Ready or not, we’re building a house.

I can’t think of a project with greater perfectionism pressure than building the home in which we hope to raise a family and spend the greyest of our years. This is a lot to ask of a single building – particularly one on the Canadian Shield. The opportunities to screw it up are many and what really stops me in my snowshoe tracks is this thought: I will have to live with any costly mistakes for The Rest Of My Life.

We’ve been planning this build since we bought our gorgeous property on the Winnipeg River. Planning, however, is a loose term when talking about my involvement. My husband has spent nearly every night of the last three years online and on the phone, researching windows, heating systems, siding, flooring, stone for the fireplace and exterior accents, water systems, and the R-value of SIP panels. Meanwhile, I’ve kept my nose in a novel and said no or I don’t like it to most of what he offers as options. Saying no means we haven’t committed to a possible mistake. See how this works?

It’s clear if I was doing this on my own, the house would never get built. Ever. But thanks to John, here we are: amazing plan in hand, builder hired, and our first pour of concrete curing.

The Plan

That little summary made it sound like it’s been no sweat to this point, but John has sweated plenty during countless hours spent at the lot clearing brush, cutting down trees, putting in a road, building our dock, prepping the septic field, and digging out the building site. I noticed last night he will need some smaller pants before this next year is through.

(For a closer look at the photos, click on the image. To return to this post, click on the back button.)

I’ve been along for the ride, some magazine browsing, and a couple of trips to New York state.

It was a Timber Home Living magazine that led us to what is now our house plan. From the start, we’ve had a very clear idea of what we want and need in this house. Anticipating a future aversion to stairs, the master bedroom and laundry have to be on the main floor, as well as a second bedroom so we’re close to the baby we’re dreaming will join us. We also want to enjoy the view of the river from our bedroom, great room, and dining area.

It took a fair bit of research to find a plan that gave us all of this and didn’t require too many thousands of square feet to fit it all in. It was ultimately dumb luck that I spotted Timberbuilt’s ad, which featured a sketch of their Spanish Olive design. The olive had it all, and the overall look of the exterior won us over instantly.

It wasn’t long after I tore that page out of the magazine that we were in Ellicottville, NY for Timberbuilt’s annual open house. Though their main office is in nearby North Collins, NY, they’ve built many homes in the ski village, not to mention the brewery, which we toured over two days at the beginning of summer 2013.

That trip confirmed two things: the Spanish Olive was definitely the design for us, and we were smitten with the quality of Timberbuilt’s designs and its people, especially Brent and Gayle, who hosted us at their Timberbuilt home near Toronto on our way to the tour.

Fast forward to this past summer. We sold our house and were finally ready to have plans drawn up for our Olive. We headed back to New York via Gayle and Brent’s, saw a few more homes with them and Timberbuilt partner Brian for ideas, then watched as the basic Olive design was adapted to our needs and wishes.

After a few tweaks to the first draft, we ended up with these:

And these:

Thank you Adam and Sam for your patience, and Brian and George for your insight!

Early Steps

John is taking on the role of general contractor for our build. George at Timberbuilt has warned us the next 12 months are The Year of Hell and I think I’m already getting a taste of what he means. I see a lot less of John and when we are together, there is much chatter about the latest permit applications, plumbing and heating quotes, and adjustments to the basement design due to the bedrock and a desire to keep our roof out of the clouds. Wood samples sit by the front door and the kitchen table (and counter and bookshelves and any other flat surface) is Build Central.

John’s incredible skill set is what makes this house possible for us financially; he has already saved us thousands of dollars. But his desire to do as much as possible on his own (with help from his many handy friends) will also be his nemesis – eventually he will run out of time, or burn out altogether.

My job, I’m realizing, is keeping John fed and trying to run things at the house we’re renting. For the first time in the nearly 10 years we’ve been together, he’s not beating me to chores. Yes, you read that right. He claims he actually enjoys cleaning. (I swear he’d leave me for the vacuum cleaner if it could do the cooking.)

I look forward to being more hands-on when it comes time to stain the forest worth of wood that will comprise our home. I expect I’ll also be able to help install flooring and I’m eager to learn how to use some fancy saws to cut trim.

Meanwhile, our builder and his crew have been at the lot the past few weeks doing what has looked to me like graffiti, string art, and grownup Lego. Miraculously, all of this has led to the beginning of our foundation and just last week, a first pour of concrete, which I’m told was a success.

Perfectionist is breathing easy – for now.

Now that you’re caught up, check back for regular – and shorter – updates on our build.