Pownal Woman Has Dual Careers
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| Brookside Construction and Village Coiffs owner Pauline Guntlow |
POWNAL, Vt.- Whether combing curls or reviewing a floor plan, Pauline Guntlow of Mason Hill Road is working to create beauty.
Guntlow can cut, curl, and color hair with ease. She has owned and operated the Village Coiffs hair salon in Williamstown, Mass., for more than 30 years, and works at the shop for several hours weekly.
Guntlow's talents do not stop at scissors and combs. Guntlow is a licensed general contractor who owns the Brookside Construction company. She has designed and overseen the building of 19 houses since 1985, written a book titled “Be Your Own Home Decorator: Creating the Look You Love Without Spending a Fortune,” and has appeared on HGTV [House and Garden television network] and the Discovery Channel television programs. She is a member of the National Builder’s Association. Another book is currently in progress, Guntlow said recently.
She has no formal training in the building trades, but Guntlow is clearly the architect behind the success she’s achieved.
Beginnings
By the time she was nine years old, both of Guntlow’s parents had died, and she’d left her San Diego, Calif. home and traveled to Plattsburg, N.Y. to live with relatives. As she grew older, she moved to the small town of Oxford, N.Y.. She was about 25 years old when she came to the Berkshires.
Guntlow said that as a young woman, she had dreams of attending college but the costs proved to be more than she could manage.
“I wanted to go to college,” she said. “I couldn’t do it.”
She furthered her education by enrolling at what was then called the Charles H. McCann Vocational/Technical School. Guntlow successfully completed the school’s “beauty culture” curriculum and became a licensed hair stylist. She married, opened her hair salon, and had two children, she said.
Homemaker
<L2>Thoughts of building and designing houses captured her imagination during that time, Guntlow said. Although she wasn’t able to buy land and build houses, she was able to tackle a rented farmhouse that the family called “home.”
“We were renting this farmhouse for $45 a month, which was cheap even back then,” she said. “The house was a mess, I had two little babies and I said ‘the heck with it, I’ll do it myself.’”
Guntlow worked diligently on the house and “it looked adorable,” Guntlow said. “Then I started to learn how to refinish furniture.”
A Significant Step
Her interest and skills took on a new dimension when Guntlow became the chairwoman of a Hancock Town Hall restoration committee, she said.
“There was a significant step, the Hancock Town Hall. It was to be either demolished or renovated. I became the chairman of the restoration committee, and I did that for seven years. I learned how to organize people, how to get grants, and all that helped me to get my general contractor’s license.”
Passion Becomes Profession
“I’ve always just loved this stuff,” Guntlow said. “I started up for serious in 1985. I got divorced and I could do what I wanted.”
Her talents led buyers to purchase the homes Guntlow built “on spec,” she said.
“I live, sleep, and breathe houses,” she said. “I love it. It’s the design part that’s so much fun. I scrutinize a lot [building site], or in some cases the existing house, I figure out the square footage and I go from there.”
Guntlow works most often with the George Messina Builders firm and her “significant other” Richard Winterkorn.
“Rich is with me a lot and George Messina Builders, well, we <R3> couldn’t do it without them,” she said. “I love them.”
Stylists at Village Coiffs make it possible for Guntlow to devote much energy to building, she said.
"I have a great, great staff," she said.
People are sometimes surprised to learn that a woman is at a construction project’s helm, Guntlow said.
“Sometimes, Rich will be with me [at a job site] and the people talk to him, not me,” she said. “And I say, ‘hey, I’m the general contractor.’ I’ve had times when I’ve said that, and they look at me, and then go right on talking to Rich. Mostly, people have been very complimentary [of Guntlow and her work].”
Houses she’s built have been purchased by a “mix of people,” including Williams College professors and administrators, Guntlow said.
Guntlow has built homes from the ground up, and has renovated existing properties, including modular houses, she said. She works to create a “New England ambiance,” and is available to serve as a consultant for home projects. Every house is planned with care, she said.
“I build every house as though it were for me,” Guntlow said, and added that she adheres to advice she received when she began her building career.
“An experienced professional told me ‘build the best you can. You’ll develop a following and you won’t have to worry.’ And I’ve always kept that in mind.”
Home Sweet Home
Guntlow resides in a home of her design. The about 3,200-square-foot two-story red house hosts a finished basement and attached garage. Built above the garage are an office and a large, organized space that accommodates fabric and other items Guntlow said she “collects” for future projects. House construction began in April 2004; in October, she moved in.
Enthusiasm is evident when Guntlow describes the home.
“The front door came from a house that was demolished in Petersburg [N.Y],” she said. “The hand-hewn ceiling beams came from a barn in New York.”
An ornate, off-white painted mahogany mirror that measures six-feet-by-eight-feet dominates a first floor hallway.
“That came from the Colgate Mansion,” she said. “Getting it here;oh, man!”
<L4>Birch kitchen cabinets were purchased at H. Greenberg and Son Inc. and painted with a grayish-blue “rub-through” finish. Artist Dan Fields created a punched-tin accent.
“He’s an artist that likes to work with metal as well,” Guntlow said.
“Dimplex” electric fireplaces made in Canada accent rooms on both floors, and a brick-faced fireplace in the living/dining area “comes like Legos [building blocks],” Guntlow said.
“They come in four-foot units,” she explained. “They are solid concrete.”
The floors are wide, pine planks from Johnsonville, Vt., and solar tubes provide daytime illumination along the second floor. A second floor bathroom is designed in tones of deep blue and creamy white. Two bedrooms are on the second floor, as is a master bedroom suite. The suite hosts two walk-in closets and a master bathroom with three specific spaces for a large bathtub, an enclosed shower, and a spacious vanity/sink area. Guntlow’s daughter Vicky Guntlow, who is employed at Period Lighting Fixtures Inc. in Clarksburg, Mass., painted the walls to match the bathroom tiles. Guntlow’s son Vincent Guntlow owns the Guntlow and Associates engineering firm in Williamstown, Mass.
A fieldstone walkway marks the path to the dwelling’s front door and the office overlooks a stone patio.
Basement work is ongoing, and Guntlow said that she is looking forward to completing the work.
“I love to finish a house,” she said. “But then it’s ‘what else is there to do,’ and that’s why it’s always good to have another house.”
A Woman's Work is Never Done
Guntlow is working on a Syndicate Road, Williamstown house and upcoming projects include building a house on Pine Ridge Place in Pownal. Among past projects is a renovation of the former Chalet Maria motel on Route 7, which resulted in a change from a motel to rental units.
Guntlow said that she has no favorite project.
“It’s like children,” she said. “They are all different and I love them all.”
When asked if retirement is in the foreseeable future, Guntlow answered with an emphatic “No!”
“I’ve never had so much fun in my life,” she said.
Pauline Guntlow may be contacted by calling 802-823-0211.
Susan Bush may be reached by e-mail at suebush123@adelphia.net or by calling 802-823-9367.
