Home Design Photos : Straw Bale Style

While a primary concern in considering the construction of a straw bale home is its energy efficiency and its corresponding relationship with an environmental economy, a secondary but necessary ingredient is your home design. This includes the floor plan and home design decorating. That home design style is also influenced by the site orientation, which can help determine the quality of natural light entering the home.

Will your home be a place to entertain guests? A quiet refuge? Will it have commercial applications? Hours of operation? These are all important questions requiring necessary answers while you search the plethora of home design books on the market.

The straw home lends itself beautifully to an energy conservation program.  Naturally.  Thick walls are a formidable barrier to the extremes of Mother Nature.  By orienting your home toward the winter sun and including insulating windows, you’re able to harness free energy.  As those energy prices continue to soar, you’ll be thanking yourself for your straw bale home and considering yourself an environmental expert. 

Included here is a collection of home design photos showing a straw bale home I built in the Texas hill country. Special attention was given to using as much reclaimed and recycled material as possible.  Because the home also served commercial purposes as a latin american folk art gallery, by many accounts a folk art museum, special attention was given to building design and display space in the form of nichos and window sill treatments.  

Windows and exterior doors were insulated and include internal blinds,  both steps being vital components in how to conserve energy.  When designing your home, consider using the best doors and windows available, as their energy efficiency and ease of operation will more than justify their costs.  

Double hung windows with internal blinds eliminated the need for window fabric treatments, helping to justify the additional expense associated with the doors and windows. These internal window blinds treatments also eliminated the annoying task of cleaning external blinds.  

Heart pine was the essence of all interior walls, several doors, and ceilings, all milled from reclaimed timber.  All interior doors were either reclaimed mesquite, cypress and pine doors from Mexico or custom-made long-leaf pine doors with an 88” height, helping complement high ceilings.  

Exterior porch posts were from juniper, an invasive species of the Texas hill country. The timbers used in the post and beam construction were milled from reclaimed beams of heart pine as well, and were the perfect complement to the thick straw bale walls.  Window sill treatments used red cedar from east Texas.