THE SNUG
When my parents built their final home it included a back porch open on two sides to the backyard. It completed the perfect rectangular footprint of the house. It was nothing more than an elevated slab and corner post to support the roof. As simple as it was it was my Mom’s secret indulgence. I don’t know that she ever explained it to my father. It was her insistence which lot she wanted to build on. The subdivision was very new.
When they bought there was only a cul-de-sac and the beginnings of three or four streets. At the time our street was barely a block long before it dead-ended and drifted off into farmland that would eventually be developed with a paved road and sewer and electrical lines.
Mom’s lot choice would command a view all the way across the lower part of the development to the lake and then to Madison’s most famous piece of architecture, the capital. She loved that view, a view she could see from the covered open porch at the back of the house.
After my brother opened his first stained glass studio she would have him install a large picture window with leaded glass panels in what was our family room so she could also enjoy the picture of the city from inside the house when winter made it impossible to sit on the porch and enjoy her favorite view.
Eventually, as the neighborhood continued to expand with new home construction the lot behind our house was purchased and a modern two-story home was built cutting off most of her view of the capital. She never stopped regretting the loss of her view.
Eventually my parents enclosed the porch turning it into a three season, well in Wisconsin more like a two season, sitting room. Windows were added, the walls and ceiling were clad with bead board paneling. Wall-to-wall carpet was laid down over the concrete slab. It was sweet but drafty with leaks and some rot occurring over the years.
After tackling the basement our next task was now focused on fixing the sitting room. Back at our country house in the Catskills our living room was divided by an arch into two areas: the larger was the gathering/entertaining area while the other was more intimate, cozy with a fireplace and where we sat to read a book or watch the snow through its picture window. Our British friend Adam titled it our snug in reference to a small sitting room or den. The name stuck and has now carried over to our home in Wisconsin.
The first thing was to tighten all the leaks with all new windows and new sliding door. While replacing the window and sliding door on the back wall we discovered the wall was pretty much rotted out.
We needed to replace the entire wall. An unexpected expense but then again what reno doesn’t come with unexpected expenses.
Next we had added a wall of bookcases and surrounded the space with a lower set of bookcase and additional shelving above the windows for storing our book collection and to Rick’s chagrin my obsession with collecting globes and string balls and globes and marble busts and more globes…
The floor was going to be our biggest question mark. Re-carpeting would only be another trap for mold. During the snow months or the mud months or the rainy days of summer, well just about anytime, one of us or the pups was going to be tracking mud over the snug’s floor. As much as we tried to teach the dogs to wipe their feet before coming in it was an impossible task.
Our solution was to repair all cracks and resurface the floor and finally paint it with an epoxy paint. It still gets muddy put so far nothing that a mop can’t take care of.
Every day lounging on the chaise and reading a book or writing another blog entry I can take a moment and admire the new view outside the snug. What we created is fodder for a few more blog posts.
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