Floor Plans

May 12, 2020


The house plans before the demolition can be describe as odd and inefficient. The mudroom entry had a coat closet to the right, a small staircase that led to an even smaller attic space to the left and a nook dead center of the entry way with a washer and dryer hook up. Our first floor consisted of a great room/library, kitchen, full bath, office, living room, and bedroom. Second floor consisted of three large bedrooms, one odd room that had no purpose(perhaps it was a sitting area?) and the room with the attic space and wait for it …… a random functioning toilet in the closet!!!

Original Layout


New Plans



Nick and I have received many compliments on our design for the house, and we are flattered because we put a lot of thought into it. We spent some time reflecting not so much on design but on what is most important to us. The principal items on our list are functionality, light and space. Since this is our forever home and want to grow old in it we decided that our master bedroom would be on the first floor. The house does not get a lot of natural light, so it was important for us to have as much of it come in the house. We picked out picture windows and entry doors that allow as much light and landscape to come in. We did hire a design consultant to draw up our vision because it is a requirement for any general contractor and for acquiring permits. If you are in the area of Northampton-Whately, MA and would like more information on a great and reasonably priced inspector, designer, contractor etc. please leave a comment or send us a message and we will be glad to send you our recommendations. The new plans also include an open concept kitchen/living room. We are also tearing down the old closed front porch and adding an open farmhouse style porch. The master bedroom will feature a slider door unto a patio. The master bathroom(my favorite part of the house) will feature a large picture window and bathtub facing the beautiful field in our backyard. The kitchen will have a glass door that will open into our new deck. Lastly the second floor will consist of 11 foot ceilings (we decided to have a pitched roof!!!!), four bedrooms and one full bath. Besides the links we have provided in this post we will be posting more of our design choices in future post and out “shop our home” page.


Thank you for following along. Until next time.


Xoxo Diane, Nick, Theo & Max
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Demo Day

May 5, 2020



Demo started last week and let me tell you it's not as glamorous or as fun as they make it look on HGTV. Scott and Drew are not there to hand over the sledgehammer and bam over commercial break it's all demolished. Our demo came with some ups and downs. The first obstacle was figuring out how to get a dumpster to the property. There are only two access points into the property, one is the bridge and the other a 3-acre drive on a hayfield. This obstacle taught us that a bridge has to support the weight of a firetruck(which can range from 33k to 62k pounds).


Once we jumped over that hurdle it was demo time. Our house was built in 1865, so we prepared for the worse(and so should you, if you take on renovations of an old home). The first thing we discovered was that the design consultant missed the location of one of the furnace fireplaces. So it's back to the drawing board for our new master bedroom.


The second was discovering that most of the studs and structural supports are actually old tree trunks cut in half!(see pictures below)




Another factor we didn't take into account was the emotional toll this takes on you. Once you see your houses completely gutted, it's scary! (To understand the feeling, a look at the before's here.) The excitement of tearing a wall down is over, reality hits and you realize there is no turning back now.






That is why my biggest take away from this part of the renovation is to be prepared and realistic about what could go wrong and make sure you have a contingency plan in case things don't go according to the original plan. All in all, once the walls were down and the debris was cleared it was much easier to envision the plans for our new home.

xoxo Diane, Nick, Theo & Max




















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