SUBY BOWDEN + ASSOCIATES

The Federle Schwarzwaelder family purchased this beautiful old adobe in Galisteo, NM.

 

At the time of the purchase the house was filled with plastic laminate cabinets, all wood vigas were painted white, the windows were all aluminum, and the adobe was melting back into the earth.

 

This family of artists lovingly restored the home back to it's original historic beauty. Our role was to simply assist where assistance was needed. The artistic journey was lead by the family.  We expressed the differences between the old and new, in a similar fashion to the Japanese technique of repairing fine ceramics. The Japanese express the repairs, (they do not hide them) in order to identifiably separate, and show respect, for the repair and for the original.

 

Viga paint was sandblasted off, and returned to the original color of the wood.

PLastic laminate cabinets were removed, and antique trasteros and furniture were returned to the house. Large aluminum windows were replaced with smaller wood windows with stone sills, in order to reestablish the quiet light of an old adobe.  The lumpy fireplace that had been added to the interior was removed, and expressed on the floor pattern, and the fireplace was relocated back outside, to keep the simplicity of the lines of the room.  Cement plaster was removed from the interior walls, and replaced with gentle mud plasters of natural earth colors. 

 

The driveway for automobiles had been inserted by the prior owner between the house and the river, so the driveway was  removed and relocated to the public side of the house, to restore quiet and gentleness to the river side of the house.

 

The combination of these returns to the historic design intent, brought a gentle, quiet, restorative quality to the home, and to the family .

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