THE MARTIN HOUSE: THE DETAILS

Happy New Year everyone!  It has been a while since my last update on Cape Cod, the past month has been very busy getting the house into some semblance of order to host Christmas and New Year's (which were both smashing successes!).  I am now working on the details for the next two months, carefully selecting the final elements to finish off each room, the accessories, the window coverings, getting the lighting just right etc. 

As this process continues I will continue to reveal some of the wonderful details that are beginning to emerge around the house.  (You will have to be patient to see the final product, I am pursuing a few publishing leads on the house and thus can't reveal too much until they have captured their content).

These are still a work in a progress but here are a few of my favorites at the moment:

Firewood storage becomes a decorative element in the bar.The "Blue and White" diningroom is starting to come together, the accessories are really what make this room magical.Pieces new and old begin to come together in the livingroom to create a striking juxtaposition of "Modern American Colonial".The kitchen blends function and form seamlessly as seen here at the Baking Station.Open shelving keeps everything at the ready in the kitchen and also serves as a great way to display beautiful dinnerware.Some details from the guest bedrooms.

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THE MARTIN HOUSE: THE FINISHED FLOORS

Last week marked an exciting return to Provincetown after the floors were refinished throughout the The Martin House.  Colonial Floors of Cape Cod worked tirelessly over the course of a week and a half sanding away years of grime and damage to reveal the virgin wood of the 18th century wide pine floor boards.  Then they meticulously applied a light stain and three coats of commercial grade polyurethane with truly spectacular results.  Here are few of the rooms finished:

The Master BedroomGuestroom TwoThe LivingroomTo call this process transformative is an understatement.  The floors have completely changed the dynamic inside the house, they are now flat, visually interesting, and add a warmth the house lacked before.  The most exciting part of the floor refinishing is that I was able to walk around barefoot for the first time since we bought The Martin House four months ago!

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THE MARTIN HOUSE: BEFORE AND NOW

I'm back in New York this week while the floors are being refinished at The Martin House in Provincetown.  I was organzing photos yesterday and started to reflect on how much has been acomplished over the past four months and thought I would share some of those amazing transformations.  The spaces below still have a long way to go before being completely finished but already the progress is remarkable.  Enjoy!

The Master Bedroom: A closet in the rafters (left) was removed (center) and the walls were repaired to reveal an 8th window in the bedroom! (right)

Second Floor Corridor: The once open floor plan of the second floor was divided in interesting ways (left).  We acquired a bit more space for the new guest bathroom by claiming some space from one of the attics (center). Today actual walls define bedrooms and bathrooms but the chimney still makes an appearance here and there (right).

The Kitchen: Certainly one of the more dramatic transformations, the sink wall was littered with shelving and the large commercial dishwasher (left).  Removing all the clutter was no easy task and revealed badly damaged walls and ancient plumbing (center).  Now new walls of beadboard and a custom countertop which will house appliances has given this corner of the kitchen new life (right).

The Front Door: Once the main entrance of the resturant, the front door lacked any character, opened outward for fire egress and was oversized to be ADA compliant (left).  Now we have a more appropriately sized door that swings inward and some custom trim has given the entrance more architectural interest (right).

These Before and Now photos are only a taste of the transformation that continues to unfold daily, I can't wait to share more in the near future!

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THE MARTIN HOUSE: A NEW LIFE FOR OLD FLOORS

Today marks an exciting milestone during the renovation of The Martin House, Colonial Floors began the lenghtly process of refinishing the wide pine floors throughout the house.  The floors have been subjected to years of high traffic, grease and grime during the 30 years the building operated as a restaurant.  Many areas were worn down from the repeated sliding of dining chairs other areas suffered under high foot traffic from waitstaff.

The refinishing is going to take about two weeks, the hardest part over the next few days is the arduous task of sanding down the layers of filth and finish to expose the virgin wood below.  Already the transformation is breathtaking, below are a few images as work got underway this morning.

This detail shows the condition of the floors before and after the sanding, truly remarkable!

The livingroom all sanded down.  Once the sanding is finished the floors will get one coat of stain to match the exisiting woodwork and then three coats of a commercial grade polyurethane.

This small patch of flooring was found upstairs under a large cabinet that was removed, it is the control sample for the stain the will be put on the floors and gives a preview as what the entire house will look like once the refinishing is complete!

The floor refinshing also marks the final stage in construction on the house, in two weeks the tradesmen will be done and I can get to work on turning this house into a home.  Stay tuned!

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THE MARTIN HOUSE: A NEW OLD FIREPLACE

One of the more notable features of The Martin House are the two massive 18th century chimney structures located within the building.  The main central chimney which dates to 1750 is a true workhorse with four fireplaces feeding into it, one of which was the original colonial kitchen hearth complete with a beehive oven.  The second chimney was part of a 1790's addition onto the house when it is believed the kitchen was moved into the brick floored first floor of the addition and the second chimney served as the new cooking fireplace.  This hearth sits in what we today call the bar and still retains its beehive oven which was used to bake breads and the firebox still has the original iron hook that would swing cast iron pots over the open flame to cook stews and soups.

The fireplace was the centrpiece of The Martin House bar during its tenure as a restaurant and warmed patrons as they dined on the long banquette (including Norman Mailer who was a regular and always requested the corner table). 

A promotional photo from The Martin House Restaurant archive with the fireplace in the backgroundWhen we took over the house this year the ravages of time and neglect had not been kind to the fireplace in the bar.  Further investigation uncovered that the chimney was no longer structurally sound or compliant to modern day building codes and we needed to come up with a solution if we wanted this fireplace to ever work again.

The fireplace during the building inspection last winter after years of neglect and not being usedA view from this summer before restoration work beganThis summer I hired a very talented local mason who came up with the solution of cladding the existing structure in a course of new bricks to both stabilize the chimney and create a fire safe envelope around the old chimney.  We agreed upon the use of salvaged bricks and that he would try to replicate the existing structure as closely as possible in an effort to retain historical accuracy and thus the work began!

A layer of fiberglass reinforcing mortar was spread on the face of the existing chimney to help increase the structural stability (left). The new brickwork then began to rise up around the exisiting structure (right).Floorboards on the second floor were removed to make way for the new brick work coming through the floor from below (left). Once through the floor the cladding of the chimney in the master bedroom was quick work (right).The finished product is a safer version of its former self, the structure still retains the charm and organic shape from before but is now more proportionate and more importanly, more functional.  On the second floor the chimney remains a quirky object in the future master bedroom as it steps its way up through the roof.

This afternoon we conducted a test of the newly completed fireplace and it works just as good as I imagine it did the day it was built back in the 1790's.  With these new repairs it will hopefully continue to warm The Martin House for another 200 years!

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