From SketchUp to Straw Bales: An Owner Builder’s Timber Frame Journey
A Pandemic Project That Turned Into A Real Plan
When the world got smaller and daily life moved onto screens, a lot of people started asking bigger questions about how they wanted to live, where they wanted to be, and what kind of work felt meaningful enough to keep showing up for. For Anneke Dunnington, a Vermont teacher with an art background and a strong visual instinct, that question took shape in the form of land, a SketchUp model, and a long term vision that slowly became a buildable home.
In this episode of E3 Energy and Efficiency with Emily, host Emily Mottram talks with Anneke about how a piece of land that started out as little more than a driveway and a sewer hookup became the foundation for an owner built timber frame and straw bale home, along with a career change that moved Anneke from the classroom into carpentry full time. MOTTRAM ARCHITECTURE
Starting With SketchUp And Letting The Design Teach You
Anneke did not begin by trying to design a dream house in one leap, because the early goal was more practical and more achievable. She took an online SketchUp course through Yestermorrow, then started sketching a small structure that could support the site’s immediate needs, including solar equipment, storage, and a flexible space that could evolve as the larger plan came into focus.
That small “shed” eventually became a finished tiny house, which turned out to be far more than a side project, since it created breathing room for the main build. With a place to live on site, the bigger house could progress slowly and thoughtfully, which is often the difference between a project that stays joyful and one that becomes a constant emergency.
Designing A Timber Frame With Mentorship Instead Of A Fixed Package
In Vermont, timber frames are part of the local language, which makes it easy to fall in love with exposed structure, crisp joinery, and the way a frame can feel both traditional and startlingly modern. Anneke took a week long timber framing course at Heartwood, then decided she did not want a locked PDF package that could not respond to her site, her goals, or what she was learning.
Instead, she worked with Timber Homes Vermont and timber framer David Hook in a way that reads like a true apprenticeship. Anneke drew the entire frame in SketchUp, shared it weekly, and received corrections and guidance that covered structure, proportions, joinery decisions, and the kind of practical wisdom you only get from someone who has made mistakes before you have to. What was supposed to be a single review turned into ten sessions across ten weeks, and by the end the frame was not only “designed,” it was understood in a way that let Anneke carry it forward with real confidence.
Cutting One Hundred Twenty Two Timbers And Learning Square Rule The Hard Way
Designing the frame was the first mountain, and cutting it was the next one. Instead of sending drawings to a shop, Anneke chose to cut the entire frame herself, which meant building a process, building a workspace, and building enough skill to make accuracy repeatable. A used agricultural tent became a timber framing shop, logs were milled into square rule timbers, and the work stretched across three summers rather than one.
Square rule framing is beautiful because it finds the perfect timber inside an imperfect natural one, but that beauty comes with consequences, since every layout line becomes a commitment that may not reveal itself until the raising. Anneke describes the mental load of constant checking, second guessing, and repairing mistakes in a way that will feel familiar to anyone who has ever tried to build something ambitious without pretending they were an expert.
A Raising Party That Turned Years Of Solo Work Into Community
One of the most moving themes in Anneke’s story is how community shows up, not as a nice bonus, but as a core building material. When the frame was finally ready, the raising brought together friends, family, and the Timber Homes crew for a week, with careful test fitting on the ground before anything went in the air. That approach kept the work safer, reduced surprises, and turned what could have been a stressful milestone into something closer to celebration.
Houses really do carry the story of how they were made, and in this case the story includes quiet evenings with tools and layout lines, paired with a loud, joyful week where many hands and one crane transformed labeled timbers into a standing frame.
Choosing Straw Bale While Still Taking Building Science Seriously
Straw bale construction sometimes gets flattened into a stereotype, as if natural materials automatically mean casual detailing, but Anneke’s approach is the opposite. The plan blends straw bale walls on the lower level with dense pack cellulose above, while keeping air control and water management at the center of every transition.
The straw itself is local, since a nearby organic vegetable farm grew a winter cover crop of rye, baled it tightly, and stored it until it was needed. That choice supports local agriculture, keeps materials honest, and locks carbon into the building in a way that feels both practical and deeply aligned with long term durability.
Anneke also talks about working toward a clear, continuous “red pen” air barrier concept, which becomes especially important when the foundation was poured years earlier and real world conditions are not as perfect as the model, since the slow pace gives you the chance to shim, adjust, and solve alignment problems before you commit to plaster and finishes.
Designing For Future You Without Creating Future Damage
Another thread that runs through the project is designing for the future without assuming you can predict it perfectly. Early site work included trenches, frost free hydrants, electrical runs, and empty conduits that could be used later when the main structure was ready, which meant the land could evolve without being re dug every time a new phase began.
That same mindset shows up in details like access points under the tiny house and planning conduit paths in thick wall assemblies, so future equipment, wiring, or mechanical lines can be added without drilling blindly through dense plaster and plant based insulation. This is the kind of decision that never photographs well, but it quietly determines whether a building can adapt with grace.
Becoming The General Contractor And Finding A New Kind Of Network
Owner building is often framed as a technical challenge, but Anneke’s story makes it clear that it is also a relational one. Coordinating materials, deliveries, timelines, and trades is the heart of general contracting, and it changes how you move through your community.
Over time, the local building supply store transformed from an intimidating place into something closer to a support system, where staff wrote notes on receipts, asked about progress, and treated the project like a shared story rather than a transaction. Similar connections showed up through trades, friends, and problem solving moments, including one memorable situation involving an auger bit stuck deep in wet hemlock that turned from panic into collaborative troubleshooting.
A Career Shift From Teaching To Carpentry
As the project unfolded, the work did not just produce a house, because it also revealed a new direction. Anneke eventually shifted careers and now works full time as a carpenter with Mathes Hulme Builders in Brattleboro, bringing daily jobsite learning back into her own build in a way that deepens both skill and respect for the craft. MOTTRAM ARCHITECTURE
The episode also notes that Anneke was featured in Fine Homebuilding in the Keep Craft Alive column, which is a fitting detail for a story that is fundamentally about craft, persistence, and learning through doing. MOTTRAM ARCHITECTURE
What This Story Offers Other Owner Builders And Designers
Anneke’s journey is not a blueprint in the sense of “do exactly this,” because the point is not that everyone should cut their own frame or choose straw bales. The point is that big projects become possible when you break them into phases, build in mentorship, lean on community, and treat mistakes as information rather than proof that you should stop.
If you want to hear the full conversation with Emily Mara and Anneke Dunnington, including the details that did not fit on the page, you can listen to the episode here:
MottramarchS7E6 - Anneke Dunnington — MOTTRAM ARCHITECTURE - Maine Residential Architects & Designers - Focused on Responsible High Efficiency Green Design MOTTRAM ARCHITECTURE