Second Life for a Farmhouse

Work began in the living room, the antique core of the new home. The house was stripped to the floor deck and all the walls were reframed and insulated, but in this room, with an original fireplace, contractors Gordon Moesch and Tim Lippert retained or repurposed what they could. This included, Moesch says, “the basic timber structure, the floor structure, the firebox, and an exposed beam.” The ceiling, raised 2 inches from the original beam height, is old-house authentic at 7 feet. After discovering that the chestnut floorboards had been supplemented with a lesser-grade wood, they removed the chestnut and set it aside. After the room was pared down to its bones, the designers finished it in 19th-century-farmhouse style, using wide pine floorboards, flat baseboards, and six-over-six windows with 1x4 casings with a beaded edge. Says O’Leary, “This was the model for the rest of the house.”