Have you ever built an English Post and Beam style home?

Q:

Have you ever built an English Post and Beam style home?

A:

Yes we have, in the hills of Creemore we built a beautiful English Post and Beam custom home for one of our wonderful clients.

http://www.villagebuilders.ca/custom-homes-chalets-main/english-country-home/

The home was built more than a decade ago and still looks wonderful after all those years, a true testament to the craftsmen that we had work on the home.

The home sits on 40 acres in the hills of Creemore with a view of rolling fields and the valley that the town of Creemore is so famous for.

Some of the features of the home are a mason hand built Rumford fireplace that is finished in natural stone, it rises from the floor to the full height of the great room as it is situated in the middle of the soaring 25 foot ceilings. There is a balcony that overlooks the great room that also connects the master wing with the rest of the second floor sleeping quarters. This great room has large reclaimed hand built wood trusses that dominate the ceilings and massive North facing windows that give you a view of the hills and valleys in the area.

The home has real plaster finished walls with antique reclaimed Elm floors, stained wood trim with solid antique reclaimed wood doors and large wood windows. There are curved walls and curved plaster finishing on the back of all the stairs in the home.

The exterior of the home has barn board siding, cedar shakes on the walls and the roof and a skirting of field stone around the foundation that rises to the bottom of the windows.

The entire basement of the home is finished with Mexican tile floors and the home is heated with Geothermal in-ground heating that has 1000's of feet of loops that extend into the field underground.

The home has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, all of them very large and spacious with high ceilings and grand windows to let nature and the view in. 

The master bedroom has wood beams and cathedral ceilings as do the rest of the second floor bedrooms. The bedroom is large enough to hold a king size bed, storage for the homeowners close and have a sitting area beside the large windows. The master suite also has a large master ensuite bathroom complete with a glass shower, sink, toilet and a large claw foot tub that was savaged from a and old farmer in the area and re-finished to work in the new home.

The kitchen is painted and built in a typical English style with wood butcher block counter tops and finished with a special oil that resists bacteria growth.

There is a second fireplace that is just off the kitchen in a sitting room that is a mason built Scandinavian fireplace kit that is finished in brick with a pizza oven built above the firebox to heat or cook food on. The fireplace has the ability to heat the entire home once it has been burning for a couple of hours.

There is even a hidden door on the second floor that leads to a third floor that has two eye brow windows, these windows allow the natural breeze outside air to draw the hot air out of the house acting like a natural air conditioner in the summer. This third floor is a room that the kids like to play in and spy down on the rest of the house all from below.

There is a large deck built out of cedar off the dining room that allows people to sit and take in the wonderful view of the fields and valleys.

There is an abundance of wildlife on the property; you can routinely see dear standing in the yard snacking on the grass and all manner of small wood land creatures playing under the trees.

Not far from the home is a wonderful English style garage that keeps the feel of the home with cedar shakes on the roof and rough sawn boards for siding that were cut from locally harvested trees. There is also a field stone skirt around the bottom couple of feet of the garage and one whole end of the garage is windows and doors to allow the maximum amount of light into the workshop. The roof has a large eyebrow with windows in it that matches the homes eyebrows, these windows allow natural light into the large second floor that is ideal for storage.

The home is large and spacious and is able to accommodate a large family gathering or just the owners up for a relaxing weekend in the country.

Rob Abbott

Village Builders Inc.

New Custom Home in Creemore looks like Old Victorian Home

Q:

Can you make a new custom home look like an older home?

A:

Yes you can make a new custom home look like an older home, what you have to do is take the time to design and plan your new home so that every aspect of the home resembles an older home but is built to the standard of a new home. When you are deciding to do this you don’t have to make the inside of the home look like an older home, it can actually be any look or design that you want, the key is to make the outside of the home look like it has been there for a long time like the rest of the homes in the neighborhood.

We built a home just like that in the village of Creemore.

www.villagebuilders.ca/creemore-victorian/

The home was built in the Village of Creemore in an area of the Village that has a lot of older historic homes that were built in the early part of the century.

There was an older existing brick Victorian home on the site that was left by the previous owners to fall into disrepair and decay. The home had sustained so much damage from lack of maintenance and was in such a state of disrepair that it was decided by the homeowners that it would be more expensive to attempt to repair, replace, modify and add to the footprint of the home then it was to knock it down and build a completely new home from scratch.

Even though the decision was made to remove the old home for a new custom home it was also decided that the home that was to be built onsite would be larger than the original home, it would have a walkout basement (something the old home did not have) taking advantage of the natural hill that was in the middle of the lot and every effort would be made so that the design would resemble the older home that was to be removed.

The home is 2500 sqft with 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms; it is an open concept layout inside with the living room, dining room and kitchen all on the main floor allowing easy flow from one space to the next.

The exterior of the home is brick in the theme of the original home; the bricks are a rare antique looking brick that looks like the other century homes that exist on the street.

The basement of the home is constructed out of ICF (insulated concrete forms), it holds a bedroom, bathroom, mechanical room and a large workshop for the homeowners woodworking hobby. The basement has a walkout to the backyard allowing easy access.

The second floor of the home has two spare bedrooms and a guest bathroom. It also has the Victorian style windows that the original home had as its main feature facing on to the main street of Creemore.

The brick on the exterior of the home was sourced from out of the country because it was the closest product we could find to the original brick (the brick didn't survive the demolition of the home).The new brick resembled the older brick so much so that when driving down the main street of Creemore you are hard pressed to tell the difference between the new homes brick and the older existing homes brick that populate the street.

The home looks so much like the original home from the outside that we as the builders of the home received compliments from people that came to tour the home (during an open house that we had) about how wonderful a renovation we had done to the old home, they were shocked when we explained to them that this was a completely new home. They had no idea that it was a brand new home and not the original older home completely renovated.

This was all achieved by taking a lot of time to locate the appropriate materials for the outside of the home and also because the homeowners were committed to making the home look like the original Victorian home that had to be removed. They took the time to agonize over the architectural drawings so that they as closely as possible resembled the original home.

If you want your new custom home to look like an older one all you have to is take the time to do your research and make a point not to compromise on the exterior materials. Then make sure that you work with a contractor that is as committed as you are to making the project look like an older home.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.