Post-Occupancy Update on Plum Street

August 26th, 2008 by Peter Schmelzer

The ball is still rolling on Plum Street in Northfield.

We’ve occupied our new house all summer and we love it. It fits us so well the kids don’t want to leave home!

I now better understand the elation expressed by our clients after a few months in their new home, especially after a remodeling. Life is easier when the house doesn’t get in the way but instead facilitates everyday everything. The speed at which we get used to improvements is amazing. We are glad to have a good series of photos to remind us from whence we came.

Of course, owning a house means projects of all sizes. As you see in the photo above, I’ve been busy building a limestone retaining wall from the salvaged remains of a barn foundation. The patio will serve as a level place to sit and relax outdoors and to give homes to Mary’s many potted plants.


And, the gutters are on at last. Instead of the common K-style gutter, we used a more angular seamless gutter. These seem to complement the roof lines and the detailing of our soffits. I don’t think it is our fault, but we haven’t had rain since installing the gutters. Too bad: we’re looking forward to filling our new rain barrel.

The barrel came from the entrepreneurial spirit of Bruce Anderson, who has sold over 400 barrels modified for this purpose. We will use the water we catch for watering flowers and plantings along the south side of our lot. Hopefully this will help keep things green and minimize the runoff from our roof.

Landscaping will begin this fall. We’ve already relocated some hostas and peonies that had found temporary lodging in our garden. The lawn took some damage during construction, so it needs some serious help, too. The list goes on, but we are very pleased with our newly remodeled home.

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