Popular Post Tom King Posted October 8, 2022 Popular Post Report Share Posted October 8, 2022 I built this house and the one we live in at the same time. It's on the lake, less than a quarter mile from our house. Both have White Oak siding, and a lot of Yellow Pine tongue and groove in them. I bought a whole truckload of White Oak 1x6, and a whole big truck load of YP 1x6 T&G V-joint. The stone around the fireplace, and the stack that goes up through the second story balcony, came out of our abandoned Granite quarry about a 1/4 mile in the other direction from our house. The current owner was looking at lake houses on several lakes, as he was telling me. I'm not sure that he really knew much about houses, but brought people with him to all the ones he was looking at with him who he thought were experts. He told me that when they came in this house, they came wide eyed to him and said, "BUY this one!! Buy it Now!!" They do understand what they have now, and love it. When I built this in 1981, I had designed all the houses I built because a lake house really needs two fronts, and house plan books don't really have any. There was a very popular house plan around here back then that was a small 1200 sq. ft. Saltbox. There are several of them within a few miles of here on the lake. I didn't really want to spend a lot of time designing a house, but I wanted one a lot bigger than 1200 sq. ft. I decided to just build a big version of that little saltbox that had a cathedral ceiling over the living room. The little one was 24' wide. I built this one scaled up at 36' wide. It sold quickly, but that first family had health problems, and it's changed hands a couple of times. I didn't even know who the last owners were, but this new owner came to meet me, and was just raving about how much their family loved the house. They own several other houses at the beach and mountains, but they all told me this was their favorite "by far". I hadn't been in this one since I sold it back then, but they wanted me to come see it. I never used prehung doors, and they followed me around in amazement as I showed them how all the doors worked so perfectly, including the entrance doors. They hadn't even noticed the door operation. Nothing has been changed in it. The kitchen cabinets are still made from the no.2 YP that I built them from, and have the original Formica countertops. I think that was the last one I put Formica tops in, but they even liked them. I took a few pictures. Waiting for them to get to the computer, and will add them later. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tom King Posted October 8, 2022 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 8, 2022 I got better at stonelaying in years past when I built this house, but everyone likes this anyway. At this point, I didn't know anything about cutting stone yet, so all these are just as they were picked up. I had built earlier houses with just a stone face on a fireplace, but later figured out it really didn't take any more time to amount to anything building one you could walk around. With just a stone face, you have to search and find the right stone to fit any space. With a complete walk around one, you can pick up any stone and find somewhere to put it. The house still has the same furniture that the original owners put in it. They do plan to change the furniture. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gee-dub Posted October 8, 2022 Report Share Posted October 8, 2022 I want a Tom King house . 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J Posted October 8, 2022 Report Share Posted October 8, 2022 Me, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tom King Posted October 8, 2022 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted October 8, 2022 Thanks for the compliments. They're all within 10 miles of our place, on the lake, with most much closer than 10 miles. There are 33 of them. With some of them, there are things I wished that I had done differently. Every owner that I know is considered a good friend, and I never got a callback or complaint from anyone. These newest owners brought Pam and me a gift card to a local restaurant just because they like the house that I built in 1981. That was after I first met them a couple of Summers ago when the Father and Sons (grown men with families) helped me get the cupola I had built onto the roof of the boathouse next door. They had not known that their builder lived so close, or even who I was. The cupola was heavier than it looks, and they jumped right in to help. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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