One of our goals in this home building adventure is to end up with a house that “fits” the neighborhood. We purposely placed the garage behind the house to present a more modest front toward Cottage Lane and the folks across the pond. Helen and I walked to the far side of the pond and took a few photos as the sun was starting to set last night. I think that The “L” Shaped House is going to “fit-in” nicely!
I realized that despite 40+ entries to this blog I have yet to post a photo of the neighborhood. Cottage Lane is a sleepy little street that no one seems to know about. Tonight’s panoramic photo is the view we will see from the front porch of our new home. As I stood taking the photo there were two deer in a neighbor’s yard down the street and a gaggle of geese in the pond. With back yard access to the Hennepin County trail and beautiful front yard view…we cannot wait to move in!
A photo showing the property before we started, and the property after the trees and house have been removed. We will soon arrive at the point in the project where the tearing down ends and the building up begins.
The existing home is a small (1400 sq. ft.) Cape Cod built in 1942. It has been owned by Jim and Phyllis Danielson since 1978.
The lot is 1.1 acres. It rises 15 feet from the center of the street (Cottage Lane) to the house. It falls 15 feet to the trail behind. The homes to either side are about 8 feet below the first floor level of the existing home. A gulley runs through the NW corner and across the back of the lot that is almost 20 feet below the house. The Hennepin County trail is about 5 feet above the gulley. The NE property line runs something like 30 feet from the centerline of the trail. The lake across the street is another 10 feet below the street level.
Well…we finally did it.
We closed on the property one week ago. The lot is at 3851 Cottage Lane in Minnetonka. The house sits on top of a hill and faces a little pond across the street. The back yard runs right up to the Hennepin County trail. The aerial photo comes from Windows Live maps. The map at the bottom shows the Hennepin County bike trail system.
