5.29.11
This is an Archival Site
There is now a new Rogovoy Report home
5.18.11
Weekend Preview May 19-24
Bob Dylan tributes, Deborah Voigt, Tom Paxton, Bill Kirchen, John Kirk and Trish Miller
5.18.11
Celebrating Bob Dylan's 70th Birthday in Style
Paying tribute to the greatest rock songwriter ever
5.17.11
FILM REVIEW: In a Better World and Of Gods and Men
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.17.11
'LIKE' The Rogovoy Report on Facebook
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5.12.11
Deborah Voigt Headlines Mahaiwe Gala
Opera star to sing arias, show tunes on Saturday, May 21
5.15.11
Famed Spiritual Teacher to Speak on Nonviolence
Mother Maya in free talk at Sruti Yoga in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday May 20 at 7pm
5.12.11
Special Effects Wizard to Be Honored by Film Festival
Doug Trumbull to be Feted by BIFF
5.11.11
Weekend Preview May 12-16
Cultural Highlights of the Berkshire Weekend
6.4.09
Talk about a small world
Elaine and I grew up together, but only just recently met....
5.8.11
Berkshire Living to Cease Publication
A Farewell from Publisher Michael Zivyak
5.8.11
twiGs Branches Out
Lenox boutique launches new e-tail site
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.8.11
[MUSIC REVIEW] Avalon Quartet in Close Encounters at Mahaiwe
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
5.7.11
[FILM REVIEW] Bill Cunningham New York
Review by Seth Rogovoy
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He's Your Handyman
6.11.10
Imagine a skilled handyman who can work on nearly any project or repair of which you had need? Who is a creative problem-solver, reliable, dependable, clean, pleasant to be around, respectful of your privacy, and good with kids and pets? Who knows the region backwards and forwards, the best places to source materials, and who if he can’t do something, will tell you rather than do it the wrong way? Someone who is quiet when he works, and who doesn't blast loud commercial country music on a boombox in order to get motivated?
Hiring a skilled worker to do a variety of projects around your house and yard is fraught with all kinds of anxiety. Will he show up when he says he will? Will the work come in on time and on budget? Most importantly, can you trust him?
I have met such a person, and I am happy to share him with you. When I first moved to town, while my house wasn’t quite a fixer-upper, it hadn’t been inhabited by a family for 50 years or so, and it did require all kinds of jobs small and large. Fortunately, a friend and neighbor (thanks, Ellen!) recommended Peter Vernon to me, and over the next few years, Peter became practically part of our family. It’s nearly impossible to walk through our house and lay eyes on any corner and not see something that Peter worked on.
Peter did everything. In our kitchen, he built a utilitarian storage pantry; attractive open shelving for pots, pans, and dishes; and even tucked in a waist-high bookcase for cookbooks next to the stove, finishing it on top with a piece of scavenged butcher-block.
Peter finished off a ceiling job left undone; patched and painted drywall all over the place; installed antique bedroom doors to match the existing ones (some of which he found for us at Hudson, N.Y., salvage yards); installed a much-needed exhaust fan in our upstairs bathroom.
He rebuilt and shingled a tired porch roof and reconfigured a cellar door. He installed an attic exhaust fan – a big job requiring cutting the right-sized hole, wiring electric from the basement to the attic, and putting in the fan (which works swimmingly). He fixed leaky faucets and toilets; upgraded old electrical outlets; and built new steps leading up to the kitchen porch.
Peter designed and built a combination loft bed/study space for our son, even with a ladder going up to the bed. To house my 3,000-CD collection, he custom-designed and installed what I like to call the “Wall of Sound,” built-in bookcases sized just for CDs, and trimmed off just enough to be presentable.
The crowning achievement, however, was the very first thing we asked him to do: Peter designed, built, and installed a repro-antique built-in bookcase in the living room which matched the gorgeous trim that probably dates back to when the house was built – he even matched the medallions on the window- and doorframes on the bookcase, which looks like it has been in the house since the day in 1905 that the builders first completed it.
Peter is willing and able to take on just about any task in and around the Berkshires, including yard work and gardening (it’s summer, after all, and he loves the outdoors), and regular maintenance. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I can’t recommend Peter highly enough. I have a list of things I’m going to have him do at some point – I’ll need him to install a new kitchen floor, and to reconnect two long-boarded-up adjacent rooms.
But I’m sharing Peter with you now. Give him a call at 413.298.4279. He's easy to work with, fair, and certainly worth talking to before plunging ahead on some project with someone about whom you're unsure.
And be sure to tell him Seth sent you.
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