Tag: Rosslyn’s Carriage Barn
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Pickets & Kindling
While Glen has been enjoying some much deserved R&R, Tony has been finalizing preparations for the privacy enclosure behind the carriage barn. Woodworking, especially repurposing rough or recycled material into finish grade lumber, has proven to be a well matched and rewarding undertaking for Tony over the last year and a half. Again and again…
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Tree-to-Timber
As we prepare to fabricate the privacy enclosure behind the carriage barn, the constituent parts are starting to fall into place. One of the most important is the material that we’re using for the pickets. Yet another tree-to-timber project, all of the cedar slats/boards that will comprise the fence pickets grew less than 150’ from…
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Declutter & Consolidate
As the icehouse rehabilitation reaches its conclusion and nearly two decades of Rosslyn carpentry dwindle down to the final acts, it’s time to declutter the carriage barn that has served as a lumber and architectural salvage warehouse, workshop, and staging area. It’s time to consolidate and organize miscellaneous stacks of lumber. It’s time to make…
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Why Helical Piles?
Today Bob Kaleita and Phil Valachovic installed helical piles for a small privacy fence that will conceal the propane tank, generator, mini split compressor, etc. behind Rosslyn’s carriage barn. I’d like to dilate today’s update with a more detailed explanation of the helical piles concept and utility as an alternative to precast or poured concrete…
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Logs Off to Sawmill
After felling five ash trees in the vicinity of Rosslyn’s icehouse and carriage barn with precision and arboreal poetry Aaron and Tony passed the baton to Phil and Calvin. There are still stumps to be ground down and logs to be split into firewood, but our ash logs have migrated one step closer to their…
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Floorboards Lost & Found
Rosslyn’s rolling rehabilitation — intermittent, to be sure, but ongoing since 2006 — is one way to account for the fact that the carriage barn floorboards have been mostly invisible for much of the last decade and a half. One project or another, and plenty of equipment and materials, have occupied virtually every usable square…
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Deciphering Ciphering
I first heard the term “ciphering” in 2005 when we were renovating the Lapine House. Context offered some clarity: “ciphering” was used to describe job site problematizing, brainstorming, tweaking and tuning a step-by-step action plan, and generally massaging blueprints and construction schema into completable carpentry. From a linguistic perspective, describing the process of analyzing plans,…
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Screening
Still “ciphering” on the particulars of the enclosure screening south of the icehouse terrace. Four days ago I riffed whimsical on the subtleties of decision making for the privacy fence that will conceal the unsightly but essential infrastructure located behind Rosslyn’s historic carriage house). A mid morning meditation on enclosure inspired by ongoing deliberations on…
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Enclosure
A mid morning meditation on enclosure inspired by ongoing deliberations on the height and porosity of the privacy fence that will screen the mechanicals, propane tank, etc. behind the carriage barn (south of the icehouse terrace). So muchdepends upona borderenfolding,a framedefining,a hedge ora tree linescreening,veiling,a yardencompassing,a paddockor a stycontaining,a ringencircling,a cageconfining,a courtyard’ssanctuarysheltering,a harborprotecting,an embracewelcoming andnurturing…
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Woodchuck Chuck?
Rosslyn’s yards, gardens, meadows, and woods are thick with wildlife. Sure, some are charismatic and mysterious like bobcats and the coyotes. But others are more familiar. Sometimes even mettlesome. I would like to introduce you to Woodchuck Chuck. The photos in this post were actually taken in the summer of 2010, so the Woodchuck Chuck…
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Red Sky at Night
Perhaps you’ve heard the adage that begins, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight”? On a recent evening looking west past Rosslyn’s carriage barn and icehouse, Susan snapped this image. Stunning. And confidence inspiring, even for a non-sailor, I imagine. When we see a red sky at night, this means that the setting sun is sending…
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Bird’s Eye View: Backyard
Over the last year, I’ve often relied on aerial photography to help me conceptualize icehouse rehab plans, visualize topographical integration, and plan landscape / hardscape layouts. Over the years I’ve relied upon bird’s eye view photography (thank you drone technology!) for many of Susan an my projects, so this isn’t something new. And yet, it’s…