One of the themes that will run through every aspect of the house is the arch. The windows, beams and many of the ceilings feature arches. I've long believed that curves are much more pleasing than straight lines.

Although we've had our MultiCam CNC router for better than six years, our new house is the first time we've used it for all aspects of a very large project. Generally, we do the theme work with others in charge of the framing. In the case of our new house we are using the computerized router in every possible aspect of the build. The router cuts the pieces we need extremely fast and extremely accurately. I take careful measurements and then use a program called EnRoute Pro to design and create the cutting files. These are sent to the router from my desk. The hard part of the process is loading and unloading the plywood onto the router.

I designed and cut forty plywood pieces for the arched hallway ceiling in less than an hour today. They hd a smooth arch on the bottom, but the top side was notched for the built-in vacuum and runs of wiring. Each piece was cut perfectly without effort. It took me far longer to fasten the pieces into place.

This week we'll put in the potlights and run a bunch more wiring. Then we'll put in the insulation and board up the bottom. Lastly we'll staple on the lath just before we trowel on the concrete plaster. The curved celing will have a heavy crown molding under it and hidden in the top of the molding will be plenty of LED lights to give the curved ceiling a beautiful glow. I can hardly wait!

-grampa dan