Fireplaces

It has been a long winter…as I am sure everyone in America knows! Work continued inside but at a slower pace as the snow and cold made every chore more difficult. We have four rooms that have the finish plaster on and several others that have the first coat. Sam is waiting for me to get the chimneys completed and through the roof so he can plaster the rooms they are in. As you can see, the process is partly done. The firebox and smokeshelf needed for both fireplaces are completed. Now we will set the flues. The marble fireplace, still without its installed mantle is particularly handsome. It is made of pink marble and yellow onyx.  The wooden mantle still needs its stone trim before it can be installed. With spring not far off we will soon have to turn our attention to finishing the exterior before the heat of summer sends us indoors again!   Jim

Yeah, what he said! It has been a week of moderately intense plastering. Good to get some white on the walls. I enjoy sloshing through the puddles outside and imagining green leaves on the trees. Am also particularly blown away by how spectacular the marble fireplace is turning out. How does Jim know how to do that? Sam

 

Warming Temps

Just a few shots of the work so far. A wide array of occupations. And starting to see how the rooms and house is coming together. Am pleased with the change in weather. Hope to progress and get a lot more done before we must turn outside again. Sam

Jim has nothing to say; a nice change.

Twisted

 

I'm done. I dont want to write anything. What do I have to say? All I do is work. Work. Work. Work. I posted this picture of Jim's work. What did I do? Just plastered. Rubbing white stuff over the blueboard that hardened up to create a space. What is a space? Just a place to store stuff. Stuff that one thinks is interesting and hopefully beautiful. Beauty. Why is it important? Because it pleases the eye. Well take a look. Do you see anything pleasing to the eye? Maybe your eye has been deceived. Look again. Still don't see anything, then maybe it is because there isn't white stuff smeared all over the blueboard. Oh, and Jim's work, it looks ok as well I guess. Sam

Sam has been a little distracted of late. I think he has breathed in a little too much plaster dust. It is either that or the anticipation of taking a break from the tasks at hand by attending a couple of classes in the coming months I have no choice but to keep working. The oak spiral staircase to the second floor is in...finally. It is a task I am glad to be shed of. I also have all of the black cherry woodwork roughed out for the upstairs two bed rooms on the south side where Sam has finished plastering.Next is the bathroom tile floors and the building of the two brick fireplaces in the living and dining rooms. Then it will be spring and I will be taking a break!!! Jim

Merry Christmas!

Noooooovember

Nov. 25

Hectic days getting ready for winter. We’ve moved bricks and sand into the house in order to build fireplaces after freeze-up.  The back staircase treads and risers are in and I now turn my attention to the spiral oak staircase in the center of the house. Sam has made his first attempt at thin coat plastering. He has the upstairs bathroom scratch coat on and already he is showing a talent for the work. By the time we get to the formal downstairs rooms he should be fairly accomplished at it. There are only two more door casings to hang and that tedious work will be complete. The days are shorter now but we have lighting in nearly all of the rooms so when not too exhausted by the day’s chores we will be able to work at night as well. Jim

I am thankful for stone and wood. Carbon, silicon, oxygen and more congealed together to form the structure of this mass. Without these atoms, without these bonds, there is no reason for hammer, chisel, nail, and screw. The most basic of elements gives us the greatest beauty. The smallest touch leads to the greatest change. The tree grew through many seasons, the stone sustained intense heat and pressure. Ours has been an intense process through many seasons. Many elements have come together to create this mass of stone and wood. Sam

Falling

I am in a steady relationship. I do not know if she is right for me. She is high maintenance, requires daily attention, and is never quite satisfied. This is all well and good, except I do not know if she likes me. She glitters and sparkles and seems to smile when attention is given to her. She is beautiful, to be sure. A real show-stopper, second, third, and even more unwarranted looks have been cast her way. Yet I ignore all of this. I am in this relationship not for her attention. I do not try to hide her beauty, or to stifle the unwarranted looks. I feed her need for high maintenance. I build this beauty for the sake of beauty. It turns heads; casts a shadow of grace. Do those who see her know that she is not out of their league? They too can have beauty as her. Commit to a relationship of daily working with whatever materials to be found. Work to mold, shape, and construct a thing of beauty. Line, color, texture, form, symmetry. The relationship will form and heads may turn. She will always approve.Sam

Sam talks of his "relationship" with this beauty. To me,at my age, she is more like a cruel mistress...demanding, infuriating and eating all my waking and some of my sleeping hours. But by far the worst part is the knowledge that at least a whole year remains to satisfy her voraciousness. The exterior of the cupola and the completion of the porch remain to be done before winter. There is also the extensive landscaping that awaits. The interior,well, every day of every week will hardly complete it by next fall. This mistress may kill me yet! Jim

More Gingerbread Please

It is hard to not look. This has been a hot week. We have been painting. Jim has been working on the porch, and I have been working on the second floor. We have decided to use a gray for the trim and a muted ocher for the cedar shingles. I was worried that my sweat would dilute the paint too much, but the colors turned out quite well. It is really turning into a jewel box. Sam


It was wonderful today to see the first of the porch trim go up. We chose to paint it an off-white gray which is in the green rather than the blue register. It is merely a lighter shade of the gray we are going to use on the second floor trim. This light gray appears like blue green ice. It gives the porch a light rather than a heavy feeling. It looks remarkable against the darker stone of the walls. We have enough trim to complete the entire three sided porch and hope to get it installed in the next several weeks.There is a lot to do before winter and snow moves us inside.Jim