Replacing Sheetrock

Replacing sheetrock in a house is a relatively inexpensive DIY project, which included some allowed home owner remediation here. Bill & Leif have now finished replacing sheetrock & insulation etc. in this house. Whew!

We used ridged foam boards, a plastic vapor barrier & new wood to accept sheet rock screws in the office which is partially below grade.

PU Art Museum Visit

Visiting the new Princeton University Art Museum now is lovely, shopping for gifts or having an exquisite meal in their restaurant "Mosaic". The new restaurant is on the 3rd floor with angled windows viewing old spires of buildings behind Nassau Hall and large composite wooden beams making up the ceiling.

Toshiko Takaezu's opening piece here and bronzed bell near Nassau Hall.

Snowed In At Old Farm

We just spent a vacation week at Old Farm enjoying the Cape - collecting leaves, shoveling snow in blizzard conditions and enjoying fires in the wood stove day & night (when temps "felt like" -4 degrees).

The armchairs and garden stone moved in front of the woodstove & a wreath hung on the door.

The garden stone heats up and serves as a great footrest.

Our Jotul F3 wood stove heats 1,300 sq. ft. & 42,000 BTU's/hr.; perfect for a small such house.

Bill's Tesla Y drove us to & from the Cape and Provincetown where we Christmas shopped and visited the galleries.

Sculptural Seats

Bill has been making ceramic seats and tables for the studio winter open house Dec. 6th this year. He fires these in the  enormous Takaezu kiln he has run for over fifty years & costs $1,000 in propane to fire once (2 firings required to finish a piece). 

Maintaining the studio, producing glazes & buying clay make ceramics this scale a commitment.

Happy Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving table was surrounded by Bill's latest ceramic garden stones and seats.

Table set with gourds that grew out of my compost and new Venetian glasses.

The wood castle came down from the attic to join in.

Vintage Brass On A Door

I have always had a yellow door and Bill has repainted our most used one. I have polished the vintage brass numbers etc. from these original old doors. As the sun sets, the warmth of it is so welcoming with yellow leaves about now as well.

Solid brass polishes like gold using red rouge on a wheel.

Christian's vintage side door painted "Wooden Shoes" from "Fine Paints Of Europe", and polished hardware.

Old Farm's 308 yr. old front door with a lifetime polished brass door knocker, both "Georgian Period" in design. The door is painted "Moorland Green" from Fine Paints of Europe.

Heating A House

Leif has been heating with one of two Jotul F500 "Oslo" wood stoves, which heats 2,300 sq. ft. with 100% clean combustion. He is now installing new floor radiators & refurbishing his second stove. Cost: paint $40, glass & gaskets $200. The cost new is about $5,000 delivered. 

Photo above the stove is Anders in the backyard Stony Brook Creek.

Christian dug out a crawl space for his new air handler and storage which has poured cement walls, floor and a new fireplace foundation, for his wood burning stove.

Below is the finished recycled brick hearth and stove, still a main source of heat. Bill & Alex drove to Maine to pick up this twice used Jotul F400 (heats 1600 sq. ft.) for $1,000.

Both Christian & Leif supplement their heating systems with beautiful "Runtal" cast iron modern radiators...

On the wall in the solarium and below the kitchen window.

In Leif's kitchen.

PU Art Museum Opens Halloween!

Princeton University opened its grand new (twice the size) art museum doors last night for 24 hrs. to the public for free, and it was beyond spectacular! What a Halloween venue you could spend all night appreciating, while exploring the new buildings architectural magnificence in design and exhibits.                                                                  Bill's garden stones on display in the museum store showcase; first shelf.

We began visiting Toshiko Takaezu's first floor show and Bill's pieces in the store nearby in orange & black PU Reunions blazers.

Artwork is often presented with the artist's contemporaries and teachers, for total immersion in a building created for many visitors. A functional piece of art itself one must experience!

We are lucky to live close to the university where Bill received two science degrees and artistic mentoring.

Photo by Ricardo Barros, PAW Magazine 9/2019.