Talk about unconventional! Our friend Melody sent us this link featuring the home of The Sleeper family (Curtis, Deborah, and their three kids) who live in a cave. Literally. It's a 17,000 square foot gouge in the earth that dates back to a 1930s sandstone mine in Festus, Missouri. Measuring in at 45 feet underneath a forest, this unusual home has to be seen to be believed. Check it out after the jump...
No, Really: A Cave Dwelling
Inspired by the serenity and privacy Curtis and his wife Deborah felt when they first visited the site, they chose to create a three-bedroom home constructed from glass doors and used materials from a local store. Insulation sealant keeps the inside of the home at a cool 65 to 70 degrees year round.
The inside of the home feels very loft-like with its vast open spaces. The living and dining areas are located on the ground floor with the bedrooms on the mezzanine above the kitchen. A spring that runs underground of the forest but above the home deposits about 150 gallons of water a day into a pond filled with goldfish.
Despite their unusual home, the Sleepers decorated with antique furniture, creating an interesting juxtaposition with the modern lines and natural textures within the space.
The kitchen area. The family keeps a dehumidifier going which sometimes results in the home feeling a bit like a greenhouse. To prevent sand from falling into their food, they've constructed a ceiling over the kitchen and put an umbrella over the living, eating, and sleeping areas.
Bedroom of 15-yr-old Kian. All the bedrooms on the second floor feature high windows that allow in more natural light.
Kian cozying up to their cat Garfield on the second floor sitting area.
The living area. The cave is divided into 3 distinct areas: Family main quarters (the front, about 2000 square feet); a middle chamber (about 720 square feet with 25 ft high ceilings) that is used as storage, laundry room, and playroom; and the innermost chamber which was formerly a 1950s roller skating rink where the kids use the room to ride bikes and skateboards.
Check out more of this incredible cave home at KPLR11 St Louis.
(Images: KPLR11.com)
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that is so fascinating! thanks for sharing.
view sassydo's profile
Wow. I'm completely floored by this. Amazing.
view kellylc's profile
this was actually posted last year, but it's nice to see newer photos and an update.
(truly sad that I know that. truly and addict)
view sofistiphunk's profile
I have seen this house posted here before, but it's nice to look at it again.
view craefish's profile
deja vu
view EasilyAmused's profile
this just blew my mind, I want to live there.
view visualheart's profile
Wasn't this posted a while back with a dire notice that the family had been fighting a very imminent foreclosure battle on the cave - that no one would let them refinance?
What happened? Last I read at AT, they were going to have to vacate the cave & lose everything they'd invested within a month.
view jplee's profile
Love this . . . how fantastic of a home! Not only to live in and view on a daily basis . . but the fact that the boy plays the horn (french horn for all that need the distinction), talk about the perfect acoustics! Yow! Hope he's pretty good cause that will bounce around through the entire house. ;)
view Limeliteshines's profile
Is it just me or does Kian look like he is protecting himself and the cat from an onslaught of Sleestaks?
view Seaside's profile
Sleestaks! LOL. Little does Kian know that his own brother is calling them forth with his unholy brass instrument.... Garfield knows, but he's not telling, because Garfield is seekretly a sleestak in cat's clothing.
Anyway. Love this place with a passion. Would also love to hear an update on the foreclosure situation.
view rosenatti's profile
I want to see photos of the view through the windows to the outside.
view AaronAgassi's profile
Whoa.... guess I missed this one in the last round... but what about lighting in the second and third chambers? Doesn't it get dark back there? I don't think I could deal with a lack of natural light like that.
view Jesse Lu's profile
It seems this city at Spain.
Best regards!
view Sabrina Mix's profile
Festus!
view littlehouser's profile
We are returning to the dawn times of human being's civilisation :)
zayiflama Turquie Voyage
Türkei Urlaub, cilt lekeleri, diyet
view leonitis's profile
There's roofs and umbrellas in certain areas to prevent sand from falling onto them.... wouldn't the house be quite dusty, then?
view pattycake118's profile
I'm with jplee. Did the family get to keep this place? or is this a new family?
view jaime.dee's profile
I heard they ended up working something out... I don't remember the exact story, but I'm happy they were able to keep this amazing home.
Also, I spy naruto posters on Kians wall lol :)
view matsayswhat's profile
It different but I would miss windows all around me. Sunlight only coming in through windows in the front would loose its charm quickly. Interesting concept but wouldn't want to live there.
view cmykdms's profile
Um... WANT!
view islek's profile
Pretty darned cool. matsayswhat: where did you find out about the family being able to keep the home?
I know this is pretty minor, but it irked me to go to the KPLR11 site and see that AT just cut-n-pasted the captions into this post. Shouldn't there be some credit given to the reporter (Ann Summa, according to the link) or at least quotation marks?
view saya*'s profile
Adopt me!
view Greenpointer's profile
I live nearby. Some small bank saw the publicity and allowed them to refi. Also, in the 70s the cave was a concert venue.
view Jon_B's profile
It's an amazing house but I'm also irked by the cut and paste of copy from another site and someone else's work is plagarism. Lazy and poor work practice.
view CamillaC's profile
You might forget that the natural radioactive radiation is much higher in caves than somewhere else on the planet.
So it seems pretty, but it is not so healthy
See also:
http://www.nps.gov/wica/naturescience/abstract-radon-radiation-in-wind-cave.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8026972
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TVS-4S6P260-F&_user=794998&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=956995476&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000043466&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=794998&md5=129a56fed560819125a3d9c7c950eb09
http://www.onemine.org/search/summary.cfm/Alpha-Radiation-In-Natural-Caves?d=14341D6E335C7ADD9BF0B610F94AEA5907E0A7D738EF0D3CF715D07323C97F0F3784
view Bart Ghent's profile