When we helped Wayne and Jan Ohlsson to renovate their old farmhouse into a contemporary home designed for the modern homesteader, we strove to utilize as much of the existing material as we could. The crown jewel of that refurbishment was the reuse of the hand-hewn granite of their old addition’s foundation as chimney facing.
The green mountains are built on a foundation of granite: literally and figuratively. Grey stones rise from our fields, our graveyards, and our statehouses in a testament to the love we have for that great material. And so it is only natural that we would use it to beautify and improve the very heart of the Ohlsson home: their brick chimney.
With the gene-deep history of stone in this part of the world it was relatively easy to have the great foundation stones cut into slabs that could be used as veneer over the brick of the chimney. We moved the cut foundation stones into their home at the heart of the old farmhouse in much the same way they must have arrived as foundation: with rollers, a rock bar, and some strong backs. The foundation turned facing for the brick chimney functions as a thermal and aesthetic anchor to the home, referencing it’s past and place while radiating warmth.