For All its Imperfections

The house is still very unfinished 8½ years in, but it’s also gotten to be incredibly cozy during the cold months. It’s only ever gotten better over the years, while we slowly forgot what a regular house is like. I know we crave wood heat when we go somewhere it’s not used. We just bought a new stove, a real fancy clean burning one and I’m very much looking forward to using it although it’ll be likely at the end of Winter that we finally get it. To get a clean air tax incentive we were asked for a propane bill or electric bill, they’ll have to do without, things are too perfect where they are. It is putting it mildly to say that we were shaped by our living arrangements, in many ways I feel like the transformation we sought years ago is complete.

Holes to Hear and Unstuff

I finished the most recent house addition last May, a year after it was started. The extra space has been really nice of course, and Nicole finally has a whole room to herself. With an enormous desk and a reading nook. It’s a high contender for coziest room in the house, with awesome views on all the stuff we’ve created.

I’m allowed in to sleep in the loft which doesn’t yet have a proper ladder. For the first time in many years, we have our own sleeping arrangements, and while that is nice we were worried that we couldn’t hear the kids in the middle of the night. Plus the air gets a little stuffy up there. So I made a couple of holes between house addition #1, and house addition #2.

I know exactly what’s inside the walls, I used a long drill bit to line up both ends of the holes.

With the holes as reference I can saw.

The studs will remain, all but 1 which doesn’t carry the roof.

They definitely do the job for air circulation, Winter will be a more extreme test. And we can definitely hear the kids again. They also make the house more quirky, and I like a quirky house. We can even use one as a not so secret passage.

Window to Door, Outside to Inside

Always odd taking a saw to your house.

Little dude’s starting to be useful

We have a mud room! and the kids both got desks integrated in their rooms. It’s all a little too private to post online once we start living in it. I really love having wood all around me.