Now I admit this house isn’t as classy or modern as the houses I usually pick for this feature, but Caveland gets this week’s nod on sheer creativity and originality. Honestly who wouldn’t want to live in a friggen’ cave. I can guarantee that every man in the United States would trade in his traditional square box house in for Caveland any day of the week. Curt Sleeper and his entire family have been living inside the cave they’ve appropriately named Caveland, for the last five years. Their unusual story begins back in December 2003, when Curt was searching for a commercial property on eBay and he stumbled across a cave, in the Fetus/Crystal City area, Missouri. I guess it’s true what they say, you can find anything on eBay.


Curt visited the property and fell in love with it on the spot. Where most others may see just an inhospitable environment, he saw a perfect home for his family, so he started working on it right away. The Sleepers used all their savings and inheritance money to build a comfortable house and the result is simply mind-blowing, as you can see in the pics below.

Some details of Caveland:
* 17,000 square foot house in Festus, MO.
* 3 “chambers” — a front chamber that contains three bedrooms; a middle chamber that holds the laundry room, storage, and a spare bath, and the back chamber that still has the stage where Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Ike and Tina Turner, the MC5 and many other bands performed.
* 2.8 scenic, partially wooded acres. Very private, although very close to town, just several blocks from shopping, dining, and other conveniences.
* Energy efficiency: Geothermal and passive solar keep the home comfortable year-round without a furnace or air conditioning.
* Kitchen: The kitchen is the crowning jewel of the house, with nearly 400 square feet and a floor plan that lends itself well to cooking for one person, two, or parties of a hundred guests. Some of the features include a customizable Jenn-Air cook top, two convection ovens, Kitchen-Aid triple sink, large island with secondary sink and breakfast bar, and granite tile countertops.
* Water features: The property has at least three groundwater springs, one accessible via a cistern in the middle chamber of the cave, one that yields an average of 100 gallons a day that drips into an indoor pond in the front chamber, and one near the woods that creates a shallow pond. During heavy rain, the property gets as many as fourteen beautiful waterfalls from the cliffs.