Fernbrook House: a long Douglas fir house with a zinc roof and fieldstone chimney, its stone terrace stepping down to a creek
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Weaverville · 2023 · Custom build

Fernbrook House

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The home

room for everyone

A long timber house beside a creek, planned around a kitchen big enough for three generations.

Size
3,900 ft²
Built in
15 months
Delivered
On schedule
Project
Custom build

An illustrative home. Its story shows the kind of work we do.

Drawing → doorstep

Long, low and close to the water.

Fernbrook House as built: a long timber house beside a creekRendering · 2021Built · 2023

Drag to compare the rendering with the finished home.

A large kitchen with a twelve-foot timber table and a window seat
01

The kitchen

A twelve-foot table, two ovens and a window seat for whoever isn’t cooking.

A calm bedroom suite with a door to a porch over the creek
02

Grandparents’ wing

A step-free suite at the quiet end, with its own porch onto the creek.

The challenges

What made this one hard.

  • Problem

    A site on the edge of the creek’s flood plain.

    Solution

    The house sits on a raised plinth two feet above the 100-year flood line, and the garden is left free to flood.

  • Problem

    Three generations, three sets of needs.

    Solution

    We held design sessions with each generation and planned a quiet room for everyone around one shared kitchen.

Surveyors marking flood levels along the creek bank
Flood survey, pre-construction
The Douglas fir frame standing on its raised plinth
Timber frame, month 6
A long Douglas fir gallery lit by a row of windows
03

The long hall

A Douglas fir gallery that links every room and doubles as a rainy-day play space.

A stone terrace and fire pit stepping down to a creek
04

The creek terrace

Stone steps down to the water, and a fire pit built from stone found on site.

The build · 15 months

The build

  1. Fit
  2. Pre-construction
  3. Build
  4. Keys
  • The creekside site before ground was broken
    Month 2
  • The timber frame raised on its plinth
    Month 6
  • Zinc roofing going on the long roof
    Month 10
  • The finished house beside the creek
    Month 15

Planned 15 months · Actual 15 months · 5 change orders, each approved within 2 working days

The long kitchen table laid for a family lunch
“Sunday lunch used to mean driving to three houses. Now everyone just comes home.”
The Moreno family · Moved in 2023
Best part
The table. Always the table.
Surprised by
The weekly reports. We read every one.
Would we again?
In a heartbeat.

Materials

Timber · Fieldstone · Zinc

  • TimberDouglas fir frame and cladding.
  • FieldstoneChimney and garden walls.
  • ZincRoof and rainwater details.

Building for the whole family?

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