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

Our latest and greatest and last ad in the New York Magazine, a 13 week run that I thought was really pretty neat. I mean, we owned it - no one upstate was running ads, and here we were - this itty bitty little red engine pulling out a 13 week 1/2 page ad run. We are doing a lot of building, and it looks like we will be doing so for the foreseeable future, having just consummated two new deals, as well as probably another big one on the short term horizon. Here's the pink house - and if you can remember back when they put this pink house wrap up, I bemoaned the fact since now the house was going to be pink until we got the siding up. In the foreground is the 1998 Rav that I bought when I moved up here in 2002. Drove it for 130,000 miles, Lisa learned how to safely drive in the snow in it (she's from Virginny), -although come to think of it she was one of the few people who could get that car stuck - it was virtually stick free, with it's all-wheel drive, etc... Then Juan, who is back in Guatemala with his kids, bought it from us, and now Job, Juan's protege bought it from him - and it lives on and on. Seriously, nothing like a reliable car to help you get ahead of the game.

Here's Ed, really 'pouring it on' for the camera. His grimace from the weight of the board is a bit overkill in my book. This is the 2nd day of floor laying, and we will finish it up today. That's the good and bad thing about small houses - they go quick, and that means a shorter construction time, but it also means you gotta be on your game in regards to administration - every two days brings a new phase.

The upstate landing with the sheetrock art and wood ceilings. Anytime I can steal a little space from the bedrooms and give a little to the upstairs foyer, I do it - in terms of space give-back, that intangible feedback that sells homes, and inspires buyers (actually one and the same thing) - a little knowledge goes a long way. Looking into the mbr and the upstairs bath. There's another half bath in this Cottage 28 - a 1300 sq ft 2 bedroom wonder.

And the bedroom, with lots of light, and big high ceilings. And we are not wasting anytime on Ranch III - a 1200 sq ft 2 bedroom on a concrete slab with radiant heat, super insulation and secret little house spot that fits the home like only a builder with 70 homes under his belt could manage.

We got John coming through the ultra May green with the secondary electric, bringing power to the home so the rest of us can work like gentlemen.

And Rich the plumbing and heating maestro surveying his slab rough in, just about ready to put the piping under air pressure to check for any leakage. His co-worker behind him always runs from the camera, like he's the subject of America's Most Wanted episode.

First the dig, then the footings, then the foundation, then the stone tamped, then the waste and vent lines, then the slab electric outlets, then the insul-tarp, then the slab wire, then the radiant heat and then the slab - and then the frame goes up. Won't be long.

And this 2400 sq ft home that has been in the works on Tuthill Road since last November is reaching the closing table tomorrow. Not much more really needs to be said.

Tito is wrapping up the back porch with his magic painting brush.

And Cottage 25, with the screened porch for bug free dining and cocktails. Rough cut locally harvested porch railings.

Handhewn stair posts, red kitchen, ledgestone wood stove nook.

A bold red kitchen, that really works.

And the room that will serve many purposes I'm sure.

And our newest Cottage, this 960 sq ft pretty cool design is up for grabs - that's right - unspoken for. That's right, unsold. That's right - a cottage for sale.

8 acres in the town of Lumberland, in the hamlet of Barryville. Just another little piece of magic in the middle of nowhere.

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We have a lot of accomplished clients - and I'm pretty sure that's the neatest part of the Catskill Farms story. The diversity of our clients. I would shout out a few, but the ones that catch my eye arent' always the ones that the NYTimes would fawn over. I like the young business woman vaulting to the top of the new media world, the communications entreprenuer, the international shipping business owner, the personal assistant to a billionare, the naturalists, the artist, the architect, the researcher, and a host of others serving up their A game in the rough and tumble city. I know the NY Times would love to fawn over over the Broadway music producer, the A-list comedian, the rock star or that amazing builder I keep hearing about, but that's just so easy. So here's my friend Peter, who retained us to build him a new home in Walton New York. Actually, he stalked us, told us we had to build his home, that we didn't have a choice - even if it was 2 hrs away. So we designed and built his Gothic Cottage last year. James played a big part in the design, and I think's it's where Kevin our architect got his start with us. Well, anyway, Peter Sorenen likes to design things for Michelle Obama, and here is a link sent to me by Van, partner of Eric, who is a pretty fancy style writer for the NY Times (talk about uncomfortable when I found that out - actually, just kidding, I don't take it personal if the Times writes about the wrong things and while shouting it's the right thing). Hope you don't mind the shout out, Peter. I mean, you are in the public eye now. I wonder what type of security check he had to go through, and what type of cloth examination was required?

Here's my new cow painting, hanging nicely above my type writer collecetion, set against the board and batton walls. The Painting came from an artist Lisa and I really enjoy (I was going to write "Lisa and I's favorite local artist', but the correct grammer got too complicated). We bought it at the River Gallery in Narrowsburg, run by Tony and Barry. It's one of my favorite stores in the region. I'm a pretty picky shopper, but everytime I frickin walk in there, Tony's got something 'right back here' that 'you're gonna love', and the guy is right - I'm always walking out his store with a big painting. Office taking shape nicely. Interesting material arrangement - board and batton on the rear wall, sheetrock on the right, and corrugated sheet metal on the left. Polished and stained concrete, with radiant heat, a stained wood ceiling, and a Mid-Century Eames chair to nicely complete the room.

Cottage 28 is way past the point of this picture, but I always love the booms, and lifts and stuff that facililate our efforts.

And this is a lovely picture from the rear right angle. It's a little dining room off the kitchen, with tile floors, lots of windows and a cathedral ceiling. It's a great shape. We found humungus bear prints in the mud around this house the other day. I was half expecting the bear to be sitting at a table inside the house.

Cottage 25 is moving right along and we should be turning the home over to Steve here in the next few weeks. Not much left to finish.

And the porch of all porches at Farmhouse 12. Rounded, exposed rafters. Just the right size for lots of diverse activities. Their kids are going to love this porch - actually maybe the parents will, now being able to just 'stick the kids on the porch'. Inside is done, and just need to paint and finish the grading on the land.

Tito and his helper painting the brick fireplace.

And, since we don't waste time, here is the foundation of Ranch 3 - our newest mid-century masterpiece. It's going under contract here shortly.

Nice lot, with great views, just a few miles outside of Narrowsburg, NY.

And here's Mark, our local floor sanding craftsman. We're lucky to have him - he makes our floors look great. He's at our offices here, on a Thursday afternoon, and I needed it resanded, stained, and 3 coats of poly by Monday Morning. Of course, no problemo. Note Jake, who has become a real camera whore.

This is a cool construction photo, below - usually, it's man and his machine. Here is just machine, in an empty room.

Cool article in the Times

I love when they write about upstate. I'm immediately swamped by emails and phone calls. Thanks New York Times - it's much appreciated. Keep up the good work.

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Wow, ok, now we are on TV - Channel YNN is an affliate of NY1, which covers the upstate region and they just added Sullivan County to their coverage area - which is great, since this area has zippo local news, at least zippo local news in a timely fashion. I mean a hurricane could come through and unless it hit us, we wouldn't know until the paper came out at the end of the week, or a neighbor happened to mention it. So the TV reporter, Lori Chung, is from Brooklyn and took a job at YNN out of the Middletown office, in order to have the opportunity to spread her wings as a TV journalist, and she's in charge of finding local stories. So, she found us, and it's a 2 minute spot about Blog Cabin 2010. For those of you who don't know which interviewee is me, just look for the handsome guy saying a lot of smart, insightful things. Now, one thing about this link, is the first time you watch it (since it's primarily TV, not web-based), there's a lot of buffering and I just about threw my computer out the window when I watched it - I recommend letting it play once while shaving or showering, then coming back to watch it after it ran once, - the 2nd time seems to run fine, the first time download sucks. Enjoy. YNN TV Spot. And our latest DIY Vlog, with guest star James K.