Adding on to BlueBear!

BlueBear is growing! We have decided to do an addition to the existing structure and it will now be a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom place. 

There were quite a few steps to start building onto our addition. We first worked with Julien's Mom, who is a kitchen designer, to map out what we wanted. Our biggest pain point about the house is that the bedrooms are small and we can't sleep very many people. We love to entertain, so our hope would be to have more room for guests and also a space to work. We also wanted more space to relax on rainy or cold days. The current structure has a very small living space, so we wanted a larger couch space and cozy chairs by the wood stove.

Our next step was to work with an arborist on our lake to map out what trees would need to be removed. Our property is heavily wooded, and we knew we would have to have about 10-15 trees removed. Next, we found a contractor (who is also our neighbor!) to come over and discuss the plans we had created. It's important to get your contractor's opinion because they can help you save money or give advice on what to do. We also made sure to give him a clear budget up front so he would understand where we would need to end the job.

Finally, we had to get a permit through our town. We received it at the end of October. Once we had the permit, the work began! 

Our arborist, Larry, removed 2 phases of trees. We were going to have him only do phase 1, but by removing them all, we were able to get machinery in to do the work easier.. We had the wood chopped into fire wood and the brush removed.

Next up was excavating the area, removing tree stumps, adding our post-and-beam foundation, and building the deck.

There was a stretch of good weather in early November! The contractor's team was able to get the framing up in a few days!

It's been a week now, and we already have a framed roof.