We hosted an Adirondack Architectural Heritage(AARCH) Tour this weekend. We had 2 tours of 20 people come through, all who paid money, which goes to back to AARCH to help do historic preservation of Adirondack Heritage. When we purchased the castle we hoped we'd be able to do fundraisers and make money somehow for charities that were important to us, so we were thrilled when AARCH approached us to do this.
Andy did most of the talking about what we were doing and answered most of the questions as I hung back and took pictures and added a comedic relief when needed. I took a lot of pictures as I was standing around of all the pieces we finally brought up and got in place, so what follows is the order of how things went and what caught my eye
Looking into our cleaned kitchen and kitchen pieces from the great hall. That is a screen in the background. Andy had a slideshow of all things Leary castle playing for people to view.
The library cabinets, uncleaned and put together at this point, but this shows how the one bookcase will be a door to the turret powder room.
We set up the dining table, a new piece from Restoration hardware, with scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and all things Leary Castle for people to look at.
Edward's sister, Karen, who we purchased the castle from, andher husband Don, came from Vermont to help with the tour and see the progress. She brought these pictures and articles and the picture in the frame is Edward as a young man.
We started the tours outside the castle with everyone introducing themselves and then Karen shared stories of Edward and why and how he came to build the castle and then Andy told our story of why and how we took it over. There were lots of people from the Adirondack region, but there were also some from Pennsylvania, Vermont, and South Carolina.
A different angle of the front door, from the inside, that caught my eye.
We placed one of Andy's most recent finds, a red velvet chair, in the entry way.
People in the tour looking up and admiring all our stenciling on the beams!
A piece my sister found on her travels that we placed in the great hall window, temporarily
This is a piece Rex found online. He got it for Andy for his bday. it came in pieces and Rex put it together and we had it painted black, cause everything looks more castley when it is painted black! It is suppose to be a bed, but we are thinking of using it in the great hall as a couch. The ropes will be used decoratively somewhere, but I threw them on here to get them out of the way for the tour.
This is an antique Andy found in his many travels. Again, it was origionally brown, but we refinished it with the black and what was once a tacky piece from the 1970's looks like a medieval cabinet.
I was up on the fourth floor plugging CD player in with medieval music and when I looked back down the hall from where the laundry will be, this is what I saw. So cool with the new hallway and light fixtures looking back to the spiral staircase leading to the roof.
One of the vanities in the bathrooms. It is an origional piec Andy designed and Matteo built. Marble top from Roma Tile. Light fixture from Lowe's, painted black, mirror is an antique.
One of the showers with built in shelving for products. The tile and stone floors are from Roma Tile in Syracuse. All the showers have same materials, but are different in size and shape.
The other side of shower with fixtures. The metal rack is new and is actually going to be the towel rack outside the shower. Originally it was brown and you got it, we painted it black.
One of the beds put together, looks like this is in Ruby's room. Time to order the mattresses.
and Rex's bed
A bed in the guest room with some of the side tables and lamps we found along the way.
Another bathroom vanity. Again, all the materials are the same, but shapes are varied depending on each room. The piece on the back of vanity was a find from our friend Shelly, at Marshalls, half price!
A desk and chair from home in a guest room with the Lowe's light fixture hanging above.
A shot from a different angle of the bathroom and the different materials
This is the flooring of all the bathrooms. It looks like wood planks, but it is actually porcaline. Again, from Roma Tile, they got some good stuff at Roma TIle, you should go visit them! (shameless plug)
Guest bedroom with bed set up. Look at those built ins along the left side, GORGEOUS!
People loved the light fixtures and were floored when we told them they were from Lowe's. You can't get them there though, at least not in any Lowe's in Syracuse, cause Andy bought them all up!
Awww, the black toliet! This is Rex's bathroom, I think it is the nicest of all of them. It's his throne for sure!
Rex's bathroom vanity with another antique mirror
Closer look at marble top, copper sink, and faucet.
Both tours ventured out to the roof, it was hard not to on such a gorgeous Fall day.
and the view from rooftop!
Ms. Bev and Pat drove up for a check in on our progress and Ms. Bev always likes to do a little work, so she got busy spray painting more things black!
an antique plaque found a nail to hang on in the staircase.
My old bosses from my first job in Syracuse, Renie and Bob, were vacationing in the area and brought wine and cheese, so we had our first picnic in the kitchen.
then we went rooftop to watch the sunset!
more Fall foliage 2013!
near peak
Renie and Bob placed our first empty bottles into the wine cellar!
Sunday it was back to work for us, no more tours and fun! I cleaned the library pieces and shelving. As it is custom made it was quite challenging to fit each piece in, but I like challenges and I did it!
Here's the library pieces Andy designed, Matteo Bartolotta built, and I cleaned and put together!
While I was quietly cleaning the library, Andy was down in Fungeon/Wine Cellar removing the formwork. All those semi circle wooden piece we built to form the brick arches were coming out.
Sherie and Nana (my mom) are forever etched into the wine cellar.
the wine rack with its first guest! thank you again Renie and Bob!
a view of the completed fungeon/wine cellar stairs Chris finished from the base looking up, very sweet!
A light fixture Andy put together with a couple pieces he found waiting for its permanent home
backdoor from inside
all the formwork Andy was removing became my next job. I carried it out to trailer to be hauled home to the dump!
and the wine cellar with all the form work out!
Tosh, the castle guard Dog!
This was the only cloud I saw all weekend!
Since we having working toliets we had to say goodbye to the Porta Pottie.
Andy helped get it on the truck and as you can see, he was pretty proud of himself.
We'll miss our every Sunday visits from Boyer Septic, but we told him to come back and visit and another shameless plug, call Boyer Septic for all your septic needs!
I was dead dog tired by 2pm Sunday and was resting on picnic table and took these shots of the castle
and my feet in the pretty blue sky.
then I decided to take the zipline down and get some other angles.
chapel platform and castle
Rex's ridge and castle
Chalice and back corner of castle.
A video of the rooftop panorama for those who won't be able to make the Fall Foliage 2013!
It was a beautiful weeked. Thanks to all those folks that came to visit us, it was fun having visitors!
Since we having working toliets we had to say goodbye to the Porta Pottie.
