Inside BHB on a fall afternoon

A Beautiful Day

Fall Arrives

There is the most beautiful view from our house. Especially during the fall. I am so grateful for this aspect of our new home.

The long view: Future of BHB Blog

Faithful readers: as you have noticed, there hasn't been a lot of activity here these past months. I guess that's because there just isn't THAT MUCH going on. BHB Blog will remain here though, as a resource and as an easy place to direct people interested in learning more about this crazy project. I will be updating it periodically with new pics, vids, and posts. Feel free to direct friends, family and otherwise interested parties here. For new visitors, please feel free to roam, taking in the photos, videos, and posts written by me over the past two plus years. I do still read all comments, so do post them if the spirit moves you. Thanks for visiting!

Renovation Nation UPDATE

If you tuned in Tuesday at 6:00 (like we did) you noticed that our segment did not air. The producers called us that evening and gave us a new air time: this Friday Sept. 26 at 9:00. The show will be rebroadcast a total of 7 times I think over the next day or two. I know that it is also airing Sat. at 4:00. Hope some of you can catch it!

Renovation Nation Segment to Air Tues.

The segment taped this past June at BHB will air this week on the Planet Green Network. I got a call Friday afternoon from the production company responsible for the segment and was told that it would air Tuesday Sept. 23 at 6:00 pm. Check you local listings to confirm that time. We don't have cable so we are hoping to crash at a neighbor's house. Grab your popcorn!

Get the full story here and here.

Mr. Mom does house-work

So, those of you who know me you know that, as a teacher, during the summer months I "don't work". Those of you who REALLY know me and have a handful of your own kids know how silly this idea of "not working" is. (Try telling my wife that she "doesn't work" during the school year. Stand back a bit before you do...) Anyway, since my wife is working pretty much full time during this summer in an on going effort to release ourselves from debt I have been working pretty much full time as Mr. Mom.



Anyway, suffice it to say that I have not had a lot of time to work on the house these past months. Back in June, when I was trying to make the transition from the school year routine to the summer one, this realization hit me hard. Let's just say every summer I gain a new appreciation for the work my wife - and all stay at home moms (God bless ya!) - do all year long. Transition usually takes a couple of weeks and then I'm fine (mostly). Despite the more full time nature of our jobs this summer, I did manage to get some work done on the house last week. My newly-revised goal for "finishing" BHB included really finishing the upstairs by the end of the summer...or, failing in that, by the end of the year ;-)



This is a little hard to photograph, apologies. If you have been reading this blog for a while you know that I have been working hard at cutting the old barn board and fitting it in over the exposed SIPs panels (see previous posts). I recently finished (mostly) with the upstairs except for around the long windows on the south side.

The job I finished this past week was putting barn board trim around these windows and then building a long sill along the bottom. I built the sill out of left over 1 x 4 mahogany decking.

After building the sills and finishing the trim, I put the first couple of coats of sealer on them. Looks great.

It's funny how relatively small jobs, upon completion, produce a disproportionately great sense of gratification. I guess the exposed OSB, un-trimmed windows, and protruding tufts of insulation were really bugging me...Anyway, I am happy with how this has turned out and it definitely adds to the feel of completion upstairs.

How to have a "green" green lawn

So, the secret to an environmentally friendly, low-impact lawn is this: PRAY FOR RAIN! LOTS AND LOTS OF RAIN! Basically we watered for the first two or three weeks after the seed went down, we've fertilized once, and the good Lord provided all the rest. We lucked out having such a wet summer. We'll have some work to do this fall re-seeding patches that have come in spotty, but all in all I am pleased with the results.

Honestly, I really don't WANT a lawn...at least not this much of it. I have a million ideas for how to reduce the amount of water-sucking (and weed-attracting) grass, but all of them COST money (which is somewhat in short supply at this time) so they have been relegated to the great To-Do list reserved for Someday.

Having said that, I am pleased with how this has turned out. The kids are thrilled to finally be able to walk on the grass and have a place to play near to the house. Walking around the house this evening, freshened up after mowing, beer in hand, sun's late-day golden rays tinging the treetops felt down-right kingly. Summer's grand. Life is good. Amen.

Dog Days/Dog Nights

Sorry for the pause in the posting this summer. Here are some of the most recent shots of the house. Getting the "shop" set up in the basement was the necessary first step before I could proceed with the project that remains my albatross: getting the old barn siding cut and fitted over the inside of the SIPs panels. More pics of this to come.

Kid-Friendly House

Something about Steve Thomas' visit to BHB has been nagging me. During those hot, sweaty 5-6 hours of taping the segment, Steve kept remarking how "kid-friendly" the house was. Each time we'd show him a new aspect of the house he'd say something like The kids must love this! or You've created such a kid-friendly house! In fact, that phrase "kid-friendly" was uttered so often I began to fear that the overall impression Steve had gotten of the house was that of one, giant play structure.

Why does this bug me? I mean, the house IS *ahem*, kid-friendly. I think it bugs me because I don't feel he quite "got" BHB. I mean, I think he appreciated the barn frame and the craftsmanship of the original frame-wrights, and I think he liked aspects of the space we have created, but the "kid-friendly" moniker strikes me as being the best he could come up with as far as a compliment. Maybe that's unfair (if you're reading this Steve, apologies!)

You see, we didn't design the house for the kids. Yes, they were taken into consideration (of course). But the overarching inspiration for this home was a vision, a vision founded on and driven by a number of deeply held principles and philosophies about homes, design, space, materials, etc. This house came into being primarily because I had to bring to fruition my own yearning to create a space to inhabit that reflected who I am, what I believe, and how I want to live. I'll be the first to admit that the house is flawed in the realization of these yearnings - what house isn't? - but I am proud of what it is and what it speaks to everyone who passes by on the street and slows down to look and everyone who comes through the front door. I guess I hope that people will take it seriously - not in a joyless or purely academic way - but recognizing the intent (or trying to) and making an effort to listen to what it "says". To reduce it to "kid-friendly" just seems to miss the boat. I can hear skeptics saying, "You're asking too much of people". Maybe I am. Maybe I am. Maybe I shouldn't care whether people get it or not. In the words of Mr. Plumbean ,

“My house is me and I am it. My house is where I like to be and it looks like all my dreams.”