To say we’ve come a long way since my last post would be stating the obvious… I couldn’t begin to express how often I’ve thought of reviving this blog, but I can say the desire to make the “perfect” return has held me up every time.
Thanks to a comment I just received on an old post and a renewed commitment to being okay with progress over perfection, I’m taking the leap and sharing a few photos of our almost completely finished home.
KENORA, ON – A local couple remains puzzled by the recent disappearance of a plastic great blue heron that for three years sat at the end of their Winnipeg River dock.
All that remains of the weather-worn bird are its feet and legs, which were attached to the dock with screws. The heron went missing sometime between July 23 and July 25.
“I noticed the heron was gone when I went down to the dock to begin cleaning it ahead of putting on water seal,” said Kelly McDougall, who, along with her husband John, are in the midst of building a timber frame home on the property. “It had been there a few days earlier. We had friends over to see the progress on our house, and their kids asked whether it was real.”
“To all the sparrows, wasps, spiders, ants, butterflies, moths, giant black flies, squirrels, and other critters who have or are currently making our house your home or playground: you have one week to permanently vacate the premises. Not once have you paid rent, yet you consistently make a mess of the place. If you do not leave by this deadline, the building you currently inhabit by choice will become your prison.”
It’s often the little things that get a girl like me excited. I’ve always thought this a fortunate trait, since the big things don’t come around as frequently. (Really, the bent can only go up once, and how many times will I marry John or get a new puppy?)
These days I’m finding joy in the framed walls for the small spaces: the pantry, laundry, linen closet, coat closets, cooking area, powder room, and our master closet (which is bigger than I thought!). It’s a whole lot easier to envision a space when it’s actually visible, even if it’s just outlined in 2x4s.
We’ve gone from standing in our vacant lot and imagining what our house might look like, to seeing it in broad strokes, and now the details are starting to fill in. It’s kind of like zooming in on an area using Google Earth.
Right now, we’re at that stage where it seems as though nothing is really changing. But it is… albeit slowly. Three weeks have managed to slip by since my last update. These are the bigger little things that have happened:
1. All of the interior walls on the main floor have been framed, though we’re still deciding whether to add one between the staircases and the great room.
How many shades of brown can one person look at before reaching a breaking point? If I’d kept track these past few months, I’d have that number for you now.
Week 5 marked a shift in our build: John returned to work after four weeks of “vacation;” there were actually weekdays the site was dormant because our crew had to tend to another job (though they still managed to get the cold roof on), and John and I officially reached our first impasse in decision-making.
We’ve breezed through other decisions so far, except this doozie of determining exterior colours.
Visits to our house lately are like those observation games from kids’ activity books – the ones that challenge you to notice the differences between two pictures that at first glance look quite similar.
As expected, the changes each day are now subtler than they were during the three-week building blitz, when timbers and panels were going up as if the world was on fast-forward.
But each bit of progress is exciting just the same.
Week 4 brought the installation of more exterior timbers, and of course, they are gorgeous. The peak of the great room is now quite provocative. You can almost hear it whisper, “I am a strong, beautiful house. Knock on my door and maybe I’ll let you inside where you’ll find I’m not just a pretty face…”.
Everything about our build feels special and unique, because for us, it is. After all, we’ve never built a timber frame home before.
I suspect, though, that our experience is all the more meaningful because of an auspicious combination of John’s involvement in the building process, the people we’ve chosen to work with, and some strange circumstances along the way.
One of the exceptional aspects of our build is our recent living arrangement. For the nearly four weeks he worked as our “site adviser,” Patrick lived with us.
He arrived five days before our official Day 1, and left Kenora a week ago today. He’s now hard at work in Boston on Timberbuilt’s next project. But he will forever be part of our house and its story.
Seeing the house yesterday for the first time all week has likely cost me a couple of dollars.
John and I will have to revisit the rules on our swear jar to determine whether it’s in play when the expletives are happy ones, which was the case when I rounded the corner of the garage and first saw the bent for the covered porch.
Then a few tears came, but those were nothing compared to the near sobfest this morning as I looked at the photos from yesterday’s visit. What really did me in was comparing a photo from Day 5 and essentially the same shot at Day 14.
It doesn’t seem possible that a structure so intricate and beautiful can come together in such a short time, and yet, our house is standing. I will never be able to count how many times I’ve said, and will say again, “I can’t believe we get to live here.”
Our house has been looking pretty amazing for a while, but I had no idea what a difference the roof would make. It has lost its false front appearance and now looks like the cozy Spanish Olive design we signed on for.
Every step has been so exciting, I almost forgot what the end result was supposed to be. The roof lines have definitely helped jog my memory.
And there’s more to come! The snowy photo above doesn’t yet include the porches or exterior timbers. (more…)
As much as I liked the open-roof concept, it wasn’t very practical for this climate. It gets a bit chilly here and it snows half the year (up to 6 cm again tomorrow), so we’ve decided a closed roof is the way to go.
Always happy to oblige our wishes, our incredible crew worked beyond expectations again today, getting five roof panels set (compared to the two that were planned).
If the work continues at this pace, the roof should be done Thursday, leaving Friday for some exterior timber accents.
Isn’t it incredible how this house is coming together?
The Perfect and The Good 