Renovating to Restore: Adventures Repairing the (amazing!) Borden Milk House in Wassaic NY
When you're sad and frustrated that no substantial progress is being made on your enormous house renovation project, focus instead on the appearance of progress. After all, appearances are what's important. I've been re-watching Better Off Ted, and this quote seemed appropriate. The last item on our renovation to-do list is replacing the siding, so … Continue reading PAINT!
While most of the house will be restored using the original lath/plaster design, certain spots it makes more sense to use drywall. A little over a month ago (Sept 2020) Bridgette & I took on a very small drywall project while Elliot & Sergiu were out doing other stuff1. And we did a moderately bad … Continue reading Hanging Drywall
I really enjoyed how the scorching drought of June killed off all the grass, but the garden could have used some rain (and a less intense heatwave) Quick summary update on our first year of gardening in Wassaic: 1. BrassicasI planted three different vegetables in the brassica family, two of which I actually enjoy eating. … Continue reading Gardening Update – September
So what has everyone been up to for the last four months? Anything new or interesting going on in the world? Part of the reason for my lack of activity on the blog was that I couldn't use my right arm for the last two months (slows down my typing speed!). Other than that little … Continue reading Quarantine Projects
Replacing a septic line is a dirty, dirty job. And since few of us are anywhere near an office at this point, why bother trying to make a post like this safe for work?** About five seconds into this project - a project resplendent with moist caverns, hard shafts, suspiciously named parts,*** and a lot … Continue reading That’s What She Said*
It's a stressful time, so we've got to celebrate the wins when we get them. Kitchen As you may remember, we are (very slowly) preparing the kitchen for renovation, and this necessitated the removal of a built-in cabinet/drawers thing that acted as a wall between the original kitchen and the mud room (prep room? laundry … Continue reading Little Victories
Well, we've been hard at work (work harder, not smarter) in the yard/garden the past few weeks. We planted a bed of potatoes, a bed of potatoes & sugar snap peas (almost everything hates being near potatoes [more for me!], but sugar snap peas can tolerate them), and started a few trays of seedlings -- … Continue reading Gardening Update – Early April
Remember the gate? I was unhappy with it, but also just happy it was up? Gate looking shiny on its first day... before it started sloping downward into the mud. Well, over the following weeks/months it just kept slowly (not that slowly) sinking down to the point where it was pretty much unusable. I thought … Continue reading Gate part two!
This isn't going to be one of those quick easy projects. The first floor kitchen is one of the few rooms that the previous owner(s) did not start renovating: the electric and plumbing are older than other areas, and the walls, floor, and ceiling were last updated sometime before I was born. So we're sort … Continue reading The Kitchen – Big Project Post
The plan has always been to restore the house to it's former glory, while incorporating some modern luxuries (indoor plumbing, integrated networking, electricity, massive Ritz-inspired walk-in shower, etc). One of the early priorities, especially for a gigantic house like this one, was to get some less destructive power sources set up. We wanted to start … Continue reading Renewable Energy!
