November 3, 2006

I get an email from Ray- We need to get up to the house ASAP as they have suddenly been going great guns! The foundation has been poured and now the first story is starting to be framed and some important decisions need to be made. I am the only person free to go up to Canada (espcially on such short notice!). I enlist my friend Victoria (who also flies for free) to accompany me to the beach house. We leave from Oakland, on a beautiful Monday morning --and can’t believe the news that Seattle has such bad weather that our flight has been delayed 5 hours! We finally take off at 6pm and arrive in Seattle at 8pm. By the time we pick up the rental car and get on the road it’s 9PM---The weather has improved, it’s only drizzling, so we make our way north and cross the border about 10:15. We just make the last ferry at 10:45 and by the time we get to Nanaimo and disembark it’s almost 1am!! We are lucky that our contractor's wife owns and runs a B&B, that Ray built. We arrive atthe B&B at 1:30am. Thankfully he's left our key out for us, we’re exhausted and fall into bed--never even Waking up until 9am! We’re up and out to the job site by 10AM. I can’t believe it. The beach house is finally started and we can actually walk over a threshhold! It’s an amazingly beautiful Fall day, and I can just imagine our house on a beautiful summer day!
The first big Whoops is discovered---the kitchen window has been accidently placed into the far right hand corner (I had failed to notice on the working drawings the window had been placed just 1 foot off the right hand wall, yet on the exterior drawings the window was centeered on the wall correctly.)--It needs to be reframed--but the view now changes dramatically. It changes from looking out at the side of our neighbors house--to now looking out at the bay and the Straits of Georgia! This is the first of Per’s drawing mistakes. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it on the blueprints- but I was looking at a scanned copy at 1/32 of an inch--a mite bit challenging--especially as my eyes are getting weaker by the moment! We Also make the window 6 inches taller as the view is incredible and we want mom (who is barely 5 feet now)to be able to see outside!!! The sliding glass door that faces Conrad’s house is deemed unnecessary as it looks straight into a tree--so we take that out--we also remove small window on the right side of the kitchen door--as the dutch door will be open over the window much of the time.
Ray takes us to the Door store and I pick out the interior doors and front door and the moldings for all the windows. I had no idea I had to make those decisions so quickly. Luckily, I had clippings of doors and the beadboard interior door that was my first choice was what door they had picked out for us. It’s amazing to see the vision that was in my head--start to come to life! I suddenly feel the overwhelming responsibility if the house doesn’t work well or look right----I designed this house---EEEEEEK--I had Per do the structural and working drawings- but this is really my baby!!!!! The house looks so wide on the lot--I hope it fits into the space ok---its hard to imagine our future beach house is really starting! To take shape!!!!

I also head back to Qualicum, to Tom Doll cabinets, Where I meet Tom and Rea who will be building the cabinets for the house. I unload my piles of magazines--clippings and pictures culled from years of being a magazine junkie! I have a very clear picture of the kitchen--and luckily Rea knows the cottage look I’m trying to obtain. She take lots of photocopies and we find the perfect Cape Cod cabinet door with beadboard. I would like a different color for the island and she suggests “chocolate pear” --even the name sounds good. The color is a very rich deep brown--a perect compliment to the clear white of the cabinets
. We talk about countertops. Unfortunately, money doesn’t grow on trees and we will probably have to settle for a laminate--However, the good news is that they have improved the quality and look of the laminates and both Victoria and I really like “deep-bronze star” by Wilsonart. Rea is able to give me a great sample to take with me--so I can confer with the rest of the family on these important decisions.
We head off to Home Hardware where we look over siding and roofing choices- than off to one of ray’s newest homes. It ‘s siding is the timber bark color that I would like to use- and it’s great to see it in person. I was afraid it would be too dark, but it looks great outside in natural lighting.
It’s getting dark and we head back to the Cornerstone B&B, where Gay, Ray's wife, is making dinner for us. We brought a great California Merlot to share for dinner, and we have a wonderful dinner and Victoria is a welcome addition to the group!
Ray and I stay up until 11:30 making changes and notes on the blueprints. We work on the windows and then I finally fall into bed, I’m sure dreaming of the beach house! Victoria and I are up a 5am-our plan is to get the 6:15 am ferry. We head off and grab a Serious Coffee
before we take off on a beautiful fall morning. We make our early ferry and then head for the border. Traffic is great and we easily drive into Seattle and just catch the 1pm flight back to Oakland--the timing is right and I drop Victoria off with her family for dinner and head home to find Bob and talk about nothing but the beach house! (poor guy!)
The rest of November is filled with phone calls and faxes to both ray and the cabinet shop. We are headed to San Diego for Thanksgiving, so I will be able to run lots of ideas past Bobbi and Mom.
The Second story starts to go onto the house. I can’t believe my design is unfolding before our eyes! The roof line will be amazing! I’m so excited to get these emailed photos. I wish I was there every day to watch--but alas, I must work to help pay for some of this excitement!