Tag: Icehouse Rehabilitation
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Hardscape Supervisor
Supervising stonework is challenging, but somebody has to do it. Fortunately Carley loves hanging out on construction sites with carpenters and contractors of all stripes. Lately she’s been spending much of the day in the icehouse observing Pam, Tony, and Aaron while they’ve been transforming rock piles into the icehouse courtyard. Carley would always prefer…
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2nd Warning
“Do not use,” warns the green tape sealing my toilet seat in the icehouse bathroom. Lifting the seat reveals an admonition masquerading as a question: “Did you miss the 1st warning?” The first warning is construction site protocol, an effort to forestall bathroom use during finish construction while [hopefully] maintaining the bathroom in pristine condition.…
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Glass & Garapa Niche
I finally got around to floating glass shelves in the icehouse bathroom’s garapa niche this morning. And I’m plenty pleased with the result. The phone photo in this post does no justice to the minimalist efficiency of this builtin storage space shoehorned into a tiny bathroom in a tiny building. At once dissolving into the…
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Moonrise, Sunrise
Yesterday’s perfect week wrap-up included several encouraging icehouse rehab accomplishments to cross off the punch list; a laughter soaked wake surf session with Susan, our nephew, Erik, and friends followed by a hot tub soak; late night snack-supper celebrating garden-to-table tomatoes; and a supermoon surprise so sensational my nephew and I returned to the waterfront…
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![Handrails [Almost] Complete](https://svs.ths.mybluehost.me/website_a50a90cb/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/img_6523.jpg)
Handrails [Almost] Complete
After a couple of months of ploddingly, almost imperceptibly, whittling away at the icehouse loft guardrails and stairway handrails, I’m finally in the homestretch. Aside from a few finishing touches, the handrails are 95% complete. When I abbreviated the finish carpentry subcontractor’s employ (after months of onerous babysitting and a parade of broken promises), I…
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Rocking Chairs
A beautiful afternoon after a soggy morning after a rainy night after a tempestuous afternoon after a… The summer of 2023 will be remembered for the persistent rains. And the ambitious list of maintenance and repairs. And the icehouse rehabilitation now 2-3 months overdue. And yet the pair of come-and-relax rocking chairs on the new…
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Hardscaping an Oasis
I’m overdue for an update on the icehouse exterior — from deck, hot tub, and grass court to sunken patio, gardens, and fire pit — at least in part because this summer’s weather has stalled many of these projects to the point of discouraging doldrums. But today I’d like to offer a glimpse at our…
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Cushion Cubby Complete
In quarters as diminutive as Rosslyn’s icehouse, when space is at a premium, it’s necessary to get creative with each book and cranny. Under a staircase, for example, we now have a cushion cubby for storing deck items during inclement weather. This wasn’t originally in the plan. I was trying to squeeze bookshelves into all…
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Loft Guardrail
Three and a half weeks ago I extolled Rosslyn’s perennially perfect poppies as a timely analgesic to the inconvenient-but-overdue termination of an habitually untimely, underperforming (I’m being generous!) subcontractor who had been charged with custom cabinetry, stairway railing, and loft guardrail. Here’s a snippety flashback. Let’s assume that “cocky pop” is the body double for…
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Starlinking the Icehouse
By now you know that the icehouse rehabilitation project is my long anticipated workspace. Study. Studio. Home office. Recreational, entertaining flex space… All in one tiny historic building. And the common denominator in most of these uses is Internet connectivity. Rather than relying on the cable connectivity we rely on in the house (recently switched…
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Pam’s Poem
This morning after clambering up onto the icehouse roof not once but six times in a row — installing Starlink satellite dish, rooftop rack, and four surprisingly heavy ballasts — I headed inside to work on the stairway railing. In the coffee bar I discovered a surprise: Pam’s poem with a bottle of bubbly. I…
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Cherry Cabinet
Susan visited an antique dealer last week to inquire about their interest in an antique cherry cabinet that has furnished my study for a decade and a half. Purchased from a local dealer who was liquidating her collection, including various pieces from the Noble estate — or so she informed us at the time, though…