This Old House

Norm

We started with an empty piece of land.

Roger

We bulldozed, we blasted. We perked and poured concrete.

Tom

Now we have a factory-fresh 1850s farmhouse.

Kevin

The final tour is coming up right here on "This Old House."

Tom

Looks pretty bad right here.

Norm

Are you kidding me? Is this place really worth saving?

Richard

We can do better than this.

Tom

Time to get to work.

Kevin

Nice and easy, nice and easy. Everybody together.

Grunting

Kevin

Oh, yeah!

Roger

The right plant in the right place.

Kevin

Good!

Richard

It's state-of-the-art, perfectly square. All in all, a good day's work.

Kevin

Well, it is an exciting day here at our brand-new farmhouse up here on Boston's North Shore. Hi, there. I'm Kevin O'Connor. And welcome back to "This Old House." Today is move-in day for our homeowners, and it means that we get to see the finished house. And what an impressive house it is from the outside. Now, if you've been following the work all along, you know that this is an 1850s reproduction. And it was designed and assembled in pieces in a factory. That factory is in Vermont. Those sections were trucked to this home site and assembled in a relatively short period of time. And this piece of property, which is now covered in snow, used to be nothing but a vacant lot. Hey, Kim, Roger. How are you guys?

Kim

Hi,

Kevin. -Roger

Good. It wasn't a vacant lot. It was a 4-acre site with tremendous potential. And the first thing we had to get done is siting the house itself.

Kim

That's right. We originally sited the house about halfway down the hillside in the backyard, but we really thought bringing the house up to the top of the hill would allow for more sunlight, would also allow us to save these two mature oak trees on either side.

Kevin

But it meant a lot of work, right?

Roger

Right, and the first thing was to take down the trees we needed to do to let people work here, but also protect the ones we wanted to save. Once they were gone, we started digging and hit ledge.

Yeesh. Roger

A lot of ledge -- like 10 days worth of blasting type of ledge that had to go on before we even got to the foundation.

Kevin

We had to blast the ledge out of there. We also had septics and wells, so there was drilling going on. And then when all of that was done, Kim, it was up to you to sort of come up with a design for our new lot here.

That's right. -Kevin

And you had kind

of a philosophy. -Kim

I did. So this is a reproduction farmhouse. We wanted it to look like it had always been here. The way to do that is to use traditional materials like this brick. We also used reclaimed granites for the stoop and the stairs and a plant palette that was sort of in keeping with that sort of heirloom quality.

Right. -Roger

And it was great 'cause when we went and picked out all this old granite and brought it to the site, everything came together, and it does look like it's been here for a long, long time.

Kevin

And we've got more of that, as well -- some other hardscaping out back.

Roger

Come take a look.

Kim

So, here in the backyard, we brought in more reclaimed granite and created a nice rustic patio at the base here, where they can set a table on, some chairs, and look out over the really beautiful backyard.

Roger

And this granite really ties the front to the back.

Kim

It does. Up here at the top, we have a more formal patio, again, using the traditional brick to tie in with the front walkway. It's edged with a fieldstone seat wall, so you have overflow seating without needing too much furniture

on the patio. -Kevin

That's great.

Kim

Behind that is gonna be a bed of ornamental grasses, which will sort of weep over the wall and soften up the space a little bit. But this is a great space for dining and entertaining.

Sure. -Roger

Coffee in the morning.

Kevin

Burger in the afternoon. Very nice. And look at this deck here. This is huge, huh?

Kim

Yeah, this is the sunniest spot on the backyard, so it'll be great for lounging.

Kevin

The family's gonna get a lot of use out of this, huh? So, Roger, do you approve.

Roger

I think Kim did a great job of taking our new house and making it look old.

Kevin

I agree, nice job, Kim. And you know what? It's a shame that it's all covered in snow, but in the spring, it is gonna look great.

I'll be back. -Kevin

All right. I got to go inside and check in with Erik. Thank you. One of the final spaces that needs our attention is the master closet. And, Erik, I guess it's official.

The budget is closed. -Erik

Yes, it is.

Kevin

We're trying to save every penny we can at this point.

Erik

Yeah, we are. So, in a master closet, I could come in here, I could do millwork. We can spend thousands of dollars putting drawers and doors in here.

Kevin

We have seen it before, but it looks like you've got an alternative.

Erik

Yeah, so I decided to do a little DIY project that we could do and any homeowner could possibly do.

Kevin

Okay. You got a plan here. Is this you?

Erik

Yeah, so the designer came up with this idea of doing some shelving and some open hanging here throughout this master.

Kevin

Looks pretty straightforward, all right.

Erik

So, what I did was I went down to the home center. I grabbed some different fittings, some pipes, some tops, some bottoms, some angle brackets, and stuff like that, that I thought that we would need for this design to come together.

Kevin

All right, I'll give you a hand. So this is all gonna get painted up?

Erik

Yeah, once we have everything together, essentially what we're gonna do is we're gonna wipe this down. As you can see, we're using rubber gloves because these come with a lot of oil on them right from the factory. So, we're gonna wipe these down, clear all these stickers off, and then I'm gonna have the painters come in here and paint these nice and black so that they look nice and sharp.

Kevin

All right, that's nice and tight, Erik. So this is probably not lining up with a stud. How do you want to fasten these?

Erik

So, we gonna use these anchors right here. I'm gonna have you drill that out, set these anchors, and we'll screw it off tight.

Kevin

All right. All right. -Yeah, you got a hammer on you?

Erik

Yep.

Kevin

And four.

Erik

Let's get that back into place.

Kevin

All right, got some screws on you?

Erik

Yep, there's a screw for you.

Kevin

Okay. All right, that's the last one there. Look at that -- you got shelves.

Erik

Yeah, I got the MDF shelves here.

Kevin

Nice. So, what's the final look?

Erik

We're gonna take these stickers off, we're gonna clean this black pipe, paint these shelves, and make everything look real nice.

Kevin

So, the shelves, obviously, where they're gonna stack their clothes. These open areas right here are for the hanging clothes. And not a moment too soon 'cause the homeowners have got some stuff they want to move in right away.

Erik

Yeah, it's ready to go.

Kevin

All right, practical and looks pretty good, Erik.

Nice job. -Erik

Hey, thanks a lot.

Tom

I'm kind of anxious to see how the inside came out 'cause I haven't been here since we were framing.

Norm

Yeah, it has been a while.

Tom

Look at this floor. What is this? Slate?

Norm

Actually, it's not slate. It's ceramic tile meant to look like slate.

Tom

Oh, nice. I like these built-ins right here -- place to hang our coat. And the maple tops almost look a little distressed and aged.

Bill

Gentlemen, what do you think?

Norm

Hey,

Bill. -Tom

I like it.

Norm

Just looking at the details on the outside of the house -- spot on. It looks great.

Bill

Yeah, you like them?

Tom

Yeah.

Bill

Well, what we tried to do was take some of that farmhouse feel and bring it into the inside. One way we did that was with this shiplap here on the walls. And we also have a powder room here right off the mudroom.

Norm

Nice location for a powder room. Good size -- about 5 feet by 5 feet.

It's big. -Norm

Look at this sink. This thing is gigantic.

Tom

That's a heavy-duty sink.

Norm

Yeah, looks great. Hey, what did you do? Put old floorboards on the ceiling?

Bill

Yeah, that's right, yeah.

Tom

Well, you're not gonna have to worry about that floor

wearing out. -Norm

That's for sure. And I love the doors you've picked. Simple plain panels, no molding. It looks like an old farmhouse door.

It's perfect. -Bill

That's exactly

what we were going for. -Tom

It's great.

Bill

Here, let me show you the living room.

Tom

Okay. Ah, more built-ins with some maple top to match the entryway. And I see you also played off the paneling in there, brought it around the fireplace.

Norm

Hey,

Kristina. -Kristina

Hey, guys.

Tom

Hi, Kristina.

Norm

So, what did you use for inspiration to do the interior design?

Kristina

So, like, the whole interior, we're mixing old and new. So behind us, we have the new. We've got this great cleaner armed sectional with a tufted seat. And then the old, we're bringing in some reclaimed woods. So, we've got this great industrial cart down here that kind of balances it nicely and adds texture.

Bill

What we wanted to do with the space -- have a nice, big, open space with a lot of light, a lot of windows. Bring the outside in. But at the same time, keep it cozy. So one way we did that was have a wood-burning fireplace and also a TV here. And we just feel like this is an area where the whole family can congregate and spend some quality time.

Norm

Right, I think the windows are a big part of it. Nice, big windows -- I love the six-over-six double-hung look. And I really like the transom windows up above. That's a really nice detail.

Tom

And I remember seeing those windows being built in the factory. They do a nice job.

Norm

Now, Kristina, you chose black for the interior of the sash. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

Kristina

We sure did. Our whole first floor is very neutral. We have grays and whites, so we needed some contrast. So we went and brought the black in on the window sashes and all the exterior doors, as well.

Norm

All right, well, I think you reached your goal. This is a very comfortable space. You get to enjoy the outside and the inside. And looking at this sofa, I got to try it out. Looks pretty comfortable. Let's rest for a while.

Stay a while. -Tom

I'm gonna try it out.

Let's get some beer. -Bill

I'll join you.

Tom

Ah!

Bill

Take a seat.

Kristina

Oh, come on. We'll get in there.

Tom

There you go.

Kevin

So, Richard, how about this, huh? You got yourself a brand-new house, no old systems to tear out. You could do whatever you want down here.

Richard

A nice, clean palette. Let me show you what we did. It starts with the water coming into the building. We have well down at the aquifer. But this is not your typical well. We've got a constant pressure regulator, so now you get water pressure just like you do from a city water supply.

A little different. -Kevin

I like that.

Richard

Cold water comes to here to distribution. We got all the PEX piping to all of our fixtures for both hot and cold.

Mm-hmm. Richard

To make the water hot, this is an electric water heater but a little different than electric water heaters we know.

Kevin

Very different -- doesn't look like the typical one.

Richard

Right, so this is an 80-gallon tank right here, and it has electrical elements bottom and top. But on top of it is a heat pump. So this is called a hybrid water heater. So, now what this'll do -- it'll try to find any heat it can find in the basement and instead of leaving it in the basement, it can store it into this water heater.

Kevin

So, this is primary and this is backup source here. And combined, we're talking...

Super efficient. -Kevin

Love it.

Richard

Now, any time we have a house this tight, I worry about getting fresh air into the building. It's super-insulated. I worry about mold and mildew. So a lot of people would just put a fan like this above the bathrooms. And what they're gonna do is take the heat and just dump it to outside and try to bring some fresh air in. This is called energy recovery ventilator. This will transfer both energy and humidity. It's a pretty simple device. Exhaust there from the bathrooms comes this way, goes across this heat exchanger core this way. There's a fan that pushes it this way. At the very same time, fresh air from outside, which is gonna cold in the winter, comes this way in the opposing direction. Now, they meet

but don't touch directly. -Kevin

Right.

Richard

The heat inside this exhaust here gets transferred to the colder air, so it ends up staying inside the building. And it transfers the humidity, as well.

Kevin

So efficient, and you pretty much wouldn't build a building these days without one of these.

Richard

Not a building this tight.

Kevin

Yep.

Richard

Here's command central for electricity. We got smart lighting over here. We got a beautifully done electrical supply panel right here. And we got a really good thing outside, and that's a generator. This a cold place when the snow comes, and there's all electricity here. We want to make sure we have heat in the cold weather.

Kevin

When you got a remote location like we do, that is nice peace of mind.

Richard

And this is the heart of our geothermal system. Remember we drilled two wells -- deep ones. And they come to right here. Here's the pipes right here that bring antifreeze from below the ground, picking up heat in the winter and bringing it to this point. It exchanges, and now in the winter, will deliver heat to this air handler right here. We have one these for the first floor and one of them for the second floor.

Kevin

So, that's a heat pump, and this is a heat pump,

as well. -Richard

That's right. And so this is for the main house, but I have one more heat pump to show you. So, this guest suite over the garage is in the separate outbuilding, so for us, we really treat it as a completely different system. We couldn't get the ductwork from the main house to here. So we put in a duct-free split. So this is on right now. This is another heat pump. The heat pump is gonna move heat from this inside unit through refrigerant lines to a condenser. So, in the summer, it's gonna find heat and dump it to outside, leaving cold. But in the winter, it's actually gonna find heat even on the coldest day of the year. When it's 5 degrees outside, this thing will still find enough heat to heat this building.

Kevin

So efficient and quiet. I mean, that thing is silent.

Richard

It's much more efficient to move heat versus make heat.

Kevin

You know, this guest bedroom is so nice I don't think the guests will ever leave. On the second floor of the main house, we have got three more bedrooms. Hey, April. Hey, Kristina.

Both

Hey, Kevin. How are you.

Kevin

All right. So, how about a tour of the upstairs.

April

Sure, so here we are in Sophie's nursery.

Kevin

Very nice.

April

We chose a nice warm yellow because it's the back of the house, so we wanted to brighten it up a bit.

Kevin

I think she's gonna like this room.

Kristina

I think she's gonna love it. She's gonna love her bathroom more. Come on over.

Kevin

Let's have a look at that.

Check this out. -Kevin

Oh, yeah. Great colors, look at that. And that sink, huh, that's cool. A double trough? What's the idea behind that?

April

Yeah, so it's a small space, and we thought it was a great way to have two faucets.

Kevin

Cool, keeps with the country farmhouse.

Right. -Kevin

And down the hallway, what have we got?

April

So here we have a laundry room with our utility sink in keeping with the industrial theme.

Kevin

Sure, you're gonna like having this up

on the second floor. -April

We are, yeah.

Kristina

And there's another guest bedroom in the front of the house. Down here's our master suite. Check out the closet on the left.

Kevin

We were just working on those pipe shelves earlier. Wow, those turned out nice. All right, and the master bath, wow.

This is beautiful. -Kristina

It is. And here we've got some elements where we're repeating elsewhere in the house. So, we've got marble floors. We've got this great blue-gray color that is also the kitchen island downstairs.

Kevin

Oh,

yeah. -Kristina

And up above here, we have some reclaimed wood that we had made into mirrors to add some texture into the space.

Great. -Kristina

So, to repeat that, we've got some candle sconces that I sketched up and had made.

Kevin

So, your design, as well. I like it.

Kristina

I did.

April

And one thing we really love is Erik actually recessed the tub here to show the full height of the window so that we get lots of natural sunlight.

Kevin

Look beautiful. Let's check out the bedroom. Ah, this is nice.

Kristina

It's big, right?

It is big. -Kristina

Yeah, and actually big can be one of the biggest challenges for us as designers.

Kevin

Really?

Kristina

Yeah, you just don't want to fill it with too many things. So what we did in here is we started with a king bed and kind of anchored the room with that. And then here we repeated the gray walls that we've used elsewhere in the house. And then we brought in these navy drapes, so it's a color we've used before. We're repeating it, but then we don't have too much stuff.

Kevin

Well, a big room may be a challenge for you, but, April, you must love a big room.

April

Oh, yeah.

Kevin

If this were a real farmhouse from the 1850s, you would not have this kind of space.

April

No, definitely not, and, you know, we wouldn't have these windows either, particularly the size of the windows.

Kevin

So, that's the benefit of building new -- you can sort of spec whatever you want. So you obviously wanted a bright bedroom.

April

We did, yeah. I mean, we love the windows. We can see outside from every single angle.

It's great. -Kevin

It looks terrific. I think the whole second floor looks terrific. Kristina, you nailed the design.

Kristina

Thanks,

Kevin. -Kevin

You're welcome.

Norm

So, here's the main hallway right off the front door.

Tom

Yeah, the proportions are nice in here.

Right. -Tom

You know what? I actually saw them putting this stairway together in the factory in one piece.

Norm

Then they brought it here and just dropped it in place?

Tom

Yeah,

saved a lot of time. -Norm

It sure does.

Tom

Look at this turned newel-post.

Norm

That's a rugged looking post. That's not going anywhere.

Nope. -Norm

Now, in farmhouse, you would probably see softwood pine floors, local pine, but here they chose hickory. It's a pre-finished floor, random size. Looks great, and it's gonna hold up.

It does. -Norm

Hey, guys.

Tom

Hey,

guys. -Bill

Hey, how's it going?

Norm

Hanging out in the den.

Tom

Den of the men.

Norm

So, Mike, your company put together all the elements of this house at the factory, and then it was brought here and reassembled. And now that it's together, what do you think?

Mike

It turned out really great. Our company pays a lot of attention to fine architectural detailing. And so, we get to see all of this on paper ahead of time. And it's always very satisfying to see it well-executed in the field as Erik and his crew have done. So it's a delight to be here and see it to have played out so well.

Tom

So, Erik, you and I are traditionally stick builders.

Yeah. -Tom

That's the way we do it. But this is different for you. -What do you think?

Erik

Yeah, I mean, from the time I initially got these plans, I had A's and 1's and B's and 2's and all these other things on there. I didn't know really what to expect. But after we started pulling everything off the first truckload, everything went seamlessly from the panels to the joists to the rafters to the built-ins. Everything really worked out. So the attention to detail really, really came through and showed.

Tom

Well, that's nice to hear. I can imagine because the house is precut off site, you have a lot less waste to deal with.

Erik

We did. As you know, in a stick build, it's tough to estimate how many Dumpsters I'm gonna need on a site. But on this project, we ran around 3%, which is significantly less than you would on stick-build home.

That's great. -Erik

Yeah.

Tom

All right, I got to ask. Was there any problems, any issues to deal with? Now, be careful what you say. Mike's right here.

Laughter

Erik

No, I mean, everything went well. The only thing I could say is I can't run out and grab some of these moldings that they supply at our local lumber yards. But luckily enough, we anticipated everything. Mike got everything here to us in time before we actually needed it, so the guys were able to flow right through.

Sounds great. -Erik

Yeah.

Norm

So, Bill, as the homeowner, you were in this for the long haul. You have to decide what kind of house you wanted to build and then work through the whole process. -So, how was that?

Bill

It's been great. From start to finish, the process has been great. There were really three things at the beginning that drew us to the style of home building. One was the quality of materials. Two was the fine architectural detail. And three is the fine quality millwork that's done in a controlled environment. And I think as we sit here in this room, it sort of exemplifies or hits all three of those points that drew us to the style of home building in the first place.

We're thrilled. -Norm

Would you do it again?

Bill

I wouldn't do it any other way.

Tom

Well, I got to say, guys, it's a great job.

Congratulations. -Erik

Thanks.

Bill

Thank you, Tommy.

Kevin

Hey, that is a great way to get into the dinning room, huh?

Kristina

Way to make an entrance.

Kevin

No kidding. So, what was the plan for this room?

Kristina

April liked farmhouse elements, and Bill liked at touch of industrial. So here we bring them together.

Kevin

So, the table is farmhouse, -and chandelier is industrial?

Kristina

Mm-hmm.

Kevin

Does it work for you, April?

April

It does, yeah. We absolutely love it. It's sort of a nice touch with the softness and the warmth of the table and then the sort of black industrial elements up here.

Kevin

Good, all right. And you know, nothing says farmhouse more than an old barn door. That's a beauty.

April

Yeah, we love it. We had it handmade by -- in a shop in Maine, and it came out exactly as we had envisioned.

Kevin

Great. Well, if you love it, we love it. So, how about the kitchen, everyone's favorite room in the house?

Kristina

How about the pantry, my favorite space?

Kevin

We can do that, too.

Kristina

The plan called for swinging doors, but the was encroaching on the hallway, so we found these great vintage doors at that place in Maine. Check this out.

Kevin

Oh, the sliding door -- that's actually clever.

Kristina

And behind us is the powder room, where we found these old maps of the North Shore and had them made into custom wallpaper.

Kevin

Nice, I like that.

April

So, welcome to my favorite space --

the kitchen. -Kevin

Yeah, it's a great one.

April

Starting with the island here. We went with a large island. We have lots of seating. And a 2-inch marble slab, which is one of my favorite aspects.

Kevin

It's beautiful -- traditional stone. Although, one of the softer ones, so you'll have to take care of that. Although, it's a great look.

April

We have to be careful. And then we went with honed granite here 'cause we wanted a little more durability. And it looks like soapstone, so that was sort of what we were going for.

Kevin

So, looks like the farmhouse stone, but that one's gonna hold up. And, Kristina, the lights here -- more of the black metal, so the industrial.

Kristina

So, the industrial, and we were trying to get rid of

recessed lighting. -Kevin

Oh, yeah.

Kristina

So this is our functional lighting, and it also brings in some other materials for us -- some antique brass and some bronze.

Kevin

Look out, April. The industrial's catching up to you. And what do you think about your cabinets?

April

I absolutely love them. They're custom inset cabinets with the soft-close door.

Kevin

On the drawer and the door. And those are made by our guys up in the factory in Vermont. Folks really know their way around the millwork. That is a nice cabinet right there. Although, you didn't use them on the uppers, something a lot of people would never forgo.

April

Right, so, we loved the look of the open shelves. And you know, they're actually really functional. It's very easy to grab plates and dishes.

Kevin

Even got in the under-cabinet lights, which was not an easy detail, but they're in there. That's a good look. All right, big stove -- two ovens and actually eight burners right there. That's great. And microwave -- everyone needs one of those.

April

Yeah, this is actually a convection steam oven.

Kevin

Look at that. So, is this in addition to or in lieu of a microwave?

April

It's in lieu of a microwave.

Kevin

All right. So, I think you're gonna like the oversized refrigerator. And I know you're gonna love how connected the kitchen is both to the rest of the house, but also to the outdoors.

April

Right, yeah, we have a farmer's porch on the front of the house, a screened-in porch on the back to keep the bugs out.

Kevin

That's adjacent to the patio in the backyard, so you're gonna spend a lot of time out there.

Yep. -Kevin

All right, well, Kristina, farmhouse or industrial -- I think you're the winner. Great job with the design.

Kristina

Thanks,

Kevin. -Kevin

All right, and, Bill and April, I hope you guys really like your new house.

April

We're thrilled with it. We can't wait to move in.

Bill

We're so excited, Kevin. It's been so much fun working with "This Old House" throughout the entire project. And we love the final result.

Kevin

Love to hear it.

Tom

Well, Erick, congratulations on a job well done, and the house looks beautiful.

Erik

Well, thanks a lot. You know, I had a great time working with Connor Homes, the homeowners, and just everybody that's been involved with this project.

Roger

And, Kim, the landscaping looks good with a little snow on it. Can't wait till spring when it'll look great.

Kim

Thanks so much. I can't wait either.

Kevin

All right, well, from all of us at "This Old House," that is a wrap from our North Shore farmhouse. And time for a party, right?

Applause

Kevin