Tag: Hroth Ottosen
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Upcycled Christmas Gifts
What wintery wonders shall I share with you today? How about a celebration (and showcase) of upcycled Christmas gifts dreamed into existence by three allstar members of our icehouse rehab team? Pam, Hroth, and Tony stopped Susan and me in our just-barely-post-winter-solstice tracks with an early Christmas gift (or three) that exemplify the apex of…
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Architectural Salvage: Repurposed Columns
It’s time for another architectural salvage update, this time focusing on the Greek Revival columns that we salvaged from Rosslyn’s future dining room back in 2006 in the early days or our renovation project. Let’s dive right in with that photograph above, but first a quick semantic note. For the sake of this post (and others)…
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Icehouse Rehab 10: East Elevation Gable Window
I mentioned recently that framing for the expansive gable window in the west elevation of Rosslyn’s icehouse was completed, and the change was monumental. Now we’re on hold, anticipating the big reveal in a few months when the new windows arrive and the sheathing can be trimmed. For now that facade is concealed behind a plane…
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Loft Office View
A new perspective is emerging as Hroth frames my future office window (from the icehouse loft). Looking east (actually southeast in this photo), this will be my morning view. Panning to the left 10 to 15° the view will be filtered through the enormous American Linden (basswood) tree and across the upper lawn, through the…
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Phoenix Rising
Hroth sent me the photograph above so that we could troubleshoot some subtle details for the old/new icehouse entrance and the relationship between the door and the still-to-come exterior landing. I think we’re 99% in sync, but we’ll hash out the details tomorrow so that we’re 100% in sync. In the meantime, I’m enchanted with…
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Carrier Beams Installed for Icehouse Deck
Most of our icehouse rehab updates have focused on the historic building itself, but today we look at progress on the new deck being constructed west of the icehouse and north of the carriage barn. First we carved out the new grade changes, and then we installed the helical piers. Today hefty carrier beams (aka…
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Icehouse Rehab 6: Framing Windows
Although sourcing and designing the new windows and doors started this summer, the order wasn’t finalized until late autumn. Rosslyn’s icehouse is a small building, but there were many details to dial-in before production could begin. Precise pitch of the roof (echoed in several windows) and structural integration with windows and doors (especially in the…
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What Makes a House a Home?
At the root of Rosslyn Redux is a question. What makes a house a home? Simple question. Less simple answer. More precisely, the answers to what makes a house a home are diverse and possibly even evolving — slowly, perpetually — as we live our lives. What defines “homeness” as a child likely differs as…
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Root Wrangling
FYI, it’s not ALL fun and games at Rosslyn. Sometimes there’s tough work to do! Like root wrangling, for example… But there’s no reason work shouldn’t also be fun, right? Do you remember that whopper of a storm this summer, the microburst that blasted Rosslyn, snapping limbs and uprooting trees? At last we’ve de-stumped and…
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Icehouse Rehab 5: First Floor Framed
What. A. Week. It’s a bit of a three ring circus at Rosslyn lately. So many projects happening concurrently. And so many invested, industrious, upbeat, solution-centric colleagues helping us repurpose Rosslyn’s circa 1889 icehouse rehabilitation into the ultimate 21st century flex-work-lifestyle hub. And as of today the first floor is framed! Vision + Ambition +…
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Icehouse Rehab 4.5: Foundation Collaboration
Last Friday I gushed that it’d been a monumental week. No hyperbole. Tackling (and completing) Rosslyn’s icehouse foundation was an epic accomplishment, a concrete collaboration conjoining two separate teams to rescue the foundering concrete project. And while Friday’s post was brief, timely-but-abbreviated recognition for the indefatigable individuals who pulled off this remarkable feat, today I’ll…
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Team Barbecue: Cheers!
Another short and sweet post to mark the end-of-week team barbecue. With four fifths of the icehouse concrete dream team present (Tony was unable to join), it was a well earned chance to take a break from work and celebrate. Susan and I are profoundly grateful for the problem solving and priority juggling and camaraderie…