20180322 spring home improvement 2018 by Ulster Publishing

Home HudsonValley MARCH 22, 2018 • ULSTER PUBLISHING • WWW.HUDSONVALLEYONE.COM

Spring Home Improvement

Working magic with old treasures

22, 2018 2 | March Home Hudson Valley

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March 22, 2018 Home Hudson Valley

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A time for making lists We’re keeping our actual work projects modest these days By Paul Smart

here’s a pattern to March, if you haven’t noticed. It’s a time of heavy snows, flooding, power outages, school closings, astronomical heating bills and general anxiety. This past year it was also mischievously ill-humored enough to dump two feet of snow on our regional ski resorts, but then knock out the power at several. March is also a great time for making home-improvement lists. It works like this: all the immediate jobs get covered, either literally by snow (including the tiring work of clearing the stuff away) or metaphorically, because there’s something natural about hunkering away when the white stuff piles up outside and all we have for heat and light are wood fires and candles. Or we end up in some motel. What’s on such lists? Some want more income from their homes, better gardens, more space, less clutter. Others are looking at real estate for home improvement ideas, comparables for their own house sale dreams, and the elusive promise of change. I moved a few months ago. My basement’s filled with boxes. There’s a pile of stereo equipment, compact disks, cassette tapes, LPs, and storage items down there. One room is filled with old doors and windows. There’s holiday stuff, yard stuff, old rugs, and a stench from where our pets have been mistakenly relieving themselves. Need I note that I’ve been pretending the situation’s going to take care of itself? It isn’t. I’ve made plans to tote all the audio junk, once planned for a “downstairs listening salon,” to a nearby radio station for yard-sale use in the coming weeks. Ditto the doors and windows, which my brother’s planning to make a structure of some sort out of. Then we can put in order what’s left, scrub it down, then whitewash everything (literally, it’s brick).

POSIE STRENZ

The true glory of local real estate, of all we do to maintain and improve it, comes down to all that surrounds us in the Hudson Valley. Despite the season’s stresses, it’s a magical place. My wife is doing similarly for our new back yard, which is shady (and half bricked over, nicely as far as mowing goes). She’s started seedlings in her studio. We’re looking into buying a hammock, and possibly getting some sort of safe fire-pit thing so we can deal with the branches that came down during the most recent March snow event. For the first time in years, our lists aren’t stretching much beyond what we can see needs doing. No house-painting schedules, no porch-replacement schemes, no long-postponed maintenance items. We did most of what we were going to do before moving in. The big jobs will all come in five years. Which means, I suspect, that we’ll be candi-

dates for helping others meet their wish lists, just as we muscled aid from others over the last year. This eleemosynary activity plays into my magicrealism sense that we’re building up enough good karma to help us feel settled in our new home, and maybe even look far forward to a sale on this house next time we get to contemplate local real estate another decade down the line.

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22, 2018 4 | March Home Hudson Valley

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Project time! It’s often best to wait for summer By Lissa Harris

pring is tantalizingly close. You never know what you’re in for with March in the Catskills: it could be blizzards, it could be 60 degrees in the muck. But even in a year like this one — cold and defiantly snowy, roadsides piled high with the last grey dregs of winter — something in the landscape is always getting a little ahead of itself. A snowdrop, maybe, or a petrichor whiff in the air. This morning, it was a cardinal absolutely going to town in the forsythia bush, snow be damned. The sound of that bird in the early morning air was clear and liquid and gorgeous, and it made me crabby. After six months of winter, I’d forgotten how much I missed all those trite and delightful things of spring: birds singing, sun shining, leaves leafing. Getting just a little taste of them this time of year is like being ferociously hungry and eating one cracker. It sort of makes it worse. Don’t get me wrong. I am all for spring. I will make the most undignified noises of joy when it stops toying with us all and arrives for real. But T.S. Eliot was right: it’s a cruel time. For the Catskills homeowner, spring is the worst season. Sure, it’s not as hard on the wallet as January, what with the frozen pipes and the plowing, but it’s hell on morale. Flooding, our most abundant native disaster, is always just a thaw away. And, flood or no flood, the mud is chronic, and must be endured. For the next few months, you will be a mud creature: mud in the yard, mud on the floor, mud in the turned-up cuffs of your jeans. Any shoes you harbor an iota of affection for, you should probably give up on ‘til Memorial Day. Worse, spring destroys your illusions. The snow melts from the fairytale landscape, only to reveal all the unglamorous havoc that winter has wrought. Those gutters that were entombed inside a beautiful fortress of glittering icicles are now revealed in all their sad disarray. There can be no pretending. They are busted; your shingles doubly so. Your yard is just as disreputable as you left it

DION OGUST

Spring started March 21, but many are still ﬁnding it hard to summon the enthusiasm to get outside for long-awaited home improvement projects. Yet we know the seasons will change.

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in November. If your house is anything like mine, there are probably some toys scattered around, for a surprise (so that’s where that thing went!).

t is difficult to begin anything ambitious in the spring. The ground is too gelatinous for landscaping, the weather still too chilly and unpredictable for the biggest of your home renovation projects. Still, if you want to actually get anything done this year, it is important to have a plan

of attack, especially if you need to call a guy. By the time spring rolls around, the prudent Catskills homeowner will already have a guy, possibly several. Every household must have a guy: a stone guy, a sheetrock guy, a roof guy, perhaps just a guy, full stop. He is the guy you call. His name is Stan, or Bob, or possibly Sue, and you are at his mercy. If he is in the phone book, odds are he’s not in the business section. Perhaps you have his number scrawled on a Post-It and stuck to the

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March 22, 2018 Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co. fridge. Perhaps he does not answer his phone at all. You are not, after all, the only fish in the sea. If you have a guy, and he is a good guy, odds are very good that he is already booked up until October. If you don’t have a guy, you have got to get cracking. Now is the time to call around to your friends and neighbors, entreat them to tell you all about the various guys of their acquaintance, and hope that they will share their good ones.

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pring is a fickle season, a season that lays waste to your plans. But there is one household task it is unfailingly good for, and that is getting rid of things. On the first really beautiful day, you may be seized with a fierce urge to purge yourself of all the household dross that’s piled up throughout the year. You may have glorious visions of a new, minimalist life; a life with order and sense and a monochromatic palette, and no Legos lurking under the couch cushions. It won’t work. The stuff creeps back in. But you should give in to it anyway. Get rid of them: the schlubby winter coat you’ve had for at least three too many seasons, the socks that are starting to go, the pickles lurking in the darkest corner of the fridge. Do it now, before the acquisitive madness of summer gets a hold of you, and you find yourself at Lowe’s pushing a huge shopping cart full of cabana-striped porch accoutrements.

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Editorial note: If you have a guy, or are yourself one, please get in touch. The author intends to gut her kitchen to the studs. “This is the year,” she muttered, not for the first time.

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Ulster Publishing Co.

DION OGUST

Ever since that ﬁrst rock was picked up, or a seashell eyed for its sharp edge, tools have been of utmost importance to mankind’s struggle to not only ﬁnd shelter, but demonstrate our ability to keep bettering it.

The sharpest tool in the shed Some you need, some you simply covet by Harry Matthews

or some, mostly men, I’d reckon, part of what mysteriously seems to identify them is a natural inclination towards anything tool-related. Whether it be a section in a store, a neighbor who happens to have the hood of their

car up, a catalog, a shed, or anywhere there might be a hammer, some people just can’t help themselves, or their innate curiosity, when it comes to anything tool-related, and subsequently to the often-tricky business of fixing things. Now not every man is handy. In fact some even self-proclaimed “handymen” should probably not be allowed to fiddle with anything under the sink, with wires attached, under the hood of a car, or anywhere that could be dealt with by calling in the right and well-trained professional. Thankfully, over the years I have been lucky to have had a number of truly handy friends who

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March 2018 An Ulster Publishing publication Editorial WRITERS: Susan Barnett, Ed Breslin, Jennifer Brizzi, Lissa Harris, Elisabeth Henry, Ann Hutton, Jodi La Marco, Harry Matthews, Paul Smart, C.R. Smith COVER IMAGES of classic Woodstock home improvements by Dion Ogust. GRAPHIC RENOVATIONS: Joe Morgan EDITORIAL BROKERING: Paul Smart Ulster Publishing PUBLISHER:

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Spring Home Improvement is one of three Home Hudson Valley supplements Ulster Publishing puts out each year. It is distributed in the company’s four weekly newspapers and separately at select locations, reaching an estimated readership of over 50,000. Its website is www.hudsonvalleyone.com. For more info on upcoming special sections, including how to place an ad, call 845-334-8200, fax 845-334-8202 or email: info@ulsterpublishing.com.

March 22, 2018 Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co. be fixed, and when it’s probably in my best interest to call in an outsider. I myself was blessed (or cursed) to be obsessed with the building of things from a very early age. My earliest construction-related recollection was of a spring break when I was maybe nine that my older brother and I gathered every bit of scrap wood we could find around the property (including old doors, windows, parts of no-longer-usedyet-not-ready-to-be-thrown-out appliances, and even an old bicycle wheel), every nail and screw we could muster, and two old hammers from the garage. We built ourselves a three-story treehouse halfway up an old maple in the backyard. It had everything we needed from a rope ladder we could hoist up, in case enemies were approaching, to a rooftop crow’s nest to keep a keen eye peeled for spies or parents. For the rest of spring break we slept out there, took all our meals in the second-floor galley, and had basical-

ly decided that this was where we would spend the rest of our days. With the help of a couple of sleeping bags this campout lasted until the following Monday. That evening, after our first day back at school, an ex-

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tra-long Little League practice, and a big dinner, my brother and I were fast asleep in front of the television before The Six-Million Dollar Man was even half over. Alas, the treehouse was rarely ever used again.

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ut I digress. The point is I caught the tool-and-build bug, and Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had it ever since. My first real job after high school was working for two great carpenters who not only encouraged my growing interest in real construction but introduced me to a lot of really cool stuff. From circular saws to levels, screw guns to wood planes, tin snips to cement mixers, I got to know all of them intimately. Some of them I adored, others I detested. As our crew consisted of just the three of us, we did everything from digging the foundation and laying block to nailing down the roof shingles and everything in between. With few exceptions the only things these guys wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do were the plumbing and electric. As I was the lowest guy on the crew, I got all of the nastiest jobs. One of the first big jobs I did with them was build a quite large house from the ground up. After a large square hole was dug in the ground they began to construct the concrete-block foundation,

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Ulster Publishing Co. new screened-in porch on a cottage we rent out, to an “adult” treehouse I built by the stream in the backyard (and by “adult” I mean it’s filled with books, old over-stuffed chairs, and even a piano you can play as you watch the creek go by below), there now seems to be not a week that goes by that I’m not out there with my saws and screw guns keeping the place from falling down.

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Being the owner of a vast collection of tools, from the newest thing on the market to a wide variety of beautiful antique yard-sale finds, I could spend all day ranting and raving about this or that tool. I’d probably lose you by the first few sentences. Being an occasionally practical person of somewhat sound mind and body (though the mind part could be argued), though, I’ve narrowed it down to a few essentials that no home should be without. First and foremost is a good hammer, and its multitude of uses, from hanging a picture on the wall to opening a coconut on a summer eve. There might be many great new hammers on the market, but in this case I would say older is almost al-

inally I’m getting to the real reason for this article: what tools are most important for an amateur handy-person, a do-ityourself fixer-upper, or just your run-of-the-mill homeowner that doesn’t share my tool obsession.

DION OGUST

Some tools are for the larger jobs, while some are honed for a craftsman’s ﬁne art. and it fell to me to supply the guys with endless wheelbarrows full of mortar, which I mixed with a shovel in the 95-degree summer sun for eight hours a day for five days straight. By the end of that week I was exhausted, and despite being deeply tanned and a bit more muscled, I had decided that I hated construction and had made a huge mistake signing on with them. But then we started framing the house, which compared to the first week was pure bliss. Nailing all day, putting up walls, and seeing the shape of the house come together was a thrill, something I love doing to this day. After the hell of “foundation week,” most of the rest of the job was, as the kids these days say, cake. The only other part of the entire job I didn’t care much for was shingling the roof, and that was mostly because I was the one carrying load after load of tar shingles up a wobbly old wooden ladder all day. Though I never did make carpentry or construction my life work, I’ve continued building things here and there ever since. Becoming the owner some years ago of an old farm that perpetually needed some type of fix or upgrade, whether a

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22, 2018 10 | March Home Hudson Valley ways better. My favorite all-around hammers I’ve almost always found while yard-saling; the weight is right in my hand, the wood has been polished by many years of other hands using it, and they never break (the new ones break). Get yourself the right hammer. Or why not get two? The second indispensable tool would be a good pair of adjustable pliers. You can achieve so much with them that would otherwise be little more than frustrating acts of futility; from opening, prying, grabbing, and even rescuing things too tough or small or tight or stuck for our soft and meaty mortal fingers to best. A good pair of new adjustable pliers can go a long way to ease our journey

Ulster Publishing Co. through this life, and at the same time give our poor fingers a much-needed break. The third tool was a bit of a head-scratcher. There are so many possibilities. In narrowing them down, I chose to put the question into the more-than-capable hands of my not-so-toolfriendly significant other. It took her less than a second to think about it before she brilliantly said, “Tape measure.” She was right. For many reasons, having a well-made, easy-to-read tape measure is nearby is an absolute must in any household. For whatever reason, I actually find myself reaching for a tape measure more frequently than almost any other tool in the house. That and a multi-head

screwdriver, she said. These days anyone can go to a mall and come away with a ready-made tool kit with everything you might need in it for under 60 bucks. I would encourage you to refrain from this. Seek out the tools you need individually and the ones that feel right for you. You probably won’t need a 22-ounce straight-claw framing hammer for hanging a picture on the wall, but who knows? In the end, it all comes down to your own personal preferences. What you need and what you may think you need. But if you have the choice, and we all ultimately do, I would strongly advise you to shy away from the big-box stores when buying tools. Find your way to a great, always reputable, and ever-local hardware store. Get to know them, and let them help you on your way. Remember that you don’t always have to be the sharpest tool in the tool shed, but in the case of knowing the right tool for the job you can bet that they do. I speak from experience. The wealth of information I have gathered by asking questions at my local hardware store has always helped. You can usually get good recommendations there for a reputable local builder, plumber or electrician for the bigger jobs as well. So get out there, make some plans, keep your money local, and build on! Or just hire a professional.

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March 22, 2018 Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

| 11

What is value? The differences between antiques and junk By Jodi La Marco

round 2010, when the economy was still miserably stagnant, I tried making extra money by selling yard-sale finds on eBay. Though I didn’t know anything about the retail prices of antiques, I had heaps of time to cruise eBay’s lists of past auctions. Here, I learned the going rates of items I had acquired, but only after having made dozens of blind purchases. At tag sales, I was more or less clueless. Value became an esoteric concept. I didn’t know which pieces were legitimate antiques, which could be considered “vintage,” and which should be dismissed as junk. At first, I made my choices based on the notion that if something looked old and unusual it must be worth something. I soon found that I didn’t have near the expertise needed to separate the gold from the glitter. I changed my strategy and began seeking out items to which I felt attracted. I bought a set of gold-plated, barbed-wire drink stirrers, their metal purportedly clipped from the defunct ranch fences of the American West. I snatched up kitschy vacation souvenirs from decades gone by. To my amusement, these things sold far better than the Wedgewood platter or Occupied Japan knickknacks I had been suckered into buying at an estate sale. “If it’s say a signed Roseville vase, it’s something that does have a pretty established value in the market,” said Laura Levine, owner of Mystery Spot Antiques in Phoenicia. Recognized rarities aside, Laura buys merchandise according to her personal tastes, just as I had. The Mystery Spot is known for its eclectic mix of offerings, which includes clothing, records, collectables and “oddities,” mostly no newer than the 1960s. “I figure, if I think there’s something special about it, someone else will, too,” she said. Laura has been developing her eye as a vintage connoisseur since childhood. “I grew up in an apartment building in Chinatown, and every floor had an incinerator room,” she recalled. “Anything that wouldn’t fit down the chute people would just pile up. I would start at the 21st floor and walk down all 21 flights, checking out each floor to see if there was anything interesting in there.” The experience served as good training. Laura’s knack for scooping up worthy finds has kept the Mystery Spot going for 17 years.

ast of Mystery Spot is an architectural salvage outlet in Kingston that has become something of an institution. Zaborski Emporium contains room after room and floor after floor of old bathtubs, hardware, furniture, fixtures, windows, and more. “My grandfather, Stan J. Zaborski II, used to be a baker down in New York City,” said Steve Zaborski, who co-owns the emporium with his father, Stan J. Zaborski III. “He moved up here and baked for a while, and then started selling items on the side. It eventually snowballed into an antiques and junk business.” What does a third-generation dealer have to say about value? “There’s guidelines for certain things, but it’s in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes, people put a value on certain things if they can relate the item to something in their past.” This is something I’ve experienced firsthand. I once found a set of glassware at Zaborski that was nearly identical to the one my grandmother had owned when I was a child. I didn’t need it, but I sure did want it. Not far from Zaborski’s is On The Hill Antiques in Kingston near the Rondout waterfront. The shop is smack in the middle of my stomping ground, and I’ve been inside a number of times. During my most recent visit, I was greeted by Judith Pokowitz, one of multiple dealers there. We talked about the local antiques and vintage scene.

PHOTOS BY DION OGUST

Zaborski Emporium, in Kingston, is known to many as the domain of Stan the Junkman, but also the goto place in the Hudson Valley for all those renovation elements that shift a house into a distinctive home. Kingston does have high-end secondhand stores, she told me, but on the whole its prices are reasonable.

shared my observations about Hudson, a town brimming with antiques outlets. Its main drag, Warren Street, has grown exponentially hip in recent years, which has driven up the cost of merchandise. Judith nodded. “If you go north or you go south, it can get expensive,” she said. Judith also noted that “junk shops,” where the customer must dig through unsorted or uncleaned items to find what they want, have given way to operations with curated displays. This service does come with a cost, however. When professionals and pickers do the work of sniffing out the good stuff, prices go up. With junk shops in short supply, antique and vintage hunters looking for dirt cheap deals can also check out the area’s flea markets. Flea-market season begins in April, and markets range from the low-key to the massive. The flea market in High Falls attracts perhaps a dozen vendors, while the Stormville flea market boasts more than 600 (both are held on Sundays, beginning April 8). Prices at flea markets aren’t guaranteed to be low, and not all vendors are there to peddle used goods. Still, without the cost of overhead, bargains can be found that aren’t always available in brick-

and-mortar shops. As I roamed around On the Hill, I spied costume jewelry, old tools and knickknacks. Near a table of picture books, a small brown journal caught my eye. Inside were original block prints created by a woman named Gwen Frostic. Wild columbine filled one of the cardstock pages with dangling red flowers. Fiddleheads sprouted from the corner of another. Every page depicted a delightful scene: fawns, owls, a jack-in-the-pulpit. The tag said $15. I had to have it. At the counter, Judith and I flipped through the book, cheered by the images within. “I bet you wouldn’t get it for that in Hudson,” she said as she wrote out my receipt. Once home, I googled “Gwen Frostic” hoping to find an established price for a journal like the one I had purchased. I discovered that she was a Michigan-based artist who died in 2001. Her brief bio on a website still selling her prints revealed that she was a poet, a lover of nature, and the recipient of multiple honorary degrees from Michigan universities. The website gave me no clearer indication of how much I should have paid for the little collection of prints, but it did give me an idea of who Gwen Frostic was: a kindred spirit I had never met. I knew then how much the book was worth. To me, at least.

22, 2018 12 | March Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

Gardening in the hardiness zone Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s never too early to get your hands in the dirt By Elisabeth Henry

f your permanent address is in Garden Hardiness Zone 5 or 6, it is not too late to prune your apple trees, your wisteria, or to steal perennials from your neighborâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s property. He is still basking in the sun at one of his other houses in another Garden Hardiness Zone, so heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll never notice. His gardener might, but the little empty patches might be ascribed to woodchucks or voles, members of the Hateful Eight of Gardening (the other six include deer, rabbits, chipmunks, Japanese beetles, slugs and aphids.) There was a time when I would never think of risking my welcome in that special Sisterhood of Dirt, so pure and ethical did I regard the members. Then I came home one day to find a woman of a certain age working her way down my farm road, deftly harvesting all my wild blackberries and raspberries. She ignored me until I mentioned police action, after which she sidled away nonchalantly, pail swinging beside her surprisingly springy hips. Another lady, very like the first, helped herself to all the black-eyed Susans and Gerbera daisies I planted at the entrance to my road. Scissors and cut bouquet in hand, she seemed rather startled at the sight of me turning into my drive. And the sunflowers! You know how long it takes for those things to mature! She skedaddled up the hill before I could get out of my car. To menopausal women, gardening must be like â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;roids to young men who dead-lift. My education continued. The next year I saw my evening primrose in a neighborâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s border garden. Nobody in their right mind except me would actually buy evening primrose. Those things, blooming, had obviously been pilfered in the off-season months prior. Likewise my swan necks. There is no need to get all Father Brown about a little pilferage. I myself dug up two wild rose bushes recently, and I always snap the heads off spent marigolds wherever I see them. Think of my words of encouragement next summer when your neighbor returns, and his designer dog takes a designer dump in your fire pit. Oh, but if you must, gift the prodigal neighbor one weekend with an anonymous delivery of pumpkin seeds to plant, or some nice annuals. Or a pie. I know you want to. I know you will.

ore of winter is coming today as I write this. My particular location is in the center of the storm, so we have light snow intermittently, with occasional breaks of sunlight illuminating the bare, still branches, even the layers of grey that smother the sky. More than 20 inches is predicted for this mountain. These late-winter snows, predicted this year by that suspiciously accurate Farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Almanac, are very good for the garden. Snow has been called â&#x20AC;&#x153;the poor personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fertilizerâ&#x20AC;? because itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a source

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Avid gardeners like to start their seedlings in bedroom windows, well-lit heated attics, and any outdoor space where sunlight and adequate warmth is ample. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a way to get a jump on our short but intense growing season.

WIKICOMMONS

There used to be many a song extolling the virtues of sighting the yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ďŹ rst robins. Could that be changing as more birds stick around year â&#x20AC;&#x2122;round? of trace elements and, more importantly, of plantavailable forms of nitrogen, a nutrient often in short supply. When snow releases a whole winterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s worth of nutrients in a short time, the nitrogen value can add up. Since air is 78 percent nitrogen, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d think plants would have all they needed. But atmospheric nitrogen, N2, is a very stable, inert molecule that plants are unable to use. Where does useable nitrogen come from? Some soil bacteria can â&#x20AC;&#x153;fixâ&#x20AC;? gaseous nitrogen, converting it to watersoluble forms that plants can slurp up. Lightning also turns nitrogen gas into plant â&#x20AC;&#x153;food,â&#x20AC;? but this only accounts for a small percentage of the nitrogen found in snow. Turns out snow is a better fertilizer today than it was years ago. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an outfit called the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), which basically measures stuff that falls out of the sky that isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t some form of water. According to the NADP, the vast majority of snow-borne nitrogen comes from pollution.

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Coal-burning power plants and motor vehicles spew out various nitrous oxides, not great for us to breathe, but when washed into the soil are nitrate fertilizers. Ammonia, another form of plant-available nitrogen, escapes from manure and commercial urea-based fertilizers...Snow-based nitrogen can be a significant boon to ecosystems on marginal soils. In a year with abundant snowfall, sugarbushes, timberlands and pastures undoubtedly benefit from â&#x20AC;&#x153;poor personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fertilizer.â&#x20AC;? Snow also brings a fair bit of sulfur, which is an essential plant nutrient. It also can make soil more acidic, which isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t always a good thing, so letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s call sulfur a mixed blessing. Obviously, snow provides soil moisture in early spring. Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s different about snowmelt as compared to rain is that snow melts gradually enough that nearly all its moisture gets into the soil. This gentle percolation is in contrast to summer rain, a percentage of which â&#x20AC;&#x201D; sometimes a large portion â&#x20AC;&#x201D; runs off and doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t benefit the soil. I do worry about those loathsome acres of solar panels, operating at 13 percent efficiency at best. God knows what is happening to the soil beneath. When topsoil is saturated, excess water seeps down through the soil and eventually becomes groundwater, raising the water table and recharging our aquifers. So, if your heart is sinking, as mine is, at the forecast for this next late-winter Norâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;easter, remember all this science stuff and be glad on behalf of the soil and water.

ontact the soil and water folks for your county to take advantage of its annual bare-root tree and shrub sale. The plants will be well suited to your soil and climate and very reasonably priced. I am definitely purchasing the wildflower, bird-and-butterfly, and pollinator mix. Those of you who are more conservationistminded (save the trees!) will hate me for saying this, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nothing like browsing through colorful, information-packed hard-copy seed catalogues arriving by the United States Postal Service. The Fedco one is really terrific. Harris Seeds will sell to regular ole gardeners, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s nice to know that many commercial growers use this reliable company. Now is a good time to call a nursery and talk about the latest apple patents. Growers are hoping to come up with the next big thing. I think the most recent home-run was that delicious darling, the Honey Crisp. It took 20 years to catch on, during which time lots of others tried and failed. When I lived in Sweden, I ate Granny Smiths all

March 22, 2018 Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co. the time and wondered why we couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make that happen in the USA. Yes, there was a time in America before the Granny Smith. We are beyond that now. I look forward to the Cosmic Crisp, due on the shelves in autumn 2019. If you want to plant fruit trees, now is the time to get in your order. They need to be kept cool, and they are shipped bare-root. You can keep them in your garage or any place dark and cool. Plant before it gets warm, but after all danger of killer frost. And away from critters. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s too early to start seedlings, but we should be assembling all the required items: tools, soil, little pots, all kinds of pots, lights, fertilizers, trays. The aforementioned Fedco catalogue is loaded with educational information, as well as sales offerings. They are located in Maine, so their climate is as punishing as ours, and the catalogue is free!

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hunger for color. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a long way off. But, actually, the soil beneath the frost layer is humming with life. Perennial plants that grow in colder climates, such as many grasses, trees and shrubs, are able to withstand freezing. They develop root systems below the frost layer. The root systems of these plants perform a number of tasks that protect them from the cold. Roots can release a lot of water from their cells into the surrounding soil. This allows roots to endure colder temperatures without the risk of internal water expanding and damaging root cells. Water within root cells also contains higher concentrations of sugars and salts, which both assist in lowering the freezing point of water inside and between the cells (much like antifreeze). Many soil-dwelling animals burrow below the frost layer to survive the winter months. These include insects, frogs, snakes, turtles and worms. Some will hibernate. Others simply live on the food that they have collected for their long vacation deep underground. A great number of soil animals have evolved to withstand temperatures below freezing. At least five frog species in North America make their own natural antifreeze. This allows them to become completely frozen for long times without suffering serious damage to the structures of their cells. One winter I popped open a bale of hay. Out fell a dead bird, but also a live frog! Even soil microbes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; bacteria and fungi that live in the soil year round â&#x20AC;&#x201D; can be active in winter months. Studies in Antarctica show microbial life in permanently frozen ground (permafrost). In North America, once spring comes, the microbes become even more active. This ensures the biodiversity that is so important to keep plant and animal life healthy. Next time you are out braving the cold on a wintery day, try to imagine the root systems and living creatures below ground. We can thank soil for protecting and insulating its inhabitants. Whether they are hibernating or snacking on stored food like us, they are alive and well.

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22, 2018 14 | March Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

Vehicular allure The joys of buying new but used By Paul Smart

ave you noticed the number of cars out there with smashed bumpers? It’s been a rough winter. But with interest rates still low, indications are that it’s a good time for buying a car. The question is whether to succumb to the temptations of new-car deals, or find something on the pre-owned market. The two vehicles my wife and I currently drive are of the same make, and only different in terms of color (dark green versus black). One Scion was bought brand-new off a lot, at a moment when we had the money and the car still had hybrid-like gas mileage and was competitively priced. We got the second car a few years later, used, after we discovered nothing out there in our price range that matched all we liked about the other car. Now the newer of the two vehicles in terms of when we bought it is facing challenges. It has been driven more miles than the one it was bought to augment. We went to our financial advisor. We spoke with friends about what we should be looking to buy.

WIKICOMMONS

History vaguely lists the ﬁrst used car sale to an 1889 exchange in Catskill. Over the years, what used to be a business with shady elements has grown more respectable, involving the major car companies as certiﬁers of the best pre-owned vehicles. The financial guy spoke about taking advantage of low interest costs for car loans. He suggested we borrow money rather than spend the cash we had. Glancing at the 2018 offerings plus some undriven 2017s, we found little in our price range

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that we wanted. We knew that twice as many preowned vehicles get sold each year than new ones. In spite of our paid consultant’s advice and the various sensuous joys of new-car ownership, we decided we would rather have a lower “nut” of monthly payments. Our family budget was stressed, and we knew additional unanticipated expenses might some day soon be coming our way.

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March 22, 2018 Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co. lot in the Hudson Valley, what gas mileage can you expect? Many of us still remember the days when all our cars were low-end, often castoffs. I once got an old Mercedes from a supposed Polish prince in exchange for ghostwriting love letters. The used car I had been driving died within a mile of his house near the Thruway. It seemed like serendipity at the time. The vehicle didn’t have a working defrost, though. Another time, I bought a vintage Saab without realizing it had no brakes. The stories went on for years. Then a parent helped me out. I established credit, and then bought that first Scion new, for cash.

tenance snafus or storm damage. There are regional concerns regarding frontwheel, well-wheel, or four-wheel drive to handle local snows. There are lifestyle preferences and brand loyalties. Does one want to fit in with the Joneses by getting a Prius or a Subaru? Which brands get better ratings than others?

My wife and I have inched our way towards a final decision. It’s a matter of picking our poison. What anxieties are we more comfortable living with? Such decisions are personal and highly subjective. Like choosing a car’s color. 2005 Scions, anybody? Green or black?

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hich begs the question: how far to drive your existing car before trading it in, or junking it? Turns out the average age of cars on the road now is eleven years, back up from eight years in 1995. Why the rise, besides that pesky period of recession we seem to have come out of? A growing number of well-maintained vehicles seem to be reaching the 200,000mile mark without major troubles. Or should we credit the growing number of pundits extolling the virtues of keeping one’s car for that long? As far as vehicle longevity is concerned, several people I know keep an informal tab in their heads: Once annual repairs rise to a certain level, they get rid of their car, especially when those repairs start hitting on major systems. We have started looking for certified pre-owned vehicles in our searches. Several high-visibility national sites online will ship cars, trucks or SUVs to one’s home city for viewing and purchase. Though these vehicles tend to cost a bit more, they are better guaranteed. One wants to know that what one’s buying hasn’t survived bad accidents, main-

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22, 2018 16 | March Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

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Ulster Publishing Co.

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Ulster Publishing Co.

| 19

DION OGUST

Buying a home like this Woodstock gem available through Village Green Realty isn’t cheap if it’s already been renovated, but taking it from life as a stable forward be affordable if one has the patience, as well as the ability to enjoy the process of living well within one’s investment.

Dreams versus reality Feed the fantasy, thereby defanging it By Ed Breslin

hen dealing with contemporary real estate the key to success is to remain real. As with so many other aspects of modern life, so too with real estate: new technology has made matters both easier and harder at the same time. The Internet gives instant access to searching for that ideal house, that perfect apartment, that exquisite condo, that unbeatable co-op, that dreamy time-share, and that breathtaking building site. What it also gives instant access to is a world of carefully cropped, positioned, and lighted photographs that are instantly deceiving in a marketplace often hideously overpriced. It’s the old case of caveat emptor: buyer beware. As a subject for fantasizing, probably only sex outstrips ideal living accommodations. Everyone wants to live in perfectly realized conditions, preferably not somewhere over the rainbow. What this means is that the dedicated purchaser of real estate has to be incredibly industrious, abundantly patient, fiercely discerning, maniacally persistent, and wickedly shrewd. Such dedicated purchasers must also bear in mind two principles: first, the old real estate chestnut of location, location, and location as the three most important considerations in evaluating any property; and, second, the new real estate chestnut of space, space, and space as the second most important consideration in evaluating any property.

hese two dominant principles hold doubly true in a booming real-estate market such as the Hudson River Valley, with its exploding epicenter in Ulster County. Consider the following: Ulster County hosts Woodstock, one of the iconic art communities in America, up there with Provincetown, Santa Fe, Santa Barbara and

Carmel. Saugerties, recently voted one of the ten “coolest” towns in America, is a 15-minute drive from Woodstock. Kingston is in the midst of one of the boomingest real-estate booms in the East in many years. Across the river from Kingston is Rhinebeck, one of the most charming towns in the entire Hudson River Valley and host to expensive real estate by the bushel. The next stop north of Rhinebeck on the Amtrak line from New York City to Albany is Hudson, now, after a 35-year real-estate boom, the antiques capital of America and another hotbed of artistic activity. Such growth and development are proof-positive that bricks and boards are still two of the safest havens for money known to humankind. As an investment, real estate is hard to beat, especially if you have fun living in it while it appreciates.

o start your search by feeding the fantasy and thereby defanging it. Go on the website for Zillow, or Douglas Elliman, or Sotheby’s, or Coldwell Banker and zoom around looking at properties in your desired locale without considerations of budget or other limitations. If you’re handy or have enough cash in hand to sink into a distressed property, check out craigslist for bargains. Once the fantasy has spent itself go on local realtors’ websites in your chosen area and look at properties you’re capable of buying. You know your limits. If you can’t find anything worth looking at in person, expand your search area to locations contiguous to, or nearby, your desired location. Then contact agents in that area. Tell them what you’re looking for and your budget. Enlist their help. You are now dealing with reality. When you buy you will need the help of a local agent anyway to put you in touch with bankers, insurance agents, house and property inspectors, possibly a surveyor, workmen, landscapers, and local school and government officials. Check out local schools carefully even if you’re not going to use them; they are major determinants in assessing overall real estate values in every location. As a matter of habit, ask to see a copy of local zoning laws on any property that seriously interests you.

When you reach this stage of serious looking in a concentrated area, spend time there. If you have friends who own in the area, visit them and drive around. If not, stay at motels, hotels, inns or at bed and breakfasts. Learn the area as well as you can. This is a great antidote to the fabulous Internet photography that is so often deceiving.

istrust curbside appeal. Once my wife and I looked at a house on a tertiary road that had lots of appeal. But while my wife was inside listening to the agent, I stood outside and noticed two heavy-duty dump trucks whiz by. After the agent left we doubled back. About two hundred yards down the road from the charming house was a fully operational gravel dump and sales yard. Another time we saw a Victorian house in winter that was gorgeously appointed. I still remember the woodwork. It bothered me that it hadn’t sold immediately—this is why you always enquire how long a property has been on the market. After the interior inspection, while standing on the front porch, my wife, who’d grown up in farm country, noticed a faint odor. After much hemming and hawing the agent admitted that the open pens across the road belonged to a pig farmer. In summer, with open windows, we’d have been asphyxiated.

or most potential buyers, once the fantasy about a property has evaporated, the wisdom of choosing space carefully becomes clear. If you dream of adding a pool or tennis court, a patio or a flower garden, you need the extra acreage. If you dream of adding a breezeway, an extra garage bay, a Florida room or a conservatory, you need to make sure you have the space to build it. It’s often easier, less expensive, and more practical to improve your current property than to buy or build one with the added features you desire. Plans for future improvements are also the reason to check out zoning laws carefully. Don’t be discouraged by all these do’s and don’ts. Few things are as rewarding as owning a great piece of property that’s fun to live in and enjoy.

22, 2018 20 | March Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

DION OGUST

There are homes built to attract city dwellers ready for the move Upstate, and those designed to bring together all a family wants to feel at home in the Hudson Valley. Both are fueling that Quality of Life attribute realtors are selling as our region’s key attribute. Ask realtor Laurie Ylvisaker about this beaut.

Working in hypertime Local real estate’s a changing industry By Susan Barnett

e are working in hypertime, with changes in our workplaces that once took years happening in months, or even weeks. I’ve seen it happening in the real-estate business. And I have some ideas about where it’s headed. When I started working at a small company in the Catskills about five years ago, there was a large looseleaf binder on a desk in the office. In it were descriptions of properties listed by our agents, and a sheet for scheduling showings. Agents called to request a showing. We called the sellers, confirmed the showing, and entered it in the book. There are now companies that will schedule showings with a click on the MLS listing page.

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An agent can set up an itinerary for a weekend’s worth of showings and request them all with just one click. Confirmations come by text, email or phone call. What I have not seen yet is an integration between smartphone calendars and showing requests. I suspect it’s not too far away. Access to those houses was by lockbox, a simple box with a combination lock which opened it and revealed a key. In Ulster County, the MLS has transitioned to electronic lockboxes, which charge an annual fee for a smart card which unlocks the boxes. In Albany County and also to the south, agents open lock boxes with their smartphones. In Greene County, we still use the old lockboxes. You may remember the combination locks on your school gym locker. They’ve defeated more than one young agent who’d never seen one. What’s next? Perhaps retinal scans so homeowners give brokers a way to bypass their security systems without all those clumsy codes and passwords. Smartphones created a huge shift in the real-estate business. Cellphones were a massive leap for-

ward, giving agents access to the world even when they weren’t at their desks. Smartphones are the rockets that blasted that functionality into outer space. In real estate, smartphones act as GPS, file transfer system, communications tool, even camera. A smartphone is indispensible.

xcept in the Catskills. Those big, beautiful hills are very efficient at creating dead spots for cell service. And, sad to say, I imagine it’s only a matter of time before something is done to bring cell signals throughout the area. It will be useful, but it will also be a shame. We may want to think twice before eliminating the only areas where we actually can get away from it all. Once back in the office, a broker used to have to copy reams of papers for listing agreements, purchase offers and listing changes. One set of copies was for the office, another for the agent, a third for the client. Sometimes there was a fourth copy if the main office was in another location. The state still requires paper copies. But most everything is done digitally now, and it isn’t hard to imagine a day where records are stored on a hard drive or flash drive and paper goes the way of the dodo (or the fax machine). The growth in the local market has created two distinct models for real-estate firms. The small boutique firms cater to a particular clientele or specialize in a particular kind of property. They’re

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March 22, 2018 Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co. the ones that feature properties that most appeal to downstate buyers or second-home buyers. Though they may have started with a focus on historic country properties, buyersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; changing tastes are widening their list of properties to include mid-century moderns and even suburban splitlevels. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a big niche, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still a niche. Then there are the bigger firms that focus on quantity. They list everything and sell everything. They have offices everywhere and they have an army of agents. I have a feeling that the trend is eventually going to favor the niche firms, with even more independence among brokers. The Oneonta office of Keller Williams, for instance, is in an office building well outside of a pedestrian area. Their agents are treated as independent business people who work from home. The office is only used for meetings or for storing paperwork. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a rural market. The company has adjusted its business model to suit the area. I suspect that in five years we will see real-estate offices in a few walkable communities. Brokers who work outside that area will seldom be seen there.

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22, 2018 22 | March Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

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March 22, 2018 Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

t’s been interesting to see how the influx of buyers from downstate has changed the travel habits of brokers in this area. When I first made the decision to take buyers to where the houses they wanted were instead of focusing on a small geographical area, I felt, frankly, a little crazy. I didn’t see anyone else doing it, though I’m sure some brokers were. I put a lot of miles on my car. For a while, I belonged to the Ulster, Columbia/ Greene/Northern Dutchess and New York State MLSes. In the past couple of years, I’ve noticed a lot more agents traveling far from home with their clients. The local real-estate boom has also made it possible for some agents to narrow their focus. Some of them specialize in just one community. There’s room for both styles. We’re all doing okay. I think the regionalization of the Hudson Valley is forcing change on the regional multiple listing service model. Talks of mergers are being ferociously debated. New York State MLS is a privately owned part of a national MLS. In some areas, it’s been giving the regional multiple listing services a run for their money. In the age of Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com, the idea of a single central MLS makes a lot of sense. That’s a big change and one that hasn’t happened yet. Nothing has changed the real-estate business as much as the Internet. The industry has struggled with the question of the broker’s role. Websites

provide homebuyers access to nearly all the information that was once the exclusive province of the real-estate professional. A quick look at a smartphone can tell a buyer how much a house is listed for, what it last sold for, even what it’s assessed for and what price a website formula predicts is fair market value. The web can predict taxes and mortgage costs. It can even tell you about schools and the community.

rokers have a love-hate relationship with all that information. Though it’s great to have an educated client, it’s frustrating when the information the client has is incorrect. Zillow’s estimate of a home’s value is an arm’slength guess. To value a listing, local brokers use

| 23

comparable properties, recent sales and the latest trends. Sometimes the Zillow number and the local broker’s number aren’t even within shouting distance of each other. Zillow can create unrealistic expectations for both buyers and sellers. The broker is the local expert. The broker’s role has proven to be an essential one. Brokers know the area. They know the neighborhoods. They know the market. They’re best equipped to market and sell a property based on that knowledge. They’re also best equipped to negotiate the best deal for both buyer and seller. Besides, when the deal is over Zillow won’t be your first friend in your new community. And it won’t give you a bottle of wine as a housewarming present, either.

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22, 2018 24 | March Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

The double-household life So many details, so little time by Jennifer Brizzi

n apartment in the city and a house upstate. Simple, right? You have the best of both worlds, a city life and a country life. You work hard during the week and relax and recuperate on the weekend. The two-home lifestyle makes things doubly complicated. Logistics are challenging. You know all those things that you take care of on the weekend, like buying groceries, running to the post office, the hardware store, the dry cleaner, or going for a long walk or run? Well, if you’re not home all weekend, how do you get things done? When you’re up here for just a couple of days, how do you find time to mow the lawn, scrub the toilet, paint the hallway, fix the gate? “Weekenders rely on supers in the city and trusted caretakers upstate,” said Gina Walker Fox, a local real-estate agent. “At least my clients do. They rely on us to guide them to same.” When you only have two short days up here, do you want to spend them running around like a madman or madwoman, or do you want to relax after that tough work week in the city rat race? It is something you can’t do without help. That help can come in the form of kindly friends and neighbors if you’re lucky, or a hired concierge service. Even the local constabulary can be invaluable, as in the case of Sharlene Oyagi, who took up residence in both New York City and Rhinebeck in 2003 after returning from living in Japan. New

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We all have friends or neighbors whose city lives are as precious as those they’ve built up here, to the point where they’ve trained their pets to accept weekly journeys back and forth between their two homes. to the area, she had no network or support system for help and credits members of the local police departments in Rhinebeck and Red Hook for help with property maintenance, lawn care, snow removal and even as contractors for home renovation projects. “They have been my best resource and support for all these years,” she said. “Local cops also have always known reliable repair people for any type of work or repair I may have needed.”

She has had the same cleaning woman since she first came to Rhinebeck, and that woman has kept her keys to several different places. “I have also been fortunate to have the same local movers, who could manage smaller moves to switch around different pieces of furniture, etc. on short notice.” Because Oyagi has owned a variety of properties in the area, she has needed help from a wide variety of home-repair specialists. For a period of time she lived up here full-time. “That time was

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| 25

WIKICOMMONS

One of the keys to lives bifurcated between the city and country is the maintenance of inner maps for how to get from there to here, and vice-versa, in the least traumatic trafﬁc. But whatever the route, there are certain monuments, all say, where moods shift based on something as simple as a road sign. ceries, take care of laundry and any other things they need. I even make dinner reservations. And if they need transportation, I take care of that, too, so they don’t need to use Uber or a taxi.”

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Do cats enjoy travel between two homes? Do they like the people who feed them? Don’t ask too closely. valuable for getting to know the community,” she said, “and meeting people here to stay in touch with about things happening, where to shop, find summer camps, etc.”

trusted concierge service can be a godsend. Micah J. Bennett, CEO and founder of Hudson Valley Concierge Services (https://hvconcierge.com), does a huge variety of useful things for his weekender clients. While they’re in the city during the week, he keeps a close eye on things. “They’re in a bind,” he explained, “because they can’t be in two places at one time. I make sure the house is clean, take care of any pets or other animals, deal with the garbage, pick up the mail. I liaise with vendors, get groceries, maintain landscapes, call the locksmith, and detail the vehicles.” The work doesn’t stop on the weekends when the clients are in residence, either. “When they are in town, it’s luxury time now,” he said. “They want to rest and process the week. So I get gro-

t is very stressful and logistically challenging to arrange deliveries, repairs or basic maintenance,” said Oyagi, “without a good network and people who have keys to my house or know where to leave things for me, et cetera. Even then, it takes a lot of time to manage everything, there are a lot of phone calls and follow up, extra layers of people to pay.” Taking care of the city home without being there on weekends has its challenges as well. “I had the condo building staff where we purchased our apartment, and that was it,” says Oyagi. “Unfortunately, the broker referred us to an unreliable

contractor, but once we got to know the building door and maintenance staff they helped me with everything.” Oyagi feels that perhaps her not being “city people” has helped her become part of the upstate community. She grew up in Chicago and was new to New York City when she first became a weekender. But weekender she is no more. She has decided to settle in the Hudson Valley for good. She’s decided to move up here full-time again. “I will probably sometimes miss having a second place and a change of scenery and lifestyle,” she conceded, “but I’m happy to finally have all of my belongings in one place. Or I will be, once I finally get settled.” Despite having at least two of everything, she said, “I still find it hard to locate things.”

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22, 2018 26 | March Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

Moving on up Sometimes it helps to become an innkeeper By C. R. Smith

fter nine years in Brooklyn, it was time for a change. I was tired of city life and longed for a real home — a house, a yard, a dog. My landlord was pushing me out of my rent-stabilized studio in Bushwick, and with friends getting mugged in the elevator of our building, it couldn’t happen soon enough. I began looking for options outside of the city, but found I couldn’t afford anything in the surrounding areas, either. I ventured further and further up the river. I found Kingston. It was affordable and charming and artsy. I was sold on it. The house I eventually bought is a Queen Anne Victorian built in 1892 by a lumber tycoon. It was extremely underpriced and gorgeous, and I jumped on it. It was also huge, much too big for me and my partner of the time, who called it “the museum” and shuddered at the thought of the heating bills. I knew it was a deal I couldn’t pass up. I did suspect, of course, that as with every other place I’d lived as a “pioneering” artist it would soon become the hot new place, and property values would soar. But this time I’d own something which I could eventually resell for triple what I paid for it. And in the meantime: Airbnb. Aside from the fact that Airbnb would help pay for the costs of living in my beautiful new home, it was also a job for me. My partner was still commuting to the city while trying to find something local, and Airbnb was a way for me to start making money right away. One of the biggest problems I had at first was filling the place. It soon became apparent that I had no real furniture to speak of; something I hadn’t noticed in my tiny studio apartment. Oh, right. A dining-room table! Couches! Chairs! Side tables! Nightstands! And four more beds!

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began hosting guests about a month after moving in. It wasn’t long before I had a steady stream of tourists coming and going. When you begin Airbnb-ing, one of the first things you notice is that each guest is different, with different expectations, needs, and tastes. What one person finds comfortable may be the opposite of what someone else requires for a good night’s sleep. You need to be able to provide an array of options. I try very hard to exceed expectations and to keep prices reasonable. It’s earned me many positive reviews and the status of “superhost.” But every now and then I still get a complaint, and it’s not always something obvious. People can have strong personal opinions on what makes for a clean and comfortable stay. For example, one woman was horrified that I didn’t lay out a fresh bath mat daily. Another was offended by soap residue in the soap dish. Some guests have actually moved heavy pieces of furniture away from the wall (I assume to show that there’s dust behind?). One woman from California complained of buzzing from what she believed to be the electric wires outside her window; it turned out she was unfamiliar with the sound of cicadas. Some people seem to think that they should be able to check in whenever they want, as if you wait at a front desk with an open front door, like a hotel. Or that you’re there to babysit their toddlers (yep, I’ve actually encountered this, too)!

eople have strange ideas about Airbnb, and what I’ve learned is to both manage their expectations and communicate mine

clearly. I try to be clear about check-in, and about the fact that we have busy lives. While the bedroom and bathroom and kitchen will be clean and organized, other areas of the house may not be immaculate at all times. I urge guests to contact me with any and all questions and concerns to avoid any confusion. I check in regularly to make sure they’re happy. Whole-house rentals are another aspect of Airbnb which helps pay the mortgage. It’s where you tend to make the most money. It also comes with the greatest risk. Leaving your house with strangers is scary, especially after coming home to a few disasters (like the time I found the grandfather clock shattered on the floor and was told that “it just fell”). I now inform guests that I have motion-activated cameras at the entrances for everyone’s protection, and it helps me sleep a little easier when I’m renting the whole house. I make sure that I’m dealing with responsible adults with several good reviews. During the busy months, I’m often away more than I’m here, with most weekends rented out for weddings, graduations and groups of friends attending various festivals. Living out of a suitcase those months can become tiresome, but it’s the sacrifice I make to live in this house. It is ultimately worth it. For all the crazy experiences I’ve had, the vast majority of the people I’ve met have been lovely. I’ve made some great friends. Something about chatting with someone while drinking coffee in your pajamas seems to break down barriers. Sometimes I like to imagine the pure, unadulterated luxury of having the entire house to myself someday. I dream about what I would turn this or that room into, the freedom of making as much noise as I want at all hours, a whole lot less laundry, etc. But for now, my house is an inn, and that’s just fine with me.

March 22, 2018 Home Hudson Valley

Ulster Publishing Co.

| 27

Getting to perfect Home renovations have their own schedule By Ann Hutton

of how long stuff takes and how much it costs. “Those shows give a completely unrealistic impression,” he says. “Renovating your home is a scary thing. You don’t really know what you’re getting into, either as the homeowner or the contractor. No matter how many times you’ve done it, things come up.”

endy Blair s their retirement aptells dinner proached, the Blairs shopped for guests, as an architect and a general conthey cross tractor who could bring their home the threshinto the present century. Kurt Sutherold between land of KWS Architecture set the proa narrow entry hall and the ject in motion with a few ideas. He recdining room, that they’re stepommended Lee Kleinberg of High Falls ping from the 19th century into Custom Building to get the job done. the 21st. Her husband Jim, a What was their first priority? “It was former lawyer who worked in a package deal,” Wendy says. Not wantcommercial litigation, glances ing to rely on heating the house with up at the tall shed ceiling covfirewood only, something they’d done ered with bleached beadboard on weekends for years, the Blairs gave and concurs. thought to updating the entire strucWe sit at a long rectanguture. lar dining table that serves as “We worked on a master plan to do Blair Central — sections of The the whole thing,” she says. “Ground New York Times spread here floor with radiant heating in the newly and there, a thermos of coffee, poured concrete and also under the homemade chocolate cookies first floor. A new boiler system to supwhich the New Zealand naply the hot water, foundation work in tive calls “biscuits” — as they the old dining room downstairs — the recount their adventures in foundation stones were just pushed home renovation. into the dirt on the west corner, and The Blairs bought the that floor was built with boards right 175-year-old house in 1983. on the ground.” The original kitchen tucked Excavation was under way at the below in the ground floor had same time outside the foundation wall been abandoned, and a newer to put in a French gutter around the one had been installed, circa perimeter of the 1925 annex. The once1960, in a first-floor bedroom moldy-and-grimy room became a waannexed years before onto the tertight and warm textile studio, a cozy back of the structure. There subterranean space gently lit by a bank was much to be done to make of north-facing windows. the abode habitable, if only on Above on the first floor, the old kitchANN HUTTON the weekends when the Blairs en and a spare bedroom were gutted, could get away from Manhat- Jim and Wendy Blair have dedicated years to bringing their historic home back to right up to the top of the slanted shed tan with their toddling daugh- cozy life after ﬁnding it all but abandoned when they started “camping” in it back in ceiling, to make way for the remodelthe early 1980s. ter. ing. Scott Mass of Woodstock Custom A viable well and an updated Woodworking in New Paltz designed Pinterest board to give him a sense of their preferelectrical system bumping the 60 amp/screw-in and built the cherry cabinetry, replete with Wenences. “You start with that. People don’t necessarfuses up to 200 amp switches were needed. Many dy’s coveted bookcases, ample and convenient ily need construction plans. We do design work. roof repairs came next, a shift from coal to wood storage, and an open peninsula that divides the But a budget is a good thing to have. The faster in the furnace, and some gutter work that helped cooking and dining areas. you can open a dialogue about finances, the more to alleviate rotting in the antique wooden frame. “Scott assumed that this room was squared,” likely it is you’ll be able to tailor the plans to fit the Even with these improvements and various Jim recalls, “and didn’t get focused on the fact that budget or at least have an open discussion about stages of insulation in walls and second-floor ceilthe floor slopes about an inch from one side to the what’s feasible.” ings, the house had to be shut down between winother. And the corners have no right angles. They Morris has been doing some complete gut renotertime visits, the refrigerator emptied out and the had to spend time they hadn’t planned on to get it vations. “Lots of people come up here for a secwater pipes cleared to avoid freeze-bursts. all to fit together.” ond home and think about building,” he explains. Weekending in the Catskills was an adventure Barra and Trumbore’s Verde Fantastico granite “But once you buy the land, do all of the site work of indoor camping. As seasons came and went, tops the counters. A Fisher & Paykel refrigerator — clearing trees, foundation, driveways, electric, trees grew, shading Wendy’s little patch of flowers. flanks one side of the sink. The dual-fuel range and septic — the costs! People realize they could buy a Her dreams of remodeling blossomed. By the dishwasher are Frigidaire, and the hood is a Faber. house with a nice view on land they like, but as far time the couple was ready to retire and move upThe floor is the original finished pine, and a doubleas the interior finishes go, they might not like it at state year-round, she’d envisioned turning the englass door opens from the dining room onto a deck all. So, based on square-foot prices, whole-house tire back annex into a real kitchen, one with stone that overlooks Wendy’s shade garden. Double caserenovations are often less costly.” countertops and modern, working appliances and ment Marvin windows provide a view out into the He proclaims that estimates figured on time and bookcases. She dreamed of a spacious dining area woods, with no window treatments to hamper it. materials suck — his exact words. “The contractor Wendy, who was property officer for the New that opened to a small deck, where morning coffee is not taking any risks,” he says. “All the risks are on Zealand Mission to the United Nations, flips could be sipped as they reviewed those sections of the homeowner. It’s easy for things to spiral out of through a log of the 2007 renovation progress: the Sunday newspaper. control, and the homeowner doesn’t really know “‘Kitchen under construction. Only stove and “Basically the idea of doing this kitchen and the job. They were hoping to spend $200,000, fridge function. Doing dishes in the bathroom for dining room, and redoing the bedroom and bathand now it’s $400,000. And as a contractor, you a month now.’” room upstairs, as well, were things I’d had in my have to keep asking for more. I’d prefer to take the “We forget these privations!” Wendy now says. head since 1989, a sketched-on-the-back-of-anrisk and put in a bid. Things could still change, “It was all fun, though! Some people get very icky envelope sort of thing,” says Wendy. Dreams have but at least you have a direction, a map.” about construction. I’ve always liked seeing it. In a way of wafting through a house on a current of Renovations costs snowball quickly. “You sudthe city, I’d peer through those holes in fences to fragrant spring air. denly think, ‘Now is the time to do electric,’ and see what was happening. I supervised construchis is not a bad thing, according to deyou find yourself redoing 85 to 100 percent of the tion in my office numerous times.” signer and general contractor Steve Morris electric in the house. Or you open up the walls to Now the Blairs muse fondly over old memories of Steve Morris Designs in Port Ewen. “It’s Fiberglass insulation with mice crawling around while watching the birds at a window feeder. “We’d better for a client to actually have a whole plan, a it in for years. Or these windows are old, now is put bowls of water out before we went back to the direction to go in, or mistakes get made,” he says. the time to replace them all. It’s difficult to stage city,” Wendy recalls, “so that if the pipes were fro“With a whole plan, you know what you need, things once you get inside the guts of a house.” zen from December to March we’d have water to even if you decide to do the renovation in stages.” Morris thinks that people have to stop watching use when we arrived the following weekend.” People often bring Morris pictures or share a HGTV because the show provides skewed views No more.

22, 2018 28 | March Home Hudson Valley

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