Last month we visited our good friends, Weston & Amy Noyes, who are raising a roof in the popular ski town of Stowe, Vermont. Weston & Amy are a two person dynamic husband and wife team, professionally known as Inspired Design-Build, in the middle of their first solo investment house building project. It's a tall order and their methodically pulling it all together.
In order to even start this work they had to navigate their way to permitting through a stringent historical preservation committee established to retain the architectural legacy and character of Stowe. Despite the challenges it presents to homeowners and builders the oversight is successfully maintaining and encouraging a cohesive historical town: Stowe is a beautiful place.
Work began with the challenge of an old, unusable New England house onsite. Though the house was derelict and required their own DIY demolition many of the original beams were saved and used to build the interior of the new house, saving wood, money, and adding character to the new house.
The house is definitely larger than ones we use in the Small House Catalog but it's in keeping with residential architecture in New England, which tends to be larger than out West. This house properly fits into its environment and I always encourage our own followers to build what makes sense, to build it as well as they can, and to use the highest quality materials and labor they can afford. I also work hard to live up to and practice that statement. In stowe our friends are certainly doing that as well. If you're interested in following this project you can find the ongoing photostream on Instagram.
The Noyes-Stowe house features Marvin Integrity windows, insulated doors, a super-insulated roof & wall assembly with 4-in of exterior rigid foam insulation and Zip Sheathing & Tape System™ as well as other interesting products and design features, such as the Witch Window - unique to Vermont - shown in the opening photo!
My friend Weston, also learning to swing a golf club, at Ryder Brook Golf Club. This was a late October day in Vermont if you can believe it! Thank you to Paul for the introduction and tutelage - I needed it!
We had the pleasure of helping close-in the house with windows and doors during our stay. But we did more than work! We also relaxed with cats and friends, ate home brewed maple syrup, visited an apple orchard, played a first (ever) game of golf under sunny blue skies, had tea and good food in Burlington, ate delicious wood-fired pizza and vegetables at Good Heart Farmstead with new friends, walked several wonderful local food co-ops and small towns - and even sampled the world famous Heady Topper.
Pizza night at Good Heart Farm in Worcester, Vermont with new friends, including owner-farmer Edge Fuentes and owner-farmer-writer Kate Spring. Beautiful evening with beautiful people!
Vermont is one of those magical places that has you question your own place, which we also love. It's certainly hard to leave friends behind and we're already excited about our next visit - with or without toolbelts!
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