We love our little 1456 sq/ft home on a little less than 2 acres. We built it ourselves in 2003 with a little savings and cash each month, so we never had a mortgage. I drew the construction plans myself and my wife and I did all the building ourselves.
We designed it to be our forever home, all one level, 36" doorways throughout in case we ever need walkers or wheelchairs, a large curbless shower in our master bath, etc.
We live at about 1500 feet on a mountain. We moved out here to be close to nature and get away from the city. Unfortunately, over the last decade our mountain has been taken over by million dollar mansions, increasing traffic and raising our property taxes. But we're still surrounded by trees and have daily visits by the deer and raccoons. We also have the occasional rabbits, bobcat, coyote, and bear.
I have a time lapse video and photos of our house on my web site
2003 - Building Our Own House
We've been in our house about 14 years now and still haven't found anything we would want different. It suits our needs and wishes perfectly.