For real!

This is “Ellwood”, located in the middle of the area where the Battle of the Wilderness was fought. It served as headquarters at various times for both sides of the war and as a field hospital, which is where Stonewall’s arm became detached and buried. The house was built in the 1700’s and had some pretty distinguished guests over those years… early presidents and figure heads such as Lafayette, but it’s now most remembered for that arm.

We restored the home about five years ago. The outside of the home had been maintained fairly well. Volunteers keep the lawn and grounds well kept and they apply a good coat of paint on the house regularly. The Park Service spent a good amount of money installing the most bizarre maze of steel girders throughout the building’s basement to keep the house from falling in, but the interior was best described as having been the victim of a grenade assault… just a big mess.

All the funding for the interior restoration came from years of donations and we did our part in contributing as well in keeping restoration costs to a minimum. Ellwood is now open to the public… you should go see her… and Stonewall’s arm gravestone, of course.

Originally posted 2015-01-19 14:44:43.

It’s a tradition for timber framers to mount a tree branch up on top of a newly built frame.

I’ve heard several versions of how it all began, and that is all well and good, but what I’ve found important is the festive mood that watching a man climb to the top of the frame and nail an evergreen branch up brings to the site. It’s time to celebrate!

Originally posted 2015-01-17 16:07:40.

I thought I would write today the story of the building of my first home.

At the ripe old age of 20 I undertook the hands-on construction of my first house. It’s a great story and it all turned out well, a wonderful place it was.

But, that’s a story for another day.

You see, last night as I was trying to get to sleep I realized that that house was not my first hands-on build, in fact I had built quite a few homes before that.

So, let me lay it out there for the world to hear… my first owner built home was a cardboard box.

There, I said it.

I know what you are thinking, and no, I was not a homeless child. I lived in a fine little brick rancher, provided by loving parents, in Finer Suburbia. We had the good fortune of living two blocks off of Broad Street where strips of businesses and shops were located, one of them being a furniture store.

Out back of Hawkes Furniture, just a quick bicycle ride away from home, was a cage of sorts, built out of chain link fencing where they would toss the large boxes that their newly made chairs and sofas came packaged in.

This cage was built so that any young man could easily climb over into it (after business hours of course). Now it’s not like I was stealing these boxes mind you, I had after all gotten permission to take all the boxes I wanted… it just felt cooler somehow acquiring them under the illusion of a covert operation.

Some time I could get my Dad to haul them home in his car, sometime I dragged and rolled them home myself, and on one occasion I tried dragging one home with my bike… that one didn’t work out very well, but it did earn me some respect in the neighborhood. “Did you see what that Bradley boy did today?”

There were different kinds of boxes to choose from… chair boxes are great, plenty of room for a young bachelor to hang out in, but if you are expecting guests you really need to have a sofa box. I would cut in a door opening making sure to leave one side intact so that it would hinge, and do the same with windows.

I always found boxes lasted longer inside although my mother’s patience with the intrusion into her living space was limited.

It wasn’t long before other kids in the neighborhood starting joining in on the habitat box craze, and so a box shortage loomed. We made the best of limited resources by trying to “one up” each other with features such as crayoned fireplaces and cuckoo clocks on the wall. Maybe even a pitched roof or add-on chimney. My favorite box was when I managed to score a pile of carpet samples that had been tossed out… hey it was the 60’s and wall-to-wall carpet was the thing to have!

Now, looking back over all the years that have since passed, I see those boxes as formative in my life. I enjoyed the challenge, the process, and the finished result. I learned the value of a homeowner playing a role in the construction of their home.

Decades ago it turns out that I was an accidental trend setter, I was building green, I was building small… tiny in fact. And even mobile, although perhaps not best when pulled behind a bike.

So, I encourage you all to get a box and have some fun!

Noah

Originally posted 2015-01-15 18:43:00.

I love this phase of building a house…

The bones are beautiful, in this case a 1700’s timber frame.

I’m thrilled to see the months of prep and design work and searching for vintage materials are over, and the now “the vision” is becoming realty.

The crew is happy to have such a great project to work on, and the clients are smiling wide! There is so much progress visible every day and there has been no opportunity to blow the budget with changes or add-ons.

The only negative with regard to this project is baby, it is COLD outside! Other than that…

Life is good!

Originally posted 2015-01-12 14:12:49.

This massive corner post, created around the turn of the 18th century, is one massive example of craftsmanship. It is one  compound piece made from a single tree,  with angle braces mortised into it.  If viewed from above it would have an L shape… thus the post is similar in appearance to that of a colonial hog trough.  Notice the lathing stripes.

Originally posted 2014-12-16 15:56:42.