Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Page A-3
Builder’s home is 40 years in the making
By Dan Klapheke
IVN Staff Writer
In a community full of eccentric individuals and one-
of-a-kind roadside attractions, it can be hard to stand out.
But 11 miles down Caves Highway, partly hidden in the
trees and bumping up to Siskiyou National Forest land, a
house 40 years in the making demands attention.
Todd Henry moved to the Valley in 1972 from San
Diego, where he grew up, but it was only meant to be a pit
stop on a longer journey.
“I was 22 years old, on my way to Canada,” Henry
said. “And I stopped to visit a friend, who lived on Caves
Highway here, and he showed me around the area and I
never left.”
He never made it to Canada. Instead, Henry packed
up his belongings in his work truck and hauled it to Cave
Junction. He bought an old miner’s shack in 1975 and he’s
lived there since, but the house is unrecognizable from 40
years worth of renovations and additions.
“My motto used to be, ‘I’ll get it going,’” Henry said.
“I can always come back and finish it.”
That motto has turned his home into a maze of ideas
and inspirations, and its tough pinpointing where to start.
“A lot of times I come up with an idea or concept, and I
say, ‘OK, I’m gonna do that. That’s what I’m gonna do. I’ve
made up my mind,’” Henry said. “And a year or two will go
by and I go ‘Wow, glad I didn’t do that because I got a way
better idea now!’ It’s an evolving thing.”
Whole parts of the house have been the product of
some antique Henry finds at a yard sale. He built an addition
to the kitchen when he found a classic coffee grinder, as
well as a barbecue island in the kitchen after he saw one
while working on a house in Grants Pass. One of the largest
additions is a tower resembling a lighthouse.
“I did a job for someone in the Valley, a local builder,
and the guy had a tower on his house. And I go, ‘Man, I
gotta have a tower,’” Henry said.
Henry has a story for every part of the house. He
delivered his first two children in his office, once the only
bedroom. A back room features a full bar with surfboards
covering the ceiling, one of which he remembers buying
for $27.50 in San Diego. There’s an enclosure attached to
the living room just for his parrot, MacGyver, who yells for
Henry by name if he’s out of sight.
That short list doesn’t come close to describing the
whole house, let alone the entire property. Behind the house
is a concrete swimming hole that was originally intended to
be a fish pond. Along the water there’s another bar shack, as
well as sand, beach chairs and a concrete volcano/waterfall
structure. A concrete wall stands at the opposite end of the
water, built in the style of southern California flood barriers.
And throughout the whole property are antiques and yard
sale finds that all have a unique back story.
“I’ve been collecting stuff for years,”
(Photo by Dan Klapheke, Illinois Valley News)
Todd Henry in his home woodworking shop Thursday, June 30. He built mostly everything pictured, includ-
ing the building itself.
Henry said. “Had to quit going to yard sales and secondhand
stores as much as a I used to. Running out of room.”
Then there’s the workshop, where Henry’s plethora of
ideas become reality. Various types of wood are scattered
throughout the building, and most of it Henry has milled
locally. One current project is the reconstruction of an old
telephone booth that once sat on the California-Oregon
border in the early 1900s.
But out of all his projects, Henry said what he’s best
known for are his doors. He built his first in 1964.
“My dad was like me: never finished nothing. He built
his own house in 1948 and I didn’t have a bedroom door. I
had one of these accordion-type things,” Henry said. “And
it was 1964 where I was in 10th grade, and I built this door
in high school wood shop. And me and my buddy carried it
home on the top of our heads.”
Henry still has the door, and it sits on display next to
his current door projects.
One of Henry’s latest involvements is with DIY
Network’s “Treehouse Guys” show, as he builds doors for
the program’s treehouses, as well as personally for the cast.
He’s currently working on a door for Michael Garnier, owner
of Out’n’About Treehouses and one of the treehouse guys.
The door is for one of Garnier’s personal treehouses, and it’s
curved, which Henry said he’s never done before.
“I owed him a door for, like, 10 years, and I said,
‘Okay, time to settle up,’” Henry said. “So I went out there
and said, ‘Okay Mike, what are we doing’?’ And he said,
‘well, you see that curved wall?’ I go, ‘Oh boy…’”
There will also be hand-carved designs in Garnier’s
door, like most Henry builds.
Although Henry has built everything on the property,
he often lets other specialty craftsmen come in and work on
things like plumbing and metal working.
“I’m a firm believer in letting the different tradesmen
do their thing,” Henry said. “And it frees me up to do what
I do. I got over the glory of saying you did it all yourself a
long time ago”
Due to his motto of “I’ll get it going,” Henry said he
has a lot of unfinished projects around the property. But over
his 40 years of living there, he’s never stopped evolving.
“You can’t just do one little thing on a lot of this stuff,”
Henry said. “I’ve been a builder all my life, that’s what I do,
and you can’t just do this part without doing that part all the
way through.”
I.V. E xcaVatIng LLc
E DWARD P ODOLL
Selma, OR
Office: 541-597-2485
Cell: 541-660-1798
CCB# 181530
DEQ# 38491
Septics
House Pads
Logging
Land Clearing
Road Construction
Summer 2016
July 7
Southbound
July 14 Shoplifter
July 21 Kelly Thibodeaux and Etouffee
July 28 Buckle Rash
Aug 4 Rosie Wittman
Refreshments on sale by Bobbalou’s Hamburgers and Dogs
Sound provided by Jammers Jukebox Check him out on Facebook at Jammers Jukebox
Calendar
Art’s Red
Garter
Karaoke
HOLUS
BOLUS
w/ Steve
Friday, July 8 @ 9 p.m.
DALE HOPPER
POOL TOURNEY
F r i d a y, J u l y 8 @ 5 3 0
Saturday, July 9 @ 6
Free Pool Games on Sunday
Tuesdays @ 6:30
KARAOKE
Wednesdays 9 PM
Pool Tourney - Saturdays at 7
from
Taylor’s
Country Store
Every Wednesday
Open MIC Night
6 - 8 p.m.
Jay Barley
F ridays @ 6 p.m
MADD The
MOOSE
G Spot
Rumpke Mountain Boys
Tues., July 12, 8 - 11
Hump Day Karaoke
w/Jammer Dave
DALE & SHARON
HOPPER
Friday, July 8, 7 P.M.
FREE
Jammer Dave’s
Karaoke
Saturday, July 9, 8 p.m.
8 p.m. - midnight
@
Sportsman
Tavern
OPEN MIC
THURSDAYS 7 - 10 PM
Open 8 -11 Fri. & Sat.
@
McG re w’s!