This Old House

The Acton House - 18

The final days. We arrive to find the telephone company burying a new multipair line into the house, leaving the west gable free of overhead wires. Landscape architect Tom Wirth uses a mockup to help Terry Maitland decide where to site the old milk house. Jeff Hosking shows us how he finished the old pine floors to achieve an amber luster. Lighting designer Melissa Guenet gives us a look at the combination of old-fashioned and recessed fixtures, both incandescent and halogen, that she specified for the new spaces. Upstairs, Paul Kennedy installs a paddle fan in the master bedroom's cathedral ceiling, while the crew discusses the remaining problem areas that the Maitlands will someday have to face: sills, drainage, and an unsafe outbuilding. Richard Trethewey takes us on a plumber's final tour through the basement and bathrooms, and interior designer Judy George shows us the decorated rooms.