The Red House isn’t red anymore. It’s green! After removing the clapboard siding, Josh and Al are wrapping the old house and the new ell in rockwool, a type of stone wool insulation also known as “comfortboard.” It has the appearance and texture of a winter wool blanket, and serves the same purpose, to keep us warm in winter.

The interior of the house is also changing color. The second floor is looking and smelling decidedly fresh with two new layers of pine subflooring nailed onto the old, now straightened beams.

The subfloor will be topped with the antique boards salvaged from the old subfloor, the attic and the old painted floor. They will be planed to make them level and then laid rough side up so the floors will look old but be perfectly level and sound. We’ll be able to enjoy the charm of the Federal era and the stability of modern engineering.

Now that mason Aron Libby has completed his work in the basement, he is turning his attention to our eight-foot wide fireplace and hearth in the Keeping Room. It needs some repairs and some adjustments to make it look more like it would have in the 1800s. He’s found an authentic beehive oven door for us and will create an arch over it so that the finished fireplace will look similar to the picture on the right.

A discovery in the attic has given us yet another opportunity to salvage and repurpose something from an earlier era. There was a tin-lined cistern above the bathrooms that once provided the water and the pressure to flush toilets and provide running water. Workers removed the cistern, which is now awaiting a new life, possibly as a plunge pool! We shall see.

Meanwhile, back at our rented townhouse in Bridgton, we are imagining new walls painted and wallpapered to bring back that early 1800s feeling. We are inspired by the historic patterns, some of which were found in Jane Austen’s home in Chawton, England! Here’s a sampling. Comments and suggestions are welcome.