Update on Ceiling Vaulting Project

I couldn't resist posting this photo of Traveler as he walked down the hall just as I took a photo of our new pendant light in the hallway.  On to the update below...

We have undetaken the project of vaulting our front living room.  The first step was to move 18 inches (deep) of blown in cotton insulation.  Not looking forward to this...

However, a stroke of genius on my part made it so much easier...yep, that's a leaf blower!  If you haven't ever cleaned your gutters using a leaf blower you must do it.  Takes a several hour project and makes it into a 20 minute project.  That is where this idea sprung from!

The room prior to any demolition but after having moved most of the furniture out.  Only a few baskets of magazines moved together and a table needed to be moved and onto the demo phase...

And just like that the virgin ceiling had a big hole in it...no turning back now!

Demo continues...

That's our in house contractor, Jerry (aka my Dad), who makes all of this possible with his skill and mind blowing know how!

This mess is why we enclosed the room off form the rest of the house to avoid dust.  YUCK!

This is what the ceiling looks like with all the drywall removed.  Notice that the joists are ~ 24 inches apart.  the next step is to leave every 4th joist removing the 2 in between and then move 2 together.  You want to make sure that the integrity of the wall remains as these help to hold the outside wall and roof up.  Moving them further apart will open it up and make it look less busy so the eye looks up into...a vaulted ceiling.

Next we continue to move the rest of the joists.  Then put into new baffles in the ceiling for ventilation, followed by insulation, new drywall way up along the angled roof line, electricity, lights on the joists and tongue and groove cladding on the ceiling.  Will keep you updated.

New Horse at the Farm

Ember's owner decided to move her to a new barn where there is an indoor arena, etc.  While we miss her greatly, our good friend Helen's sister, Emma, is now keeping her horse Divo here.  He is a handsome Arabian just like our horse Czar. 

Divo and Czar became fast friends and can't stand being away from one another despite Czar being 24 years older than 2 yr old Divo.  Divo, welcome to Czar of the Woods Farm!

The Melt = Spring is on Its Way! = Mud

I don't know about you but the longer days and sunshine have done me a world of good.  I couldn't resist taking these photos as the sun glistened off the creek that runs through our back pasture as a result of snow melting runoff.

This sunrise greeted us this morning.  Hard no to start the day out on a good note with a greeting like this!

Kitchen Remodel

When we first moved in one of the things that we were most excited about was tackling the kitchen.  It needed help.  We are going for a modern farm house kitchen look.  Some befores and after...

Before (before we even moved in actually-these were taken on our first walk thru)

 

And after(s)...notice the new countertops (made from ceramic tile), the new peninsula on the end and the new pendant old school farm lights.   Someday we will probably paint the cupboards white but for now we are living with them this way...

Before: notice that this was actually the previous owner's dining room.  We made the whole thing our kitchen.

After(s): To turn 2 rooms into one large kitchen we took out the carpet and put in all new floors throughout what used to be the dining room and what already was the kitchen.  This was a very easy way to make what looked to be 2 rooms into one large room.

Thanks to my Dad for all his help on this project including building the shelf you see above.  Next project inside before the weather gets too nice is vaulting the ceiling in our front living room.  

Our first meal in the new kitchen: homemade gluten free pizzas with beets (YUM!), cheese, brie, cilantro and proscutto.  Sarah is an amazing cook and I am so happy that she finally has a nice kitchen with counter space to work on (although she still finds herself using the small part that she used prior to the remodel! HA!)

Deer...

Pretty much every day I see a herd of 8 deer walk across the back pasture.  It is a beautiful site.  Even though they have eaten many of the seedlings that I planted last year!  That is the tug of war of owning a farm, even a hobby farm such as this.  Beauty is tempered by reality.
This photo was taken at the beginning of February...

Update on Mirka

Many of you have asked how Mirka, our "foster" pitbull, is doing and if she is still here.  She is, and she is doing well.  All the foster homes in pitbull rescue groups were full when she and Traveler decided that they didn't like each other (which was quite a while ago now) so she is still here.  We keep them separate, which isn't ideal, but it works.  When he is out she is in her crate (which she loves) and when she is out he sleep in his crate (he also loves his) in the bedroom or on the bed.  The longer she stays the more difficult it would be to ever consider her leaving.  Once the weather breaks we will work with the two of them outside so that they are not in any cramped space that could lead to any aggression.  They are both wonderful, loving dogs that love people but both want to be top dog.  We'll see.  Anyway, here are some photos.  Mirka is very cat-like in that she sleeps like it is going out of style and her favorite thing is to curl up in a ball as close to you/on you as possible.

I've Been Framed: Notes on Collecting and Framed Items

All my life I have been a collector, it is in my genes.  To me it is one of life's great pleasures.  Sometime, I will go into this more.  What I want to focus on here are the things that I collect that go in frames.  For years I have been collecting items that need to be framed in order to be displayed, many vintage things: posters, photographs, paintings, family photos, and maps.  My sketches, my photos, my brothers photos, or those of my mom.  Silk screened prints, rock posters, autographed photos, or perhaps an item that you wouldn't typically frame-most recently I framed a vintage looking empty potato bag.  The bag was given to us full of potatoes by our friends Pat and Dick that grow all sorts of vegetables.  From the moment they gave me the bag I absolutely loved the look of it.  The design was perfect and the colors would go perfectly in our kitchen (see photo below).  Everything that we frame has meaning, in how it was begotten, because of who gave it to us or what it is.  Sometimes it's just cool.  It need not be more, but it should have some meaning or story or reason why you were drawn to it.
The problem with collecting things that need to be framed is that you need the space to display them (and framing them can be expensive, there are however cheap means to doing so).  When we moved to the farm in December 2009 this was one of the things that I was most excited about; having a place to display all this art and antiques.  No longer would they live in a box full of other items waiting to be framed.

One of my favorite interior designers, Thomas O'Brien, writes about collecting, and how he designed the interior of his home "The Academy" in his perfect book: American Modern .  What he says about it is exactly how I feel about it.  The following are excerpts from his book: "A key part of the way I design has to do with collecting and combining.  You can generically call this decoration, but to my way of thinking this is the real landscape of a home; all the things that are most looked at, touched, appreciated, and cultivated.  I will find objects to fit a required space, and I will also pick things that I love and then figure out where to put them later.  That's how rooms begin to layer together, with different perspectives captured in the pieces of a collection; their varied histories, when they were found, and why they were chosen."
He continues: "Like every collector with more things than space, I had been saving furniture and art...for years in storage."  Enter our house.  He closes this topic by saying the following "So, the mix here is diverse; the house is certainly full, not spare.  But it's not at all filled with props.  And it's not all rare.  Everything has meaning."  I couldn't agree more.  Each thing we have framed and displayed has meaning.  You look at it and it's us.  One of a kind stuff.  You're not going to find it in mass quantity at some box department store.
Here are photos of some of the things (I still have a box full of items but it is getting smaller) that I have collected over the years...and finally have displayed at Czar of the Woods Farm.  Enjoy!  I didn't get into all the amazing photos that my mom, a talented hobby photographer, and my brother, a professional free-lance photographer, have given us over the years.  One day I will post about those.

This is a spyrograph that my brother Todd and his wife Jenna made using a vintage spyrograph kit and used as a birthday card for me.  It is framed and hangs in our hallway.

This is a sketch that I drew when I worked in theatre.  I, one day, found myself having to sit and wait 100ft up in the air on the catwalk in the flyspace at UB's mainstage theatre.  Luckily I had a sketch pad and pen with me.  This is what I drew and for some reason have always cherished this drawing.  It was the album cover for a demo that my band, the Stephen Hero, put out ~12 years ago.  It hangs near our front door.

We bought potatoes from our friends Pat and Dick and they came in this amazing bag.  I love the old timey farm quality of it.  We framed it and it hangs in our kitchen which is a perfect spot.

This is an antique atlas from 1931 and it too has this perfect old timey farm feel to it.  The whole book is in the frame and it too is in our kitchen.

I collect old maps and this is one of my favorites due to the cover.  Love the simple design and color scheme.

This is a post card that my Dad sent to my mom before they were married when my Dad was shipping off to Vietnam in the late 60's.  He was in the Air Force.  This is one of my favorite things.  Gives me a glimpse of who my parents were before they were my parents.

The main piece in our dining room is a very large table that we created from an 8ft long section of a bowling alley lane.  We call it the Big Lebowski.  How fitting then that on the wall next to it is a photo that I took in college of Town Edge Bowling Alley in Kaisertown, NY.  Shortly after this, even though the lanes are still in operation, they took this sign down.  I wish I had that!  I had this photo blown up quite large.  For some reason it reminds me of Texas...

And yes, my framed photo of the Dude, Jeff Bridges (aka Jeff Lebowski), from the film the Big Lebowski along with some other bowling related items...

These items are in the "bowling alley" dining room as well.  The framed photo is one of my favorites that we have.  It's of a local bowling alley as well.  Love the composition in her photo.  The small copper box is very much an antique.  We used to carry our wedding rings on our wedding day.  Love it!

And yet another set of photos from my mom that she gave to us.  She very quickly became a very good photographer after getting her first real camera not long ago.  

Bought this poster from the inaugural season of the Shaw Festival for $5 at a garage sale!  LOVE this piece and I would imagine it is worth quite a bit.

This is a vintage stencil of the United States...not sure what year...love that Mexico is spelled wrong on it.  This hangs in our foyer.

These are two original photos of my maternal grandfather, Leo, from World War II in Italy.  He was in the army and painted the ambulances.  The creative/artistic side that is so much a part of our family can very much be attributed to him.

We designed our bathroom to have a 1950's retro look to it (white, grey, black and pink) and I have 2 of my favorite photos that myself took hanging in there.  They are from a trip to NYC.

This is another of my favorite maps.  It is a flight map for Lufthansa Airlines from 1957.  I love the cities on it and all the lines.  Such a cool piece of design!

In our kitchen hangs this vintage Milk Ad magazine.

Quite possible the oldest thing we own and the keystone piece of our living room is this school house map dating back to the late 1800's  It is AMAZING!  Pat and Dick gave it to us when they thought it needed a new home where it could be displayed.  THANK YOU!

I look at this piece every day when I leave the house.  It is the vintage hair piece that my wife, Sarah, wore in her hair on our wedding day.  For our first wedding anniversary back in 2007 I framed it and gave it to her as a gift.  Every time I look at it it brings me back to that perfect day!

LOOOOOONG yet Beautiful Winter

I don't remember such a long and cold winter as we have had this year.  I attribute it to the fact that this past December was also incredibly cold and snowy.  We don't usually get much snow until Christmas.  I don't know about you but I am ready for summer!

Traveler, our Alaskan Malamute, is one fella that doesn't mind the weather but even he wants to lay out in the warm summer sun as it sets in the late afternoon.

We left our patio furniture out (probably a bad idea) but they made for really cool smurf-like structures!

If our property weren't so beautiful to look at, with things unique to each season, winter would have been even more difficult!

Love the way the light plays on the snow creating stunning shadows...

The Genius of a Sleeping Barn

Every night before bed I take a walk out to the barn to check on the crew out there; making sure that everyone is tucked in, safe and healthy.  On particularly cold nights the horses get another snack of hay to keep them warm for the night.  I usually pull Morgan's (our potbellied pig) fleece blanket over her as she snores in her pile of straw bed.  Tonight isn't particularly cold but very snowy and blustery.  My footprints walking to the barn with me, but had I stayed out there any longer my trek out there would have been erased, looking as though I never had.  There is something cozy even about that. I blogged about this in much warmer months back in May 2010 here: http://czarofthewoodsfarm.blogspot.com/2010/05/genius-of-sleeping-houseand-barn.html
A barn is one of the coziest places on earth.  Tonight it was so quiet in the barn, quiet enough to hear, which is how I have described windless winter nights.  Since the wind was howling tonight the barn by contrast seemed to be suspended in time, noted by the lack of sound.  This is, the genious of a sleeping barn.

I love that the inside of our barn is not perfectly pristine, but rather more like the inside of a pirate ship.  it has a lot of character adding to the cozy factor.  Behind where I am standing while taking these photos is where we did a lot of work adding a bead board to the walls and a new work bench...plus lots of insulation throughout the barn.  We plan on doing the same for what you see in the photo but it will still retain that cozy pirate ship look.  The end of the barn that you see is closed off to the back pasture with heavy blue plastic insulating the doors.  In the winter it becomes a storage area for straw bedding and a full wheel barrow.  In the summer these doors are rarely shut.  Tell me that you wouldn't want to be here right now.  Can't you just smell the hay, the warmth of the horses and hear the sounds of them munching on hay.  Nights like this winter is okay with me.

The other night as I took Traveler out to pee before bed some kind of ghost bird flew down from a tree to make this angelic impression in the snow and then fly up into the tree.  Not sure what he was up to or what his purpose was, perhaps just having fun.  It was an odd time, night, for a bird to be having fun.  I am convinced he was put there and did what he did to simply make me stop and take notice.  Perhaps he knew he would get some blog time in doing so!  (had to run back in the house to get the camera for this one!)