The End and the Beginning

December 1, 2008

OK so we apologize―we realize it took us over a month to write our next, and what turns out to be our final blog post. And we are late at that. We are truly sorry. But since the end of September we have been going at 200 mph. So for those of you wanting to know how the Weston project all ended up here is a long summary:

Ode to Dickie

September 24, 2008

So we feel compelled to write about a guy that has been working on our project for quite a while now. You may or may not be aware of this, but there is another Silva brother on our site: Tom's brother, Dickie. And we can easily say that we have fallen in love with this guy and here's why:

First of all he proved right off the bat that he is funny as heck and a wise guy with a super sarcastic side, which we immediately loved. So he is a lot of fun to have on the site every day and he loves busting our chops on a daily basis. Now pair that with what Dickie does on the site. 

Walk this way

September 8, 2008

The front steps are in! Roger and his guys have been working their butts off moving tons of stonage this week. The granite steps feel like you are ascending the Lincoln Memorial. They are so solid and fit the weight of the house perfectly. The Goshen stone patios areas are wild. They are so beautiful. And this week we’ll blend wood and stone more. Roger is cutting granite thresholds for all the doors that lead to exteriors. We love that look.

What you don't see on the webcams....

August 22, 2008

I just got back from the jobsite and it is hopping!  Stonework, siding, electrical, plumbing, tile work, air conditioning, carpentry everywhere - you name it.  The webcams show a lot of the action (and hopefully a little more now that one of the guys helped me push the Tommy Cam over a bit so you can see the kitchen area, the front door and a good part of the living/dining area) but there's a lot you can't see.

Stone work is finishing up on the foundation.  The solar panels are installed and the exterior siding is almost complete which means the scaffolding can finally come down.  Roger Cook has been anxiously awaiting for that to happen so he can get his equipment into the backyard and begin his piece of the project.  Stay tuned to the "north" camera for that work to start in the next week or two.

Mark Ferrante has been hard at work with his crew (his son and nephew) tiling the three bathrooms upstairs.  Pete & Amy picked some really beautiful tile, all from Trikeenan Tileworks in New Hampshire.    Here's the master bathroom with the wall tile for the shower neatly stacked up and ready to go.

Luke Marcum from the Bensonwood team has been on site regularly - today he was setting up scaffolding in the center stairwell so he could continue work on installing the reclaimed barn board on the walls. 

Lynn Keating and crew are working alongside Richard Trethewey and his crew, finishing the plumbing and HVAC rough while Allen Gallant and crew are finishing up the electrical rough.  The cabinets from Crownpoint are in and awaiting the concrete counter tops that were made last week at Stone Soup in Northampton.  Dickie Silva, Tom's very talented brother, was working on figuring out the best way to build the mantel for the fireplace in the dining area. Here Dickie and Allen humor me for a moment -

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I'd guess there were 25 people there today and at moments it seems as if people are practically crawling over one another to do their work - but the site is always full of laughter and a great team spirit.

Field Trip!!!

August 11, 2008

Pete and I realized  a while ago that finding some really unique pieces that will go into our new house requires more effort and time than just searching on the Internet and shopping around.  So in our never ending quest to represent our overall house theme properly (the homage to the barn structure and the industrial age) Pete found a great website that begged us to make a road trip.  This website blew us away and was exactly what we had been looking for, and it was too interesting a place to just do an on line order.  So thankfully this place was in New England, and luckily we own a truck because we knew we would need to make a field trip. 

So a quick back story to our journey.

For months Pete and I have been scouring the Internet and drilling everyone we meet or know on how we can find some really unique industrial furniture pieces for our home that will help represent our whole house theme.  We knew that we were spending so much time and energy on building the structure of the house that we needed to do the same service to what we put into the house.  Along with stuff we already have we wanted to find some really special pieces that match the theme of the house - and worked well with all the new open space we will have - something totally new for us...

The Good and the Sad

July 25, 2008

I believe that in our lives things can be a combination of good and positive, as well as difficult and negative. The tricky part can be keeping all this stuff in balance. At least that is what I think anyway. 
I will not get too deep here, I swear. But I could not start a new blog without acknowledging an event in my life that occurred this month that was a massive blow to me and my whole family amidst the amazing, wonderful, beauty that is the building of our new home. 

This past January my mother was diagnosed with cancer. The same cancer that took our dad five years ago. It is a rare cancer that is hard to detect and once found very hard, and in my mother's case, not able to respond to treatment. My mom was not given a good prognosis. I knew at her initial oncologist meeting that my top priority was no longer this house project, as it had been, but being with my mom. 

These past six months my mom lived life like she was never even diagnosed with a terminal disease. 

The cherry on top of our house

July 16, 2008

Well not quite the cherry but close. I guess the cupola will the be the cherry - or the weather vane. But for some reason this deserves it more. Here's the story...

When Amy and I went on our journey to meet different timber frame companies we looked for the company with the most soul. When we got to meet the Bensonwood clan, it became very clear to us who was going to build our home. We were getting close to finishing the meeting when Tedd said, "Oh yeah, one last thing: When we get to the end of the timber frame construction process, we usually have a ceremony and we hope you guys are all right with it." I remember being ALL EARS at this point.

Yes!!! Finally!!!

June 27, 2008

Well, after two long years of patience and waiting we are finally seeing our new house become a reality! 

It almost seems surreal. And despite the rain, the thunder and the lightning on the first official day of building - and the same forecast threatning our crew all week - we are now able to watch our beautiful timber frame home start to rise. And it is quite an amazing sight. We just can't stop grinning! My self portrait pretty much says it all. We are so psyched for this day to finally arrive! 

Planning a build: Logistics, logistics and then there's Mother Nature

June 19, 2008

Last week we had a meeting on site to figure out how to begin to get the house brought on to the site. The Bensonwood team (the experts at this), Tom, Deborah and I all stood around talking about everything from the best time of day to arrive, do we need police details, how much airspace does the crane need, do we need a dumpster and where will it go, where will the crew stay and more.

And then the biggest unknown of all...what if it rains? Some of the panels will be complete down to interior and exterior finishes, and clearly must stay completely dry. If there is even the threat of rain, work stops.

If Mother Nature cooperates, over the next week you will really want to watch the webcams. 

Hard-hat site

June 8, 2008

Photo by Pete Favat

So the Weston house is finally starting to rise out of the ground – the pre-cast foundation walls are up, and the basement-level plumbing and heating happened last week, courtesy of Richard Trethewey and our new (fantastic) Weston plumbing contractor, Lynne Keating. We’re so glad to be partnering with yet another talented plumbing contractor - and one who also happens to be female – so be sure to look for Lynne’s debut on the show this fall. 

Even though the foundation goes up VERY quickly (try 5 hours for our “tall walls”!) – you may be surprised to learn (I sure was) that the guy who engineered the foundation, Adam Campbell, worked with the architect and structural engineer at Bensonwood for nearly 50 man-hours before the installation. (!) Adam is a smart cookie and a good guy; he engineered the foundation on our Carlisle project a few years back as well, and came up to Weston to personally oversee the installation for us this time. We love when we can work with people over and over again on the show, it starts to feel like family. 

And speaking of "new" family, our homeowner Pete Favat recently took the time to customize our generic hardhats with TOH Weston logos.