O’Kane Notebook X: Guest Writer Chappy Cox

Brian Cox is managing the removal and inventory of the O’Kane windows, and he sends us the following report: As the O’Kane house continues to be examined, documented, and carefully disassembled, the windows in the ell have begun to be removed.  They were previously photographed, measured, and assigned an alpha-numeric designation consistent with other elements.…

O’Kane Notebook VIII: Joinery, Exposed!

On Friday, Scott finished removing the trim from the Pink Parlor, pictured above.  I had eagerly anticipated the joinery surrounding the fireplace, given our recent work on another fireplace surround.  The displaced surround, turned upside-down, is below: When I think about the era in which this house was built, in a relatively new country, with…

O’Kane Notebook IV: The Ghost Pantry

One of the first treasures we uncovered at O’Kane was a wall of horizontal featheredge sheathing painted in bright yellow.  It was hidden behind plaster in the Blue Parlor, and had shadow lines delineating where once there were shelves.  Where the boards terminate, on the left side, we think there was originally a wall, creating…