The first time we looked at our turreted Queen Anne Victorian in Beacon we asked “Where are they moving TO?”. I mean, this was our dream home. What could be better than this?
And then we saw it. The sellers moved to a mansion across the river in Newburgh. After visiting them we returned to our dream house, which seemed so….so….rinky dink.
When Karen and Jose first purchased the 1860 Andrew Jackson Downing home it was in bad disrepair. The previous owners had been drug addicts and trashed the place looking for hidden treasure in the walls. They had ripped out mantles, light fixtures and other detail to sell. There was water damage from a leaky roof which had been ignored for years. You get the picture.
The home is still a work in progress, but Karen’s goal is to get it going as a B&B. She started taking in guests and is now working on finishing the “Pickerel Rush” website, which has been under construction along with the house. I was asked to go over and photograph the home for the site last week.
This is a big house for just two people (and 4 dogs and tenants and B&B guests). Karen and Jose both drive gas guzzlers. I don’t even think they recycle. But here’s what makes this a green renovation even if it was not their intention: They are in the salvage business. People PAY THEM to haul materials away, which they use in the restoration of Pickerel Rush.
I’ll be focusing on some of the details Karen has restored in the upcoming weeks.
But for now: Enjoy the house porn.
2 Comments
Guess I should just book a room there since I’ll never live anywhere that beautiful.
I really enjoy reading your blog, it always has great insight. But I am very frustrated with the fact that so few people are talking about presidential candidates and their thoughts on global warming. Now that it is down to just a few candidates I would think that this would be a bigger issue.
Live Earth just picked up this topic and put out an article ( http://www.liveearth.org/news.php ) live earth is also asking why the presidential candidates are not being solicited for their stance on the issue of the climate change. I just saw a poll on http://www.EarthLab.com that says people care a lot about what their next leader thinks of global warming. Does anyone know of another poll or other results about this subject?
Here is the page where I saw the EarthLab poll: http://www.earthlab.com/life.aspx. This is a pretty legit website; they are endorsed by Al Gore and the alliance for climate protection and they have a carbon footprint calculator. Does anyone have a strong opinion about this like I do? No matter what your political affiliation is or who you vote for this is an important issue for our environment, our economy and for homeland security.