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Dream House
Timber Homes Illustrated,
December 2000
Written by Oliver Barker | Photography by Roger Wade
A Michigan couple enjoys the ideal retirement home in a private setting
Timbers surround the fireplace to create a classic look. The fireplace uses reclaimed brick from Pennsylvania. The owners bought the sectional sofa to mix in with pieces from their former home downstate.
Elegant wood furniture and maple flooring sound a formal note in the dining room. French doors lead to the deck at the rear of the house.
When Evelyn and Bernard Freeman were ready to retire, they didn't have to ponder where. Living just outside Detroit, they had long ago discovered Arbor, a popular vacation area overlooking Lake Michigan. For the past 10 years they had owned a condominium in a resort development called The Homestead, which is about a 4.5 hour drive from their primary residence. For their retirement home, the couple wanted to move up to a home in a private setting. They sold their condo and bought a one acre lot in The Homestead.
The heavily wooded site was perfect for the timber frame home they had long been dreaming of. In 1987, the Detroit Free Press ran an article on homes in the Irish Hills area, including an open house at a home built by Riverbend Timber Framing of Blissfield, Michigan. The Freemans visited it, liked it and even attended a Riverbend seminar on timber framing. They decided that the next home they built would be a timber frame.
Ten years passed, but when the time came, the Freemans remembered Riverbend and approached the company with their ideas for a design. "We wanted a more open floor plan, not so many individual rooms," Evelyn recalls. "We were looking for something about the same size as our ranch home in Plymouth, but the house ended up considerably larger because the home is on a ridge, so we were able to have a walkout basement, which we finished off. We ended up with a grand total of 4,000 square feet."
The design began with a modified version of one of Riverbend's standard plans. Bernard and Evelyn made further changes to suit them. They relocated a bathroom, enlarged the master bedroom and extended the loft over the kitchen to give them more sleeping space in addition to the two upstairs bedrooms. Like many home buyers today, the Freemans chose to have timber framing for the public rooms and the master bedroom and to have the remaining portion of the house conventionally framed.
While Riverbend was drawing up their plans, the Freemans hired a builder that the owner of The Homestead had recommended. David Christenson of FMS Construction in Traverse City, Michigan, had built several homes in the development, although this was his first timber frame. Fortunately, David went to work while the house was still on the drawing board. An early start allowed him to make sure certain design features met code requirements, see how the house was supposed to fit together and ask any questions before construction got under way. "The planning process is critical," he explains. "On-site modifications are difficult and costly."
The crew broke ground in spring 1997. The home sits on a ridge on the heavily wooded, hilly property, but David recalls it was a difficult site to build on. "It was difficult getting the road in, and the first semi with the timber frame on it we almost lost over the side of the hill," David says. "Evelyn happened to arrive at the site that particular day just in time to watch her house about to slide down the hillside. Fortunately, the worst didn't happen, and we got the truck righted and offloaded it."
When the time came to raise the frame, Riverbend sent a technical advisor to make sure no snags developed. After the frame was up, it was enclosed with Insulspan foamcore panels. For the exterior, the Freemans chose western red cedar lap siding. Inside, they used drywall, including for the living room ceiling because they thought the drywall would show off the beams better than wood paneling or decking. The floors are hardwood (3/4 inch maple) throughout the main level except in the living room and master bedroom and on the stairs, all of which are carpeted.
As construction proceeded, the Freemans would drive up once or twice a month. "The builder would have all the tradesmen there with all the choices that had to be made, and we'd make them," Evelyn says. "Otherwise, we left everything in his hands."
David was impressed with how easily the home came together. Because he specializes in systems built projects (log, modular and panelized homes) he decided to add timber frame homes to his repertoire. He became an associate builder for Riverbend, and this fall is breaking ground for his third timber frame home.
The Freemans moved into their new home in fall 1997. Evelyn furnished it with pieces from her Plymouth home, adding a few items to fill in the extra space, like the sectional sofa in the living room. "Fortunately, we always bought good things," she notes. "We have some antiques and a lot of Stickley furniture, which fit in well with the timbers."
The antiques, which include clocks and spinning wheels, combine with the timber frame to give the home a classic look, as though it has been there 50 or 60 years. Thanks to its established feeling, the Freemans felt right at home from the day they moved in.
Best of all, Glen Arbor is no longer their part-time retreat. It's their full-time home. It features beaches and several ski resorts, giving it a year-round appeal for the Freemans. "We really enjoy the change of seasons," Evelyn says, adding, "Why go anywhere else? We have the best we could ever want right here." THI |
