Winter Wonderland
What a spectacular winter day in Richmond. Area has gotten a lot of snow this winter after a slow start. The road up the hill was very icy. I stopped to say hello to a neighbor and the car would not move forward on the ice. So I had to back down to a level area and then gather speed to get up the hill. Driveway was no problem due to plowing after every storm.
Quiet Woods
In the winter the site feels so much larger since you can look through all the trees. For about 140 degrees you can see a continuous ridge in the distance. This view is up the hill. In the summer the trees shield the northern area of the site. In the winter the suns streams in on the north side.
Building Out Coffer Ceiling
All right, back to construction. Mark and his guys are starting to assemble the coffered ceilings. Beadboard went in awhile ago. Now the 2×4 grid. Then a lot of molding will be layered on.
Drywall Taping Full Court Press
It is all about the drywall. 99% of drywall is up and several layers of compound is up. Gregg is pushing for paint colors so they must be close to finishing. On this trip I went by Caligari’s Paint and Tim matched by Superior Cabinet Winter White in Ben Moore Aura Satin finish. Aura is low VOC paint. Keeps paint vapors out of the house and is a very green product.
Light Well
Frank Nelson and his crew have all the drywall up except one section in the light tower which still has a platform set to finish the top of the tower. The light well is too high to work on with ladders. So a temp floor was build and right now creates a little room. The drywall work to create the recesses for the windows is perfect. Guys will paint this “room” and then take down the temp floor, then fill in the band of drywall mid light well, tape, compound, sand and paint. Then let the light stream down and fill the lower level.
Porch Fitout
Lot of thought went into the screen retention. Originally, the screen was to be closer to the outside. Another Green River project for the Cohens used this design. The supports on the back of the house are 12×12 fiberglass. The two mid supports are also in the middle of the posts (ie set 6 inches in from the edge). The screen will attach in the front 1/3 of these mid supports and the cablerail stainless steel cabling will go on the outside. The cable serves as the protection from falling out of the porch. The cablerail is used as the railing system across the whole back of the house. It is very expensive but it dissappears visually. And what you do see is stainless steel and looks very very sharp. This was one of those wince at the line item but really need to use products. Wait until you see it installed.
Mass State Line
There is very little budget for art or furniture for that matter! Bring your own! Anyway, I plan to print a number of black and white photos of local features and frame in black frames with white mats. This state line marker is about 1.5 miles from our house. Next to the railway line. Every now and then we hear a slow speed freight train go by.
Animal Tracks
Plenty of animal tracks crisscrossing the property.
Icicle
Now that is an icicle. This roof sloughs off a ton of snow especially where there are no gutters and hence no snow guards. Here, on the end of the master bath, a gigantic icicle has formed. 19 degrees at 1PM plus breeze so not sure of wind chill. A typical cold Berkshires day. Before leaving, I assembled two work benches in the back of the garage. Each is 2′ x 4′ and has extended rails on the back that take a 3′ x 4′ piece of pegboard. Each bench is on wheels. Beginning of a workshop.
Richmond Farmhouse Project 