I’m sure that everyone who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the foothills are very glad that the winter’s first snow fell on a Sunday morning. There’s no excuse for leaving home.
-
Home
Archives
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- July 2007
Categories
- Culture
- Economic issues
- Food
- Game of Thrones
- Health issues
- Internet privacy
- Literature
- Pandemic
- Photography
- Political issues
- Railway project
- Relocalization
- Retirement issues
- Rural issues
- San Francisco
- Stokes County
- Stokes history
- Sustainable living
- Technology
- The house
- The land
- The way we were
- Umami
- Uncategorized
Meta
15 Comments
Great photos, and the Abbey is looking like it was built firmly in the nineteenth century 🙂
Thanks, Chenda… Are you in the U.K.?
I am, love reading your blog 🙂
I’m flattered…
I stumbled upon your blog while evaluating the house plan you used. Thank you for sharing your process, it’s incredibly helpful. Now that your house is complete, and you have lived there for awhile, how do you feel about the plan design? I noticed you added a roof to the back porch to divert the roof runoff. Would you recommend any other changes?
Thank you for the fantastic blog (I branched out into other topics).
Hi Cynthia… I’ve been in the house now for more than six years. The house is a great delight to live in. I think that my only advice would be to put as much thought as possible into making the details of the interior suit your needs, to find a way to use the attic space and basement space, and to give some thought to the water and snow runoff coming down those steep valleys on the roof. Also, interior lighting is very important if you want to take advantage of the drama inherent in the height and many planes of the interior. Good luck!
Thank you! I’ve been closely studying the plan for months, but some things are impossible to visualize (such as how the opening of the upstairs bedroom works in relation to the living room, whether the plant shelf dormer is accessible and usable). I still don’t know where to put a clothes washer and dryer, but your interior photos answered many questions.
Hi Cynthia… Visualizing the interior of the house in three dimensions from the blueprints is VERY difficult. Some interior decisions were so difficult that I didn’t make the decisions until the framing stage, when I could say to the builder “let’s put the wall here, here, and here.” I also had them move a couple of walls at the framing stage, which is not too big a deal. The dormer shelf is usable, but you can’t reach it without a ladder! You could potentially reduce the size of the closet beside the dormer (I put a bathroom there rather than a closet) and make a walkway to the dormer from the upstairs hallway. I put the washer and dryer (stacked) in the downstairs hallway, to the right as you come in the front door. I made the washer room larger than is shown in the blueprints by extending it back from its door. You will love the kitchen pantry.
Thank you again for sharing the stages of your construction. I sat down with my builder at my computer showing him your blog diary. He was captivated by your photos, pouring over the framing and finishing photos as much as I was focusing on the final interior. I realized later that while about everyone from surgeons to back yard gardeners share techniques and methods, builders can remain isolated, not able to see how others would approach the same project. A man who has built houses of exceptional quality his entire life, who taught his two sons to do so, who supervises countless helpers, looked at your photos as if I were sharing a secret manuscript and was delighted.
Building permits were issued today. I can’t wait to see our house take shape. If I were more tech savvy I would send you a photo of our setting.
Thank you again for the inspiration and for the practical assistance!
Cynthia, that’s fantastic that you’re building the house! Please keep me updated on your progress, and I’d love to see photos.
I am now in the framing stage of this house. What height ceiling did you end up doing upstairs? The plan calls for 11’6″ but my framers are concerned there won’t be a place for a pull down ladder for attic access. I remember you mentioning that you had a good attic space, but I couldn’t recall whether that was over the upstairs bedroom or the other wing of the house. Thank you for being a terrific resource!
The bedroom ceiling is 11’6, but my upstairs hallway and the other upstairs room have normal ceiling height. My pull-down ladder is in the upstairs hallway. This gives you an attic on two levels, but that’s not a really a problem. I floored the attic, and there are three or four steps between the two levels of the attic. You’ll love the attic!
Thank you! 11’6″ it is. I would send you photos of our progress, but I don’t know how to attach them to a comment box.
We thought about you in May when my son and I were driving through NC touring colleges. When we saw the sign for Stokes county I exclaimed That’s where Acorn Abbey is! I’ve confused my builder more than once by saying “David did it this way” or “David thinks…” and I’ve tried to cool it a bit.
The gothic windows were a hassle to source. The grade of window we initially settled on did not offer the gothic arch, nor anything other than white grills, so we did upgrade despite the price difference. I made a couple of changes to accommodate our special criteria and hope to show you someday what we did.
Thank you again!
We are approaching a year and we are getting close to finishing our version of the house (now is the agonizingly slow time, the weeks leading up to the certificate of occupancy). We ran into different problems than you did, and the building process has not been easy. I would love to send you photos so you can see the fruition of your inspiration and the country cousin of your house. I’m not quite sure how to attach or send a photo through a comment, and apparently my go to method of copy and paste doesn’t work.
I have enjoyed your blog too on non-house related topics. Sometimes I think we are like siblings who don’t understand why people roll their eyes and snicker when insist we are nothing like each other.
By the way, now when I refer to any David, my friends stop me and ask “Acorn Abbey David? Or a different David.” In the past year you became the default David of our conversations.
Hi Cynthia. Thank you for your nice words. I’d love to see the photos! Could you maybe send them as email attachments to david @ acornabbey.com ?
Post a Comment