Our New Carriage House

We have a carriage house folks.  Can you believe it?  I still find myself surprised when I look at the backyard.  It's there!!  Our Amish crew arrived last Monday, and the building was completed on Wednesday.  They pre-fabricated the first story in their Chester County warehouse.  It was delivered in two pieces and the rest of the building was built/assembled on site.  Watching them put the pieces together was mesmerizing, and I snapped LOTS of pictures.  If you follow me on Instagram (@kellyrobson), you've already seen a few of these photos.  But, here's a play-by-play of last week's momentous build.  :)

Day 1:

It's 1:30pm and the truck arrives...

The first floor of our carriage house, separated in two pieces, on the back of a big rig (my jaw dropped when I saw this).

 

 

Each piece was wheeled in place onto our concrete foundation (!!!).

 

 

One half down, another to go.

 

 

Here comes part 2.

 

 

Now, they're lining the two parts together.  The mule looks like this up close (the entire machine was specifically designed for these types of Amish builds).  It was very fun to watch.

 

 

 

Day 2:

 

7:30am - a team of four Amish men arrive to build the second story.

 

 

Within a couple of hours, we had a roofline.

 

Progress on the backside.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around lunchtime, our dormers were built,

 

And, by the end of the day, there was tar paper on the roof.

 

Day 3:

 

The guys worked all day, installing the roof shingles, hanging gutters, finishing electrical work, etc.  It was truly amazing to watch it all come together.

 

Benjamin Moore "Gray Owl" is the color we chose for the exterior.  The bucket also makes a nifty step stool when installing some electrical work.  :)

 

Our new lanterns, ready to be hung.  These fixtures are made by World Imports (the Sutton Collection) and we ordered the largest size possible, which measured 21.5" high. 

This is what the carriage house looks like today:

 

 

 

It's finished! 

*We still haven't selected a light fixture over the side door.  We'll find something soon, I hope.

We chose insulated carriage-style garage doors with an extra foot of height (just in case we ever want to park a monster truck inside).  The handles are functional and I love the way the hardware looks from the house.

 

our new cupola, with a cast iron eagle weathervane.

 

 

 new lanterns.

 

 

The shed dormer allows for SO MUCH head room on the second floor, we had to include it in the design.  Since it doesn't totally relate to the architectural style of our home, this dormer faces the backside of the property.  So, you can't see it from the house.  I like that.

It's hard to tell from the photo, but there is a TON of space on this level.  We're so excited to set up a workspace for Dave near the back.  :)

Here is the second story.  This room is massive, measuring the entire footprint of the garage itself (24' x 28').  Right now, we'll use it for storage space.  But someday, we'll insulate it and drywall.  I would love to make it an office...  or, a play room.  Or, a separate guest house.  :)

 

 

so much space!

(love the head room provided by our new hipped dormers)

 

 

 

 a note about our builders:

 

We hired Stoltzfus Structures to build our carriage house, and our entire experience with them was TREMENDOUS.  Located in nearby Chester County, Pennsylvania, this family-run Amish builder specializes in pre-fab and custom-designed garages, carriage houses, barns, pool houses, and sheds (they also build cabanas, gazebos, and chicken coops!).  I can't say enough about these people.  We first met with Jonathan in February.  Dave and I were in the "research" phase of this project, and had narrowed it down to a small handful of potential builders.  After we toured the facility and experienced the professionalism and warmth of the staff, we immediately knew that we wanted to work with them.  Over the next several months, we exchanged a few emails with Jonathan, keeping him updated on our schedule.  We never felt pressured.  When we finally felt ready to begin the project this summer, we worked with him to customize our design.  He was so extremely professional, friendly, and easy to work with (even with our last minute changes to the front elevation!). 

 

Like I mentioned above, the carpenters at Stoltzfus Structures built half of our building off-site, in their Chester County workshop.  The carriage house was installed in modular units and then the rest of the building was built on site.  The crew that showed up to our house was AWESOME.  These guys worked from morning til night, they were friendly and courteous (some of the finest young men you'd ever hope to meet).  Dave and I are truly thrilled with the end result and hope to work with Stoltzfus Structures on future projects (pool house anyone?!).

 

If you are considering a build like this (garage, carriage house, pool house, whatever!), I highly recommend Stoltzfus.  Even though they're based in Eastern Pennsylvania, they work with customers all across the country (and just recently finished a project in California!).  I feel like I need to disclose that Stoltzfus is not paying me to write this, nor did they discount our project-- I am just so honestly THRILLED with the service, I want you to benefit as well!  Ask for Jonathan and tell him that Kelly sent you.  ;)

 

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So, our carriage house is complete!  What do you guys think?  If you have any questions about our experience, please feel free to email me personally or you can leave a comment at the end of this post.  Thanks so much for following along with this project, dear readers!  It's been so fun relaying ideas with you and sharing updates on the blog.  Now, I look forward to starting our NEXT home project and sharing all of the progress here with you.

 

xoxo

Kelly

 

 

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