A week off from DeJoux but work goes on..

Daniel and I were not at the house this weekend. We had visitors in the city and had to stay in NYC. We both really missed it...(although Daniel didn't miss it that much as he worked on the plans for some more this weekend...he promises they will be done soon and we can begin construction proper!).

Last weekend we were there in the rain so I made Daniel work on the drawings from the porch. Even in the rain the lake looked lovely.

One of the pictures I took was almost the same view as a photo we took when we bought the house. It really shows how much clearing Daniel and I had done.

Before: After:

There were some events this weekend without us. "Bernie the Brush Hog" came this week to brush hog the field again. We are trying to get it to a meadow and get rid of the brambles that continue to sprout up. This cut will allow the grasses to grow up through the summer so it should wonderful in a month or two.

Ryan Petit the chainsaw man (Daniel and I are still very cautious of that contraption!) continues to cut down some of the trees that we tagged. He's stacking the wood in the garage so that we will have wood for the fireplaces that Daniel has been drawing...

...Which I'm hoping will look something like this:

More excitement this week, I promise.

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Paradox farm

If you wander along Springtown Road, past DeJoux House, you will see our mailbox opposite the front door. It's not especially distinguishable except it is rather large and sits on an old tree stump. It's a rusty old thing but it seems to have survived the snow plows and drunk drivers of Springtown Road. It has always bothered me that on the side of the mail box you can see the vague outline of the words "Paradox Farm" which was clearly a name that DeJoux House was more recently referred to. Occasionally when wondering the fields I would stumble across some incongruity and wonder if that was indeed the "paradox" that the farm was named after. Yesterday morning, for some unknown reason, I decided it was time to resolve the paradox. I sent a quick email to the previous owner June Finer to see if she knew anything of the Paradox Farm ghost on the side of the mailbox. This was her reply: once upon a time we, (myself and russell gilmore---my ex), met a...

DeJoux House to be published

Reclaimed Doorway Our house has been watched over the years by a couple, Susan Daley and Steve Gross who create amazing books of old houses and Hudson Valley (each name below is a link to Amazon). They knew the house and had been watching our progress. As we came close to finishing they reached out and asked if they could photograph the house for a book of cottages: Catskill Country Style Book , Old Houses , Farm House Revival , Homes With A Past , Gardens of Hudson Valley , Time Wearing Out Memory ...to name but a few. All of these books are beautifully produced. I can't wait to see our home in one of them later in 2015/16. I won't reveal all of the amazing photographs that have been taken of our house, you'll have to buy the book to see them all....but here is a little taster. Summer patio Kitchen Stools Front Door Open

A long silence broken

It has been over 18 months since I posted an entry on the DeJoux House blog. Why? I'm not sure. The renovations were held up for a while as we enjoyed a working, if unfinished house. Looking back there was frankly very little news of note. Lots of socializing. Lots of enjoying the bounty of the land. Lots of swimming in the pond and Ice Skating...but you'd seen all of that in the old posts. Today, I am inspired to write a post because I have uncovered some news about the history of the house. Since we bought the house we have always been told that the house was built in 1740. That's what the town of New Paltz have in their records. That's what the previous owners told us and well, we had little reason to disbelieve it. However, we have very little proof of when the building of DeJoux House started. This puzzle was further heightened when a gentleman from North Carolina contacted us with the following request. Mr. Flebut - I am a professor at the University of N...

DeJoux House

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