This Old House

The Beauty and Challenges of Creating Small Living Spaces - The Concord Cottage

Kevin visits the Concord Museum, which houses one of the oldest collections of Americana in the country, including one of the lanterns that hung in the church on the night of Paul Revere's ride and several items relating to the life of local Concord resident Sam Staples, the man who built our project house. Tom and master plumber Ron Coldwell show Kevin the progress on the rough plumbing and how adding a shower at the last minute affected the layout of the first floor powder room. In search of other elegant small pieces, Kevin travels to Nantucket, Massachusetts, to meet homeowner Harvey Jones for a look at his charming North Wharf boathouse as well as two recently renovated guest cottages near the center of town. Back at the cottage, Norm discovers that the stairs to the second floor are too steep for older residents to navigate and that headroom is tight on the landing. Tom suggests eliminating a step to reduce the rise, allowing him to both shorten and lower the landing platform to