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Project 13a: Preparing the
New Building....
Project 13b: The New Building-The
Farmhouse....
Project 13c: The New
Building-The Barn |
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Project 13c: The New
Building-The Barn
The Owner's Quarters |
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Once the property had become known as a vacation rental and the site for
destination weddings, and had begun to earn some income, it was time for
me to take my newfound skills--tiling, carpentry, textured
wall-plastering, painting--and begin to finish the Owner's Quarters in
the Homer Jones Barn building. |
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The public areas are always the first priority, so the first project was
the office and waiting room, put into service for my Maine psychotherapy
and life coaching clients. This was my first experience with a slate
floor--very demanding and frustrating, but very beautiful when
finished--with barnboard walls and with my own version of the painter's
textured wall-plastering. See what you think. |
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Finally, it was time to complete my own private kitchen! I searched the
Green Demolitions site in Norwalk, CT, where wealthy people who are
re-decorating, donate their kitchens....month after month. Nothing that
would quite work in my plan.
Then finally, a warm red oak
kitchen with lots of cabinets came in, at the same time as I was
bargaining for two large and elegant oak hutches for the upstairs
kitchen and dining room. Perfect. A huge Penske truck would carry them
all north. |
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The kitchen called out for more slate floors....oh my aching knees and
back! But, again, they were worth the trouble. The color of the natural
slate tiles is glorious, especially after covered with Behr's Wet Look
Sealer. This is just after finishing the mortaring and first coat of
sealing, before the grouting. |
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STUDIO WALL |
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And the coolest of all projects was when we closed in the Studio
Wall...the wall between the Great Room and what was to become my
painting and jewelry studio.
First, my next door neighbor/carpenter Matthew built a 56" stud wall and
we devised a way to hang some great antique shutters for visual privacy.
This did the trick for a year. |
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Here's how it looked from the Great Room.... |
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Then it was time (and there was finally money) to make the wall
soundproof....and I took down the shutters and put them away....who
knows? They might have another use! |
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Then my dear friend and former GC Chris Harrington drove down, with his
staging, to help with that momentous project. |
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A full week later, with various falls and injuries and help from a
great new local handyman, we had the public side of the wall complete.
Here's how it went:
First, Chris strengthened the
top plate on the existing wall, and measured for the studs and I cut
them and he installed them. Once we had a really strong base, we began
to do the same for the top half of the wall. |
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And between the heavy lifting times, which we couldn't have done without
Ryan, he was building Autumn plant pots out of the plants I'd picked up
at Moose Crossing. |
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The three of us lifted the door
up the scaffolding and finally Ryan and I lifted it into place, while
Chris steadied from above....and then we all lifted the upright beam
(from the historic 200+ year-old Homer Jones barn) over the Gathering
Room railing and up the scaffolding and into place. Needless to say, I
was too busy lifting to take pictures, but here are the components:
The barn door...
and the cross beam timber...... |
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And the timber that went over
the photographs, next to the door timber frame..... |
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The walls are five layers thick....sheetrock or barn door, sound board,
insulation, sound board, sheetrock or barn door.
Solid insulation was first
applied between the studs.... |
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...then soundboard to deaden the sound that might have traveled through
the ancient wood panels. Here is what it looks like on the Studio side
of the wall....while still in the installation process... |
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Back to the Great Room side of the wall, sheet rock followed the sound
board installation and Chris did the rough taping.
And then it was time for me to do my "3D" mud effect on the sheet rock
walls...this is a great stucco look that I've developed to go with the
rustic timbers....and have used throughout the Owner's Quarters... |
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and I finished two wall spaces that hadn't been done earlier. |
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When the guests went off to paint the next morning, we got permission to
finish the wall over the door....so Chris framed it in and I cut the
soundboard and sheetrock...Chris installed and taped it and I did the
"3D" lickety-split. |
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Phew! The public side, the Great Room side, is functional for the guests
and privacy reigns. |
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There's more to do on the
Studio side, but Chris must head back to Denmark....to be continued.... |
