After a lot of debate, I settled on ordering plans from Jamaica Cottage Shop in Jamaica, VT. I selected their 10×20 Pond House plans, which will give me 160 sq. ft. of interior space and a 4-foot front porch. The Pond House is framed with post-and-beam construction rather than standard stud framing.
The plans are intended to be assembly instructions for Jamaica Cottage Shop’s pre-cut kits, but it is also possible to use them with locally sourced lumber and cut everything on site. That’s the route I decided to take, since we are outside of Jamaica’s in-house delivery zone and regular freight delivery would have taken approximately two months thanks to shipping delays.
One of the things I liked about these plans is that they keep the post and beam framing exposed on the inside of the structure. The first layer of shiplap siding we will put up will become the interior wall covering and the insulation, house wrap, and exterior siding will all go on top of that first layer.
