The Turning Tide

For the past five months, we've been expert at taking things apart, smashing walls up, ripping stuff out and generally stripping down the church to it's bones. When all is said and done, I'm going to tally up the bills for the dump runs and I think I will have made the dump close to $5000 richer. BUT when I got to the church on Saturday morning, I finally got the sense that the tide had turned and we were putting things back TOGETHER! I walked to the back of the church, plucked the hidden wrench from its hiding place that we use to open the door and saw that David had kind of blocked off the main working area. Kind of like only having the body part that you're operating on exposed to the doctor; everything else is covered up.

Behind the curtain, here is where the kitchen will be...

And across from the kitchen will be the dining room.

I'm waiting for the new front door to be delivered. When we placed the church back down on the new foundation and the floors leveled out, the front door wouldn't close anymore. Here's how we  get it to close. We jam a crow bar under the jamb. Fancy.

A very cool thing happened this week when David was prepping the kitchen and dining room. He discovered a opening in the floor that would go straight down to the basement. This would solve the washer/dryer and where to place them problem. I told David I was cool with a trap door but he's a bit iffy. I think a trap door goes well with a church.

I do have new heating but it's always cool to throw some wood in the stove. I mean, here's my fancy new thermostat with multi-page instruction book and below it, the wood stove. It's nice to have that balance.

I am repurposing the original church door (or at least, I think it was). I think I'm going to install barn door hardware and use it as the bathroom door. 

Whenever I look at at the bannister to that staircase, I can't wait to rip it out. Hopefully, one of the last holdouts to demolition. I am going to dismantle it myself when David is ready to put up the new one.

When I walked up to the bedroom, I saw that the closets were beginning to be constructed. Progress is definitely being made. David is going to lay the tongue & groove pine floor that I will begin coating with high gloss white paint.

Sparky was on holiday so I didn't get to see him this week. I did get to visit with my friends, Kelly and Spike and in a wonderful Christmas miracle moment, Spike lent me the first two seasons of Battlestar Gallactica. Now I know what I'm doing the week between Christmas and New Years!

When I drove to the Hudson train station, I was early and had a little time to kill so I drove over to the top of Warren Street where I encountered John Doe Records. This is a cool new record shop filled with vinyl, books and ephemera. Now I'll never have to wander around Hudson aimlessly looking at overpriced mid-century modern furniture stores when I'm waiting for the train. They've only been open for a couple of weeks but you know how important it is to support your local record store so I am shamelessly giving them a shout out here.

If I can't sign off with a photo of Sparkles the wonder dog, here's a view of the rising moon from the bedroom window.

This is a MONUMENTAL relief

The church now has it's C of O!

The new heating system and foundation have been inspected and approved. On to plumbing and electric!
I'll be heading up tonight for a meeting with David tomorrow morning. Somehow, the to do list never gets shorter with each visit...

A RED LETTER DAY

Finally. The church has heat.

Winter is here

I was in Paris last week. I went to see Murakami at Versailles, Basquiat and Larry Clark at the Musee D'Art Moderne, Kertesz at Jeu de Paume and I never miss paying a visit to my favorite museum, Maison Europeene de Photographie in the 4th arrondisement. It was just what I needed. Looking at art calms and inspires me. And I love the light in Paris the way that I love the light in the Hudson Valley and Provincetown.
Here's some photos of my trip:

When I got back to New York, I did my laundry and packed a bag for the weekend with the Parker-Thomassons and to check up on the church progress.

It was one of those expensive check writing weeks that didn't really yield any wow factor or, unfortunately, my goal of working heat and running water. But we are getting closer. Here's what's going on at the church in Coxsackie. 

In the biggest improvement of the month, here is my 98% efficient natural gas furnace with tankless water heater.

And here's Jeff, my plumber, starting to reconnect the toilet plumbing lines.

I met David at the Home Depot in Catskill to buy a new toilet, I mean, who wants to inherit someone else's toilet? So we bought one and put it in David's wagon and ...  Magic!

Now, I need to find a tub and, oh yeah, a billion other things.

In one very happy moment, I walked upstairs to see that they had removed the plastic from the windows (bitchier for staining but nicer for seeing!) Here was the view I saw:

That made me feel good. 

Another bit of progress occurred when we fixed the street that we had dug up. Not the most beautiful blacktop job but at least cars weren't wrecking their shocks anymore as they bumped over it.

David also installed the Bilco Doors to the basement entrance. This will further help in the ongoing plight to keep water out of the basement.

We went over some details for the kitchen cabinet installation and talked about when I can order the lights, front door and window (now) and that I wanted him to find some inexpensive pine planks (that I would paint the high gloss white shit out of!) and lay that down as flooring in my bedroom.

If all goes well, when I go up in two weeks I should have a working toilet again and a brand new working heating system (all the baseboard has already been installed inside).

Without much more to do in the church until I get heat and the flooring installed, we went junk store searching and road tripping. Here's some snaps from our outing:

I also had my dining room hutch moved to "Jake's Lock Up", my storage shed in Coxsackie. Here I am with Lawson who moved the piece (behind us) from the store in Earlton to Jake's.

After all that TCB, I slept well with Sparky for company.

And today, I had a really beautiful sunset on my way home. Thanks Mother Nature and Amtrak; it was a very spiritual journey.

Maintaining Composure

Me and my guitar
Always in the same mood
I am mostly flesh and bone
And he is mostly wood
I loved this James Taylor song when I was a kid and while I still do take comfort in my guitars, I am beginning to feel the same affection for the church. I am mostly flesh and bone and she is mostly wood.

This has been a hairy couple of weeks. It started when the hard drive began to fail on my iMac. A trip to Tekserve, a fair amount of anxiety and finally, a happy but moderately expensive outcome. Then, the record label that I work for, Roadrunner Records, announced that it was bought by Warner Music Group last Tuesday. Those of you who know me, know that I do not thrive in corporate culture, so I had another tussle with anxiety that day. And then, the crown of this triumvirate was my trip to the church this weekend. I had taken Monday off so I could be there when my HVAC guy and Central Hudson, the gas company, ripped up my street and front lawn to install all new sewer, water and natural gas piping to the church. My feeling was if we somehow blew up the town of Coxsackie, as the owner and person somewhat responsible, I should be there.
When I got there on Saturday, I saw this:

Central Hudson had come and indicated where to dig.
Now I am going to jump to Monday, where the beehive of activity was dizzying to me. I took this photo from my front door:

This is the moment when they discovered that there was some concrete that the backhoe couldn't handle and someone had to run up to Albany to get a jack hammer attachment. It was a long day. And an important one since my goal is to get heat and running water by January 1st so I can start staying there.

David told me that our backhoe operator, Richard, removed the pine tree in front and replanted a bush that we had ripped up earlier in the day into that spot.  I had been regretting not taking out that pine tree when I had LB Tree Service remove the maples and big spruce so I was glad Richard was willing to do a little more work for me on the side. The beautiful house across the street is owned by my neighbor, Wayne West. He and his family have been very welcoming and patient with my renovations. Wayne owns Century 21/New West Properties where Deb Parker, my friend and real estate broker, works.

A LOT had happened in the interior while I was in the city...

In the most exciting development since the patio doors and transoms were installed, the ceiling is completed. This:

Became this:

Another dance and high five! I was particularly happy with how we used mini tie rods for the "beams" in the lofts that mimic the large tie rods below.
In other developments, I am definitely at that moment when I realize that I don't have the resources to do all the things I'd like to do and I am really trying to figure out creative ways to cut costs.
I ordered the kitchen cabinetry which should be arriving around the first of the year. I've started to look at appliances but I'm not going to do anything really fancy there. It is uber important to me to be able to finance the deck in the spring. I do not want to run out of money and have to put that on hold. AND I'm going to have to do something with landscaping this spring. This is going to be interesting.
I stood out on the deck for a long time this weekend. I love being out on the deck. I love looking at the Hudson River and the Coxsackie Roundout.

And you also know how much I love Sparky. With all that was going on, I really needed to find some serenity. And Sparky saved the day. His serenity is infectious and he helped me meditate.

I will be going to Paris on Thanksgiving Day and won't be back at the church until December 3rd. I've given the guys the week of Thanksgiving off to give the church, my blog and my budget a rest.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I know I have a lot to be thankful for.

Big Changes

Now that the foundation work is done some of the interior work can begin. I have to order a front entry door  which has proved a difficult choice and the prices have been suck in your breath kind of prices but it's a necessity and you can't punt on your front door. If any one has ever had to buy a front entry door and had a good experience with a particular company, let me know.

When I was at the church last weekend, the beautiful tongue and groove vintage white stained pine was delivered. I asked David when he could start putting it up. He said we needed to get insulation first. So we went to Home Depot to buy insulation. Guess what? Insulation isn't cheap but it's cold in upstate New York and I know we need  it.
This is what the ceiling looked like when I left on Sunday.

David picked up the insulation on Monday morning and by Thursday, his helper Don had sent me this picture.

And by Friday evening, Don sent me this.

Now this really got me excited at a whole new level. The ceiling soars to the pitch and we got tie rods to mirror the large tie rods in the center of the church. I cannot wait to see it in person but for now I'm happy to look at this photo all week and see that it WILL come together. Here's what the loft ceilings  used to look like (notice the tie rods are boxed in to look like beams).

Speaking of beams, my mason Tom Dootz, procured these beams for us to install in the living space below. I think I want to paint them white but we'll see how they look when they go up and I'll decide.

 

I can't wait to change the staircase up to the office loft. Looking at staircases has become one of my favorite pastimes. And it seems that I'm not alone in that obsession. Check out Stair Porn!
With everything going full steam ahead at the church, I was able to have a lot of fun with the Parker-Thomassons for Earl's birthday party and Halloween.

Deb and I also did a little shopping. I'm trying to get decent pieces inexpensively since I've realized that every last penny is going into the renovation leaving nothing for the really fun part of decorating. We made a really good score that has kind of opened my mind to becoming more wood and vintage danish modern than italian and contemporary with the interior design. We got the breakfront/china cabinet, swedish eames chair interpretation and the pole lamp and it was all for less than $300. Score!

And here I am outside of my storage space with most of my booty. The phonograph plays 78s really loudly. And I bought the "Destination Moon" LP for the spacemen cover.

And it was a good week in the city too. My friend, Kevin Patrick, took me to see Matt & Kim at Webster Hall. It was a really fun show with fantastic energy. And I would like to say for the record that I know those two appear to be Brooklyn Hipsters but they are two the nicest and most genuine artists I've met.

And in another brush with one of the nicest and most genuine artists I've had the privilege to work with, Jim White, sent me this piece of art as token of his appreciation.

Oh, it wouldn't be a blog entry without ending with Sparky. We did a lot of running around last weekend so we let him take some of the driving responsibilities.

Definitely, a good couple of weeks.