The main floor of the farmhouse needed a half bath, so we added it off of the barn room. The room measures 5 x 7' and will have a new two-over-two window, just like those in the ell in the photo. It will eventually be painted the same color as the farmhouse and ell, and will visually go away! It is very common to see antique New England homes that have been added-onto time and time again; these little bump-outs just add charm and character!. The house and ell will be a classic New England white and the barn will be a driftwood gray.
While antiquing down the road in Massachusetts a couple of days ago, we came across this wonderful antique marble basin top and back splash! The space was having a 20% off sale, so it was only $76! But.... $76 isn't a good deal unless we knew what we were going to use as a base. We decided to think about it.
We thought about it for about one minute while we walked to another space about six spaces down and Dan found this cutie! We will take the wood top off and place the marble on top. Did I mention the wood top was
exactly the same size as the marble! It was meant to be, and was only $126 after the 30% off sale the dealer was having! I haven't even begun to contemplate colors for the barn room, but I'm initially thinking black or a gray for this piece. It has these really sweet original wooden tassel-like pulls.
This small barn door (with it's original iron hardware- isn't it cool?!) will be the faux door for the outhouse. For privacy there will be an actual door, but this will be moved and hung over the door from the barn room to the half bath. (And if you like this one wait until I show you what we're doing with the huge barn door and hardware!)
From this viewpoint of standing in the barn room facing West you also see: (1) the floor (at the top of the photo) of what will be an enclosed loft- in other words, it does not open into the barn room (2) the room on the left will have stairs coming up from the new garage below, a staircase leading up to the aforementioned loft and a bench and coat rack (using the original hooks from the barn) (3) the room on the right will be a large storage room (the opening you are looking into will be closed off.)
The iron gates for the barn room. Once installed they will be in the opening to the left of the sliding door in the above photo; dividing the barn room from what we are calling the Barn mudroom. I thought Patti would like to see them again!!!
Some other projects happening today... Two plumbers, two plaster guys, and a finish carpenter are working inside, and on the outside- the exterior shingles are going up! You can't see it in this photo, but the farmhouse and ell has a "
skirt" to it that flares out on the bottom. I have never seen this on a house before, but it is absolutely precious. This is the area the guys are working on in the photo. They had to soak shingles inside (it was too cold outside), so they could contour them to make them fit the skirt. The framers are making the awning for over the kitchen mudroom door. There will be two large granite steps off of the door.
The floor above the barn door where the old window is covered up is now our new master closet! That window is boarded up and will be shingled in anticipation of the chimney chase for the Barn Room fireplace. On each side of that boarded window we are
adding two, two-over-two awning-style opening windows that will be in the master closet! I'm a fresh air girl and the thought of having opened windows and natural light in a closet makes me one happy girl!
Update: The very night we got home from purchasing the marble basin top and base I googled "12-inch round sinks" to see what the damage would be for a sink. About the third entry was a Craigslist listing for a 12" round sink! Now I've had this happen before when looking at various items, but the listing would always be clear across the country, but this was in
Boston- only 1 1/2 hours away! Oh, and it was old (a new, bright, shiny one would have been wrong with my antique marble top) and was $10!! Isn't it the cutest little thing?!
So yesterday, we drove to Boston. The owner lived in
Beacon Hill, and all I can say is OMG, I'm in love. If I were to live in a big city, and I couldn't live in Paris then I'm living in Beacon Hill! The architecture of the homes is amazing. My pictures do not do it true justice.
Master bedroom today being plastered.
The walls have rounded corners. This close-up shows the metal guides which will round the corners out once the plaster goes up.
The kitchen side of the see-thru fireplace.
The bricks going in!
This is how it looked at the end of the day today! It is so fun to see my drawing become a reality. The bricks are from the chimney that was removed several months ago. The mortar is wet in the photo and looks a little overwhelming- the end result will be a soft, muted exposed brick wall. Above the top row of bricks in the photo will be a large plank from the barn which will be the mantle.
It's been a very difficult three weeks- we've been told we are over budget by our contractor (if I told you how much you would not believe me), a thousand important decisions needed yesterday, in summation...THIS IS NOT FUN. At the end of the day our drink of choice during this difficult period has been a dirty martini with a jalapeno stuffed olive! I'm usually more of a wine (or whine girl!) and Dan's a beer guy, but as I told my friend Mary at
