Unexpected Challenges

"Never underestimate the challenge of building a home."  Seems like good advice, but we have experience.  We’ve been through several home remodel and we built one new home.  So we should be old hands at this, right?  Well, yes and no.  Nothing is quite like building a custom home in the country, two hours away.

Building on a hillside was not our preference, but we had no choice given the setbacks imposed by the seller.  We will have a great ‘overlook’ location in the canyon, but that prospect comes with extra costs brought on by the challenge of simple geometry.  After much tugging and pulling, we decided to eliminate the entire lower level of the home, opting instead for a larger loft upstairs. 

Another surprise is how hard it is to keep overall square footage down.  Take, for example, the exercise room.  Even though eventually we will be running a farm and our fitness will come from living that life, we felt we needed to have an area where we could work on strength and conditioning to keep us mobile as we age.  Well, that square footage had to go, or we wouldn’t have a guest bedroom.  We managed to keep a nice-sized studio for Wally and I to share.  We’re down to around 2,500 square feet, two bedrooms plus studio (which could be converted to a third bedroom), two and a half baths.  The program got compromised, but we still will get the uber-mudroom I wanted, and the killer kitchen our modern farmhouse deserves.

The biggest shock, however, came in late February, when our builder, Johnny Brenan, was killed in an avalanche in the Stevens Pass back-country.  Johnny had been working on a gut-check budget figure for us, an early read on whether we can afford this house.  After the avalanche, we sat tight for three weeks, waiting to learn if his wife Laurie would want to keep our project.  In the end, she decided to close down the business.  With two young girls and a Doodle named Pablo to focus on, keeping the business going was just too much.  They’re finishing the nearly-done house on Icicle Creek and ceasing all other work.  We are so saddened by this event.  And it's been really amazing to discover all sorts of connections between Johnny and other people we know.  He touched many lives.  But the world keeps turning, and so we had to move on, too.

When he was out on the site with us last fall, Johnny suggested we plant a grove of aspen trees in an area close to the base of the hill which has evidence of shallow groundwater; aspens will grow well there and offer something beautiful to behold in all seasons.  I think I’ll do that, and when I hear the aspens quaking, I’ll wish him and all three of his girls well.

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