When we moved to Ithaca in 2001, we bought a 1 bedroom 1979 ranch and brought four adults, a 7 year old and a 100 pound labrador with us. Ah, but the location was perfect and the open plan, full basement, and 2 car garage gave us a lot of flexibility to reconfigure. We now enjoy a three bedroom home with an attached studio apartment which currently serves as our office space. The house features a two bedroom garden level addition with living roof, family room, downstairs canning (and, often, paint and plaster mixing) kitchen, wood stove heating with radiant back-up, natural adirondack-style siding and a metal roof for future rain water collection (it’ll be easier than hauling a hose onto the roof to grow our kitchen herbs). The garage is now a 720 square foot studio apartment that we use as our office. It was designed to provide accessible living for aging-in-place and features a cupola for natural lighting and ventilation, soil cement floor with radiant heat, natural oil and wax finishes, and clay and milk based paints.