Hello Friends and Family, |
Building My First House, 1973/74, Part 3 |
Link to this year's index by clicking here. |
The next photo shows the basement with the furnace installed. In Minnesota, you have to have a heavy-duty furnace — just like in Arizona you have to have a heavy-duty central air conditioning unit. At this point, the house was not sealed up so you can even see a little snow on the ground — soon to be covered with concrete. |
Shortly thereafter, the contractor finally sealed up the house with doors and windows plus a bit of plywood soon to be replaced with a door and a window. The exterior siding had been applied together with vertical accent strips. The area to the right had been stained — soon the whole exterior would be that same color. |
This looks like a scene right out of your favorite fixer-upper show on HGTV — kitchen cabinets prior to their installation. Things were moving right along — soon the house would be inhabitable. |
Naturally, every home needs a front door but don't forget that you need a front porch too. The funny thing was that I had to move in before a few finishing touches were completed — such as the front porch. In those days, if any member of our group at work moved, everyone volunteered to help — so I had lots of worker bees only for the cost of sandwiches and drinks (served only after the work was complete). So we divided into two groups —- one indoor and the other outdoor — so we would not track mud onto the brand new carpeting. The non-existent front porch was the boundary between indoor and outdoor workers. |
Finally, the house was complete. You'll note the driveway — crushed limestone. The grass was planted but no landscaping yet — that was next on the agenda. The hill to the left in the photo would be planted with ground cover and native plants. In the grass area, I planned the normal trees and bushes. |
This shot shows the back of the house now complete with a balcony off the family room. I planted grass close to the house with a garden planned in the foreground. |
I apologize that these next few indoor shots are not as good as they should be — Kodachrome 64 slide film was great outdoors but rather poor indoors, even with a flash. This shot shows one half of the sunken living room. Note the railing in the left foreground — that was at the border — to protect folks from falling as a result of the different floor levels. |
Here is the other side of the living room. |
Next, we see the dining room from the living room. This shot reminds me of one of the aspects of building your own home — the huge number of decisions you have to make — even down to what every installed light fixture should look like. It's nice to have exactly what you want but one grows tired of so many choices — and you don't want to make a mistake. |
Here you can see the master bedroom and the window facing the back of the property. |
And the last photo of this series also shows the master bedroom. I have to say that building my own home was an exciting experience — and did not discourage me from doing it again when, many years later, I had my current townhouse built in Phoenix. I would do it again but would space it out a few years between projects. |
Life is good. |
Aloha, B. David |
P. S., All photos and text © B. David Cathell Photography, Inc. — www.bdavidcathell.com |