A Catskill Conversion

We're building a world class modernist retreat in the Catskill Mountain region of New York State. We designed the property ourselves, built over a pre-existing foundation, and are managing the construction directly. We secured the property in 2012, installed steel in 2013, and began wood framing in 2014. It's been a long, difficult road, which will see "Stage 1" completed by November 2016. Are you looking to build a modern house but coming up short finding limited knowledgable resources to assist you? Consider this blog your guide on "How To Build A Modern House". Or in some instances: How Not To" ;) Enjoy.

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Trenches, mud, rocks, pumps, conduit, culverts, hydrants, landscaping.

After pushing our luck for 5 years with low water pressure and an ancient dying well pump, we finally bit the bullet and decided to replace it. But it wasn’t that simple.

In order to replace the pump (just the pump mind you, the well itself is fine) we needed to trench 180 ft from the well to our parking area (the remaining 70 ft to the house had already been done 2 years ago and we laid conduit then for future use). The trench would need to be 4 ft deep. It would run through a crappy section of our front yard property populated with rocks, weeds, surface bedrock and a fairly deep open swampy muddy runoff culvert for the pond. The landscape was an ugly uneven surface. Digging a consistent depth trench was not going to be easy -- bedrock would require jackhammering, and the pond run off would require huge 18″ corrugated pipe running at least 40 feet. 

Lastly, digging a deep long trench like this is disruptive. We knew it would destroy the front yard by the time they were done with all the heavy machinery. So it would be a good time to level the land, cut some dead trees, move rocks, bring in fill, and prep for April seeding.

Well, it was everything we expected and more. After 4 days the trench was dug -- half of it through solid bedrock. The massive jackhammer used to open the trench created many large flat pieces of bluestone -- an expensive by-product -- so we grabbed as many as possible for future stone walls and gardens. Then the rains came. It rained nearly everyday for 2 months. The trench turned into a pond. When a break in the weather. finally came we pumped out the water and began to fill the trench. Before this the new pump was installed, a new water line to the house was run through conduit to the house and the required electrical wires. We also added another four runs of 2″ conduit for future needs (upgraded electrical, cable, gas lines for generators, etc). We took down serval trees, cleared all the boulders and large rocks, ran the 40 ft of culvert (in addition to the 25 ft already in place), and moved dirt/fill from the front of the house to level the land. 

Also, we added a lawn hydrant nest to the well which will allow us to access water near the cabin. Having a spigot nearly 250 ft away from the main house is a real luxury.

The result is fantastic (even if it looks so so right now). We ah added parking, removed an eye-sore, and gained a lawn, a a water access point and better water pressure. In April we will bring in a thin layer of top soil and seed to whole area. We’ll end up with a lawn and some garden areas. More photos in the spring once complete.

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Navy blue mahogany dresser.

Now that we have decided that bedroom #2 will be blue & gold (navy blues with brass highlights), we decided to put a somewhat temporary dresser in there to begin the theme. We found a beautiful curvy number at a local thrift store for $40. This thing weighs a ton and is built like a tank. The plan was to keep it simple -- paint it shabby chic navy and be done. A one day project. But when we got it home and looked more closely, an old faded label on the back revealed that this beauty was solid mahogany and over 100 years old. The crappy plastic finish was hiding intricate grain that would be a shame cover in chalk paint. So this one day project turned into a 3 month pain in the ass.

I removed the junky tin knobs and sanded the whole thing down (remember when I said I just wanted this to be a simple project) which is no simple task considering all the drawers are curved at different angles! The drawer faces were veneers and showed very little grain detail, but the base, legs and top were beautiful. I decided to stain the top and paint the drawers. After a long search I could not find a navy blue stain that I liked (none where dark enough) so turned to water based dyes. The answer was W.D. Lockwood -- a whacky old school shop in downtown Manhattan that specializes in only that. It’s like walking into a Darwin curio room -- stacks of cans and jars and packets of powders. But they nailed it. Be warned -- this stuff looks preschool but is crazy strong (concentrated). I complain a lot about how big box store dark stains (black, ebony) don't actually make things black. But this stuff is insane. Mix the powder packet into hot water, stir, apply. The effect is instant. And unlike stains the color doesn't fade when you wipe it off. And it took two weeks for it to come off my skin -- so wear good rubber gloves! 

I then painted the drawers (inside and out) with navy blue latex paint. Why? Because I had to use wood filler on all the holes left from the old hardware, and stain won’t effect the wood filler the way it does the wood, so I’d have spots. I sealed the top and base with wipe on spirit-based poly and the painted drawers with water-based poly. You can’t use water-based poly over the dye -- it’ll destroy it. Be warned.

For added effect, and to prolong an already huge time suck, I chose to add Annie Sloan Black Wax to the drawer faces to give them some tonal values. I loved to look, but it has been 2 months since application and the stuff is still tacky -- it streaks every time you touch it. Never again. It’s total bullshit.

The final detail, and an important one, was new hardware. After a lengthy search (there’s much to choose from online, budget not withstanding) I settled on some brass knobs for the big (curved) drawers and handles for the center (flat) drawers. Drilling and screwing took time (pro tip: use washers and make a template for drilling holes -- a 2mm difference means crooked handles). Take you time: measuring 5 times and drilling once needs to be your rule (unless you want to sand the thing down and start over).

The final piece is impressive (but not perfect) in the room and a joy to behold. And that’s “mission accomplished” as far as I’m concerned.

Next.

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Bedroom #2 wood ceiling. Part 2.

For the selection and staining process for this ceiling, see Part 1 of this post.

This clear pine installation was straight-forward. Typical issues like uneven walls and uneven drop-ceiling support framing, but otherwise all was fine. We drilled and screwed each board to prevent splitting and insure rock solid placement with little future movement.

Pretty weird how I had envisioned this ceiling to look vs how it came out. In my mind as I was staining boards and choosing colors, the ceiling was not going to be dramatic -- more of a varied tonal thing. But the end result is very dramatic. Proof that no matter how well you can plan and “see” things in your mind, surprises are bound to happen. The unexpected mid-century retro look is welcomed. We will now adjust the rest of the room design around it (our planned two-tone dramatic wallpaper will now need to be scaled back so as not to fight with this ceiling).

A few details remain unfinished: the slot curtain track needs to be painted black and edged with metal trim so it will not tear the full wall (17′ x 10′) curtains; three brass recessed light trims; one brass A/C grate.

Very happy with the result.

I’ll post final photos once the room is complete.

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Bedroom #2 wood ceiling. Part 1.

We had many different plans for the ceiling of our largest guest bedroom (affectionately titled “bedroom #2″) but finally settled on a plan last month. With a pile of clear pine leftover from flooring jobs throughout the house, we decided to stain the T&G flooring and use it for the ceiling. It just so happened that we had exactly the right amount of boards needed (40) with none to spare.

The plan was vaping tonal values from dark brown/walnut to light orange/cedar. They would be installed randomly for a somewhat modern rustic look, but critically: all would be full length. There would be no cut boards. The wood ceiling measures (roughly) 11′ x 17′ (the bedroom is larger than this, but 1/3-2/5s od the ceiling is drywall, not wood) so all the boards would be a full 11 feet. The wood is beautiful completely clear south yellow pine. A few of the boards had be bleached my me over a year ago for use in white floors elsewhere in the house. And some boards have uneven sunburn lines after sitting stacked in our unfinished master bedroom in direct sun.

I selected a range of 6 Minwax colors and stained 4-8 boards in each color. Plus 4 more with only Watco Dark Walnut (which on pine results in a generally ugly medium brownish board... equivalent to nothing found in nature, LOL, but in my variety pack here, worked well and filled a vacant color slot). Chosen colors were Dark Walnut, Red Chestnut, Red Oak, Gunstock, Colonial Maple, Golden Pecan and Classic Gray. 

Favorite? Two actually: 1. Gunstock by a long shot. It took to the pine better than all others with a high contrast result and was less blotchy as well. 2. Surprise! The Watco Dark Walnut pulled out sparkle in the grain and looks better in the mix of ceiling colors than it did alone on the floor.

Happy with the result and high on VOCs, I gave them all one coat of Minwax semi-gloss poly (I hate unsealed pine after its been stained --it looks cheap).

General success.

For photos of the pine being installed on the ceiling, see Part 2 of this post.

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More updates coming soon! Much has happened, I’m just behind in updating the blog!

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We’ve had five nor’esters this winter. Three in 10 days. This one delivered about 7″ of wet sticky snow, which makes for nice photos but isn’t much for us up here on the mountain. The previous storm was bad: only 2″ of snow but the 50 mph gusts took down multiple tall oaks.

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My master closet. Part 1.

(Most of this work was done last Fall but I wanted to get this post up before we complete the closet in the next few months).

We had to delay work on the master closets until after the kitchen exhaust duct was installed because it runs from the kitchen ceiling (below floor in photos) straight up to the roof (directly above ceiling in photos). This space is about 6′W x 6′D x 10.5′H.

This closet is the only “room” in the house that does not have any tubes (radiant heat) in the floor -- an oversight at the time. That’s why there are sleepers in the floor but no tubes! There should be tubes snaking through the 2x4 sleepers and a 1.5″ fill of gypsum covering them, like everywhere else in the house ;)

So we filled the gaps between the 2x4s with 1″+ 1/2″ rigid foam. We boxed the vent pipe and will build out triple poles for hanging clothes at left (the high one will be motorized), a vertical shoe rack in the corner behind/right of the duct, and a floor-to-ceiling set of shelves and drawers on the right side wall. A large mirror will go at center.

The clear pine flooring, which also cover some walls, was installed over the 2x4 & rigid-foam subfloor. 

I wanted the pine to be stained black. BLACK. I began with a coat of Minwax Ebony. One coat wasn't nearly enough so I gave it a second coat. No change. I think it’s criminal what companies get away with. The wood was now dark brown at best. Black means black people. There is no such thing as “light black”... just “black”. If their intention is to deliver transparent black then the package should say so. Otherwise I expect solid black. It’s bullshit. I called Minwax to ask for suggestions (none, useless customer service) and complain (I was wrong they said, “it’s light black” they claim, “transparent”, and they “are not responsible as wood varies”. All BS. The picture on the can shows BLACK. And I applied it to pine -- not some rare species. I’m done with Minwax. It’s model airplane crap. Never again.

So I looked elsewhere. But unless I sand it down to bare wood, options are limited. Figuring I had nothing to lose I sponge rolled a layer of flat black oil-based paint (Rust-Oleum) mixed 60-40 mineral spirits-paint. Didn’t love the result (too much grain covered) but at least it was finally black. Next I applied 2 coats of Minwax water based poly. Result was finally close to want I had originally wanted.

Most of this floor will be covered by closets and rugs, but its a starting point for all the black floors on our list (master bedroom, 2nd floor hallway). So I think we can call this a failure, but one we’ll live with. Next is doing some tests for the master bedroom and hall floor. There has to be a better way to get BLACK floors WITH grain.

More to come. Stay tuned.

(Click the photos for more detailed comments)

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The master bath double doors, Part 1.

We got this pair of 9ft tall, circa 1850′s, NYC brownstone doors from a friend who couldn’t use them. The job ahead looked simple enough -- they were painted flat brick red and needed to be stripped to the bare wood. We figured there was lead paint under there, and that it would require some strong stripping compound, but we had no idea...

We began 3 years ago (before the house had windows) by propping them up in the future den, coating them with gel, and then stripping the layers of paint off (wearing respirators, goggles, gloves, etc). It was hard. The first 5 layers came off after 3 days of work. But the next layer wouldn’t budge. And we were still on one side of one door! So we set the project aside due to other more important things. About 8 months ago we picked up where we left off. This time with a stronger even more toxic pro-level stripping gel. After 3 days we barely got one more layer off. There still was another layer plus a clear veneer separating us from the wood! So we gave up. 

In early August we sent them off to a local professional furniture stripper. Two months later they were ready. I don’t know what crazy acid was used, but it worked. 

We gave them a quick sanding, glued a few broken and spitting sections, added a coat of wiping poly to the “bedroom facing side”, and they were ready to frame. 

Now they’re off to the local door company (The Door Jamb) to be hung and have specialty glass added. We were going to use pivot hinges but settled on large standard hinges to keep the budget real. Besides, they match the original hinge slots perfectly.

When they come back we’ll whitewash the rear (bathroom side), add hardware, and a transom window over the top (it’s an 11 ft ceiling). 

(Click the photos for more detailed comments)

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Sod update...

What a difference 7 days, full sun, and daily watering makes! Amazed at how well that sod greened up and filled in. A few more days until its first mow.

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Some temporary rear landscaping.

The area directly outside the rear windows will eventually be completely covered by a concrete/steel deck clad in matching tile/marble to the interior. This will complete the “inside-outside” look we designed into the original plans. But as we are still finishing the rest of the house and those fab decks are a year away, we figured a little beautification of the immediate rear dirt was in order. The goal was to spend as little as possible (because it will eventually be dug up) yet be clean and pleasant to view from inside when looking out.

The stone wall was already there (from the previous house), so we added the plant bed, flowers, black mulch, wood edging (salvaged from old roof trusses from original house), hidden timed water irrigation, 45 ft of sod and cheap-o plastic sprinkler system from Lowe’s.

The bluegrass sod was cheap (at $.85/SF from Lowe’s, it’s cheaper than seeding/protecting/growing grass yourself), as was the mulch ($2/40 lb bag). The flowers weren’t cheap, but can be moved when the time comes. And the two watering systems were $35 each (after some trial and error with junk that didn’t work). The pea gravel was delivered -- we only needed $35 worth. We got lucky with top soil -- didn't need any because ours was decent.

Labor was provided free by me and Steph ;)

All in all it looks pretty good I think. And an excellent visual return on the relatively minor investment.

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#Bigfoot and her two cubs in our #Catskills backyard. Stephy shot this last weekend around 8pm.

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Whitewashed dresser, Part 1.

One of the bedrooms has been designated a “white room” -- everything inside will be white (with some natural wood accents if needed). Steph had an old dresser/side board in storage so we decided to transform it for use in the white room. This was just an inexpensive MDF unit with yellowish white gloss paint... so really there wasn’t much we could do that wouldn’t make it better ;). Our goal was to give it some character and... make it whiter! 

We chose milk paint and agreed to an undercoat of crackle coat to give it some “age”. Milk paint is weird, but you get used to it.

First we sanded the whole unit. This was a sloppy and rough affair with an 80 grit orbital. I wasn’t neat on purpose. I didn’t want to take all the paint off because its just crappy MDF under, so I burned away the paint in some areas and just scuffed the paint in others. We could have then put a colored undercoat down (to show through the cracks we’d be adding later) but we didn’t want this to become a 4 week project (we have enough of those). So Steph moved right to putting down a coat of clear crackle “paint”. This is just a clear coat that makes the next coat of paint have a hard time adhering... so it “cracks”. After 2 hours all was dry and ready for the milk paint. After mixing it up we started applying with a brush. Not so good. Real botchy. And remember, you are only supposed to put one coat down when doing the crackle thing otherwise you cover up the cracks! But it wasn’t working -- the milk paint was going down too thick. So we switched to a foam roller and that was better. the problem now was the coat was not opaque enough so the botchy old paint and wood were showing through. We waited 20 mins for the first coat to be tacky then did a second coat with the roller and back brushed 50% of it to “mess up” the smooth finish the roller provided. This combo seemed to work. It ripped up the finish in some areas -- but in a way that looked old/natural. The cracks continued to show through both coats and got wider for another hour or so before drying. Some areas (on the inside where I didn’t sand so well) didn’t stick at all. The clear crackle layer just peeled right off the old paint like cellophane. But it’s inside the cubbies so you’ll never know.

But... 48 hrs later things had changed yet again. The crackle paint was very inconsistent throughout, and particularly bad on the top of the unit (where most eyes would be). Also, some clumps of paint dried and broke off leaving 30 bare spots showing through in a less-than-artful way. So we tried spot filling those bare spots but that looked like crap. So I added another full coat and then added a clear coat sealer (that dried and looked worse -- all the paint buckled)). So I sanded the top back to almost where we started but did leave some of the clear crackle coat, then rolled on two coats of slightly watered-down flat white wall paint. That looked pretty good. It’s now 30% crackle effect and 70% botchy/repainted chips/scrapes.

Next we’ll add some text (laser prints rubbed/transferred onto the paint with acetone). Then clear coat the whole thing with a matte water based non-yellowing sealer. And lastly replace the original drawer knobs with tree branches (from the back yard). We’re considering replacing the front drawer panels with old grey faded wood for even more character. We’ll see. 

All in all, not bad. I kind of like it. It’ll certainly do while we turn our attention to more pressing projects. 

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We have A/C people. Let’s chill.

The duct work for the 2nd floor was installed when the house was framed. The space for the compressor (on the roof) and air handler (in the closet) were set and waiting. We wanted a 12 month cycle in the house first to be sure what level of cooling would be needed. Turned out that for a glass house our structure remains unbelievably cool (other than 7am-10am when sunrise shines directly into the rear). So controlling humidity was our first concern (to protect our wood floors, ceilings, walls), and keeping things cool for the 3 months AC would be needed was second.

The stone floors on the first floor and bathrooms plus a 6ft cantilevered 2nd floor  keep the house cool, so we were able to opt for these very efficient units. And placing the ugly compressor on the roof made sense simply because we can -- it’s a flat roof. This unit cools the 2nd floor, a second unit will cool the 1st floor, and a 3rd unit will cool the great room (once its built). This one unit switched on and cooled the 2nd floor in 5 mins! Plus because the hall is open to the first floor, it (expectantly) cools some of the 1st floor too. Awesome.

Sound is as expected -- air handler hums like a big refrigerator, the roof unit is loud but only because of vibration. We’ll mitigate some of that with foam in the next week.

Eventually we’ll install the 2nd trunk line in the basement to deliver cool air to the first floor (the wall ducts are installed already). But no rush now that this unit is working so well.

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Time to select wallpaper for the den. Loving these embossed animal-hide prints.

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We have tons of tall beautiful oaks on the property, and a bunch of crooked, dead, dying or leaning ones as well. This one was both dying and, more importantly, blocking the view. No more. It’s beautiful wood will live on as stump stools, platters, lamp bases and other interior design crafts. What’s left after that will fuel the outdoor fire pit (coming soon).

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A few property shots from this winter and early Spring.

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Lot's of updates coming soon. Sorry for the delay -- we've been busy!