“It’s the same process used with machinery, only in carpentry, you make it out of wood,” he said.

Foerster said after he found someone interested in doing the woodwork, he’d make the first piece and give it to him as a model.

He also made latex molds for the design on the terra cotta fireplace and for the plaster lions and gargoyles that adorn the inside and outside of the home.

Foerster said he kept costs down by not having a general contractor and by using local materials, such as the creek rocks that cover the outside of the castle.

He doesn’t recall how much he spent building it, and that is partly because the castle wasn’t always so grand, he said. Foerster originally built the center of the home and then added on several wings over the years.

Foerster’s favorite room is the great room, one of the later additions. It features a wooden staircase and two-story windows that provide a prime view of sunsets on the lake.

Foerster said he still doesn’t consider the home finished. He had planned to build a deck off the great room that resembles the bow of a ship.

“All I have to do is do it, but it’s too much now,” he said.