Our First House

​At the end of a very quiet cul-de-sac in the “good” part of town sat a lot.  There was a creek nearby, and the neighbor had taken to cutting the grass so as to keep the street looking good.  There were rumors that a Wal-Mart would be built directly behind this street.  It was 2007 and land was tough to find, tougher to afford.  This piece was narrow and rocky below.  The street name was Harty and during the course of construction, we would see it spelled Hearty and Hardy; both monikers made sense at different times.  This would be the location of the first home we built.

The layout was efficient and offered some extras such as an ensuite bath and separate dining room that most plans of this size did not.  We were pulling out all the stops compared to our competition – full brick in a town that favored vinyl siding; ICF foundations where concrete block was the norm.  Houston readers, please bear in mind this was Canada and yes those basements can get cold…

The Wal-Mart was built and the creek did rise in the spring; the rock was blasted and unforgiving.  The garage needed to be heated and those ICF blocks were capital-E expensive – but the end result was lovely.  We had been told, after all, that the hardest part about building a house was finishing it.  
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We christened it “The Ashton” and it was one of only two house plans that we built more than once. Almost ten years have passed, trends have come and gone and come back around again, and our current location is nearly 1800 miles south, but this is the first house we built.    Or rather, the house that built us.