FlashAcres

This is a dream of mine and it is starting to become real. I think I was still a teenager when I started forming a vision about a 'compound'---for my friends and family. I wanted to create a space that was invigorating and fun. I wanted to create a place that celebrated nature and the outdoors. I wanted to create a place that took you far away from your run of the mill everyday life. I wanted to create something extraordinary.

Three years ago I purchased five acres on the west side of Whidbey Island. It was a mess of thorns and trees and bramble everywhere but it felt magical then and it feels magical now.

And so I started.

The same way I found the property, I found the architect. A seeming fluke, but I know better.

Bill Zimmerman has designed several buildings that I now call FlashAcres. (Flash is my ever so special golden retriever. She is eight but has yet to age in spirit and for that I love her--and named this compound in her honor.)

Back to Bill. I first met Bill when I cut out an article on him in Northwest Magazine. Later, I enrolled in his architecture class and didn't put it together that it was him that I ripped out of the magazine--ohhh so long ago. So I hired him. Ultimately, he grasped the experience I was trying to create and brought it to life in pages after pages after pages of real blueprint drawings. More on him later. But I must acknowledge that he has been generous beyond measure to help me in all ways bring this dream of mine to life.

My intent is to use this blog as a way to chronicle the actual building of the main house. Did I mention that I am the general contractor too? Yes, I am the homeowner and the GC. I hate to admit this because it really doesn't garner a lot of respect--at least in the builder trade. In fact, the reaction is almost certainly ---"you have no idea what you are doing and are too cheap to pay for a professional. " And this is true.

Thus, I hope this blog offers a glimpes at the insanity of building your own house and also will help me remember how much I really enjoyed (or NOT) the process. To the best of my ability, I will tell the good, bad and the ugly. Occasionally, I will post live video on youtube in case you really want to see things like concrete pump trucks in action.

Here we go.....