Blog – 2
Troy Green Renovation
We enjoy the challenge of restoring an old house, and making it function even better than when it was new! Over the past few years, we’ve gotten a lot of experience in doing renovations in the Capitol Region and Mid Hudson Valley.
French Straw Bale
We were hired to install the straw bale insulation and colored lime plaster finishes on this new construction home in the Hudson Valley.. It was quite a unique house with a number of fun straw and plaster details like circular windows and arches. Designed by David...
Garden Cabin
This tiny house is one of the closest projects to my heart. To me it represents natural building at its best. The client Joyce, trusted me fully to make decisions. With a general idea of her needs, location, size, and budget, we agreed to a proposal, and got to work....
Barn Loft Apartment
Here is the apartment I built in the attic of the house at the Vague Estates. This house seems to have started its life as a barn, and this was the hay loft, a dirty unfinished place with lots of potential. John, the owner/architect designed a high energy efficiency...
Cob Kitchen Workshop
Hey folks! I'm finally getting around to updating the blog with some of my activity from the year. Here are photos from the cob outdoor kitchen workshop Mark and I taught at the Vague Estates in Troy, NY this summer. This little open air building was designed to...
Natural Building Workshop – Troy, NY
I'm really looking forward to the upcoming cob outdoor kitchen workshop July 17-23 in Troy, NY. We've been preparing the site, gathering stone, choosing trees to use for framing. There is still availability in the class, so get in touch if interested!
Outdoor Kitchen Workshop
Natural Outdoor Kitchen Workshop July 17-23, 2016 Troy, NY Join Michael McDonough and a group of natural building enthusiasts in building an outdoor kitchen with materials from the land! We'll use stone, earth, and wood to craft a small outdoor kitchen that shelters a...
Springwood Manor
My first project upon moving to Troy. I was hired to build an apartment in the attic of the old farmhouse. The house was originally a barn, so the “attic” was really a large hay loft. Details include, all new windows and doors thoroughly air and water sealed with...
Log Stairs
One final touch in the treehouses was creating this log staircase. With the help of the Durham parks department, we located the perfect log standing dead in a city park. Post oak is known to be quite rot resistant and as its name implies, traditionally used for...
Cob Garden Wall
Now that the treehouses are complete and Hideaway Woods is open to the public, I have more time to post other projects from the year. One highlight was working with the kids at the SEEDS educational garden to build a cob wall at the entry of their new garden plot....