Diamond in the Rough (and Ready)Dwell | Apartment Therapy Ohdeedoh

We all have our own vision of what we want our family home to be. But does your vision involve eleven years of designing and building your dream home, while your family roughs it, first in a tent for two years, then in a workshop on your property? In one of our favorite Dwell features ever, we took a tour of the amazing home of the Meffan family -- a tour that, days after reading it, still leaves us almost breathlessly inspired.

We're not saying we'd want to duplicate all the features of this amazing home. (For example, we don't covet the work of maintaining the 1500+ square foot greenhouse contained within the house.) What we find exciting is architect/builder Ken Meffan's -- and his family's -- dedication to creating a space that is just right for them, from the rugged location to the showers made using steel stock-watering tanks to the sliding walls that bring the outside inside.

We're also in awe of the family's intrepidity in realizing their dream. As mentioned, the family lived in a tent on the property for the first two years of construction. Says Ken, "We were very poor, but we were having an adventure, like the Swiss Family Robinson."

While the full slideshow is breathtaking, the article is a worthwhile read, too. This is definitely a home to bookmark and return to for endless inspiration.

Photos: Todd Hido