I’m sure you’re getting bored with my little progress reports on the kitchen, but, well, tough nuggies.
Ain’t it purdy?
I’ve outlined, in sloppy red Photoshop ink, where the openings for the french doors and a window will be. We’re doing a matching window on the other wall, too. We ended up getting plain vinyl windows despite my hatred for them because the other 26 windows throughout the house are plain vinyl, and we won’t be replacing them anytime soon.
The footer for the other wall is in the process of drying, and soon we’ll have the whole thing framed in. The game plan at this point is to get the shell done, put the siding, trim, etc. on to finish off the outside, and leave the inside work for later. As you may recall, we’re doing this partly for insurance reasons. Right now we only have hazard insurance, and if one of the neighborhood kids cuts through our lawn and steps on a nail we’ve got no liability coverage. Eeek. So once the kitchen looks presentable and safe, we’ll be tackling the chimney before going back to finish it.
This kinda bums me out, cause I’m dying to see what the kitchen will actually look like when it’s opened up, but not all good choices are fun choices, right? And we don’t want the chimney toppling down on some unsuspecting neighbor.
Last night I was out back cleaning out a spot on our lawn that is inexplicably overgrown. The rest of the yard is flat and treeless – yet this 10×20 spot is littered with burdock bushes, vines, rotting leaves and bits of trash. While I was out there the neighbor came by, and we chatted for a bit. She said the reason the previous owners didn’t repair anything within the house is that they didn’t want to ruin anything historic about it.
This threw me for a loop, since the beauty (not to mention architectural integrity) of the house has been threatened due to neglect. I understand not wanting to tear down 100 year old plaster walls, but if a 100 year old cast iron pipe is cracked and leaking sewage into the basement, it’s time to upgrade! I guess I just don’t see the logic. If she’d have told me they couldn’t afford repairs, were happy with it the way it was, or didn’t know who to hire to have the work done right, that would make more sense.
Comments, Thoughts, and Feedback
Hi Mindy –
Eilis sent me the web address to this site, and I love it. In your photo gallery you have posted a photo of my mom’s old house (318 S. Peterboro Street) which she and my stepfather (Jerry) totally restored/remodeled. They moved out in 2002 to a house in Sherrill, which they are now completely restoring. Someday soon I must bring you their massive photo albums of all the work they did at 318. I think you and Teague would find it very interesting. They even had the house registered as a historic site. I lived there for the second half of my senior year in high school and again for about year after I graduated from college. I love that house. My mom and my stepfather were married there almost 20 years ago. My bedroom was the room with the round window overlooking the driveway side. I thought it was so cool. Legend has it that that room was the housekeeper’s quarters (there are a very narrow set of backstairs leading down from that room into the dining room). Legend also has it that the widowed woman that lived there for many years had an affair with her African American male housekeeper and it was a scandal in the ‘Stota, because she was the former mayor’s daughter (the house is known on the historical record as the James Rasbach House – former ‘Stota mayor). When redoing the parlor room, they found beautiful old sliding doors embedded in the walls and the rails they used to slide on were still there, underneath the layers of carpet and carpet padding. Underneath the floorboards in one of the upstairs rooms they found newspapers from the late 19th century, and underneath some wallpaper they found pencil lines on the wall where a former resident family had been tracking their childrens’ growth over many years. Kinda neat stuff.
Well anyway, nice site, and good luck with the house. I am sure I will be seeing you again soon.
Ted
That is kind of a strange reason- maybe the neighbor liked them and was trying to save face- but evidently with the opposite result. There is a house down the street from us we call it “The Pigeon House.” I am sure you can imagine why. Anyway, this house is so run dowm, I’ve watched squirels climb into their roof and it looks like a future teardown.
Well, you can imagine my surprise when we saw a “Handyman” van in their driveway last week.
Guess what? The owner is a “Mr. Handyman” – it’s a franchise out here maybe national. We almost died – can you imagine hiring him?
Hi Mindy,
I have been really enjoying your site. My husband and I just bought a little fixer upper (40’s stone cottage) since our “dream” victorian got away from us. (we’re in Oklahoma and there are very few of them!). Anyway…the folks that owned “our victorian” have let it rot for 45+ years, but claimed to love it so much they didn’t want to give it up, but would be willing to sell to us for 4x’s its worth. It’s a scam to say they are trying to maintain historical value…when they are most likely unable or unwilling to take on the time and expense to maintain these grand homes.
Keep up the good work!!!
My name is Stotas Dimitrios
What mean “stota”?
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