As work continues on the timber frame, it's worth considering how one's freedom to choose lessens as progress is made. Each line drawn and each cut limits future options. The beginning of any given project is a time of exciting possibilities. The entire plan is alterable, up until the first cut. After the first cut, the range of options dwindles. These limiting commitments are essential to building well.

When building, the aim is to string together one good choice after another until all of the  possibilities have fallen away with a well pleasing structure standing in their place. How does one begin discerning between the good choices and bad? That is the question, and even an incomplete answer would fill a good many books.