The HVAC installation is progressing. Barry has completed a lot of the preliminary plumbing and is at least halfway through the work to install a boiler and radiators in the main house. The boiler is tiny (I am guessing about 3' high and 2' wide) and 95% efficient. The radiators will be white, modern, flat, steel ones placed mostly under windows. We have radiant heat in the concrete basement floor, we just have to connect it to the boiler and add a thermostat. Sheetrocking was supposed to happen soon but with frost-heaves in Vermont big heavy trucks can’t drive on the Ridge Road for a bit. Upstairs hallway at the top of the stairs, reading nook at front near windows (a place for a desk with a view), north bedroom can be seen here, bathroom on the right Same view except south bedroom, you can see the bathroom entrance on the left See you next time house

My builder, is smart and waits until the very end to install doors. That way they are not damaged during the building process. So I will have to wait. But for now I get to see the drawings from my architectural drawer, Phil Godenschwager. So beautiful. I am so lucky to have him working on the project. I think this final step will really bring the house to life.

An important visit to the new house happened over April school vacation. To introduce the future house to two of my most important family members…would they like it? Would they be excited? Would they be able to visualize the finished product? Success! Yes, they liked it. No, it wasn’t what they imagined but they could no longer remember what they had imagined. They scampered through the house, met the builder, he has many daughters himself so he talked with them comfortably. We played hide-and-go-seek, finding small closets, nooks and crannies to hide in. They imagined their bedroom- “can we paint it funky colors, Grammy?!” In the basement we noted where the ping-pong table will go, along with the train set. Explored the barn and the woods. Visited area restaurants, Ripple Pizza for dinner (absolutely packed with Chandler Music Hall concert-goers attending the Béla Fleck's BEATrio ending event that evening) then breakfast at the Windy Lane Bakery. And of course the world’s best creamee at Silloway Maple just up the road. A stop at the Whale Tail sculpture by Jim Sardonis with a view of the Green Mountains down into Randolph. They can’t wait for the house to be finished.

I have only recently realized that building a house (i.e. having a house built) takes patience and a sort of fortitude. Most people seem to realize this instinctively. They say things like, “Wow! You’re building a HOUSE?!” or “Isn’t it nerve-wracking?!!” or “I could never handle all of the decisions!” Instead, I don’t want to brag, but I walked into this as naturally as opening the front door and stepping out. Obviously, you must go down the walkway and head for the open road. No problem! Now I am finally experienced enough that I am ready to list the requirements needed to build a house: 1. One must remain calm. Anxiety runs in my family. We are the sorts of people who gasp too often, you know- that sudden intake of breath alerting a companion to a dangerous situation (prematurely or unnecessarily). Any spouse to one of my sisters will know what I mean. For some reason, in this sort of house building/working situation that involves planning, my desire to organize jumps in and I remain strangely calm. 2. One must not get bored easily. I think, partly because I am a hyper-sensitive person, I get excited by small changes, it doesn’t take much to keep me interested. I am energized by research. I have always loved recording data. When I was 11, I sat and watched birds from my bedroom window and keep a notepad where I recorded all of my observations. I have been happy doing that ever since. As an insecure 12-year-old, I would list my clothes for the next school day, complete with drawings of patterned stockings that went up just over the knee. I kept data on my new baby son more than just the usual baby book fill-ins. Poor kid. I was fortunate to work in a university research lab, collecting data on insect behavior. I am never happier than when I have a decision to make. But first I want to base it on the best information. These days research is made easy on a laptop. I compile it, organize it into tables along with pros and cons, screen-shot photos, and then come up with my final determination. 3. One must have low expectations. You are on timelines that are not your own. It’s an intricate dance of the general contractor, carpenters, subcontractors, architectural designer, homeowner/bill payer/decider, along with the weather and everyone’s health. Until recently, waiting came easily since I could always be creating a 50-page document on all of the materials I preferred for the house. From exterior siding down to the type of knobs for kitchen cabinets, there was always something to research, something to do while I was waiting. Until recently. The timeline is slowing down now. If it was a piece of classical music you’d hear it. It would have a notation of “Rallentando implying a dramatic, drawn-out deceleration.” If you were driving a car, you’d hear the engine suddenly slowing down, RRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr as if a traffic jam was just ahead. So now I must learn patience. I was getting greedy. I wanted to see Progress! Photos! Exciting news! 4. One must be a good communicator. I have pretty decent social skills. I can interpret body language, anticipate problems, jump in to negotiate, work at calming agitation between others. (Maybe this is my teacher training.) I have had multiple bouts of having to do this with the people involved in the house building. Some people have a hard time maintaining a professional demeanor or civilly explaining an issue. I think this is true whenever money gets involved. As my builder says “I never want to go backwards and have to redo something. This costs money!” Don’t assume a text on your telephone ‘works’. As anyone who has experienced a misinterpreted text- typed words on a phone do not do justice to the English language. An added smiley face can help but often the receiver is more than ready to ‘hear’ the person yelling even when they are not. I am now ready to call people more often. Phone calls can prevent misinterpretations that texts can cause. Phone calls will bring to the forefront questions people have. Phone calls spell out details much better than any text. The reason I have used texts- I didn’t want to bother someone. I end up with a record of what was said. I could immediately take care of a question I have without forgetting to ask it. But if this causes problems, then I will move on to telephone calling. My new norm. Don’t assume your builder always has the plans in front of him or even easily available. Check in often. Ask questions. Follow up. 5. One must be a good listener. The builder and architectural designer can have issues over the house design. These are not always brought up at the beginning of a project, but instead as the project enters certain critical phases. Not being an architect or a builder, you won’t be able to anticipate when those critical times will occur. The architectural designer often has artistic abilities. This is good; you want a house with great style. They also get attached to their design. That makes sense. They put in a lot of time on their floorplans and elevations. They have worked hard to implement the desires of the homeowner. Now their job is to make sure those designs are fulfilled. This is an architect that has your interest in mind. Especially when you can’t be at the site daily, it is nice to have someone keeping an eye on the project. But builders have a lot of expertise too. They have years of seeing the buildings in real life. They see how all of the parts fit together properly. They know how to make a house work. They can foresee issues that could occur once you are living in a house and in all kinds of weather. They can change gears on a plan to prevent those inconveniences or damages. They make a house truly livable. So, you have to take both viewpoints (designer & builder) into account and make sure you are aware of when disagreements happen. Sometimes both the architect and the builder are so sure of their viewpoint, they figure they don’t have to ask you, the homeowner who knows nothing of either area of expertise. Instead, they argue it out between themselves. So it’s a good idea to reiterate to both…”Please call me…please ask me. Let me decide which viewpoint is more important to me.” Let me give you an example from the last two weeks. The Porch Controversy. Something was going on that I couldn’t quite pick up on. Suddenly my builder was acting weird. He was smoldering somewhat quietly. He wanted me to come up and look at the porch, but somehow couldn’t tell me what the problem was. Miscommunication. The first part was my fault when I asked if everyone thought the porch posts were too spindly-looking on the design drawing. YOU DON’T ASK TO CHANGE COURSE WHEN YOU ARE THAT FAR INTO A PROJECT! I know, you should be able to. And many builders will even say “It’s great, you can change your mind as we go along and we can adapt things to be the way you want!!” But if I could have predicted the problems that ensued from that innocent question, I never would have asked. If you don’t ask the question to both people involved at the same time, different interpretations can be made. One person thinks…no they aren’t too spindly and they will work out fine once they are there. Another thinks, oh! Sylvia wants thicker posts! Disagreements between those two people start to happen without you there and without a true consultation (misinterpreted unclear texts occur from me to builder). Thicker posts go up. Thicker posts come down. Long story short. The post controversy is over now and the porch is looking spectacular. Then there is the fairly flat angle of the porch roof and the 4-season-room roof. The roofline is beautiful in two ways- it looks simple and it won’t stop the winter sun from coming in and lighting up the rooms. But from a practical perspective, flat in Vermont means snow sitting on it. The builder has a point. Snow on a roof can translate into leaks. But too late, the roof is there. But why didn’t he ask me? He hashed it out with the architect and the formerly agreed-upon design won out. So dear reader, future builder of houses, I give you way too much information here to save you possible problems with your own project. They aren’t big problems. They probably won’t even matter in the long run. But if I can possibly help you out, then I feel I should. My builder is also moving on with other work- another foundation on another new house. You can’t hold a builder captive. They need to balance their work as they see fit. And I did say “we are in no rush.” Ha ha hahahah. I have to keep that other woman at bay, the one inside me that wants it and wants it now! Like I said, I have gotten greedy and the project that was working so seamlessly and joyfully has become just a bit harder for me. But I am also one of those people that feel that all of life is a learning experience. I am learning how to make this work. 6. One should meet with anyone involved in a project TOGETHER, not separately. No matter how many times you meet with someone, there is nothing that can replace a group meeting where all involved study the plans ahead of time. I would suggest looking at every single elevation and floorplan asking, “What do you see here? Will it work in practice? What would you change to have it function better?” 7. One should not take comments as promises written in stone. A comment like “I’m hoping to have this all sewn up by August.” means just that. Hoping. Thinking aloud at that moment. A comment that follows after your flooring appointment when you have chosen the materials. The flooring contractor says he will get right on it doesn’t mean it will happen right away. As the homeowner you won’t be aware of all that needs to happen first: The builder has to finish the last bit of mudding, taping, and painting of the mudroom that he is leaving for a rainy day. He will do all of the wood work around windows and doors and paint/install interior doors. Maybe even the bathroom vanities will be in first. Maybe even the kitchen cupboard bases. So maybe flooring will happen in November. But in the meantime, I will get to see all that!? That’s good! 8. One should start organizing one’s life in the current (old) house to be ready to move when the new house is ready! But that is drudgery, right? I guess any project can’t be all fun.

Daffodils greeted me next to my parking spot when I arrived at the Ridge Road house. They had sprouted up in the bank alongside the driveway. Every time I go across the border into Vermont, I feel good. The house is a product of a lot of work by the builder’s team. Every time I go up to Vermont, there is progress. Sometimes less, sometimes more. So nice today that the sawing was happening outside. The upstairs is prime-painted so is starting to look like real rooms. The downstairs is a huge project of mudding & taping; it looks like acres of work. Dabs of mud, long strips of tape. The plumber has now installed the tub upstairs (a 333 lb cast iron/porcelain coated tub that took 4 people a lot of effort to get up to the second floor) and the shower pan downstairs is in for the walk-in shower. The town listers came for a visit today. We walked through the garage, the house and the barn. They took out their tape and verified: yes the garage is 26x26, yes the house is 30x42 (the same as original footprint of the house). Dennis Brown said, “it is really cool to drive by and see the house looking like the old house appearing, the same shape.” I seem to take some of the same photos each time I visit. But each time, they are slightly different, even if it is just the sky or clouds or sunshine or rain present at the time. This place is just plain gorgeous and I love it.

Even when you’re not in a rush The thrill of changes Can elicit expectations   Photos My obsession Document changes   But what if the changes Are only ones I can see? Maybe I should consider Videos With a walk-through explanation   The plumber describes his mysterious work Flexible tubes snake and tangle Supported by brackets Ending in spigots   Shiny copper pipes Used sparingly With many levers Called shut-off valves A wall of complicated controls   Water will heat the house In a buried patchwork of pipes Beneath the concrete It will flow to radiators Hung on walls   Water must find its way To the bathrooms For showers, soaks, and flushes And of course, to the kitchen To simply get a drink From a shiny chrome fixture Perched above a porcelain sink The 'Old" Kitchen in the original house. The windows will still be there. The sink will still be white porcelain and the faucet a chrome one.

If you don't have a clear vision of what you want and what you like, I guess it could be overwhelming. I do have a clear idea and look through options pretty efficiently. No, nope, no way, OK, yes. I was trying to figure out how a homeowner (who is not just doing a remodel, but instead building a whole house) goes about ordering a bathtub, vanity, toilet, and fixtures, etc. The contractor had said it was up to me to choose and purchase the items I wanted.  I thought it made better sense to buy through the plumber and use his connections, sources, and knowledge but the builder said I’d probably get a better price if I just did it myself.  In this day & age of online searches, I have spent time studying online options for plumbing supplies.  But a lot of the results seem to be Home Depot or other big box stores.  I knew those choices might not be the highest quality.  On the other hand, I didn’t want to go ‘high-end’ and spend too much.  At least by studying the items online I had a pretty good idea of price ranges and the variety of options available.  My next step was to go to a showroom so I could see the items in person and be better informed.  I was excited to see that places like F.W. Webb have a showroom in Northampton, MA near me and also have stores in Lebanon, N.H. near our Vermont house.  I went in and asked if it was possible to order from them here and have it shipped from a store in N.H.  The woman said, “No.”  If she “put in all the work of ordering, the N.H. store would get all the credit for the order.”  OK.  I looked around anyway.  Completely ignored by the salespeople.  Then I drove across the street to Sink & Spout.  I figured it would be the same scenario, but I thought at least I could see what they carried. To my surprise Sink & Spout is part of The Granite Group which also has stores in Vermont!  One store is only 20 minutes from my Vermont house site in Barre, VT.  When I asked the salesperson if ordering through them and shipping through Barre, Vermont was an option, she cheerfully answered, “Yes!”  Besides having worked in a lumber yard/hardware store in the past, she has also designed kitchens.  Rose was knowledgeable and helpful.  I showed her items from my “Materials List” with photos and links to online sites.  She was able to find the same or similar items and we starting compiling a list for the Ridge Road house.  She sent me a quote later that day.  I was able to evaluate the prices Sink & Spout offered because of my online research.  Even though their usual list price was higher, she offered me a ‘sale’ price that matched anything I had seen online.  I figured the benefits of having one source for everything was well worth any individual deal I might find online.  I wouldn’t have to remember where I ordered each item, I wouldn’t have to wonder when items were arriving, and I wouldn’t have to contact various suppliers if damage occurred during shipping.  So today I went in to doublecheck my order.  We went through each item to make sure it was correct.  Then I got out my checkbook and wrote another big check.  It is a combination of the most fun and the most stress. Shopping. Spending. I am related to my Gram Gray.  Ruby Gray used to love to shop.  You wouldn’t expect a good farm mom who did the majority of her mothering in rural Vermont from 1925-1955 to be into shopping.  Or maybe you would.  If someone was used to making all of their own clothes and growing their own food, maybe shopping looks pretty good.  Everything laid out for you in a store; just wandering around and looking at the merchandise would be exciting.  One of her favorite outings was to go up to Barre to Harry’s Discount Department store which opened around 1960.  My grandfather would dutifully drive her up there and they would shop.  Photo taken from Mary Kathleen Mehuron's article below. But yes, Harry's as I remember it complete with the 70s cars. The orange football Harry's sign on the Barre Montpelier Road. An article written by Mary Kathleen Mehuron for “The Valley Reporter” does a great job of describing Harry’s. “It was far from fancy, just a big warehouse filled with hardware, stereos, clothes; it even had a pharmacy. If you are thinking like Costco, think again. Harry’s makes Costco look like a luxury establishment.” https://www.valleyreporter.com/index.php/news/artsent/15909-a-jersey-girl-meets-the-mad-river-valley My point being- yes, I guess I love to shop, but I also don’t like spending money.  Building this house in Vermont presents both opportunities.  Be prepared for this sort of up/down experience if you are building a house.  I try to think of the end product and how it will all even out in the end (money-wise, after selling our house in Massachusetts) and try and savor the good stuff.  Do I have second thoughts after ordering? Yes. Is there still time to adjust the order and make a few changes? Maybe. Just have to do my best. We'll see what you think when you see items installed.

Phil Godenschwager's sketches from my wish-lists. Try to picture this in color (I will add some photos of the colors). This is the wall you will see directly ahead (just beyond the island) as you enter the dining room from the south porch. This is similar to the old kitchen except the stove/oven was not on this wall. To the left of this wall will be the hallway/bathroom entry. The kitchen sink is to the right...see 2nd elevation drawing below. The stain on the cabinet bases will be dark (hopefully reminiscent of the 1920s kitchens and also the kitchen that was in Grampa Cooley's house when he had it from the 1960s). Light/white countertop as he also had in the old kitchen. Makes for a nice contrast. The countertop will be just slightly off-white with a very subtle pattern. All white looks too plain and modern to me. The backsplash will be a simple white wooden bead board. It will only go up to the bottom of the first shelf. I won't have any upper cabinets. Just wooden shelves in the same stain as the base cabinets. Sort of like this though I am only have two shelves and spaced a little further apart from bottom to top- Here is the kitchen elevation on the east wall. Picture the same dark base cabinets below, white countertop, white bead board back splash. The white sink is in the same place as it always was in the old house. The windows above the sink are also similar. All appliances will be white, not stainless steel. The island doesn't show in this elevation version though it will be in a similar place to the half-wall that was in the old house. It will be 3' away from the dishwasher/sink area and stretch straight out to the west (or towards the front of this drawing) 5'6"long (x 3'6" wide). Here's the floor plan again so you can orient yourself.

A desk with secret drawers A cellar is what I grew up with. My childhood home had an old oak roll-top desk in the cellar where the neighborhood kids could gather for a club. There was also a root cellar- a room with a dirt floor where my Mom stored canned goods on a shelf and potatoes, things like that. It has a good smell. The earth, coolness, dark. There was one finished room that my Dad had created for his photography business (in his early days) and my oldest sister had painted a variety of cool colors using tape to form triangles and other geometric shapes with nice clean lines. I tend to think of cellars as something from the 1950s and basements from the 1980s. Or maybe there were cellars in Vermont and basements in Massachusetts. The old stone foundation of the original house Our new basement at the Ridge Road house is quite the contrast from the old house. It's the only time I don't mind a difference from the original house. It is huge, concrete, and has a heated floor. Instead of glimpsing daylight through openings in the stone foundation, you get light through small basement windows. Most importantly, it is a sturdy base for the house and creates lots of extra space. It is one of the ways that I hope to lure my Massachusetts family/kids to come up. I have promised a ping pong table down there. I imagine starting a model train project that can be ongoing and growing- set up on plywood tables on top of sawhorses. The walls will be insulated with white rigid foam boards. The utility room will be self-contained with locked doors. You can enter it via the bulkhead on the north side of the house. There will be a spare room just to the right as you come down to the base of the stairs, that will have sheetrock, a large closet, a window. I call it the exercise room but it can be a space for an overflow of guests. Basements are not beautiful but I am excited about our new one. So far, no water rising up (like in one of our houses requiring a sump pump), nice and dry. So far no cracks like our current one and not yet filled with STUFF. I have time now to whittle down our stored-debris-of-living (stuff in boxes) before we move to Vermont, so hopefully this basement will stay more open. Our laundry room is on the first floor, near our bedroom, not down here. So that is one less thing in the basement.

The old house on Ridge Road had Greek Revival components. The front door with the sidelights and an overhang plus side trim and was classic. A gable on the front of the house is also typical of this style. Grampa Cooley's Vermont house also had the classic Greek Revival returns on the trim of the gable ends (the trim rather than continuing downward from the slope of the roof, turns back in on itself pointing towards the center of the building). During the 1820-1860 period, Americans were drawn to this style which was from classical Greek temples. Was it, as some write, a nod to the democracy of the Greeks? Or was it the grandeur of the temple entrance (even when it was a barely used front door)? It is interesting to me that Vermont farmers during the 1800s who relied on subsistence farming and needed to survive in a harsh, cold climate would bother with grandeur. But grandeur to some can be just be a delight to the eye for others...sidelights create balance on each side of the door along with the added benefit of letting light into the house. Greek revival also included some simplicity. A boxy style of the house and balanced front windows were a part of that simplicity. We are working on maintaining these Greek Revival components in the new house.

There is nothing easy about contractors having to work in the winter.  Today the wind is howling and there is a ½” of ice coating every surface.  I’m not sure what they will actually get done but just to show up and sand the driveway is admirable.

Charles H. Cooley with his horse Lexa (Fern Hill Alexandra) which became my horse later in life. What a great horse. I'm sure it wasn't as if she was used every day. Here she was going out on the road, Ridge Road, with traffic, then down Skyview Road, giving several rides to family members. She was so good. A Lippitt Morgan. Here you can see the barn which is still there. I love getting to see the exact fencing Charles was using. Here is his special horse Suzanne Royalty, aka Suzie and her foal Hale. You can see the old house.