MISSOULA -- David Boone is the first to admit he's a big dreamer. But he also says the last thing he was thinking about last spring was home ownership.

The prolific 27-year-old Missoula musician was, at the time, in the process of writing, arranging and recording two albums of his original music, with two different ensembles. Beyond that, he figured he would probably continue to live the semi-nomadic life of a professional musician, touring and playing shows around the country.

So as he and his wife, Stephanie, stand now in the basement of their nearly finished home, surrounded by piles of construction materials, Boone has to laugh at the series of events that brought the couple to this place.

"I know it sounds weird, but I feel like we were supposed to do this for some reason," says Boone. "We didn't know how to build a house, and we weren't looking to own a house, but here we are."

"I feel like in a way, we've just been paintbrushes in this process, with some other force guiding our strokes," says Stephanie.

What a beautiful painting it is, this house on Hickory Street in the heart of Missoula, just a few steps from McCormick Park. Though it lacks the final coats of stucco and other finishing details, the two-story house already catches the eye with its combination of traditional and modern touches, which include a garden space on a second-floor section of rooftop, projecting trellis beams along one side, and a semi-rounded front window that appears like an upside-down smile welcoming visitors.

Inside, the house follows a program designed around Boones' love for hosting friends and their individual passions his music, her fitness training.

If houses could speak, this one would shout: "Labor of love."

"I've never really understood why some people look at houses as an investment," says Boone. "When we designed this, the whole point was to create a place we'd love to live in for 30 years or more. It's our home."

As beautiful as the house is, the story of how it came to be built is perhaps even more striking a reflection of all that is hopeful in this era of economic worry. It may be the Boones' house, but it's also a community story that's still under construction.

It takes a community

The Boones spent their first night in their new house last Thursday, sleeping on the dusty subfloors. But it was hardly the first time they had slept under a roof near the corner of Hickory and River streets.

The space where the new house stands once served as the backyard to a house owned by Tom Allyn, the father of Boone's longtime friend and musical collaborator, Max Allyn.

Over the years, Boone and Allyn spent countless hours at that house, playing and recording music. Two of Boone's albums, "Ignore the Orange Hand" and "A Tale of Gold," were recorded at the house.

When the Boones married, Tom Allyn hosted the couple's reception at the house. They later rented part of the house from him.

"It was always a place that just resonated for us," says Boone. "I used to say, sort of jokingly, that if Tom (Allyn) ever sold the house, it was a dream of mine to buy it."

Last April, just two days before Boone was scheduled to leave town for a two-week recording session in Bozeman, he ran into Allyn, who mentioned he was thinking of selling the house.

"I thought he was just talking generally, like something he'd been thinking about but wasn't really ready to do," says Boone. "So I said, 'If you ever really decide to do that, let me know because we might be interested in buying the house.' "

An hour later, the Boones bumped into Allyn again, at the Good Food Store. Allyn asked Boone if he was really serious about buying the house. The two agreed to meet at the property later that afternoon to talk it over.

The first conversation didn't last long.

"He told us what he was thinking about asking for the property, and I said, 'Man, I can't do that,' " says Boone. "It was definitely out of our range, which I kind of figured would be the case."

But the two old friends continued chatting, and soon a plan was hatched whereby the Boones would purchase the back yard, a sizeable city lot that had previously been subdivided from the main property.

By the time Boone left for Bozeman two days later, he and Stephanie had already drawn up a rough design for the house -- literally on a napkin -- and met with a designer.

Meantime, Boone contacted Tom Swenson, CEO at the Bank of Montana. A longtime friend and fan of David's music, Swenson began to help the Boones wade into the world of construction financing.

It wasn't a simple deal; after all, Boone was a self-employed musician, and few first-time homebuyers begin by building their own house. The couple's proposed design was ambitious, and their self-calculated price tag for the project was almost unfathomably low by modern Missoula standards: 45 cents a square foot -- a fraction of today's common going rate for even modest home construction. Boone says Swenson told him a more typical rate would be about $1.50 per square foot.

Boone told Swenson he planned to keep expenses low by relying heavily on recycled building materials, sweat equity and help from friends.

Despite all those unorthodoxies, Swenson took on the project financing.

"That's where community banking comes to play and knowing your community," Swenson said in a telephone interview this week. "Being a believer in general, and knowing David and knowing he's a genius and a dreamer who makes stuff happen, I just thought it was something I could support and help make happen."

"I feel like Tom (Swenson)'s involvement and the fact that we were friends was just a bit of magic, in a way," says Boone. "In these economic times we're in, it would have been easier for them to just stay out of this crazy project; but Tom and the people at Bank of Montana were so creative and dedicated to helping us."

Going with the flow

It took a few months to get plans and funding lined up for the project. In early July, the Boones commenced work by tearing down a large, old shed on the property. Together with a group of 14 friends, they stripped each board of nails boards that would eventually become trim and other materials for the new house. On July 27, excavation of the foundation began.

Since then, the "magic" of the project has only intensified. A few days before framing of the structure was set to commence, the Boones learned that the man who they'd scheduled to help them wasn't available. Boone called his younger brother, Daniel, in Ohio, just to chat about the problem. Three days later, Daniel showed up in Missoula with a truckload of friends, appliances and even a front door strapped to the roof of the truck. In less than a week, the house was framed.

"We had 13 people living in our one-room apartment," recalls Boone. "But everybody was there to have a good time and with the right spirit, and it was just like an old-fashioned barn-raising."

Through friends, the Boones found other help: An old friend and musical collaborator, James Wassem, helped with the electrical work. Friend Jesse Reeves, a framer with Tamarack Construction, offered advice and instruction along the way. Jason Weiss, a plumber from the Bitterroot Valley, jumped in on a day's notice to help fix Boone's rough-in plumbing mistakes; the two are now fast friends.

"He might just be the nicest guy ever made," Boone says of Weiss.

When it came time to install drywall, Boone's brother pitched in money.

"Everything has worked so fluidly, it's just been bizarre," says Boone. "We've just kind of gone with it, day by day, figuring out what needs to get done next, and it seems like the right person has appeared at the right time every time we've needed help."

Stephanie agrees that part of the project's success so far has been openness to surprise and a positive attitude.

"It's easy to get stuck in ruts of what you're supposed to do or how things are normally done," she says. "But I think when you throw your heart into something and approach it with an open mind, you're more likely to see opportunities and solutions coming your way that you might not have even noticed otherwise."

There's still plenty of work to do on the house: flooring and trim, painting and electrical finish work. The yard is a swath of frozen mud, and there's not a toilet on the premises yet. The couple hope to finish up by August, with Boone working on the house full-time while Stephanie brings in money from her work as a personal trainer.

But presuming no surprises, the Boones' original budget appears to be almost spot-on.

"There were definitely people who thought it'd be impossible to do this for this budget," says Boone, who while declining to publicly name specific dollar amounts says the couple's mortgage will end up costing about as much per month as they would otherwise pay in rent for a house of their own.

"We thought by working hard and having faith in it, we could make it happen," says Boone, "and it looks like we're going to succeed."