When we were signing on to be featured on This Old House TV's next season, we were told by many who had been involved in past seasons that we would need to take a leap of faith when doing this. I think that can mean a lot of things, but for us, it's meant really learning to trust a team of experts, and let them guide us through an incredible process. This applies to all the wonderful folks who have advised us throughout this project, but, as I've discussed before, one of the things I've most enjoyed has been working with the Terrat Elms design team.
Not only do they have creative, cool, and fun ideas, they are also down-to-earth, smart, and really get that Joe and I do not lead a "designer" life. We like comfort, entertaining, and piling up with lots of people, dogs, cats, etc. to watch a movie on a friday night. We allow pizza on the couch, drinks in the living room, and don't have a lot of rules in our home. Whether that is good or bad is for another discussion, but either way, it's how we choose to live. And they have done an incredible job of integrating our personal, comfortable style into the final design.
As we've worked with Dee and Andrew more and more, we've gotten to the point of completely trusting them (we have "leapt", so to speak). Joe and I both arrived at that moment at different points. I got there a bit earlier on when I was asking if we should stick with the all-white kitchen I had always envisioned, or go for a less matchy-match look with the island. I vacillated a lot, but it was Dee Elms who convinced me that trying something different on the island would be a fun, interesting element, and was worth reconsidering. For Joe, it was at a weekly team meeting when they were presenting some of their ideas, and he kept asking about various items "Will it match?" Jen Wells, one of the show's producers, was smart enough to pull Joe aside and remind him that, of course it will match—we are working with designers who know what they are doing!
Since then, we have left a lot of the decisions up to them (paint colors, fabrics, etc.). So deep is our trust that, sometimes, we don't even look a paint color they've recommended before agreeing to it. Now, I realize that most of us never get to work with designers (I certainly never had; it's just a benefit to working with TOH), but it's been a great lesson in taking some chances and having some fun in our living space—something I think we will have achieved here. I know that, in the future, I will tend to err on the side of taking risks when it comes to putting together a room, even though I probably won't have a design team advising me every step of the way!
One of the first things Joe wanted to do when we moved into our house was to build a wrap-around seating area in our kitchen where we could nestle our kitchen table. We loved the idea of gathering the whole family there for meals and celebrations, and have always admired this element in other homes. It was on the to-do list for a long time, but never quite made it to the top. Until now.
Okay, the countdown has really begun. And, oh my—the craftsmanship that is coming from Tom's team now! Wow! I've always trusted their work completely, but seeing them go start to finish with their projects makes me continuously appreciative of this team. The mudroom stairs are still a work in progress, but they have done an incredible job, and its future beauty is starting to emerge.
As I've mentioned before, Joe and I live our lives in a constant state of biting off more than we can chew. In that spirit, we decided to paint our garage ourselves. Because of Massachusetts lead laws, costs for hiring painters has skyrocketed, so we took on what we thought was a manageable project. I prepped and painted the entire interior of our house (with help from many lovely and wonderful family members), so I was pretty confident in my DIY painting abilities. Joe doesn't paint, but brings carpentry knowledge to the table, so we make a good team. We scheduled the project over two long weekends last month—one for prepping, one for painting—and asked for help from my dad and a few other saints (thank you Tom, Seth, Anne and John!!). We thought that would be plenty of time. Guess what? IT WASN'T!!
We arrived on a Saturday morning armed with HEPA masks, goggles, paint supplies and scaffolding. But just a few hours into it, I started wondering which was more painful: delivering my first born child, or painting the garage. I decided it was the latter. Sensing my agony, Joe took on the role of Chief Cheerleader and encouraged me to keep going. We scraped. And scraped. And scraped and scraped. We stopped passersby on the street, begging for help, and, finally, we ended the long weekend with a garage that looked like the photo above. (Oh, did I mention that we decided to remove the entire facade and have Joe rebuild it?) But don't worry. Since then, Joe has rebuilt the front, and my dad and I tackled priming and painting, though we had to seek Tom Silva's help on two rotted, termite ridden sills.
We recently had the opportunity to work with ChromaLab, a small, very cool company that our designers introduced us to. Their work falls into the category of really cool stuff (one of my favorite examples of their work can be seen above) that designers know about, and we don't! We've asked them to do some work in our half-bath and study, and I can't wait to see what the final product looks like. These talented artists do many things, but what we will be working with them on is a hand-done specialty finish they will create offsite, then apply to the 1/2 bath wall. I think it goes on like wallpaper, but the coolest thing is that we get to choose the design. They can do just about any color, shape, or size, and we had fun with Dee, Andrew and Crystal (of Terrat Elms Interior Design) in picking a design. We went with a funky, fun, and very different print for the 1/2 bath, and a very traditional painted overlay for the study (a room we are keeping as traditional as possible). Check out the cool work they do here.Considering my inability to draw even stick figures, I am truly a fan of the artistry and creativity that goes into this!
One of the things I loved most about our house when we bought it was the natural country feel of its dirt driveway. Unfortunately, most of its charm was lost several time each year when it turned into a virtual mud pit, thanks to our incredibly high water table. This has not been lost on our dogs, who love playing around in all that mud, nor or daughter, who enjoys all the puddle jumping, as well as the mud pies we've made with her. Despite its pleasures, Joe and I were ready for an update. We contemplated pouring gravel over the mud, which is what the previous owners did (though they were much better than we were about replenishing the gravel). Thankfully, Roger Cook helped us come up with a cool alternative. His relatively inexpensive solution involved laying down a traditional driveway, letting it set for about six weeks, then laying an oil coating with embedded stone over the top. It creates a more natural look than a regular driveway—with zero maintenance. Thanks, Roger!
Last summer, we asked our landscape architect Jenn Nawada to come up with a long-term "dream plan" that would incorporate several major changes we hope to put in place over the next several years (feel free to ask Joe about his planned pickleball court).
No doubt we were pretty excited by what she came up with. Jenn's a great listener, who was able to integrate what we wanted with a few fun ideas of her own, including a flower cutting garden (love the idea, though I'm not sure my green thumb will be up to the task). There will still be a few more iterations of the plan as we move along, but it's really fun to think through the specifics.
Since Joe and I don't know too much about plants, we asked Jenn and Roger Cook to recommend native, historically accurate, easy-to-maintain plants that will be reasonably priced and offer some privacy in the long term. Tall order, huh? They actually have a few ideas that meet most of these criteria, and we're looking forward to making some decisions.
I wanted to dedicate a blog post to my dad, who we have labeled this season's This Old House "Chief Gawker" (a title he, in fact, endorsed). I don't think there's anyone who is having more fun with this renovation than he is. He watches the webcam constantly, attends as many filming days as he can, and has been a HUGE help on various projects Joe and I have been taking on. He also comes by to mow the lawn a lot, a small task that we greatly appreciate and can't seem to keep up with as of late! He spent about 50 hours last week removing lead paint from our garage windows (more on that in another post!), and actually seemed to enjoy himself. Here's a shot of the Chief Gawker doing what he does best—watching the action with a camera in hand. Thanks Dad!!
Joe and I are almost always in sync about our vision for the house. Sure, sometimes our opinons differ on, say, which shade of blue to use, but seldom do we bicker about entire color schemes. We did, however, have to really talk—and really listen—to each other when it came to making a decision about the entry to our new pantry.
Originally, we envisioned a heavy sliding barn door like the one pictured in an earlier blog entry. But when it came time to make a final decision, I started leaning toward a simpler, pocket-style door. I figured it would be lighter and easier to manage. I was also worried the barn door would make the kitchen almost too rustic looking—that, coupled with all the exposed wood ceiling beams, it would make the room feel more like a ski lodge and less like the airy kitchen I was aiming for.
Unfortunately, Joe wanted to stick to our original plan. So we went back and forth, poring over magazines and Web sites for ideas. Still, we couldn't find anything that appealed to both of us. That is until Andrew Terrat, one of our fabulous designers from Terrat Elms Designs, showed us a picture he had found in a magazine of double sliding doors that were much thinner and more lightweight than the ones we were picturing.
Joe and I were equally excited about this idea. Especially when we realized we had two matching old doors from the house that were no longer in use. After measuring them out, we determined they would fit perfectly!
The fact that we are re-using parts of our nearly 300 year old house makes us really happy with this solution. We will likely paint the doors white to match our cabinets, and put them on sliders over a black chalkboard wall. Sure, it's a work in progress, but I'm confident we'll end up with a finished product that will make both of us happy.
One thing's for sure: Roger Cook and his team did a great job clearing the overgrowth and non-native vegetation that had taken over almost half of our yard. Since there is actually a rare protected salamander living on our property, they had to work with the state wildlife commission to make sure they were respectful of the salamander's natural habitat. Here are some shots of the space they cleared around the edge of the yard. We were really excited, since we now have enough room for a vegetable garden, two nice shade trees, and a large storage shed. We are outside all the time in the warmer months—as well as some of the colder ones—so we'll use this space a lot. Looking forward to an amazing backyard!
Exciting day!! Until today, the wall from the original house to the new addition remained up while the framing and roofing was being finished. Now that it's done, Tom and the guys have taken the wall down between the two spaces—and it's so exciting to see. Pictured above is a before shot, taken from the new space looking toward the kitchen (with an intact wall), followed by an after shot Look at all of that new room!
It's amazing how it feels to be in the space now. TOH TV producer Deb Hood described it as moving from a cramped little space to a big barnlike structure, and it really is. We are starting to be able to visualize the new layout, and it feels so amazing. As we continue to make decisions moving forward, we are trying to create as much openness as is possible, while also trying to retain the feel of the old house. It's very exciting, and it feels like major progress is happening here!
The garden is here! The area that was once all overgrowth and weeds has been cleared to reveal a sunlit space that is now serving as a space for two raised bed gardens. Jennifer Nawada and Roger Cook put together the plan for these rectangular raised beds, which will accomodate a fairly generous family garden come next summer. This, coupled with a potted herb garden on the deck, will give us the opportunity to grow a solid crop of veggies for next summer. I've already got my gardening book for planning.
I was talking to a friend recently about different ways to re-use old windows as design elements. She and her family have found some pretty creative ways to integrate windows, including using them as message boards and picture frames. Since Joe and I are going to have about six or seven old windows that, for various reasons, we won't to be able to reuse, we're trying to figure out what to do with them. Well, at our last design meeting we found at least one solution. Our designers, Dee and Andrew of Terrat Elms, suggested we keep an old window that we originally planned on removing (shown here) so we'll be able to look into the mudroom from the kitchen, and through it, all the way out to the front yard. Since the current window is in pretty bad shape, Joe measured out some of the other windows we have onsite so we can use one of them to fit the original window space. Sure, we'll lose some upper shelf space, but I think it will be worth it to let more light in, and to to open up a space that is very cramped. Can't wait to see the finished product!
Any other ideas from readers on re-using old windows? Thanks!
So, maybe I should have done this when I first started blogging, but I thought it would make sense to step back a bit and talk through our design process—and how we got to doing this addition in the first place.
After living in a small apartment for many years, we bought our house four years ago after falling in love with it the second we walked through the door. We were ecstatic to be first-time homeowners of a house with such a storied history, and with such potential.
The house had been lovingly cared for by its former owners, but it needed some work. We wanted to tackle most of that work ourselves, hiring out only when absolutely necessary. After doing some structural work, updating the roof, and adding much-needed insulation, we started tackling each project one-by-one. Joe is a do-it-yourselfer who is incredibly handy, and grew up in older houses—I am not, and did not. Still, I liked the charm of the house, though I had NO IDEA WHAT I WAS GETTING INTO. If I had, I probably would have suggested buying a finished condo, and spending our weekends traveling, instead of in Home Depot. But it was not to be.
So I learned that our marriage would begin not with matching bathrobes, but with matching HEPA filtration masks hanging by our bed. It would not be about sleeping late on the weekends and enjoying coffee and the paper after a long week of work, but about implementing overly ambitious plans to tackle the upstairs bath (or the linen closet, or the dining room). We have officially called every room of this house our bedroom at different points, as we moved from room to room fixing and changing things. By the time our daughter arrived, we had been in the house for 2.5 years and had gotten it to a steady state. I still hated the peeling paint outside, and the unfinished kitchen, but we settled down for almost a year before deciding it was time to tackle the next big thing (because raising a toddler as two working parents with high-energy dogs—and a steady stream of weekend guests—just wasn't keeping us busy enough!).
So, we applied to the show in the fall of 2010, and started our real planning over the winter. We were referred to our architect, Dan Quaile, who helped us plan a modest addition off the kitchen and a small mudroom entry point. Dan was awesome. He just listened, and listened, and listened, and did a wonderful job of making our dreams a reality. We considered a few different things (adding a bedroom upstairs, or a downstairs playroom), but ultimately settled on a family room addition that would serve as a cozy living space. While budget was the deciding factor for not doing a second floor add on, we also wanted to do higher ceilings in the new family room space, and would have had to sacrifice that to add a bedroom upstairs. So we kept it simple, and I'm glad we did.
We also decided to tackle some other projects—re-siding, updating our windows (80% of which are painted shut), landscaping, etc. And so here we are. The funny thing is that we still have things we want to tackle that aren't being addressed now. One of our upstairs baths, for example, needs a redo, and we still need to do some updates on the front stairs. Joe has endless amounts of woodworking projects he wants to take on as well. But since we both enjoy working on our house, we should have no problem tackling that bath project one of these days.
I do, however, want to put that HEPA mask away for good...