Paymaster's Office

I think the Paymaster's Office is the second coolest building on the property. (The coolest, of course, is the privy.) But you can't live in the privy, and you don't get all of these other benefits:

• The paymaster window. How many other buildings are divided by a wall with a double-hung window?
• The basement, which only makes sense if you are trying to protect something very valuable and very heavy (i.e. the safe) upstairs.
• The vaulted ceiling, though I may change my mind when I start having to clean it.
• The massive fireplace. It's actually not that big, but it just dominates the room.
• The view of the creek. At sunset, with geese on the wing, it's breathtaking.
• The beaded board, stained in the main room, painted in the anteroom. I usually don't like Victorian kitsch, but this looks nice.
• The stonework, ever since James Groff pointed out that it was put together by journeymen who were practicing on it.
• And finally, the willow tree in front, which has always been one of my favorite trees. (Though I'm still planting chestnuts.)

I look forward to putting a guest "diary" in the room, and reading what other things people found special. But first, we have to get it ready for guests, as the plumbers have just started working on it.

Hiding the new heating/air conditioning ducts between the kitchen and bathroom

A hole in the stone floor under the bathroom