By Kate Hill
Staff Writer
This fall, Country Rustic Magazine featured the home of Cazenovia resident and Pewter Spoon Café owner, Pat Carmeli.
Originally published as Mercantile Gatherings, Country Rustic Magazine presents several country home tours in each issue, along with seasonal articles, DIY projects, recipes and more.
Carmeli’s authentic 1850s Cape Cod home is showcased in the article “The House that Pat Built,” written by DJ Williams and photographed by Kristie Worthington.
The 12-page story recounts Carmeli’s building journey and provides a photographic tour of the completed house (interior and exterior) and property. The magazine also highlights the Pewter Spoon, which Carmeli opened eight years ago and now runs alongside her daughters Ava and Dana.
“I waited a year to see the article published in the magazine,” Carmeli said. “I had contacted them with pictures about a year and a half ago to see if they’d be interested in featuring it. The photographer arrived from Pennsylvania in early October 2019 and took the photos. She was lovely, and it was a fun experience. She wanted to take pictures at the cafe too, and I was delighted and surprised that the cafe got two whole pages. Two endeavors I’m very proud of.”
Carmeli has been fascinated with historic homes since her twenties, when she began collecting books on the subject.
“I was raised in a sub-division on Long Island, but my mother loved Colonial furniture,” Carmeli said. “I think that is where my love began.”
After getting married, Carmeli and her then-husband bought a late 19th century condo in Brooklyn. When their eldest daughter, Keren, was born, the couple moved into an early 1900s Victorian house in Middletown.
“Then we moved to Israel where we would live for the next 12 years, and the homes there couldn’t be farther from Colonial Era USA,” Carmeli said. “Despite that, my walls were adorned with antique quilts and I was able to create a comfortable home. When we came back to the U.S., we had two weeks to find a house, and we settled on a 1994 Post & Beam on Ridge Road. It never held my heart, as it was too new for me. Funny that I ended up building my dream ‘old’ house.”
Carmeli purchased her current 10-acre property in 2007.
The site’s original 19th century house had recently burned down, leaving nothing but the debris that had collapsed into the foundation, but the old barn, milking shed and renovated garage remained.
As soon as the property went on the market, Carmeli rushed to see it.
“I actually saw myself in a truly old house, but I knew my husband would enjoy the building experience . . .” she said. “I figured that if I built ‘right,’ [a new construction] could actually pass for an old house. It was new to the market, but it already had three offers on it. I decided I wanted it, so bid $5,000 over asking and got it.”
Carmeli transformed the garage, which previously served as the Hi, Neighbor building, into a two-bedroom cabin to temporarily house her family.
“Little did I know at that time, that my four kids, three dogs, and two cats would end up living in that 615 square foot dwelling for almost seven years,” Carmeli said. “It was during that time that my husband decided he preferred living in Israel. We were on our own and it would be several years before we could obtain financing to build.”
After the opening of her business and the passing of her father, Carmeli finally began building. She got as far as the foundation and framing before construction came to a halt.
About a year later, Green Lake Associates, of Tully, agreed to finance the remainder of the project.
“I am eternally thankful to them,” Carmeli said. “When the house was completed, we had three years of tax returns on our cafe to enable us to get a mortgage on the completed project.”
The family moved into their new home in July 2017.
Throughout the building experience, Carmeli received assistance from a number of local individuals, including James Baumbach, who did the electric, Alex Barnes and his partner, who did the painting, and Eric Goldacker, who did a lot of the finish work and installations.
“Eric was golden,” Carmeli said. “[He installed] the antique mantel that I had purchased in Bouckville about 10 years before, [and] he installed all the interior doors, which came from two old houses, one right in New Woodstock. Eric also hung the windows and the siding, and installed brick facade on the chimney and in the fireplace. He and his buddy Hudson, the ‘Rock,’ did the ceramic in the bathrooms.”
Also instrumental in the project were Nancy and Dan Fox, of Fabius, who Carmeli met and befriended through the café.
Dan, who Carmeli describes as “a jack of all trades as well as an artist,” constructed a base for her antique cast-iron kitchen sink, built her hand-turned newel posts, and refinished her antique mantel.
“Having Nancy and Dan to confer with on many aspects of my building project was invaluable,” she said.
Carmeli worked with the Oot Build it Yourself Program in Manlius to draw up a budget and develop a design that would have the look and feel of a historic home, but would also have proper insulation and modern conveniences.
“I had already pretty much known what I wanted the house to be like, and when any changes had to be made to the plans, the Oot people totally respected my ideas and implemented them,” Carmeli said. “Then I was assigned someone to help oversee the project; [he] was wonderful. I had free rein to hire contractors, but I used many recommended by Oot.”
Prior to and during the building process, Carmeli collected numerous antique and reclaimed items for inclusion in her new “old” home. Such unique items included an antique mantel, French doors, lighting fixtures, old bathroom sinks, medicine cabinets, reclaimed porch posts, and a claw foot bathtub.
“My house can ‘pass’ as old only because I built it with so many vintage items,” Carmeli said. “The front door was picked up in the Albany area from a Craigslist ad. A new door would have been a dead giveaway. There’s no fooling anyone that a new door is old, so when you’re inside the house and all the doors, including the hardware, are old, you just think the house is too. The floors are all wide-plank pine, and I used painted crown molding, typical of the day. Authenticity was important to me because my home is my nest, and I have such respect for old dwellings. I wanted to feel that I was really living in the past when I enter my home.”
In a continued effort to maintain authenticity, Carmeli decided to cover the foundation with a stone façade, to purchase 12-over-12 pane windows, and to stick with an architecturally correct design, including a steeply sloped roofline and a low to the ground first floor.
Carmeli’s 1940s/1950s-inspired kitchen is outfitted with an old Seller’s Hoosier cabinet, a retro-style refrigerator, old cupboards, a Stepback cabinet, stainless steel tables, an old flour box repurposed as a center island, and an antique cast iron sink.
“One room that I took a risk on, but I think it worked out, is the kitchen . . .” Carmeli said. “I was worried about getting financing without having a typical kitchen, but it never became an issue, and I love cooking in the space.”
While all of her rooms bring her satisfaction, Carmeli said she has been finding a lot of joy in her sitting room.
“Of course I built this and then my three remaining kids moved out,” Carmeli said. “So I’m rarely in the guest rooms now. But I love to sit in front of the fireplace with my dog, Josie, and my new puppy, Bess. When I look around, I take enjoyment and a sense of pride from what I’ve accomplished.”
“The House that Pat Built” is featured in the Fall 2020 issue of Country Rustic Magazine.
To learn more about the magazine, visit mercantilegatherings.com.
The Pewter Spoon Café is located at 87 Albany St. For more information, visit pewterspooncafe.com or the Pewter Spoon Café Facebook page.
