Category: Uncategorized

Working outside.

We were quite busy this weekend, and the primary focus was the exterior. We did a bit of staining and painting. We just barely put a bit of stain on thebarn stain close-up. front porch, but we did stain a large part of the front of the house, and painted the trim as well.

On Thursday, though, Billy and I had taken the day off of work. We were fortunate to spend quite a bit of time at the barn with Tom. He got some more windows installed, and we also repaired a few of the floorboards. So it’s official: people can no longer plummet through cavernous holes from the main level into the basement.
Hooray for tiny victories.

Front door.

Front door.

As this project progresses, we are finding such joy in each little piece.
It was very, very cool to see the latest update.

Tom cut a hole where a window once was and installed the front door to our home. Once that was completed, he put in the treads to the front steps; (he waited until there was a door, of course: why would we have needed steps if we couldn’t enter that way?!).

And weeks ago, Billy and I had pulled out one of the stanchion posts from the horse stables; we want to reuse them elsewhere in the house, since the stables will one day be our basement. We suggested that one be used out front for the main entrance, and Tom made it happen.

Exciting stuff (for us, at least).

Summertime.

Now that it’s summertime, most of our weekends are filled with commitments. And when we’re not otherwise committed, we’re committed to the barn. But every once in a while, we have a rare moment to slow down. We managed to get to my hometown, Point Pleasant, for the 4th of July holiday, and had a beautiful day on the beach. There we saw my elementary school art teacher, Mitsy; (she’s relaxing in the blue chair in the photo). Needless to say, I haven’t seen her in years. She asked what was new, and inevitably the barn came up in conversation. Mitsy said, “I love American barns! They are perfect geometry.” Spoken like an artist! What a cool thought, and so very true…… as we’ve surely learned, with our posts and pegs and Y-beams. Perfect geometry.

All hands on deck.

All hands on deck.

It was all hands on deck today at the barn…… both figuratively and literally. Tom was in town with Dave and Adam, both my brother and my father came to help, and Billy and I joined in, too. And in a flash, the front porch was built. Pretty awesome.

Tom also found a front door (which will be installed just about where the window is overlooking the porch), so that will be a functioning entrance before long. Speaking of entrances, Tom also had installed a new side door, which means that our house no longer has to be padlocked. Also pretty awesome.

Aside from the porch going up, a window was installed, the hall closet was framed out (thanks Tommy and Dad!), the driveway was cleared, the scraps were sorted and tossed, and the upper and mid-levels were cleaned up. This was certainly the most productive day we’ve had in quite some time. It was good for both our house and our spirits.

Maybe I lied; a little more demolition.

So this week, Tom was down to make a bit more progress. The next step was to tear the roof off of the milkhouse, in order to make way for a rooftop garden. (So I guess we technically weren’t done with demolition, huh?)

Anyway, the local wildlife makes a habit out of dining on our vegetation (as evidenced by the current state of our hostas). The entrance to the house will be an elevated porch over the ground level horse stanchions, to the right of the milkhouse. Instead of leaving the pitched roof, we wanted to flatten it, install some sort of tray and drainage system, and start a garden far out of the reach of our neighboring deer and rabbits (squirrels, on the other hand, are a different story).

And now the roof is no more! To see a before picture, check out the post about the barn exterior; it’s the photo of the east elevation.