During a quick trip to Montana, we selected the exact site location for our home, met an HOA President, visited a few stone veneer shops, and had some fun. We had cool mornings and hot, sunny days for our stay at Meadow Lake Resort. This location features a golf course with Mountain views. The resort is about an hour and one-half drive to the West entrance of Glacier National Park in the summer. The location is quiet, yet close to downtown Columbia Falls, which has great restaurants, coffee shops and a grocery store.
House Placement on Build Site
Our builder, Jason and excavator, Cody had done some preliminary site work, so their stakes were still up when we visited our build site. We got there about an hour before our scheduled meeting with J Martin Builders, so we had plenty of time to make sure this was exactly where we wanted the house built. We had our Sketchup rendering and Layout floorplan and used these to consider the views, sunlight, and driveway placement before our meeting. We are going to have awesome Swan Range Mountain views from most of our rooms, including our living, dining, office, primary and guest bedroom. We will have partial views from the kitchen because of the covered back porch.
The pictures below show our build site with the house borders, views and planned driveway.
At just over 2,000 square feet, we’ll have a generously sized great room featuring a double height entry and dining, large kitchen with walk in pantry, and an open living room. Our primary bedroom suite enjoys the same mountain views both inside and outside on the private patio. On the other side of the house, we’ll have our laundry, mudroom, office, guest bathroom, and two guest bedrooms. Having spent time reviewing all these factors, we were ready when Jason and his team arrived for our scheduled site choice meeting.
During this meeting we clarified a few items, including:
- Excavation plans, including new driveway allowing for plenty of space to turn around before driving down the sloped driveway. This will include a retaining wall on the south side near the garage.
- Fire wise planning, including removing trees, which will open up the views more, but will leave plenty of trees on our property.
- The plan is to place and bury the propane tank for convenient access. We’ll need to spend more money up front to buy the tank, but this should lower long term propane costs. We don’t want to see the tank and it allows us buy propane from multiple sources.
The guys did an awesome job picking the best build site, so we were thrilled to approve the recommended house location and talk about next steps. Paul had our preliminary construction plans, which were pretty darn close to our original SketchUp Layout and 3D renderings. We are now officially under contract and expect to break ground this fall.
Homeowner’s Association Meeting
As some of you know, our property is located in two Homeowner’s Associations, which I acknowledge is some folk’s worst nightmare. We hired a local real estate attorney to help us weigh the pros and cons before we bought our property. The existing entrance to our property is part of HOA2. It would cost us thousands to create a new entrance from HOA1, which would run through the middle of a wetland and a big chunk of our property. The HOAs fees are affordable, so we are fine with this arrangement.
We’ve spoken with both HOA Presidents, Architectural Chairs, and other board members on several occasions since looking at the property in 2018. The house design has to be approved, but this should not be an issue since our design is within all HOA requirements. We’ve digitally sent our SketchUp Renderings, Layout Home Measurements, and other initially required documents to both HOA architectural committee chairs.
During this trip, we met with Randy, HOA1 President who provided helpful resources and his unofficial blessing to start our project. J Martin will give the official build documents, county permits and finish any further follow-up needed with the HOAs. Here are a few of Randy’s tips:
- Send forms now and update with permits later
- Recommended local TV and Internet Providers
- DNRC Firewise tree removal grants with property site visits, including identifying exotic, invasive plants
- Ask for pumped septic system exemption instead of a gravity fed system
Interior and Exterior Design
Interior Materials
Much of our design inspiration comes from Mid-Century Architecture, like our simple, sloped roof lines, open flowing spaces, a sunny feel with large, insulated glass windows and wood paneling favored by Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. “Midcentury modern was about stripping away unnecessary ornament and really getting to the essence of a design gesture,” designer Jonathan Adler says. “That clarity of vision is innately communicative, and people love design that speaks to them. By stripping away the frills, the designer can communicate directly with the viewer, and communication is ultimately what good design is about.”
We’ve taken years to create a functional floorplan featuring our mountain modern interior and exterior design plan. I’ve ordered tons of tile samples, as well as flooring, countertops materials, and even interior door handles. We’ll use these samples to pick some things at a later date, like cabinet, paneling and other wood stain color choices. We have our favorites, but we also have back-up options should budget become a factor. We will select more furniture, fabrics, and decor pieces later in the build; but I asked our Interior Designer, Joni Stoll Designs, to find good quality, less expensive options for some of my current furniture picks.
Windows are a big part of our design and budget. Y’all I can’t move from sunny South Florida to NW Montana without windows! We will have 24 Anderson Series 100 windows in our build. That many windows will brings lots of light into our space, including several that are south facing. In our dining room below, you see eight windows, including two casement windows and six fixed pane windows. Across the room, we’ll have the same five window configuration as the lower set of windows in the dining room. The living room windows include two more casements and three fixed windows. Finally, we’ll have a slider window above the clean-up sink in our kitchen. As I mentioned in my prior post, fixed windows save money and the five operable windows in the great room will give plenty of air flow on nice days.
Locating the primary bedroom suite on the NE corner of our floor plan offers a few benefits. We’ll have expansive mountain views, cross breeze from windows on three sides of the suite, and a generous space to creating a relaxing retreat. When you enter the suite, you’ll take in the cozy, unique bedroom, which features a 5-piece bathroom. After a day outside, the spa-like bath features a large double vanity, soaking tub, shower, linen closet, and discreet toilet.
Exterior Materials
The classic Mid-Century Modern elements continue on the exterior. We love the look of our home, but it needs to be functional. The sloped roof offers a practical solution in cold climates. The slope will direct snow and rain away from the front of the house and driveway. Also, the front of the house and driveway face south, which helps melt the snow during the long Montana winters.
The exterior design features LP board-and-batten siding, which is durable, easy to install, and affordable. When painted it looks like wood, but it is fire resistant, which is a top priority since our build is in a wildfire zone. Find more Wildfire Planning resources below:
https://www.usfa.fema.gov/wui/
We will have some wood elements on the porches and soffits. The wood brings a warmth and ties into our Mid-Century Modern inspiration. During our trip, we stopped at several stone yards to look at stone veneer options for the outside of the house. We brought an exterior paint sample and found a couple that we really liked with the paint color. Here’s our favorite stone, but we’ll look at samples of this one and a few others once we have some paint on the house.
Mid-Century Modern Characteristics
As you can see, our design has lots of Mid-Century Modern elements. Here is a simple list of MCM characteristics:
- Clean lines
- Floor-to-ceiling windows
- Open floor plans
- Wood
- Indoor-outdoor living
- Built-ins
- Functionality
Indoor-outdoor living is the final MCM characteristic I’ll cover today. As you can see, our design has intentional connections to its natural surroundings. When you’re inside, your gaze is pulled to the forest just outside and the mountains towering above the trees. The design offers lots of opportunity to be outside. It features three covered patios offering shelter from the elements whether we are grilling, entertaining or quietly watching the wildlife.
Inspections
I reached out to one of the builders we interviewed to talk about inspections during the build process. He recommended a local inspector and provided some recommended stages for inspections:
- Foundation inspection before concrete is poured
- Frame and Mechanical inspection before insulation
- Roof nail inspection
- Insulation inspection
- Drywall nail inspection
- Final inspection
I spoke with the referred inspector, Kelly who reviewed his inspection recommendations, including adding “Required Draw” inspections. Since we are not construction professionals, nor are we living locally while the build is happening, Kelly can be our local set of eyes on the build. He can verify materials are onsite or that work is completed before we pay the builder. Kelly will need a set of construction plans and one week’s notice for each inspection. I’m not sure how many inspections we’ll end up doing, but each inspection costs $350.
Finally, some fun!
Just wanted to share a few pictures from this trip:
We’ll be heading back to NW Montana in September for a two-week vacation. I’m sure I’ll have build updates, but my next post will focus on fun stuff, like our hikes and other adventures while we are in Montana. Be sure to subscribe below to get updates.
Design, Garden, & Travel by Majestic Meadows 
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