Residential Architecture and Design in New York’s Westchester County… and Beyond
Our clients on Monterey Avenue, Pelham, invited us back to design and build a new stone terrace.
The stone for the wall veneer is being shipped from an Adirondack quarry and should arrive early next week.
The painted wood rails, built to match the rails we designed for the front porch and roof deck (part of Phase 1), are in the shop waiting to be installed when the flagstone deck is complete.
I think it looks great without the stone (above). I can’t wait to see it finished.
You may know Uttermost as a purveyor of fine home decorative products, such as frames, mirrors, lamps and accessories. We’ve spec’d their goods for our restaurant and retail work in the early years of Fivecat Studio. More recently, a few of their mirrors have found their way into our high-end residential projects.
What I did not know, until Annmarie showed me a recent ad in Veranda magazine, is that the people who run Uttermost are animal rescuers, just like us.
We’ve found over the years that folks who love animals, and go the extra mile to ensure their happiness and safety, are just good people. Good people run good companies.
If you’re in the market for home decor, check out Uttermost. A portion of every sale goes to support animal rescue organizations. For more information on Uttermost, their work with homeless animals and a few canine bios (Simon’s too) from their recent advertisements, visit the Uttermost Newsroom.
Looks like we’re going to be installing another Crown Point kitchen.
One of our first and finest clients invited us back again to renovate a couple of bathrooms and fit out a new kitchen. We shopped around for the best value and Crown Point won hands down. Being located in New Hampshire and bypassing the expense of the dealer/showroom business model allows them to offer full custom cabinetry at very competitive prices.
We’ve worked with Crown Point several times throughout the past ten years. Their quality workmanship is top notch and their customer service is second to none.
Crown Point is best known for their traditional style cabinetry. Even This Old House installed a Crown Point kitchen in their latest TV project house. Today, Crown Point posted a few photos of a contemporary style kitchen they just completed. So, even if you’re looking for cabinets with more modern lines, Crown Point should be on your list.
Fivecat Studio Project Manager John Whalen forwarded me his latest photos of our current Bedford Road project. Take a look.
Peter Wing is an eccentric man. Forty years ago, he and his wife claimed the high corner of his father’s dairy farm and started building a home. Today… they’re still building.
Wing’s Castle, located in Millbrook, New York is a home like no other. With inspiration from local agriculture buildings and architectural references borrowed from Gothic churches, Asian pagodas, medieval castles and the free form Art Nouveau towers of Antonio Gaudi, Peter Wing has created, one stone at a time, an architectural masterpiece (if not only in his own mind) among the rolling hills of Dutchess County.
This past Thursday, Annmarie and I joined the entire Fivecat Studio crew for a bus tour guided by the New Castle Historical Society. It was a great day of interesting people and inspiring places.
Following the tour of Wing’s Castle personally guided by Peter Wing himself, we headed to Charlotte’s restaurant for an early lunch and some relaxing sunbathing in their blooming flower garden.
Then back on the motor coach, and off to the global headquarters of Harney & Sons Master Tea Blenders for a tour of the factory floor personally guided by founder and CEO, John Harney. I wonder is Mr. Harney ever met Peter Wing. I think they’d hit it off. John is another very interesting character.
Half informative narrative, half sales pitch (being an entrepreneur myself, there’s a part of me that enjoyed the sales pitch more), the tour lead us through the tea blending bays, past the packing machines (they make Rube Goldberg’s contraptions look simple and straight forward) and between the tall mountains of labeled cartons ready for shipping around the world.
A quick trip around the corner, we ended the day at Harney’s & Sons’ tasting room and gift shop in Millerton. After a quick sip of fine tea (yum), we had free time for a leisurely stroll up the hill and through the village. Millerton may be a place we return to take in the antiques and artisan shops.
The ride home is always quiet, as we rest our eyes and enjoy the view through the bus windows. Joe the driver did a stellar job navigating the small country byways and muddy parking lots.
We appreciate the kindness of all the members on the trip. It was clear that most of the people on the tour were veterans of Historical Society events. Being “interlopers”, as the tour leader referred to us with a smile, our crew felt a bit out of place when we left Chappaqua early Thursday morning. By the end of the day, we made several new friends and felt welcomed by all.
The fall NCHS tour will be out to Oyster Bay and a visit to Sagamore Hill, home of Theodore Roosevelt.
We can’t wait!
Problem: Provide housing in flood prone regions.
Solution: Homes that float, when necessary.
From Morphopedia:
The FLOAT House optimizes the efficiency of mass-production, while respecting New Orleans’s unique culture and context. The Ninth Ward’s colorful vernacular houses, which local residents have traditionally modified and personalized over time, reflect the community’s vibrant culture. The FLOAT House grows out of the indigenous typology of the shotgun house, predominant throughout New Orleans and the Lower Ninth Ward. Like a typical shotgun house, the FLOAT House sits atop a raised base. This innovative base, or “chassis,” integrates all mechanical, electrical, plumbing and sustainable systems, and securely floats in case of flooding. Inspired by GM’s skateboard chassis, which is engineered to support several car body types, the FLOAT House’s chassis is designed to support a variety of customizable house configurations.
From LoHud.com:
Conti of New York construction company has pulled its workers off the Route 120 bridge reconstruction project in the center of the hamlet in reaction to the state’s suspension of payment for transportation projects.
A company official, Patrick Hogan, told staff for Assemblyman Robert Castelli, R-Goldens Bridge, that the company feared not being paid in a timely way for its work.
New Castle town supervisor Barbara Gerrard has issued a report of the issue. Check it out NOW on NewCastleNOW.org.
****
Photograph by L. C. Anderson
From PlanetReuse.com:
You want reclaimed building materials in your project. Or, you have these materials to share. We find the best ways to make the connection. Your schedule and budget benefit, and so does the planet. PlanetReuse takes all the hard work out of incorporating reclaimed building material into projects around the globe. We guide you through every step of the process, matching materials to your needs.
Living Well Link of the Week: PlanetReuse
A few months back, I posted about the photo shoot for an upcoming article about our own dining room project. The piece is published in the current (April) issue of This Old House magazine, and this week, the article was posted on their website as well.
Annmarie and I are pretty excited about the whole thing. Its our first “national” exposure. We’ve been fans of This Old House since we were kids, so to see our hard work associated with TOH is a really big thrill.
Stay tuned for more Fivecat Studio work among the pages of TOH. We’ve been told that we may be reading more about our little cottage in the woods of Chappaqua.
Living Well Link of the Week: Custom Wainscot for $4.49 a Square Foot
