A sense of accomplishment

The vision started back a few years ago at Beatons.  We fell in love with the lake when we were in our 20s.  We bought the lot in our mid 30s right before we we moved to Holland for a few years.  Once we came back home, we started going to our place in the northwoods often just to camp, hang out at the property and to dream about building something.  In 2008 we began to build a timber post and beam structure by hand.

Today we are doing the finishing touches on the first building of our Northwoods place of paradise.  The building you see above is called the SaunaHaus.  It is our little baby and boy do we love it.  It’s 16ft x 24ft with a loft.  It’s just right for two people to stay in.  But better yet, it holds lots of people coming for a sauna and a fun as well as relaxing time!

Here’s a photo of Todd and my dad when we first began to build setting the first post of this little post and beam structure.   My father, a union millwright, has more knowledge in his little finger than the rest of us put together on setting a straight post.  The favorite saying of my dad was “Dead Nuts” – meaning the posts are set level and ready to go.  We still use this saying today when we mean something is right and ready.  Here’s a link to the story I wrote about the experience 

This summer has been dedicated to working on the finishes which we are now believe take  80% of the time to complete.

There are lots of window and doors on this 16ft x 24ft structure.  That means a lot of trim work.  Todd and I spend the past  week living and working in the space to complete all the window and door trim (well almost all….)  We also installed a wood floor for the sauna area with me sanding and staining the wood.

We do all of this because Todd and I are builders, nurturers, farmers and believers.  We like to watch things grow!.  We actually get a kick out of building stuff on our days off.   We also do it, because there is no other place on earth as special as Beatons.  We spend countless weekends driving 4 hours to breath in the air, jump in the lake and more often than not, see an eagle land in one of the giant hemlocks right in front of us.

I love this place.  It is becoming my second home.