Building A Dream Home...Tahilla Farm #3

original source unknown*

Many of you have kindly asked about the latest developments at Tahilla Farm...which I often refer to as Tahilla. I am more than happy to respond and hope you are ready for what follows.  For those of you who are new to my blog, Tahilla, is our home away from home, a country retreat, deep in the woods of New Hampshire. 

First glance, 2012

There have been a series of transformations since we bought the property in 2012.  In 2013 we opened the land to make way for a view of a mountain. In 2014 we tackled rebuilding the old stone pasture walls to reclaim the history of the property. All the while, we have been planning and working with an architect to design the house around our lifestyle. It has been a labor of love, a mighty big one. Dream homes can be like that.

Under a rainbow, Tahilla Farm 2014

About designing the house of your dreams. We all think about it, write about it, talk about it, pin photos and tear magazine sheets to our heart's content...it can move onto obsessive compulsive behaviour at times..and we all love it. For it's a dream, right?

Well, I have discovered that dreaming about it and actually doing it are light years apart from each other. It is an education, a process and sometimes I think it would have been simpler, easier and more cost effective to have pulled up a rocking chair and called it a day. But what is life without a few challenges?

For us, assimilating 20 years of life overseas into the design process of our house has been enlightening. Our reference is is not the traditional farmhouse or many of the farmhouses featured in design magazines. It is the past houses and gardens in all the countries we have lived in. We are incorporating details that we loved... architecture, shapes, patterns, art, colour, gardens, wildlife...those memories that you grab onto and say yes, we loved that and want to create it again. 

All of this does not come without disagreements. You hear stories about husbands and wives going to battle over renovations. I say the design should be "sympathetic New England" and Mr. H says  "sympathetic tropics". We are still working on that one and a few other things.

Our greatest asset has been our architect, Sheldon. He is an astute listener, very good at thinking outside the box, gets excited about every idea, every detail and rather than say one of our ideas is not possible and close the book on it...he will show us another idea that could work even better. 

Designing a house and making decisions from 10,000 miles away is not ideal but so far we have made it work. Tim, our general contractor, has become very handy with his phone camera. His photos come into my inbox, in all types of weather. Even through blizzards, he manages to keep us updated on the progress to date.

Construction progress, January 2015

I could explain every detail in the collage of photos above but I won't do that to you. I may be on a writing challenge, but I am not crazy. Let's just say, the new design reflects elements that we love.

We have the original home built in 1790 which we have updated externally with new siding, roof, windows etc... the interior remains the same with the keeping room, study, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a finished attic. We wanted to keep the integrity of the old house and work it in with the new. Off the original home we will have a library/annex into the family wing as shown in the bottom right photo. The kitchen, pantry, porch, open plan family room, mudroom, guest bath, guest bedroom and half bath will be contained in this section of the house. Another annex on the other side of the house will bring you to the master wing with a laundry room, master bedroom and bathroom.

Once the house is grounded, thawed and in place we will begin landscaping. A project we see evolving over the years and one that we are very excited about.

As for the interior design features....here are some of the ideas we are hoping to incorporate. The rooms will not look exactly as the pictures but will contain some of the elements. Wood panelling, cathedral ceilings, wood floors, soaking tub, bookcases, ceiling fans, soapstone kitchen counters, farmhouse sink, painted cabinets, french windows and curves...  I grabbed a few images from my "Tahilla Notes" board on Pinterest... here

Inspiration board: 

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I will end here as there is so much more to say

and I have plenty of posts to go 

in my 28 day writing challenge.

We are off to Tahilla next week so stay tuned 

for another update later in the month. 

If you would like to read more 

about Tahilla, you can start here.

Thank you for your recent comments and emails.

I appreciate every word and will be sure to respond in kind.

You are the best!

So how about that 28 day writing challenge??

 Phew! I think tomorrow may be the day where 

I mention that the sky is blue. Full stop.

:)

Feb 3, 2015
28 Day Writing Challenge, #3
Writing from Chateau Mango
Vietnam time

* with thanks to the friend who shall not be named for creating "Tahilla Life" for me. :)