The cover of the Oregonian’s Homes and Rental special section this weekend featured Rick Bernard’s custom home, “New Cottage in the Woods,” the home this site is dedicated to throughout its development. The front page article by Erin Hutkin opened with: For three decades, Rick Bernard has made his living building big, custom luxury homes…
I’m at a point where some of my on-going thoughts are actually about other than New Cottage concerns, pursuing other construction jobs, and personal issues such as health care and physical fitness. For over a year it would seem that I was truly preoccupied with well drilling, permits, design, road construction, financing, and the building…
We are at the point where all of the previous selections and decisions are coming in harmony. Before this we were looking at the different aspects individually, now the full orchestra is assembling. The different instruments are tuning up, and WOW. We are also at the final stages where all of the individual hidden problems…
Things have changed for my approach to interior design over the last 35 years. I remember the first speculation home I built in Hillsboro. I did it myself and used orange shag rug, and whatever color the painter had in the back of his truck for that home. It was okay then as we lived…
I find it a little difficult to admit to the absolutely unplanned magic in my new home. Six months ago I had a logger friend of mine haul off 5 to 6 tree trunks to his portable saw mill to create some veneers to skin the glu laminated beams exposed in my great room ceiling.…
I am at the stage where some of the systems that were installed months ago are coming to life. There is almost always a 30 to 40 page instruction manual written in 50 international languages to go with every house I build. Swell. Just give me the basics to get me started so I can…
I have been involved in designing the cabinetry for “New Cottage” for the past month. Like a kind of play, I’ve been relying heavily on the rehearsal processes for my new life style in the New Cottage in the Woods. As I go through my day-to-day activities, I imagine the process I would take to…
Interior design and coordination seem basics enough and easy, right? If done well, I can honestly say that the end result is a spectacular home, a symphony of music from the envelope of warmth upon entering, through the hallways and rooms, one melding into the other, even the bathrooms are a part of the whole…
These images are by Lorelle VanFossen, a friend and neighbor, documenting the New Cottage in the Woods in the sheet rock stage, drying out and waiting for sanding, finishing work, and paint.
We finally have permanent power installed to the cottage. With a few job recess lights and plugged in the electric heaters to help dry out the final costs of sheet rock mud on the wall seams, and what a change! There is a feeling of warmth which I’ve never experienced in any of the interior…
This particular stage of the build process is absolutely one of the most difficult to tolerate. You can’t even walk around in the home. The floor is covered with debris. Welcome to the nailing of the sheet rock. Couple this disaster with generally an inability to communicate with the nailing crew. This is a tough…
It was time to select the appliances. I am the first one to admit, I make reservations for dinner, rather than prepare food. The microwave is my essential appliance for reheating our left-overs from all those dinner reservations. In this day and age, with the consolidation of the various manufactures, there are only about three…
Wiring underway. It’s time to light up the place. I went to the main distributor for light fixtures in Portland, Globe Lighting. Oh my, how things have changed. The new LED sources for lighting are a significant step forward from compact fluorescent, which I disliked greatly. The power and reach of these new fixtures is…
Over the years of my constructing homes, one aspect that has been always a secondary thought was plumbing fixtures. My attitude was if it flushed and did not back up it was fine. It took many years and many plumbers and interior designers to get me into a more refined frame of reference when it…
New Cottage In The Woods 