2-Framing the home with the help of friends

When we were in South America that first year of marriage volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, we found the camaraderie on the worksite incredibly energizing. So it only seemed natural that we would try to recreate some of that spirit when we started building our own home. Friends and family were curious and wanted to be part of the process of building our new life.

That first big week of framing—when we hired a friend to coach us and serve as foreman/teacher—we had different groups helping each day. It felt a bit like an old-fashioned barn raising. The excitement of pounding together the studs to create those first few walls and then standing them up was a thrill.

To this day, walking into a hardware store and smelling fresh lumber brings back positive memories and happy thoughts. Thankfully we had consulted lots of people about our plans ahead of time, so we had purchased and staged most of the materials we needed for that blitz build. Slowly but surely the piles of supplies were being transformed—piece by piece—into the shape of our house.

While our sons Nik and Daniel weren’t on the site for most of that week, the times they did come out it was fun to see their excitement about what Mommy and Daddy—and everyone else—were building. I actually put together two full photo albums from this period, and that’s where these images come from. In one photo I even noted that Niklas was playing in his bedroom for the first time. And below you can see some of the greatest playthings a child could ask for…a pile of rocks!

When I was designing the home, as I mentioned earlier, I tried to think carefully about every square foot. I had always been puzzled by the “wasted space” inside the trusses of a typical attic. So instead, I designed the second floor with vaulted ceilings and a hallway connecting the den to our large bedroom.

Putting those trusses up was a challenge! They were independent 2x12s, and we had someone stationed at each point, slowly bringing them together to meet at the center beam. I’m not even sure that description makes complete sense now, but at the time we were so proud when we finally made it work.

Since the property was a good 30 minutes from any stores, we celebrated each day by eating the picnic lunches we brought to the worksite.

At the time we were simply focused on building this home. We had no idea of the many happy chapters it would hold in the years to come. But even then we were aware of the challenges—and the deep joy—that came from learning as we went and from working together in community toward the shared goal of building a home for our family.