Sunday, October 28, 2007

Waiting for the plasterers

This photo-collage gives a pretty good sense of one of the central design concepts of this project: the juxtaposition of old and new materials. (Be sure to click on the image and see it in enlarged form.) As you can see, the parts of this house that are new construction are located within the antique "shell" of the barn. It looks almost as if the barn has been lifted whole from its home in Maine, dropped down on our site, and then had this modular "core" inserted inside. The core consists of a floor that divides the formerly open space into "upstairs" and "downstairs" and the associated walls, stairs, ceilings, etc.

A dark shot of the dark back hallway. Once you enter through the front door, if you turn right you will be in here. The first opening on the right is the mud room (more like a closet...) and the second opening is the tiny guest bathroom. Here, too, you can see the way the newly constructed walls (now sheathed in blueboard, soon to be plastered over) intersect the wall sheathed in antique barn board. Love these details.

Main stairway down to the first floor...

...our office...

...downstairs hallway...

...master bedroom...

...master bedroom showing the doors to the walk-through closet and bathroom...

...and back upstairs. I love this view now that that huge pile of barn boards has been moved. When I arrived on site yesteday and saw this view, I was thrilled. Finally, a sense of getting closer. The space is getting cleaned up, more open, more ready for the finish details. My brother and sister-in-law came up again this weekend (great news guys!!!) and he and I finished moving all of the assorted wood down to the basement and cleaned up the last of the mess in the 3rd floor loft. This week the plasterers will come in (so I am told!) and finish up their job, the plumber will be in (so I am told) to install the water heater and finish off the heating. If I the stars are really aligned he will also be able to hook up the bathrooms. My plan is to get to IKEA this week and get all the cabinets. Once I get the cabinets assembled (thanks for the promise of help, Stewart!) the plumber can do the kitchen hook ups, too. Lots to do. Weds. the final grading and driveway construction will be happening, and I am promised that the electrician will be on site to do the service connection. Once that is inspected then NSTAR can come in an turn on the power. Finish electrical follows and if we've had all the railings and stairs finished by that point (sometime late next week?) we SHOULD be able to have our final inspections by the town and the bank. Occupancy permit will hopefully follow (that is, if we can AFFORD the fees associated with the process - approx. $6000!!! What a crime.) Looks like those who voted "By Thanksgiving" in the poll will be the big winners...

This I love. Our completed deck, our view. Worth every (borrowed) penny. To have a place to go outside the house that is "done" and can be enjoyed...we will get lots of use out of this. We weren't able to build it the way we dreamed, but we did it nevertheless. As with most things, it can always be updated in the future.

1 comment:

Becky said...

All I can say is wow. I love the back upstairs shot. It takes my breath away as a picture I can only imagine what it does in person.