Finished Deck and Completed Exterior

It has been sometime since we have updated the blog and hopefully we will be on a more regular update schedule. In the last month or two the homestead has been receiving a wide variety of finishing touches and in many cases we feel the scene inside the work zone, while interesting and constantly pushing towards completion, is not really the type of image we wish to present in a post. However, we have been documenting as we go and will be sure to bring things up to date. The interior is getting millwork, trim, floor finishing, wall painting and a great deal of finishing touches. We will certainly provide a sneak peak of some of them.

Recently we received confirmation that Better Homes and Gardens Magazine had linked to Ferret & Hound on their own blog, BetterBlog. We are delighted with this development and welcome visitors from Betterblog to our site. The focus of the link is the end of summer and decks. Ferret & Hound was selected as a link because of work on our deck. Postings about our deck can be found in the posting index along the right side of the page under decks.

The deck and exterior of the house are finally complete. The first phase was the construction was the actual deck surface late last summer. This summer saw completion of the deck railing, stairs and the pergola over one section. It is my pleasure to now provide a pictorial tour of the completed deck including explanation of the components.

As noted in previous posts, we wanted our deck to be a part of the house and to blend as much as possible with the actual building as possible. Too often decks are simply nailed to the side of a house with little consideration for aesthetics. Long spindly legs and naked pressure-treated wood give the impression of a scaffolding around some sort of building project.

In many cases this is a result of lack of imagination and thought colliding with the desire to have exterior living space on a house. Although we had initially wanted to do a large stone terrace, we ended up discovering (for budgetary and functional reasons) that a more traditional deck would work better. We set about its design and paid close attention to make sure it blended into the house and did not overwhelm the actual building it is attached to.

The main section of our deck extends 16' / 4.87 m from the end wall of the living room section of the house. It is just over 14' / 4.26 m wide and stands roughly 3' / 1 m off the gently sloping ground. It features, as a centerpiece, an outdoor fire place which shares a chimney with the living room fireplace directly behind it.

The rest of the deck surface serves merely to "support" the main deck area by providing a means to reach the deck from either the kitchen, using double french doors from the kitchen, or a single french door next to two fixed french panels from the living room.

Because the back of the house faces out over the best views and also faces south, the pergola over the double doors not only serves to break up the facade of the back of the house but provides modest shade and protection from snow and rain for the wood doors into the kitchen. The triple french doors to the living room are protected underneath a cantilever (the master suite is directly above the living room). The deck under the pergola and cantilever is only about 4' / 1.2 m wide and is primarily a means to reach the deck and fireplace or as a landing at the top of the stairs down to the backyard.

The above view shows the deck area from just under the pergola and past the column under the cantilever.

The actual deck area is simple. It is a sitting and relaxing spot perfect for wine and cheese with friends in front of a warm fire.

The area around the fire is small and intimate, not designed for large gathering. The stairs to the backyard are intended to the access to a larger outdoor environment where people can gather. The stairs are intended to blend into the style and mono-entity of the deck. They are wide and sweeping so as to feel like an actual part of the deck itself and to give a grand and sweeping access to the house from the back yard.

Stairs on many decks tend to be purely functional and in the end, uninteresting or even unsightly. Low decks often have one long step that runs the edge of the deck and fades into the deck. Higher decks have an everyday 3' /90 cm wide flight of stairs which tends to look more like a fire escape than a stair to a deck. The stairs to this deck were designed to create a sweeping approach to the house and deck. They act as a gentle way of blending the house into the terrain even though the ground floor level of the house is more than 3' / 1 m above the ground level. In short, the stairs end up being part of the deck and we have noticed, during get-togethers, that people congregate on the stairs, standing and talking or even sitting and talking with others.

The deck its self is in fact high enough to require a railing. Our initial intention was to have the terrain high enough to avoid a railing altogether. But it soon became apparent that the existing slope of the land around the house served well in that it drains rain water and snow around and away from the house. This is very important as it avoids excessive standing water around the foundation. Not wishing to interfere with the natural terrain, we decided accept the deck's height and build a railing. Yet we we not sure how to proceed. Pickets were right out. The photos below show a picket railing and also serve as sterling example of what we wished to avoid in a low profile, well designed deck.

It is not to say that no picket railing can look good. However they just seemed to lack an elegance and an aesthetic language that went with the rest of the house. We considered posts with cable or pipe, an enticing idea.....

...but once again, the aesthetic is wrong even though it can certainly be a handsome and clean cut appearance. Then I got to thinking of a railing type I had known from my summers in Maine. We elected to go with a horizontal rail that would accomplish safety and adhere to code but also work well with the horizontal language of the clapboard siding on the house. An earlier post shows the construction method for the railing from pressure treated wood. After allowing the wood to cure in the sun for a couple of months I primed the railing with alkyd primer and a nice top coat of snow white latex paint. The posts are capped with a simple wood block and bevel-cut piece of cedar.

The overall feeling of the railing feels warm and is reminiscent of a long undulating white-washed country fence. The framed lattice work underneath serves to cover the deck supports and helps make the deck connect to the house and the terrain and become part of one solid unit.

Overall the deck has turned out as well as we could have hoped. It is a lovely addition to the back of the house and really makes the house exterior feel complete. We leave you with some final images including a couple of picture showing the front of the house. Please stay tuned for more updates due very soon!

Much Due Thank Yous

*****UPDATE*****

Here is the backlink to the Better Blog:

So Long, Summer!

In between our regular updates I felt I wanted to stop and thank all of our loyal followers and those who have dropped by Ferret & Hound in the past. Just a touch over a week ago the F&H website exploded past the 30,000 visitor mark! We are thrilled that so many people have stopped by. We are averaging between 70-100 visits a day which is a huge accomplishment for a small design firm, especially with the site only just coming up on a year old.

We regularly receive feedback from people about some of our more detailed posts and have even seen a couple of our posts mentioned on other blogs and sites. Yesterday we received a tremendous compliment from Better Homes and Gardens Magazine who have expressed interest in linking to our posts on the deck on their Home Improvement Resources page.

Thank you again to all those who have stopped by to see the Homestead and stay tuned! More and better is yet to come as the house nears completion and readies itself to be fitted out on the inside!

Landscaping - The Deck!

The back of the house is now mostly set and time and mother nature must do the rest. As promised in my last post, here are the photos of the back of the house with things cleaned up (the place looked like a pigsty in the other photos of the back of the house). I am also including a couple of pictures from around front of the Homestead to show the progress the grass and landscaping have made.

The first two sections of railing in place. Given our aversion to tall spindling decks and typical wood decking I wanted to avoid lots of balusters and rails. I elected to design and build a slat rail deck railing.

I started by cutting a base of PT lumber in a 5-1/5" square and lag bolting the 4x4 Douglas fir post to it.

Next I shimmed and leveled the posts to the deck surface.

I used 3-1/2" screws to affix the base of the posts to the deck. It is important to use exterior specific screws for this part of the operation. Galvanized and PT lumber do not mix well. These days one uses stainless steel and plated screws for exterior deck applications. They are not cheap. A 5lb. box runs about $24.00. Here you can see the Douglas fir 4x4 which has been lag-bolted to the PT 5-1/5" x 5-1/2" base screwed down to the deck. The 3-1/2 screws cut through the deck into the PT 2x6 carrying beams. This assures the railing, once tied together with all sections, can support the required load of a person leaning against it.

The next step is to put together the railing components. I selected 1x6 PT boards @ 8' and a ready-cut railing in PT as well. I used a 1x4 PT as a rail stiffener and you can see this screwed to the underside of the railing in the picture. The railing is just to the right of the 4' level. I assembled the components I had cut on out front on the deck where they will be installed.

While I would love to prime the railings with alkyd primer in white I must wait. PT lumber is soggy and wet when it comes from the vendor and needs to cure in the sun at least a month or two before receiving paint or treatment of any type. Here is the latest section of railing in place.

Rounding the bend, one last section to go!

Finally, the deck is about finished. I capped the posts with my very own creation. I used 5/4 lumber to make a 4-1/2" x 4-1/2" top to the post and a chamfered detail on top.

In the next month of so we will paint the railing white and add lattice under the deck to obscure the deck supports. Rain is coming tonight to nourish my grass seed! I leave you now with a few photos showing the property taking shape.

Landscaping--The Second Half

About three or so weeks ago I featured the final cleaning up of the front of the house. The grass is growing and we have a nice row of privet, boxwood and glass bells planted along the foundation. It has started to look orderly again. The remaining piece of the puzzle was out back.

The backyard in the United States is the "private space" of the residence. It is the traditional garden area with recreation space and room to relax with the house blocking activities from passers-by on the road. Of course back gardens vary a great deal from house to house and with my relative disdain for excessive manicured lawns I wanted a back yard that was suitable for recreation but not overly large. The grounds are all to often over-looked in architecture. This is a pity as the grounds reflect the house. It is very easy to mismatch the two and end up with a disaster.

Our house is located on just over 4 acres of land. There is a lovely little red barn with horse paddock out back and our property line is set back in the woods around the entire property. One of the best parts of the Homestead is that it commands a lovely view of the property out back which we intend to leave fairly natural (except for up around the house). Our master suite, kitchen and living room are positioned to take advantage of the privacy and view across the back three acres of the property. The deck with its outdoor fireplace is the crown jewel of the back gardens. We wanted the area around the house to be tidy and composed but the rest of the property left fairly natural. So, Tuesday was land moving day!

As of last Monday this was the disorganized disaster that met the eye in back of the house. The rock wall is part of the master plan but is not complete and gives little hint to its final place in the yard. Note the large plant covered mound at the head of the wall....this pile of loam had been there since we finished excavation last year. I had become so used to this tumor in our back garden that I had quite forgotten about it. That was at least until I had 13 yards of topsoil dumped next to it (right of the green pile).

The first step was to start moving dirt. Bill used his skid steer to move topsoil from the pile around the area to the right of the wall.

Here is a great deal of the soil place above the wall to create a level surface around the deck area to the wall which will form the confines of the manicured lawn.

Next came time to install the "steps" to the cross through/mudroom door. This beast pushed the skid steer to its limits. Once we had the step in place we returned to moving dirt and I carted wheel barrow load after load of rocks out of the dirt to a pile in front of the wall.

New England soil is really rocky. It was hard going for early settlers here because the ground was not terribly giving. When the Western Reserve (Ohio and the plain states) was opened in the early 1800's many settlers who had grown weary of hard scrabble farming in New England headed west to fight Indians and settle the land which has become known as the bread basket to the world.

We used the last of the dirt in the large pile to sweep down around the rock wall and return the terrain around the barn to a natural landscape. We then smoothed out and filled in the area around the cross through door.

If you look to the right you can see the terrain sloping away and down along the barn.

The final step for Bill was to distribute the loam in the big green pile around the back. You can see the piles dumped in areas around the back of the deck for me to smooth out. This is rich healthy topsoil and makes a nice top layer....once you get all the rock out.

After several more hours of raking and leveling the backyard has begun to look like something. Now missing is the infamous "green pile" at the end of the wall.

The ground is now all level across the back and meets the bottom of the stairs.

As planned, the rock wall now acts as a retaining wall with about 6" of rock showing above the level terrain. Here you can see the backyard seed with grass seed and watered down to let the seed grow. Note the deck legs still visible. The railing goes in next and the lattice under the deck.

The rock wall once again, almost complete. Stephen Kiss finished it today and I am putting in the railing on the deck. Stay tuned for more photos!

The Nursery - Part I 1/2

Too cool of a free tool not to share... The Design Your Home 3D from My Deco renders your room with "actual" furniture (it's British and all the items are from British stores). It has its limitations, of course, but it makes for a fun way to play with furniture and designing a space without any knowledge of or without rendering software, just to get a feel for layout.

I did Margot's nursery and the result is not bad... The layout is pretty much this, the colour scheme is close (more beige and less yellowy but close), the only difference will of course be the actual furniture and accessories - but not bad, yes?!

The Pergola... or... it didn't rain today

Today was an exciting day at the Homestead. Frankly, I was torn as to what was more exciting; the fact that we were to install the pergola or the fact that it didn't rain. Well, it did rain a bit but only near 6:00 this evening and only for a short while. True to predicted alterations in weather patterns as a greater part of global warming, this is now our second year in New England of soggy late spring/early summer weather. It is quite strange, really. There are times when the downpours are actually hard to fathom. The rain comes straight down in torrents as one might see in a Costa-Rican rain forest. For the last three weeks we have scarcely seen the sun. Today, finally, after many days of rain and dashing in and out of the garage to paint, we got a sunny day for the moment I have been waiting for! The pergola!

For those of you following along, you will recall the evolution of the back of the house. Here are a couple of run-up shots showing the back of the house.

By late last Fall we had the back of the house framed, covered with vapor barrier and some of the windows in. For those of you who have a keen eye you may notice the two small windows to the right of the chimney on the second floor of the house which have since been swapped out for a large picture window. Note the deck is not even in yet.

An early evening shot from a week or so later with the deck now in place. Note the two windows now removed in the master bedroom with a new rough opening for the picture window.

30 degrees F in late November, one day prior to finishing the siding. Note the large expanse of space from deck level to the eaves.

Mid-spring, the back fully painted and final site work ready to start.

A partial shot with the gutter now in place. You can see that most everything is now done. All that is left is for detail work and the stairs/railings for the porch. Now comes time for the pergola. The problem we ran into was endless rain. At long last we got a short break. I went to work cutting and priming all the pergola components.

My drawings called for a pergola across the back main face of the house. I have always liked pergolas but the point of this one is two-fold. First, the back of the house is our South facing side which receives the brunt of the sun year round. It also is exposed to the elements. While the three doors to the living room (to the left of the column in the drawing above) are sheltered under a cantilever, the two french doors to the kitchen are subjected to heavy abuse from the elements. The pergola, with slats in place on top, will help provide a bit of shade as well as some protection from the rain and show. Secondly, the back facade is fairly tall and wide making it appear a bit imposing. The pergola will serve to cut the space and reduce the impact of all the siding.

From the side you can see the pergola extending past the edge of the 4' wide deck from the kitchen. The pergola is to be supported by two main carrying beams on two 4x4 columns. The design changed a bit as I went to work cutting parts but the concept remained the same for the most part.

The two 2x8 carrying beams cut and fully primed/painted lie on the main section of deck awaiting installation.

Three of the 18 5'-6" / 1.67 m "runners" which will attach butt-end to the house with the tapered cut end extending out over the edge of the deck over where the stairs will be.

Here we can see the two supporting columns in place with the carriages for the stairs starting to go into place.

After helping to lift the carrying beams into place I step back for a photo. Next come the runners which will be attached to a 5/4x6 board on the house which went in when we were putting up the siding in the fall.

The first two runners in place anchor the carrying beams firmly in place. All that is left now are the other 16 runners.

The runners are all in place now and the carriages for the stairs are going in as well. This main stair will corner at the cut in the deck and the last step will meet on a common landing near ground level.

Early evening (yes, it rained again just as we finished putting in the pergola) a great shot of the pergola "corridor" as seen from the living room door. What a great difference! Such a nice framing of the space and a wee bit of shelter as well.

A few days later, the stairs are complete. The site needs work but that will start this Thursday as we begin to move around a bunch of dirt. By then the retaining wall (just out of the photo to the right) should be done. This will allow us to smooth out dirt around the back giving a nice flat area at the base of the stairs for a stone patio with table and chairs. We will lattice the under side of the deck and sides of stairs as well. Once the grass seed is in and the ground is level, the back yard will really come into its own. Stephen Kiss, my stone wall guy and ground's keeping expert is building the wall and will be bush-hogging the back yard late this week.

With the deck and stairs to the right, here is the wall under construction. The ground to the right of the wall will be filled in to about 6" / 15cm below the top of the wall and the ground to the left will be about 18" / 45cm lower. Such a modest load means that this heavy yet non-reinforced typical New England stone wall can shoulder the load of holding up a level back yard.

Here one can get a better feel for the finished height of the wall. The ground will be topped-up on the left side in the photo.

Here is one last shot showing the stairs mostly complete. Barring rain we will be grading the back this Thursday! An update will follow as this will mostly conclude the site work for the house and leave only odds and ends to do on the outside.

The Nursery - Part I - Defining the Big Idea

I found out that I was pregnant in the same month that we started designing the house. From the begining, I assigned the room above the library as the nursery - it is the smallest of the two bedrooms upstairs and it felt cosier and somehow, just perfect. Margot's room has been one of the most fun to think about and also, at points, one of the hardest. It is also the only room that will have been designed fully to the last detail - the other rooms, although also thought out, will, as it should, evolve with us living in them.

The first main decision for the nursery was the "big idea", theme and colour scheme. Even after we found out we were having a girl, I was adamant about not making the room pink - it is one of my least favourite colours and it gets overused. Besides, I was not sure I wanted a "gender defined" room. I am also not into the bright colour theme for babies' rooms - I know, I know, babies see brighter colours better but I really wanted a calm, peaceful environment, while avoiding the cliche' "shabby chic", or the pink and brown scheme that is just so passe'!

So I looked around for inspiration and found it in a few different places. The first one was the Serena and Lily's catalogue - this room in particular, from the Cameron Collection.

I love the neutral/linen tones, and in particular the colour of the crib, but the beach theme was not appropriate for this house. I kept this image in my files anyway and came back to it over and over. The next inspiration source was my favourite shelter magazine, the Spanish El Mueble. I have been buying this magazine for more than 20 years and my mother still gets it and mails it to me every few months. Last Summer, there was an issue with a special on children's rooms.

Once again, I love the soft tones in all these images and the feeling of peace that they convey. The one below became the fulcral point in defining "the big idea". I loved the beiges together with the rose (as opposed to pink) and the seafoamy blue.

The inclusion of blue was finally decided by a visit to our favourite baby store, Baby Cottons. A few years ago, my husband helped design and managed the contruction of a Baby Cottons store. Ever since, we joked that we decided to have children so that we could buy their clothing... I have often fantasized about having a baby store but the formula has been perfected by Baby Cottons, so I will stick to being a consumer!

Not only is the clothing adorable, but, most importantly, every piece is pima cotton and made in South America. And I can guarantee its outstanding quality - I wash Margot's clothing in the washing machine, and the Baby Cottons clothing remains just as soft and the same size after being washed over and over, just like the day it was bought!

But I digress... The Baby Cottons collection Pets gave me the excuse I needed to stick to the beige, rose, and blue - Pascal is the brown/beige doggie; Colette is the pink bunny; and Gustav, the blue kitty (below is the collection's hanger, with some pieces I knitted for Margot). We also have a few decorative items from the window display of a past Baby Cottons collection that the owner, Alexis, gifted us (it is still boxed but there will be photos of it soon).

So the colour scheme was decided! Beige for the walls; white for the furniture (which will include some DIY projects, more on that in another post); blue for decor and soft furnishings, including a beautiful work made by my good friend Valerie, a framed felted bunny based on the Baby Cottons logo.

Now I just needed the right shade of rose. It has taken me months but I finally found it - in a vintage Laura Ashley fabric in chalk rose, with white, pale blue and linen beige stripes that is coming all the way from England! My mother, the sewing expert in the family, will be making the bedding and a few other accessories!

In the next couple of months, it will all be put together finally! Part II will cover the process, and Part III will bring the final result - ohhh, I can't wait.