Welcome to Fickle Crow
Hi there! You’re here, which means you’re probably one of our family members or friends. You know us. But in case you don’t, or if you haven’t been hearing us talk bout this project for four years, then this is for you!
We’re Megan and Sean. We have lived in North Carolina for ten years this April. We spent most of our childhoods in Northern California, although Sean lived in Wilmington, NC until he was nine. Ten years ago, after spending two hours to commute 30 miles every day, spending all our money on rent and gas, and struggling to make ends meet, we looked at each other and said, “What are we doing here?”. We wanted to own land, own a house, and live in a way that brought us back to the things we loved. We tried to figure out a way to make it work in California, but ultimately knew we needed to leave.
Sean has always been a dreamer. I have a theory he descends from a long line of dreamers. Ancestors that planned and dreamed and probably schemed (a little), to get them where they wanted to go. He’s always inspired me with his ability to problem solve. If he wants something, he’ll figure out how to get it done. I mean, what kind of a person daydreams about products he could bring to market to solve a problem, or teaches himself how to build a wrap around porch (and does it)? Sean does. So when he said to me, “I think we would be really happy in North Carolina”, I believed him. What an adventure! We drove across country with all of our possessions in a trailer behind us, and restarted our lives out East.
So what happened next? How did we get here, ten years later? Personally, a lot. Two kids, two dogs (RIP), career changes, and so much growth. We renovated our house and land into a peaceful wooded oasis, and had so much fun doing it we thought, let’s do this again! While on paternity leave after the birth of our oldest daughter, Sean, of course, was relaxing by scrolling through a land for sale site. He stopped. Looked over at me. “Holy s***. Look at this.” It was the listing for what is now our property. We had looked at different properties before, but nothing had felt right or met our needs completely. But here it was, ten acres of wooded land at the end of a preexisting neighborhood. When we walked it with the realtor, it felt just like a dream. There were ferns everywhere, beautiful hardwood trees mixed with a few juniper and pine, and a small open meadow. It felt like we were on the set of a film. My sibling, Mady, was with us and I looked over at them and sang that infamous theme from Twilight (you know it) and started to laugh. Sean rolled his eyes. We put in an offer. And here we are.
That was August of 2020. As you can imagine, building a house with a newborn during a global pandemic wasn’t going to be possible, so we took the time to plan. We got a huge wet erase grid paper mat and some markers, and started to draw. I dove into floor plan examples I found on pinterest and made notes about things I did and didn’t like. We have always loved to entertain, but our current house was two stories, and too small. We needed a great room. We needed a large covered porch. How do you create a bathroom that is comfortable for two people to use at the same time, while still maintaining some privacy? We drew it all out, made adjustments, and when we had something we felt strongly about, we sent it to a draftsman to make it structurally sound. Here it is.
As it turns out, building a custom home takes a lot of planning and time. It’s January of 2025 and we’re finally ready to start. We’re doing a lot ourselves. Sean is, as I type, cutting down trees to install the silt fence that we need in order to start digging. I can’t wait to share the progress as it happens. I plan to post build updates and share design plans here and on Instagram, so follow along. We can’t wait.
It’s going to be an adventure.
