A Place to Heal

The front of Melinda and Jim's home resembles other conventionally built custom homes. Only the king-post truss in a dormer jutting out from the front facade gives a hint of the timber frame structure that lies within.

Melinda Hamilton has loved horses all her life, but while she had always been around horses, she had never owned a farm or lived with them. It was a dream she wanted to make come true since she was a young girl. "I spent nearly 20 years in reinsurance," she says. "I decided to retire from that and finally have a farm of my own. Buying this property was a way for me to do that."

Melinda and her husband, Jim, weren't dreaming of just any old horse farm, though. Melinda planned to use her time and resources to help show horses recuperate from illness and injury. "The equestrian term for it is that I have a 'lay-up' business," she says.

Heading for the Hills

Horses need lots of space to graze and exercise, so the Hamiltons knew they had to move away from their suburbans Connecticut home in order for Melinda's new business to be a success. The couple decided to look for farmland in other parts of the state. Fortunately, their search for a wide-open space didn't take long. They found 17 acres not far away in the small town of Bethany, in southeastern Connecticut. "The land we bought came available next door to a very good friend of mine," Melinda says. "So that's how we found it."

The property is the perfect blend of woods and pastureland, providing just the right amount of privacy for a home site and enough open space for horses to graze and recover in peace. The property also boasts rolling hills, which are common in this part of Connecticut.

Since the couple didn't know exactly what type of home to build, they started working on a barn for the horses first. They contacted a professional barn builder to construct stables with a caretaker's apartment inside. The apartment would also serve as a temporary residence for them while their new home was being built.

Introduction to Framing

A chat with the barn builder one day turned into a discussion on the type of home Melinda and Jim planned to build. When Melinda told him it was very important to her to have lots of windows for viewing the horses, the builder recommended she consider a timber frame. He explained that because of the way timber frames are constructed, she would be able to have plenty of windows throughout the home and oversized windows in the great room.

Because the home's timber frame would support the structure, windows of all shapes and sizes could be placed in the spaces between the posts. Trusses, a common roof feature in many timber frame homes, are what make possible the dramatic walls of windows often found in the great rooms of these types of homes.

"I was intrigued by a post-and-beam home and the ability to have lots and lots of windows and light," Melinda says. "We also liked the idea of an open plan that was built around one central room." The couple had lived most of their lives in traditionally built Colonial-style homes and had found themselves doing most of their living in the family room and kitchen. "So we wanted something that would better suit our lifestyle," Melinda says.

The builder went on to tell Melinda that he was acquainted with Davis Frame Company, a timber frame producer in Claremont, New Hampshire. Melinda and Jim were so impressed with the materials they received after contacting the company, they decided to meet with owner Jeff Davis at one of the homes the company had built. "We went and looked at a number of Davis Frame homes," Melinda says, "and everything from the quality of the people to the quality of the construction really worked well with us."

Satisfied with what they saw and heard, the couple signed a contract with the company. They decided to use Davis Frame's in-house designers to draw up plans for a three-level, 3,225 square-foot, four-bedroom home. The frame itself would be constructed from Douglas fir timbers harvested from a managed forest in Oregon, and then coated with a clear tung oil finish. "We sat down with a blank piece of paper and we designed a home that was the perfect fit for my husband and me," Melinda says.

With their plans finalized, the couple hired Kevin McNeil in nearby Beacon Falls to do everything from dig out the foundation to finish the home. Although Kevin's crew did not have any experience with timber frames - and he was more than a little hesitant about raising the frame and attaching the home's insulated panels to it - with the help of a representative from Davis Frame, Kevin's crew erected the structure like pros. "It was fabulous," Melinda says, "they put it up in only one day."

In the Mix

The completed home is a mixture of different construction techniques. "This home is a beautiful example of a combination of timber framing, structural panels and conventional framing, which has become so popular today, says Jeff (Davis)...

Framing is showcased in many of the home's rooms from a simple post-and-beam structure in the dining room and kitchen to more complex systems in the open areas of the home. "The great room hosts five custom trusses," Jeff (Davis) says, "including a custom hammerbeam truss and four queen-post trusses, one of which is located on the gable end, framing the wall of windows."

Even the roof is timber framed. The designers at the company y created the couple's roof using a ridge beam and rafter system over the part of the home that houses the library and guest bedrooms. The rafters, which are exposed, continue to look of the frame in these rooms.

While Melinda loves the frame and appreciates all the skill and craftsmanship that went into making it, her favorite feature of the home is, without a doubt, the windows. "I wanted to have a house where I could see the horses from every room," she says. "The house sits in the middle of the pastureland with fields surrounding it. I can watch the horses graze almost everywhere I go." It's a dream come true for a woman who's waited a lifetime to give back something to the animals she's come to respect, love and appreciate.