Phase II: the Loft

In our current Phase II of the farmhouse renovation I've already written about the barn room and the loft and storage rooms.  In this post I'll focus on the remaining portion of the barn:  the Loft. 
As previously mentioned, I've always had a very clear vision of what the barn room should look like;  I didn't think a great deal about the other rooms in the barn structure- the mud room, the storage room and the loft.  But, during the renovation they have organically become these really wonderful and charming spaces and have quickly become favorites!

The first two photos show the loft space as it looked when we found the property.  The trio of windows (which face west) are all in the loft and can be used for reference when looking at the exterior photos to see where this room lies in relation to the rest of the barn.  

This photo was taken from the location of our future master closet...

This closet. 

The framed square "box" in this photo is our master closet.  For size perspective the master closet measures 14' x 17'.  The barn room sits directly under the closet.  As you will see in later photos a wall will be built off of the beam in the forward part of the photo to close off what we call the master closet storage room, a U-shaped room that wraps around the closet.  Antique homes are well-known for their lack of closets, so where ever we can we add storage space.

The collar ties run the full length of the barn roof- over the master closet through the loft space.

We want to leave all the rough hewn, timber frame construction exposed as it is such a beautiful element in the space.

This is the loft facing south.  If you were to look out that left window you would look towards the farmhouse.  The walls of the barn are insulated using a closed cell soy-based blown-in insulation, which is why the walls are green!





The first finish-board going up on the ceiling on the north side.   I put a white pickling stain on the rough-sawn fir boards (and of course when I say "I" I mean I had the painter do it;)

This photo gives you a great view of the master closet and the U-shaped area that surrounds the closet that will become storage space. 

The gable peak in the loft measures over 17 feet!

The ceiling going up on the south side.

When we were initially working on the design of this room it was suggested to us that it would be easier (and in construction terms that means "cheaper") to put in a flat ceiling and cover up the collar ties.  We didn't see that as an option, as we felt strongly that they were an important element in the room.  What that meant is that each finished ceiling board would need to be individually scribed into and around the collar ties, a time-consuming and arduous process.

As is evident in this photo we have some very talented craftsmen working the job.

Closing in the gable...

The final finish-board on the ceiling at the peak of the gable.

The finish "barn wood" walls going in.  All wall boards in the barn (except in the barn room) are hung horizontally, as would be commonly seen in an antique barn.

I am really thrilled as to how the rough-cut pine wall boards turned out.  This stain formula was my custom designed mix (here I really do mean that "I" came up with this formula, not the painter;)
 

The raw pine boards leaning on the wall are how the boards looked naturally prior to my stain being applied.

Wall boards going in on the west wall.

In this photo you can see how the timber frame construction is left exposed and will play a big role in the architecture of the finished room.

The master closet/storage room wall being closed in.

Almost complete!   Lighting was added to the closet storage area, so in this photo you can see one side of the U-shaped space.  Below the storage room space (behind the ladder) you can see into the barn room.

The completed master closet/storage space wall.
The antique iron lantern was originally purchased to be placed on the exterior of the barn between the two sets of french doors off of the barn room.  When we moved the chimney to the outside of the barn this meant that the fixture was no longer going to work there.  While discussing this with my friend Steve ( An Urban Cottage ),  he asked me if there was any place inside the barn that I could use the lantern??   I walked the fixture through and voila!!
  The lantern is rather large and the scale is perfect in the space!   Thanks for the suggestion Steve!

 This photo was taken tonight.  We are currently working on materials for the stair railing.  The grills are off of the AC/heating vents being painted to blend into the barn wood.  Note the sweet down-filled chair found by the side of the road last winter frozen in the snow- Dan literally had to chip it out of the ice!

The windows have been trimmed with the same barn wood as the walls.

love!

don't you just love it when things start comes together?!

a post script....

For those of you who inquired about the stain formula you can find it in "my paint colors" on the sidebar!

Phase II

For the last two months we've been slowly working on Phase II of the farmhouse renovation...
the barn!
During Phase I we added a three-car garage in what is basically the 'basement' of the barn. In Phase I.V (!) we added several windows and a pair of french doors in the barn room, stained the exterior gray, and added an exterior "overhang" above the garage doors.

In this current Phase II we are turning the original, attached barn (it attaches to the farmhouse via the kitchen) into living space... a great room to be specific, or as we have dubbed it-
the barn room!
We are also adding a mud room on the main floor of the barn that connects to the garage below via a new staircase. We are turning the original milking room into a small storage room on the main floor (anyone who has ever lived in an antique house knows that storage space is a rare commodity!) And, we are making an enclosed loft (think office) that sits above the storage and mud rooms.

Phase II is a big project, so I have decided to break it down into several posts to show you what we are working on.
This first post regards the exterior of the barn.

In this Phase II we have added new windows on the

West facing wall that are exact replacements of the original windows and the small-square livestock stall windows! We are moving an antique stone wall to create a graveled terrace accessible from the french doors in the barn room. And, a chimney for the barn room fireplace is being constructed on the east side of the barn between the french doors.
While these exterior projects might sound a bit mundane, to us they are any thing but... for several reasons - The first being that in the middle of winter in New England we are working on exterior projects!! That, in and of itself, is an anomaly! We have had only one minor snowfall (6 inches) so far this year, which has almost all melted away. My excavator and my stonemason do not generally work this time of year....the ground is usually frozen rock-solid by now, but because of the weather we have been able to start both of these exterior projects! We are so thrilled that these projects are being worked on now, instead of having to wait until Spring!

Another reason that makes one of these projects so special, is that the moving of the wall to make the terrace off of the barn room is one of my original visions that I had for this property some four years ago; before we even owned the house! After finding this farmhouse I sat in Dallas for months, as we tried to sell our house, and renovated and remodeled this house over and over in my mind! One of my first thoughts was... "The barn can be a great room and we'll just move that antique stone wall over to the edge of the barn to make a great big terrace." (said in an 'pie in the sky' voice!)
It sounded so simple and easy when I was sitting in Dallas!!
While we have gone through many design ideas with our new (highly recommended, and above board) contractor and his subs- one being a "bunker" for Big Blue built underneath the graveled terrace and accessible from the garage parking pad via antique carriage doors... doable, but out of budget, in the end my original idea plus one amazingly talented, nice (he brings dog cookies to Ella every day) excavator proved to be the best, and most cost-effective solution! To watch this wall being moved stone by stone, and then to see the 'work of art' stone wall being re-constructed is absolutely amazing! Being able to see my 'vision' become reality is a gift beyond measure- for me and this farmhouse, as this wall will certainly stand for hundreds of years to come!

(all photos enlarge when double-clicked; click again to super enlarge)

I thought we would start at the beginning, so you could see the transformation of the barn from the beginning.

This photo was taken on one of first (there were many) visits to the property. The freshly stained barn exterior belies what we found inside!

We have kept the original barn door, and it is going to be placed on a wall inside the barn room as a 'work of art.' This photo shows the stone wall that needs to be moved to the corner of the barn to make the barn room terrace.

This photo shows the original North side of the barn. The gravel path leading to the opened door is the livestock entrance. The two windows on the very bottom are where the garage doors will go... after much digging.



The framed garage doors. Note the level of the dirt on the ground inside the barn that needed to be removed to make it a garage. The grade was lowered two feet.






New garage carriage doors


The framing for the overhang. The overhang was Dan's idea. He wanted it to deflect the rain and snow from the garage doors, and it provides a nice architectural relief to what otherwise is a very large flat plane.


The overhang- mid construction.


The completed overhang.


The house and barn prior to painting and staining, respectively.



The barn room french doors and one North facing window installed. The two square windows above the french doors are our master closet windows. (here)


The second barn room window installed.



The barn being stained gray.



The freshly painted house, and stained barn. In this photo you see the stone wall that will be moved and reconstructed at the corner of the garage/barn to make the barn room terrace.



New windows being installed on the West side of the barn. The top window is the original two over two, and the bottom left is new.


Frames built on-site being added to the new windows.


The beautiful (and energy saving) result!

So that we didn't have to look at raw shingles until we could paint outside in the Spring, the carpenters pre-primed and stained the replacement shingles.

Standing at the barn room french door. The stone wall moments before it is deconstructed- you can see the yellow claw of the excavator in the left side of the door.


Bob, the excavator operator gently lifts this one-ton stone with the ease and grace of an artful surgeon.

















Where the wall used to be.


Andre, the stonemason. These granite stones go directly into the barn foundation (now the garage), so they can not be removed and must be cut. Unfortunately for Andre, this is where the chimney will be built!


Andre splitting the granite blocks using a centuries-old technique with tools called "feathers and wedges." It only took him several hours to split these huge stones, so they can be removed- if you can believe that!

Granite stones are now flush with the wall.

Footing is prepared for the base of the chimney.

The concrete being poured into the chimney base.

Smoothing the concrete as the 'peanut gallery' looks on!

Thermal blanket used to protect the freshly poured concrete from the freezing temperatures.

The chimney has arrived! Well, the concrete blocks that will be used to form the housing of the chimney have arrived!

The "cornerstone" of the new stone wall being rebuilt.

The wall will have two tiers and in the end will be slightly over 12 feet tall .

Second course mid-construction (this is only day two and a half of contruction!) When this course of stones is complete it will be the end of the wall project until Spring. Construction of the chimney will continue until complete.

So, that's the barn exterior Phase II! I leave you with a couple of "pretty" pictures!

The house in snow.

Maple shadows on the house.