m afraid our covenants don’t allow chickens but I love the idea. We can do a garden, certainly. I agree about phone and tv hookups in bedrooms, although internet may be required for teens (whose use would be closely monitored).

Domandcarols, my wife and I are working hard at getting rid of TV. What little it adds to our lives does not justify the time, exposure to lewd images and consumerism, etc. My wife and I do love football, but we may just have to go to the in-laws house for games!

Such great ideas everyone, thanks!
 
Get an exercise room, avoid Yoga as its Hindu religion.

Find managable way to deal with stress.
 
Lots of good suggestions! The only thing I would reconsider is putting the TV downstairs, away from main living areas.

It’s easy enough to make rules about how much TV can be watched. If the TV is in the main part of the house, it makes it easier to grab a snack, hit the bathroom during commercials. Also, most acceptable shows come on early, so after dinner family could start watching TV and then dash into kitchen for cleanup during commercials.

Also, while you’re kids are little and have early bedtimes, you and your wife wouldn’t have to be in basement, far away from them.
 
I’d recommend a large family room or great room–something with ample space, and large, comfortable chairs & sofas. Give the family a place where they can all gather and spend time together.
 
Gordon_Sims said:
I’d recommend a large family room or great room–something with ample space, and large, comfortable chairs & sofas. Give the family a place where they can all gather and spend time together.
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I agree with this and I’d put it open to the kitchen. It is just amazing how much time is spent in the kitchen. My household consists of two and I can’t believe how much time I’m in there!
 
Get an exercise room, avoid Yoga as its Hindu religion.
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One can practice yoga without the sometimes-accompanying theology with basically zero effort. As in, picking up any yoga tape widely available. It’s a legitimate and beneficial (for many) form of exercise.

Anyway, to respond directly to the OP – there are also architectural considerations to bear in mind. For example, the Northwest has a lot of open houses, where entire floors can be one big room with separate “areas.” For example, my house has a living room, kitchen, and dining room all connected, but a fireplace is in the middle and provides some division. If you want to focus on togetherness, this may be something worth considering, so the person(s) cooking can speak with the people in the living room easily, etc.

Another one is how private you want the sleeping spaces. I know some people who entertain frequently who actually do not have any private rooms on the main floor/area so it can remain open for guests. Do you want the rooms all in one section, or scattered about? Regardless, make sure there are enough restrooms!

I like the idea of a library. It could also double as a prayer space depending on layout/decoration.
 
Modest, but just big enough that you get the feeling that it substantial. Proper proportion of ceiling height to room dimension to the dimensions of wall openings (windows and doors) can do a lot to give this feeling, even with a more modest space. Our lives are important, God loves us, and our surroundings should be fit to this purpose. The catholic writer Ruskin wrote (in a great book on architecture) that “if men lived like men, indeed, their houses would be temples”. In practical terms, proportion, beauty in detail and material should house your holy insitution, your family. These things communicate to us psychologically that we are loved, that we are important, that the Lord is generous, that our lives have purpose and meaning, and we are worthy of being housed appropriately as such. To much deprivation can have just as negative of an effect as too much opulance. A little bit of formality in the floor plan communicates structure and discipline as well…it reminds us that we are more fully human when we discipline the will, that we are too important to live like animals. Eating at a formal table can have this effect. Ruskin would argue that materials should be true (ie. not made to look like something they aren’t, And that the house should be constucted from ground up, using human craftsmanship and avoiding prefab or factory construction…but this is a long argument to make so I won’t get into it)
 
I would agree with the above posting and would google, “daylighting” and “passive ventilation”. Study up on how to keep your house naturally cooler in the summer, and plantings and landscape design that would protect it from winter winds. Builders tend to plop cookie cutters houses on different lots these days with no consideration of designing to fit the surroundings. You might want the morning sun to shine in your breakfast nook. You might want to see the sunset from your family room or patio.

I would also disagree with the above posting on one point…togetherness and community have subtle but important differences. Family “communitas” is very important but you don’t need a completely open floor plan to facilitate it…just beautiful rooms to house it. Maybe use the floor plan design to encourage people to sit together in these rooms, and devalue or destroy the basement tv room. The flow of how one room connects to the other, and these to the whole will probable give more of a feeling of connection than limiting or destroying walls would…in terms of real experience.
 
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