Farm 18, Sold
It wasn't that long ago that I rescued Kerry and Jamie from the mistake of their lives - when they were just about to buy a huge old house with lots of charm. As I educated them on the benefits of a perfect house, they were able to put away the calculator they were using to price out the 50 storm windows for the single pane glass and the cost of a new paint job on a monster old house like the one that was flirting with them.
Look, I unabashedly believe that old homes are cool, old homes have charms (I typically choose them for myself), but for the most part, my customers (and many who should be) have no business buying an old fixer upper. They don't have the time, the financial resources, or the requisite 'stress capacity' to deal with it. Nor do they have the expertise or wherewithal to tackle the unknown. In a way, it's foolish - these are busy city people, half who never owned a home and hence have no idea the effort a well-functioning home demands, let alone one that is in dire and constant need of tender loving care. Until we started offering our perfectly charming country houses the only choice in the marketplace was to 'fall for the wrong guy', fall for the romance of this old house - doubly dangerous in its heyday cause their wasn't a Catskill Farms offering a compelling alternative to consider.
Introducing, Farm 18. 3 bedrooms, 8 acres, lake rights, 2 bathrooms, full basement, outdoor shower, screened porch, wood burning fireplace, in-wall speakers throughout (including independent volume controls in the bathrooms for rock out shower sessions - R.O.S.S.), security systems, low heat alarms, ton of wrap-around porches, and the man-shed. And I'm probably forgetting another 1/2 of what are in these uber-efficient, ultra cool country retreats.
Our operating mantras - easy soft landings, drama-less construction processes, stamping your house with your impulses and ideas and inspirations and aspirations. We used to aim a lot higher than our abilities, but now we overshoot our high expectations all the time. Especially on our Man Sheds. Our writing shacks. Our drunk tanks. Our pottery barns.
We like our cross buck 9 light barn doors for sure.
Enter forthwith, and take a look at the entire first floor, all 850 sq ft of glory where the living room dining room and kitchen merge effortlessly, but all retaining their personal space to call their own, so there is no unnecessary squabbling and identity-crises.
Lucas immediately went in for the built in chest right inside the front door. I mean, he went right for it - figured out it was there, figured out how to lift the lid and figured out how to get in. He didn't quite figure on how to get out when he shut the lid and I sat on it.
Listening to George Jones 16 greatest hits, after a few drinks and burgers with Bryan over at Cottage 34. Standing in the dining room, with the screened porch to the right and the kitchen to the fore. We used a stained board and batten wainscoting treatment. Nice architectural radiator to the left.
I think most people can imagine themselves succeeding in this kitchen. I think it lends itself to some tawdry Hollywood-style sex scene. But seriously, this place is sharp and you got to hand it to James - the lines are symmetrical and aligned.
The woodburning fireplace with hand hewn beam.
Interesting light/chandelier in the dining room.
and the master bedroom is hot with a similar board and batten wainscotting, beams wrapped in salvaged wood and a nice soft color to soothe the frayed city edges.
Couple cool elements like this horizontal rail treatment connecting old barn beams...
And some built in bookshelves compliment the wood burning fireplace...
and another shot of the various stained hues of board and batten wainscoting...
And then the hot baths that speak for themselves - where the interior designers of Farm 18 took some risks that paid off handsomely... Black gloss walls, white tile, black grout and white toilets and sinks.
Going down the stairs, with natural light coming in from both directions...
And the first floor full bath with some amateur photo shop accenting the black on white.
And then Lucas thought is was high time to hit the road. I mean, we had a big day planned. We had to go visit the Morris girls at Farm 16, or the Morreale kids up the street at Cottage 36, or maybe we need to go get some pancakes at the Whistle Stop in Narrowsburg.
You know, the idea we aspired to with a glimpse of market insight back in 2003 - that there was a market for a wide variety of shapes and sizes of good looking country homes that work - that simple insight and a lot of single-mindedness and hard work, that simple insight is as true then as it is today. Homes that work, homes that look good, houses that achieve that crowning glory of being a home. That's what we do - we build homes.
Unfair Competition
Catskill Farms has sold a lot of houses. Seriously, a lot. So we know our product and we know our customers. Plus we use all sorts of unfair subconscious tools and tricks to get people to buy - like the kayak coming in the door of our office screaming "NATURE'. Or the cool bike in my cool office which screams "I'm going to exercise when I have house up here on pretty country roads'...
Or I'll even pull out the really big guns when I have a family getting close to making a decision, like taking them to an existing customer's home so they can see country relaxation up close and personal. I think these tours to homes where people are living are the most effective since people can see themselves in the home, with the kids, on a nice Saturday afternoon doing NOTHING. But really, it's not fair since it gets hard to say no.
Oh, and this little old finished 750 sq ft finished basement where the kids are having a lot of fun without being underfoot, in the way, or having their crap everywhere - I don't think it takes much imagination to see the genius in that. Compare that to the 4 other crappy resales that they saw earlier in the day, with wet moldy basements that even the creative can't see ever being more than a wet moldy basement. Oh, those cute little kids playing in the basement and having loads of fun - don't mind them.,
I stopped over at Matthew and Sarah's Cottage 36 last Friday with Lucas, and Matthew is planning a few more projects since he got everything he wanted in a country house including a great house and 15 acres of land for a lot less than he would have thought possible.
And there's Lucas riding the Bear at Cottage 36. He wouldn't leave until the bear laid down and went to sleep. Not sure why the frickin' pictures are blurry, but that's just going to have to be the way it is on this one. Like I say sometimes, complete is better than perfect. Perfectly incomplete is a mantra of too many builders I've seen.
It's the small little details that show how much we've grown recently. When we bought this key case for the homes we build 2 years ago, I remember saying to Janice as the keys filled 1/4 of the box - "Guess we are being optimistic today, are we?" Now we've nearly filled it.
Or, we are clearing land for our 3rd building at our home base in Eldred NY.
We run a spray foam company that goes through a lot of barrels of spray foam...
And even our 'receiving area' is filled to the brim with toilets, faucets, sinks, lights, radiators, door knobs, cable rail and assorted other items for the 5 homes we will finish and close in the next 5 weeks.
Not so bad today, but sometimes our parking lot is jammed with our employees' cars, and the traffic in and out puts us at one of the busiest locals in the vicinity. That's our new spray foam trailer on the right there.
All in all, lots of good stuff going on all around us.
Stillwater Road, Stone Ridge NY Cottage 38
Our first effort in the cool area known as Stone Ridge New York continues to move ahead briskly. I think we started this home in November, found some lucky buyers and went into contract in December, and now are on the home stretch here in early April. Below is a picture of a nice rock we took the time to place strategically.
I'll tell you what - if you ever want to create some general aggravation in your life, outsmart yourself by arranging all your icons and apps on your phone into uber smart and organized folders so the next week of your life is spent looking for stuff you used to find with your eyes closed and arm tied behind your back. Although I do have to admit moving my go to calendar from some arcane home screen location to the hot four at the bottom of my phone has reinvented my life in a small way. The Stillwater cottage is pretty hot, inspired by past homes but enhanced in a lot of small little ways. It's not cheap but if you are looking for perfect, Cottage 38 comes pretty close - with 3 acres, a stone wall, 1300 sq ft, 1.5 baths, 2 bedrooms, screened porch, loads of decks/porchs and a 500+ sq ft finished basement with a bathroom, open living space and an office.
We are just entering the final carpentry stage which means I send in our Seals team of six highly trained and thoroughly experienced carpenters to spend two weeks installing the wood ceilings and wallcoverings, installing the window trim, the flooring, the doors, the door trim, the closet shelving, the kitchen - and through a dusty cloud of action arises a home that is ready for the painter. We hope to close on this house in the end of May.
Like many of our homes, the floor plan allows a view of the entire home as you walk in the front door.
Although not a big house, the floor plan is smart enough to allow for this 2 story stone chimney to define both floors of the house.
And of course having a 120 yr old barn beam accenting a handsome woodburning stove never hurt anyone either. Catskill Farms handpicks the salvaged beams and posts for our homes.
And here is how the sausage is made - walls up, and the 12" wide plank floor separated and left to air dry and acclimate for a few days before installation. That prevents, or attempts to prevent, cupping, cracking or shrinking of the boards.
Cottage 38 in Stone Ridge New York has a lot happening inside - here's a shot of the cathedral ceiling clad in wood planks.
The finished basement area is always a bonus. Note the plentitude of light finding a way into this room even though it is partially underground and covered by a deck. We installed a gas fireplace for good measure.
A view from the 2nd floor top of the stairs area, looking down to below.
And then over in Bearsville, a few miles outside of Woodstock proper, sits the new foundation for Cottage 40, a super sweet reinvention of Cottage 36 for a family and their young baby.
On the books -
Under construction - Big Barn, Ranch VI, Barn V, Farm 18, Cottage 38, C0ttage 39, Cottage 40.
Starting soon - Farm 19, Farm 20, Arts & Crafts 2, Arts & Crafts 3, Barn VI, and Cottage 41.
Tonight - "Street Car Named Desire" in NYC. Currently in Saugerties NY, manning our homes under construction up here.
Death of a Salesman
Good seats (hopefully) tonight to the new production of Death of a Salesman - one of my favorites for sure. Saw the Brian Dennehy version in 1999, the last time (I think) the show had a major broadway run.
