Living and gardening in an older Hudson Valley home
The Harcourts, the builders of the home, planted this beautiful Japanese Maple in the front yard. For an ornamental Japanese maple it is a large tree. When the Harcourt’s sold the property, they told the new owners (the Parisers) the tree was a “century tree” meaning it was a 100 years old. The Parisers lived […]
After I had two old spruce trees removed in the back yard, the pool equipment and air conditioning unit were eyesores. I wanted to camouflage them and I wanted a vegetable garden. We have a lot of deer in the neighborhood, so any vegetable garden requires a fence. I decided to install a wooden fence […]
Gordon Marvel, the architect of the house, designed many built-ins for the rooms. They give the house character and are always noticed by visitors. Fortunately, they were not altered over the years and I will likewise preserve them. Telephone Niche – Leading from the entry hall into the living room is a small hallway (not […]
Having a swimming pool is an amazing luxury. After working in the yard on a hot summer’s day, jumping into the pool is a wonderful relaxing ritual. A few short months ago I would not have imagined this possible. The pool had not been opened for at least 2 seasons. I wasn’t sure what the […]
The dining room is a beautifully proportioned room. It is a generous size with a large bay window. Coming in through the front door, one looks through the entry hall directly into the dining room and the bay window. The most recent owners had painted the walls battleship grey and hung cheap curtains. The light […]
For many houses the kitchen is the heart of the home. I like to entertain and cook in general, consequently having a nice looking kitchen is desirable to me. The kitchen had been renovated in the 1970’s, without any changes since then. Modern kitchen are big, with islands and places for many people to gather. […]
My friend Andrew and I had been hiking in Minnewaska State Park in 2017. We stayed at the Minnewaska Lodge. One of the nice things they had for their guests were pre-arranged s’mores. You could take a packet with a marshmallow and chocolate. Skewers were available to take to their fire pit to make s’mores. […]
While I chose to strip the outdated wallpaper throughout the house, the living room walls are covered in grass cloth, which I wanted to keep. The grass had mellowed over the years to a beautiful, rich honey color. It provides a nice neutral background for paintings and other objects in the room. I searched the […]
Everyone’s house is special. It is often the embodiment of their style, their preferences and is above all their refuge. There are bigger, grander and more interesting houses, still I find my house charming in an old, elegant way. My house sits in the middle of 5.67 manicured acres. It is like living in the […]
The closing for the purchase of the house happened in the first week of May in 2018. I was in Sao Paulo working, so the attorney went to the closing for me. I longed to be there, but that was impossible. A week after closing I was sitting in my office in Sao Paulo and […]
