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A Well-Recycled Home |
Bill Hudson | 11/18/08
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 Master carpenter Dan Englund had warned me that the new Howard home tended to blend into its Pagosa Springs landscape, but I had already visited the site twice, earlier this summer during the construction process, and I felt quite confident I’d recognize the house as soon as I saw it. I was headed out Terry Robinson Road — one of Archuleta County’s lovely little rural gravel roads lined with grassy meadows, pine forest and Gambel oak, with very few homes visible from the road.
Dan and Jay Howard were waiting there to give me a tour, and I was only about five minutes late for our meeting at the house.
No problem, I would recognize the place.
I drove right past it. About a mile later, I turned around and backtracked. I was nearly back to the distinctive white fencing that defines the more rural part of the neighborhood, before I saw the driveway — and the house, perched on the hillside among the pines. Well, there is was, how could I have missed it? Continued...
Recycled lumber from an old farmhouse were used to side the exterior and some of the interior of Jay and Pam Howard's custom Pagosa home, creating a new home that looks old.
Owner Jay Howard, left, reminisces about the building process with contractor and master carpenter Dan Englund on the Howard's new front porch. |
I had met Dan Englund many years earlier, when I’d helped him with a video project — a promotional video for a staircase building tool he’d developed. Dan has been doing amazing woodworking for the past 20 years — focusing especially on building the type of classic sweeping staircases that most of us only see in movies. His shop is located farther up Terry Robinson Road, and about five years ago, a mutual friend had introduced him to Jay and Pam Howard — who were planning to move, someday, onto their Pagosa property, from Texas. After contracting with Dan to build them a small cabin on the property — a place they could use for occasional visits — they found their cabin so comfy and warm that they ramped up their moving plans, and moved to Pagosa sooner than they’d originally planned.
They also brought with them their Texas insurance company — Professional Insurance Resources — which specializes in commercial insurance. Jay says the move has worked out surprisingly well for the company; because their focus is on commercial clients, things operate smoothly by internet and phone.
During the first year in the cabin, they continued to talk casually with Dan about the “real” house they wanted to build on their 11 acre wooded lot. Apparently, the talking because gradually more serious, and Dan started tossing around the idea of siding the exterior of the Howard’s future home with some recycled lumber Dan had acquired in his travels.
The Howards liked Dan’s concept and decided to go ahead with their dream house, to be built a few dozen yards from their little cabin. Dan and his crew poured the foundation and framed the 1800 square foot home and the adjoining two-car garage.
Once the exterior was sided with the recycled boards, Dan and Jay began planning a trip to Wyoming together — to pick up some new alder lumber Dan planned to use on the interior staircase. As it turned out, they also found some antique recycled doors and lumber on that trip, which were eventually used for finishing the home’s interior. Continued...
The home's interior blends antique doors and old recycled barn wood with detailed woodwork and artistic joinery.
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I mentioned to Dan and Jay that I had not seen the house when I first drove up the driveway — it seemed to blend in with the pine covered hillside.
“Actually, it blends in so much more than I thought it would — because I didn’t know how the white was going to work,” Dan said, referring to the white-painted recycled boards he applied to the exterior in a vertical pattern, side by side with other “barn wood color” boards.
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” Dan confessed.
Jay said that working with a master carpenter all the way through the building project — rather than just on the finish work — helped the home come together gracefully.
“Really — you don’t get that with other contractors. With Dan, you start out ahead, because he makes suggestions about what would work, what would look best. He can picture things that other people can’t picture.”
It’s obvious Dan and the Howards had fun with the interior design. The massive fireplace has a whimsical, asymmetrical shape. The kitchen blends granite counters with another counter made from an irregular slab of wood finished with a high gloss clear epoxy. The staircase combines old barn wood with custom milled alder and Dan’s typically meticulous joinery. The flooring was custom made by Dan and fastened with round-headed antique style nails.
Upstairs, Dan and the Howards decided on a sliding door for the bathroom — to save space. Rather than build an ordinary sliding door, Dan hung the bathroom door using the same galvanized hardware and latch you would use for a full-size barn door. Continued...
Jay is obviously delighted with his house — a brand new, farmhouse style home that gives one the odd impression that it’s been standing there for 100 years. Continued...
As I drove away with some photos in my camera, I was thankful that I didn’t need to describe such a unique house using only words. I knew I would need the thousand extra words that a picture is worth.
You can find out more about master carpenter Dan Englund at his website.
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