House-Dreams

by Howard, Hugh

• ISBN13: 9781565122932
• ISBN10: 1565122933
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-06-01
• Publisher: Algonquin Books

Summary

Imagine a house built and tailored to your every need and personal taste. Hugh Howard dreamed of such a house, and when he and his wife, Betsy, learn that they're expecting their second child, he seizes the opportunity to build a home for their growing family. Fifteen months later and just in time for the winter holidays, Howard, exhausted and wildly over his budget, completes their home-a fine 2,500-square-foot Federal-style house. And each piece has a story, from the cut nails that come from Howard's old elementary school janitor to the staircase that comes from a parsonage built just after the Civil War. Howard discovers that all his planning and hard work earn him a house, yes, but he also gains a community of new friends-the people who help him along the way. There's Charlie, whose ancestors helped establish the upstate New York hamlet where they build the house; Ralph, a third-generation mason, who constructs a remarkable Russian heater; and Robbie, an eccentric Irish landscaper who has his own peculiar way of designing a garden. HOUSE-DREAMS is for readers who spend weekends improving their houses, hardware store die-hards, and the millions who regularly tune in to the Home Garden Network and PBS's This Old House.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Mayflower	1	(4)
The Footprint	5	(25)
Building the Box	30	(15)
The Secondary Imagination	45	(23)
The Matrix Materializes	68	(24)
Of Hearth and Home	92	(35)
The Negative Moment	127	(18)
A Winter's Work	145	(27)
The Common Hours	172	(23)
An Imagined Arcadia	195	(23)
Of Columns and Completion	218	(26)
The Race to the Finish	244	(30)
The First Christmas	274	(12)
Epilogue: The World As We Would Have It	286	(13)
Floor and Framing Plans	299	(2)
Notes and Acknowledgments	301