Catskills - Sullivan County - Ulster County Real Estate -- Catskill Farms Journal

I get a lot of flak, and generate a lot of ire, because I won't join the 'gas drilling in NY is going to kill us all and sink the planet once and for all' charade.  I mean I get a LOT of flak, I get totally harassed and even ostracized among the civilized folk, and the only reason I can pull it off is because our homes are that good that people keep buying them even though I'm rooting for the end of the earth, destruction of the world as we know it, poisoner of people and their pets, polluter of aquifers, organic farmland, vineyards and micro-brews.

But the bottom line is, I refuse to entomb myself in the campaign of fear being used to mobilize people. Sure, back in 2008-2010, gas drilling would have sucked because Big Gas wanted to have their way with us with no rules, checks or balances.  That would have sucked, and it was a stressful time indeed.

But those days are over, and nowhere would drilling gas be more regulated and controlled than NY State, after 5 years of successful grassroots concern.

Maybe it doesn't work or fit in Sullivan County, but to drive across the huge empty State of NY where property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes are the highest in the nation, where there is zero economic activity and not think we are smart enough to figure out a way to do it - well, my point is simple -  I think we are smart enough.

Try and find the local population between 25-35 - you can't because they leave because there is nothing here for them.  A community without youth is no community at all.

So my point is simple - I think we are smart enough to figure it out, and I don't appreciate the harm the anti-gas folks cause to the area with their fear-mongering.  It's their only tool, and they use it well past the point of believability - because once you don't fear it, then they have a problem.  

Call me an ogre - that's fine and dandy (especially since ogres are now made loveable since Shrek came on the stage), but I believe in 15 years NY State will have a dynamic gas harvesting industry (like many other states), a model for the nation and world, and it will be to the credit of those who fought to bring its dangers to light, and those who fought to not have those dangers be exaggerated.  Those who refuse to use their intelligence, savviness and sophistication to help bring it about in the smartest way will probably find themselves on the wrong side of history.

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So, I'm in Miami Beach, so there is no reason to cry for me Argentina, but I have timed it uniquely perfect with a cold front coming in on Thursday, the day I arrived, and continuing on till Tuesday, the day I leave.  52 degrees this morning and I've been wearing the same sweat shirt for days.  Every one is walking around with sweaters right off the racks, with the store folds and hanger marks embedded on them.

Lucas below trying on my ski wear before our ski trip two weekends ago.

This is one difference between Miami Beach and Sullivan County - here I was just walking around minding my own business and came across this big model shoot party on the ocean right off Ocean Ave.  I'm sure I could find other differences if I tried hard enough.

And for all you Scarface fans, up there on the 3rd floor behind the blue bubble is the chain saw scene room.  Funny story about Scarface movie.

So, when I was like 16 or 17 I was dating a girl out of my league whose dad was a pretty straight and narrow Naval Academy grad who was raising 3 cute daughters.  So they humored me even though I was swimming in water above my head and asked me to bring over a movie we all could watch together on some Saturday night.  So I bring Scarface - I mean, within 30 minutes there were like 125 'fucks', that beautiful scene where tony's friend does the 'tongue thing' as a come on line to some muchacha, a chain saw scene, a murder and it was just getting started.  Totally inappropriate, and that was before it evolved into a cult classic - which in a way, validates my 'ahead of the times - ness' that I still deploy today.  

However, thinking back on it, at the time it was more like Taxi Driver, where the clueless DeNiro takes his date to the porn show.

Cottage 36 is a hot house, which we finished up about 18 months ago.  Thing is, owners liked the process so much they want to do it again, this time only bigger.  I've often said, tongue in cheek like, that it's too bad you only get to typically build once in your life, since you learn so much along the way that would help the second time around.  These folks are taking me up on that assertion.

Cool house on 15 acres, selling for $439k, which is a good deal by anyone's calculations, considering how loaded this house is with upgrades and goodies.

Mudroom, with the bowling pin pic with salvaged wood frame that she gave him for some life marking event.  This is a fun little area of the home - with the salvaged wood, rad, bench, stone and elbow room.

The upstairs has a catwalk to the 2 bedrooms that allows this elevated vantage.

A lot of downhomeness here.  Super simple, restrained and classy.  You can't teach taste, and typically our clients have taste by the basketfull.

Eat in kitchen, that seques both onto the deck and the living room.

Couple of snazzy bedrooms with beds consistently made well enough to bounce a quarter off of.  Don't try that at home.

Spacious, low key, high impact baths.

The kids playhouse.  Far enough away from the house for noise muffling, but close enough to keep an eye on those damn kids.

And the old out door fireplace in the screened porch trick.

There's you got it.  I'm down in Miami Beach, gotta go run and get my hair cut.

Well, it wasn't that long ago that Michael and his soon to be new bride visited us looking for something upstate.  Before long we had them convinced we were the team for them, helped them located 25 acres, design a house, and now they are moving in (or possibly even have moved in).

1950 sq ft 3 bedroom home with a 2 car barn with a green house off to the side.  Some hot colors - I always call this red 'panty red'.

We cleared an acre of land and built these two classic structures.

You may remember Farm 11 the other year over in Narrowsburg - this home was inspired by that one, with some personal choices driving some changes in the floor plan and flow priorities.

Lots of good colors that accented the barn beams and cable rail.  4 panel shaker doors, black hardware, white radiator, sliding barn door and a jacobean stained floor.

Simple fireplace with lots of light.

Our famous barn door leading out into the mudroom.

Here's the main entrance door, off on the side, with a rad to dry the wet winter stinky socks and a stone floor to catch the muddy boots.

Seriously, who wouldn't love this mud room, out to the shelves and into the dining room and out to the deck.

Tito the magician getting it done in the kitchen.

Media room with lots of hi-tech wiring.  Great colors.

Going up in the 2nd floor with wood ceilings and cladded beams.  Another great shot of what's going on - beams, salvaged posts, rail, planks, rads and shaker doors.

Blue and pink rooms.

The 2nd floor shared bath is hot...

but this is the house of the POJAB - pimped out japanese awesome bath - I think that's what we named it anyways, and every house has a starting point, a focus of the dream.  Farm 11 started with the kitchen, Cottage 36 started with the bunk beds, Glasco Cottage really focused in on the porches and outdoor living - this one had an eye from the beginning on this bathroom, and in very few conversations we nailed the general idea and during the course of construction, we nailed the design and materials.

Here's the master bedroom, with the walkin closet and the 2nd floor deck out back.

That's me in the mirror - I just refound my orange hat so I'm pretty happy about that.

And looking out the upstairs window into a dreamy landscape and faraway thoughts about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness in a Catskill Farms home.

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