Builder: Durheim Timberworks
Some husbands express their love with diamonds, others with flowers.
Jared Durheim chose wood.
In fact, Jared went with the equivalent of three semi-trucks full, all used to build his wife Carla her dream home.
And a dream it is.
Tucked in the rolling hills just outside Green Bluff, the Durheim home is as much a study in architecture as it is in craftsmanship. Impressive beam work. Intricate carvings. Hewn wood that Jared cut himself.
And it stands as a testament to a husband’s devotion.
I really wanted to bless my wife,” he says. “She’s seen me work on Christmas Eve so I won’t blow a deadline. She’s seen me do this for families. The heart was really for my family. It’s completely built around what our family wanted or needed.”
Jared knows a little something about wood. He owns Durheim Timberworks, a company that builds custom timber frames. Even though he had the resources to have the home built, it would have been far too costly to build it the way he wanted.
So he did it himself.
He worked nights, weekends and in between company projects. The couple moved in Thanksgiving 2017, five years after Jared started the house.
“I had to work on it when I could,” he says.
Jared did all the millwork, ironwork and design. And when it came to constructing, he did that, too. He leaned on James Fish of Fish Carpentry for the fi nishing work and Jason Waldo, who turned masonry into an art form. An occasional visit from a friend helped with some of the two-person projects, but Jared did the heavy lifting — literally.
“I cut the whole thing up by myself,” he says. “I can’t afford my work. I have to do it like a hot rod. I can’t go buy a hot rod. I just put it together here and there.”
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Jared sourced the wood from all over. Some of it is reclaimed from buildings. Other pieces he acquired in his travels over the years. All of it has a story. And that’s important to Jared. He could point to each beam in the house, each piece of timber and tell you something about it. It all carries meaning, and that’s what inspires Jared’s work.
“I think I made building more than a job,” he says. “That’s how I can work the late nights and crazy hours. That does something for me. And that’s what I will want my grandkids to know. You don’t compromise. You do your best.”
Carla feels the love of her husband every time she enters her house through the massive wood and iron door that took Jared six weeks to build.
“I’m very blessed,” she says. “It’s a labor of love.”
Despite its sheer beauty, what she loves most about the home isn’t necessarily what you see. It’s what you don’t see.
“We wanted this to be a safe haven and to be comfortable,” she says. “It fits our family, and when we come home it’s a safety net.” N
By Kristina Lyman
Photography By Patricia Ediger
As Featured In: 2019 Winter/Spring SPO Edition