Project 1: Front porch redesign (80% complete)
My father closed in the original porch with old camper windows and chip board a while back (the first image is from that stage). This year, he helped me transform the space into a sun room. We insulated and leveled the original floor, insulated the walls and boarded or sheet rocked them in. Next steps are to tear out the rest of the clapboards on the wall, lay down flooring, run an outlet, and rewire the porch light as an overhead ceiling fan/light combo.
Project 2: Cellar reclamation (70% complete)
I started this project last year by clearing all of the trash and junk out of the cellar and re-opening the space. Next steps are water abatement, updated lighting, and more efficient water heating and laundry stations. Currently, we use the space for laundry and storing two cords of wood for the winter.
Project 3: Ceramics studio (65% complete)
The house originally was connected to the stables and loft (the future workshop) through a central shed. A set of stairs leads back up to a storage room above the shed and into the loft beyond. I started reclaiming this space 3 years ago by dragging out the junk and trash, removing a false wall, unblocking the stairs and door leading to the barn, and then having an electrician wire up the space for a kiln, a dedicated heat source, and a 220v (currently used by the dryer). Next steps are to complete sheetrock and flooring.
The kiln is operational, and we’re looking forward to firing this winter.
Until the workshop is complete, we will use this pass-through space for the kiln and storing in-progress ceramics projects.
Project 4: Back porch (complete!)
The back porch had been closed in as a rudimentary garden shed when I was a child. Sometime in the 1990s, the clapboards were covered with 2″ thick rigid insulation and rough pine boards. In June of this year, I took down the garden shed structure and removed the boards and insulation. The materials from that were used to finish up the front porch.
The space is still used to stack wood for the winter, but the level of light coming into the house is so much better: the sun rises on the back side of the house. Long-term plans will connect this space to the workshop and provide better public access to the yard on this side.
Project 5: Interior updates (ongoing)
Over the past three years, we have done a phenomenal amount of work inside the house in order to allow for more natural light and to fix the visual flow where we could afford it. This gallery showcases some of the most radical transformations we’ve been able to accomplish.
Food prep and dining area
In the original floor plan for the house, this area was three rooms: a closed in dining room, a front-kitchen, and a back pantry. In the mid-1970s, the owners tore out load-bearing walls, installed grooved orange pine, a Jenn-Air range on an island and hung a wood-tiled canopy over it, adding weight to what used to be held up with a wall!
We removed the canopy and put in a beam and posts where the original walls used to be (I like following the old wall layout in cases like this). We then opened the area by downsizing the fridge and moving the stove to allow for better light and visual room to try and create a more communal and inclusive space.
The difference in the amount and quality of light over the course of these photos shows what a difference we made with what few resources we had.
Front kitchen area
The front corner was the darkest and weirdest area in the post-1970s kitchen, so we tore the three layers of wall-covering off — three inches worth on each wall. There was sheetrock from the 1980s, 1970s wallboard and pine, and then the original wallpaper and plaster. We tore it all off down to the original studs, re-insulated and then finished with sheetrock, regaining 6″ of width for the room once we finished.
We were given the piano in March of this year by a family in Hyde Park, VT. The new front porch is just beyond the curtained window.
Grounds (just getting started)
Midheaven sits on 12 acres of woods and fields with a big sky, two lively streams, and a small pond area in a peaceful valley neighborhood on the southern side of town. Apple varieties, birch, poplar, alder, pine, cedar, and spruce, a stand of ancient sugar maples, berry bushes, pole trees, and plenty of room for a self-sustaining garden. It is truly an all-seasons property, with space for tenting, x-country skiing, walking trails, meditative retreat cabins, and a variety of intimate outdoor performances and festivals.
