Three years ago we gathered friends and colleagues in a huge tent to showcase their craftsmanship, their technology, and their art; we called it Fine Home Source. The organizational feat is overseen by  our office manager and event planner, Lois.  Meanwhile, everyone else in the office does their part to make this a wonderful show, while maintaining our day jobs. In one place you can talk to an engineer about geothermal heating and cooling, take a couple of [...]
There are few things I enjoy more than relaxing on my own porch after work.There is no doubt in my mind that there is something psychologically unique about a porch. We are neither inside nor fully outside and exposed...
Once again we had a beautiful day, a great crowd of interested visitors, and a tent full of enthusiastic professionals showing their work. This year like last, kids had a blast painting birdhouses while their parents learned the details of geothermal heating and cooling, solar hot water heating and how a Windsor chair is made by hand (I bought two of those). It is hard to describe the synergy created by over 40 experts and craftspeople in one place talking [...]
Whether you are looking for a custom screened door or a top notch conservatory, you can find it all at this years FineHome Source home show. Last year we all had a great time meeting people and learning even more about the craftspeople we use and admire. This show has become an opportunity for our clients to meet the people who supply and produce the high quality products that go into their homes. At the same time architects, contractors, and people [...]
Since we are involved more and more with our clients' choices of efficient mechanical systems, energy conserving designs, and green architectural solutions, we decided to be a little more energy conscious while visiting all of their job sites. Even though we have kept our four wheel drive vehicles for those deep mud and deep snow days, now we all drive the low emissions, high gas mileage, Honda Fit to most of our construction sites. To date the record is 41 [...]
We would like to thank all the visitors and all the vendors for what can only be described as a huge success. The weather was perfect and the show was filled with enthusiastic patrons and vendors all day long. The demonstrations were fascinating, with Fletcher Coddington of Arrowsmith Forge drawing the biggest crowds while he forged steel into useful tools. Kids had the best time painting the decorative bird houses with non toxic paint. Experts in geothermal heating and cooling, [...]
Sometimes change is just what the doctor ordered. In our case even more so. Although it has taken a while to get settled, our new space fits us well. Again we owe a debt of gratitude to all the people worked with us on our new office.
As much as I love my routine, we are about to begin a new one in a larger more beautiful space just down the road from our old office in the village of Millbrook. We are still in town (just outside the village) on route 44 heading toward Amenia. As you can see in the photos, we are moving into the space recently used by Arrowsmith forge as their showroom. They have moved a part of their showroom into the [...]
For almost as long as I have written this column about architecture, there has been a line at the end mentioning the upcoming publication of On the Porch written by Sandra L. Mahoney and myself. As the days draw near to this momentous event in our lives, my editor at Dutchess, Kate Goldsmith, asked me to write something about the book. Our becoming authors did not follow the standard arc of most aspiring writers. I will admit that around the [...]
Photo by Philip Gould The master architect, A Hays Town, was a friend of mine. He passed away a few years ago at the age of 101. Although in recent years, he was not as well known nationally as he deserved, he was the master of Southern(especially Louisiana) vernacular architecture. At a time when traditional architecture was frowned upon by the architectural elite, he was its greatest proponent. In the 1930s, Mr. Town was on the cutting edge [...]
