CROW’S NEST – it takes a village
This post has taken SO long to reach the point where I felt it to be publish-worthy. Francois finished the exterior of the Crow’s Nest a while ago, making it all roof tight and weather proofed as only Francois could do. It’s identity was to be that of storage primarily and secondarily, green house. Which it is. But during the process though we got comments from family and friends and neighbours…such as…what is it?…a he-shed?….a she-shed?…and the best was, why not a tiny house?..and why not put in a loft for sleeping? We became a neighbourhood curiosity with people stopping by from time to time to have a look and we became known, not as the yellow house with the boat in the yard but as the place with THE SHED.
So let me begin at the beginning…
It all started with a need for storage, a picture to inspire and lots and lots of planning and drafting.
We enlisted the services of a local guy to dig out and grade a place for R.E.D. to rest off-season. The space was to eventually house a location for a shed. If you go back to the criteria we used when house hunting three years ago (three years already?), the property was to have a garage or at least a place to store the boat or room to build a garage.
Then came another local guy who agreed to pour the foundation for the future build. The deal was that Francois would do all the form work in advance. On the day of the pour, the guy showed up and offered Francois a job, the forms were prepared that well. At this stage we had bathroom issues and winter was approaching so instead of splitting energies, the decision was made to work indoors and begin again outdoors in the spring.
Next step…ordering and delivery of the materials…all locally sourced. Early spring we began again. Friends showed up for the wall raising. Our neighbourhood supervisor arrived with all the right gear…and a jar of his harvested maple syrup. How sweet is that!?
And supervise he did! Rocking chair and all.
In no time three walls were up…
The rest Francois took care of himself, installing the beams and trusses. I helped when I could…holding stuff…handing stuff…acting as the ‘go-fer’. You all know my strength is mostly on the inside.
It didn’t take much time before things were actually looking real.
I ordered windows and doors…locally sourced again. And for the roofing we hired the same company that replaced RED by the Sea’s roof.
The green house glass was a bit of an issue. Should we go with laminated glass, tempered glass, polycarbonate? Online research gave no definitive preference. Each type had their benefits. Finally after consulting the leading Nova Scotia green house expert, we went with 10 mm tempered glass, professionally installed, each of the four panels weighing 70 pounds.
The electricity is all complete now inside and out, again locally contracted. The black lamps at each entry weren’t my first choice but Francois wanted ones with motion sensors so when he goes out to HIS SHED at night he won’t have to fumble around in the dark. Working in the shed at night…really? Can you hear the eye roll? They do however have a touch of the nautical which I like.
Adding a new structure on the property created another big discussion. How do you make a modern building blend with a yellow-sided 90 year old home by the sea? You make it disappear…like a shadow. The black steal roof with white doors and windows are the shared common factors and the rest we made ‘disappear’ with black stained ship lap and cedar for the cladding.
Weather depending, the rest will be inside finishing. Even on chilly days, when the sun shines, it’s all toasty warm inside. Come spring there will be landscaping to pretty it up a bit but for now we are complete for this season.
Thanks for stopping by. It’s now time to put our dear R.E.D. to bed for the winter season. Please come back soon for another visit to see how we’ll accomplish this Quebec style.
For those reading this in a language other than English (see language choice upper right side bar of each post), please forgive the automatic translation.