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.

One of the finest post and beam frames I ever had the privilege of putting up. Salvaged from a late 1700’s/early 1800’s home this frame will soon serve as incredible kitchen off of a vintage log cabin.

Originally posted 2014-12-16 14:29:24.

Blue Mountain Builders was founded in 1988, with the goal of  specializing in the building of new homes using antique materials… mostly log cabins, barns, farmhouses etc, with a few unique specimens thrown in here and there such as a mill, or a silo, or perhaps a stone retreat tucked gently into a hillside.

We’ve also done our share of historic restorations: some from the more famous homes in the area, but many that George Washington never slept in. Our focus has always been on pre 1850’s homes, we found out early on that there was little salvage value in homes built after that period. That position was abandoned when I received a call that Moriah was about to be destroyed. The caller inquired if I would be interested in salvaging any material from within her… flooring, trim etc.

Mariah was built in the late 1970’s by a very special lady, Bepee Lewis. I never had the privilege of meeting her, but the reputation of her charm was well known in the Free Union area and beyond. Her home sat on a hilltop with panoramic views of the surrounding western Albemarle countryside. The house was a legend as a well, the first of its kind in the area, a new home built using antique materials, and so it always had a special place in my heart.

The house was designed to fit the landscape, to blend in well. She was not a crass trophy of wealth, but a statement of… well… taste. The house was sided with painted cedar, a cedar shake roof, and over 3,000 square feet of wrap around porches. The interior woodwork, and the doors and windows were all handmade by Blasé Gaston, one of area’s finest woodworkers. The house was designed by Jay Dagliesh, his firm is world renowned… among its many projects was the restoration of Colonial Williamsburg. The abundance of salvaged materials was supplied by Willie Drake, of Mountain Lumber including 14 inch wide heartpine and hemlock flooring, massive ceiling beams which were salvaged from a Cotton Mill in the Valley, and a dining room and a guest bedroom created by reusing a 200 year old hewn oak log cabin.

I had fallen in love with this home when I first saw her in the early 1980’s and was shocked in 2004 when I received the call that the home had been bought for the hilltop that Mariah sat on, and that the new owners had a different vision for the property, which led to the decision to destroy the home. I was offered the rights to salvage the historic materials out of her… but before I could stop myself, I counter offered with the proposal to take the entire home.

It took me several months to take the home down and put it into storage in an abandoned chicken coop factory. There she remained for the next year or so while I searched for a potential buyer who would have me put it up for them, or on my own to find just the right piece of land in which I could put it up on in what was then a strong housing market.

In 2005 I found just that property… 12 acres with a quarter mile river frontage on the North Fork of the Rivanna River with a view of the waterfalls as it comes over the old mill dam in Advance Mills. The restoration process took me twice as long and cost twice as much as I originally projected, which is par for the course in the world of restoration (as I have learned over the years), some part of which was due to unexpected surprises, but the majority of which was due to changes and add-ons to make the project “all it could be”.

Changes such as upgraded chimneys… I found a source of incredible stone, all salvaged from a stone bridge in Pennsylvania. The interior layout of the rooms… which was very much 1970’s had to go, no more sunken rooms!. The kitchen now has new custom cabinetry and leather finished granite countertops built by an Amish family out of Lancaster Pennsylvania. There is travertine tile throughout the kitchen and baths giving the house even more warmth and character. The porches are all floored in Ipe, an exotic wood that will never decay, over 3,000 square feet of it.

The house has been featured in several publications, including the book, Early American Country homes by Tim Tanner, and Plow and Hearth regularly uses the home to photograph their offerings that are featured in their seasonal catalogs.

My family moved into the home in 2008 and we have greatly enjoyed the home, but the kids have all left the nest now and we feel it’s time to let someone else experience this incredible home, and so she is “up for sale”.

Originally posted 2014-12-10 19:19:24.