Sometimes people ask if I have a day job. The answer is, “not really, but sometimes I renovate houses.”
My wife, Tracy, and I have done major remodeling work on homes in Conifer, CO, and Roxbury, MA, and Medford, MA. Now we live in an old Victorian house in Western Massachusetts, and the house doesn’t need a ton of work. BUT, it has a really cool barn that houses our offices, a workshop, and I’m working converting the old hay loft into a rehearsal and gathering space.
For me, it’s important to find challenges that involve working with my hands. And I’m always glad to have an excuse to buy and learn how to use a new power tool.
At this point, we’ve added a big steel beam (we paid for someone to do that), replaced old windows, added new (recycled) windows, installed rafter ties, insulated, leveled the floor, moved the stairs, added a ceiling made of the old metal roof of the barn, and are working on paneling the side walls and soon will build a storage area for costumes. Eventually, we’ve got a whole bunch of maple flooring to put in there. We still need to add electrical and cooling and heating. But we’re on our way.
I’ve had a lot of help from our neighbor Marcus Williams and old friend Susannah Wilson. We’ve already done some new play rehearsals and table work up there, but I hope to have the place more finished by the end of the year.
