The metal prefab building stuck out like a sore thumb. It sat unloved in the little clearing sheltered by Rimu trees and laced with rain. Stepping inside it felt dank, cold and derelict. The harsh metal walls were scuffed and dirty, the drab stained plywood floor felt springy underfoot and I noticed dark organic patterns emerging from the corners where rain had seeped inside.
We didn’t attach any value to the little 21 square metre (226 square foot) building in our negotiation to purchase the land. If anything, we viewed it as a liability, something we would need to remove and dispose of along with the mildewy couch, sunken bed, rickety table and old chair currently housed within its walls.
In the midst of the private sale negotiation our lawyer pointed out that final consent for the building had not been signed off. This didn’t overly concern us as we had no intention of keeping the building on the land. However, we did see this situation as an opportunity to negotiate a price reduction with the sellers. The deal was, we would not ask them to do the work to get the building consent signed off for a $10,000 discount to the agreed price.
We were pleased with the idea of getting a discounted price knowing we were already offering well over the current rateable value of the land. But, to our surprise the sellers did not take up this offer and instead hired a builder who did the necessary work required to meet the lawyer’s request. This work included building the steps up to the sliding door, putting up spouting, attaching the downpipes, and adding the timber to the bottom of the building covering the foundation.
While this did improve the look of the cabin slightly, we still weren’t convinced we would ever stay the night in this unlikely shelter.
By now we had started calling this building the ‘Shut’. Naming it the Shut originated from my refusal to call it a cabin. To be honest, I didn’t want to contaminate my dream of owning a ‘cabin in the woods’ by associating it with this building. That is why I started thinking of the building as a shed, or a hut, confusing myself one too many times and hearing myself say ‘shut’ instead.
This is how the building we didn’t want became known as The Shut, a name that has stuck.
This is the back story of The Shut, and I’ll let you into a secret, there is more story to come. I have set the scene in this post and will continue to write about The Shut’s evolution over the last two years and into the future as we continue to live the dream.
“The world is full of obvious things which nobody by chance ever observes” – Arthur Conan Doyle
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