Good Things Come to Those Who Wait (or Procrastinate) The fireplace in the addition was completed in January of 2019.  We thought that the fireplaces (we have three total) would be finished in late summer/early fall, but that didn’t happen.  The stone mason who we had spoken with had some health issues and some family issues as well (he worked with his brothers).  When it was all said and done, we had to call another stone mason and that pushed back the fireplace in the addition to a January project.  At that point, we were busy finishing up all sort of little tasks and then moving in.  The mantle was…

A Plan Was Concocted I am a member of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution Ft. Graham Chapter.  I am a proud member, not because I’m proud to have the membership, but because is a lovely way to honor the countless people who came before us.  If you are interested in membership, please contact me and I will help you in any way that I can.  It is a sweet group of ladies who log in community service hours, fund scholarships for local students, and generally try to keep history alive.  Yesterday was our Christmas Tea and we had a guest speaker, Denise Bennett.  Denise assumes the identity…

All About Scale Long before we took on this house renovation/building project, Jerry and I looked at spaces and discussed what we loved and didn’t love about them.  Consistently, scale was something that always made an impression on us.  This could be due to the years we spent in tiny military housing or perhaps it stemmed from visits to castles and cathedrals in Europe.  We were drawn to the open spaces, soaring ceilings, the grandness of what happens when something is, well…grand.  Jerry and I aren’t grand people as anyone who knows us will confirm.  We don’t live in a cathedral or castle, but we do live in Texas and…

  Jerry and I had to make a lot of decisions before (and especially during) the renovation process.  There were a lot of compromises.  There were some fits.  Proudly, I can say there were no tears…at least no tears of frustration.  Believe it or not, it was the removal of the wallpaper tacks that had Jerry and I in disagreement for the first time in this project and that was AFTER we had to learn how to level the house with hydraulic jacks! Mr. Burch, Tear Down That Wall (Paper)! Of course, the sheet rock came down first and then the layers of wallpaper.  Both were easy enough to remove…

Oh! The Planning!!! The addition was an important part of our renovation project.  The Homestead was too small, too old, too precious to us to totally change the layout and make a more functional home out of it.  We wanted to use it gently, but also efficiently.  It seemed un-Scottish (read wasteful) to spend the money for the renovation and not use it at all.  That is also why I wanted it connected to the main house.  If it wasn’t, I was afraid we would turn off the AC/heat and not go in there for months on end. And so when we started planning the addition, we needed to figure…

Keep It Old…Make It Old I wanted to make sure that the old house still looked and felt old once the renovations were completed and that is why I doggedly stuck to my mantra of “keep it original”.  It didn’t matter if we had to scoop it up with a spoon and Spackle it into place, if the original could be patched and kept (within reason, of course) that is what we did.  And I think we did a great job.  I have caught some flack from an old house dude who said that all he could see was replacement windows and siding. Well…yeah. The original windows were already gone…

The Magic Blue Dumpster Without a doubt, a big blue dumpster may be the best magic trick ever.  It was delivered in our front yard and we immediately started filling it.  The picture above shows one day’s worth of work.  And then more magic happened.  They took this one away and left yet another empty one that was soon filled to the brim as well.  Please do not think that we went crazy and threw everything away.  We didn’t.  Jerry and I donned respirators and gloves and went through every box, every drawer, every everything before the dumpster was even on the premises.  You can see some of the treasures…

A Solid Foundation Before we got to the point of pouring the slab, we had dirt work done, and were were still wondering if there would be a step up or a step down between the addition and the old house.  We decided on a slab foundation.  It is a “floating” slab, which made no sense to me.  The premise is that 30+ holes would be drilled down to bedrock, rebar inserted and then the holes would be filled with concrete.  On top of all that, the slab would float.  Okay. There was a steady stream of cement trucks arriving on 21 June to deliver the concrete needed for the…

Background Work The floors in the original house.  I wanted to keep them, but they were damaged.  We knew that wasn’t an option.  The original floors were nothing more than boards nailed to the floor joists.  There were gaps between them so you could see the dirt under the house.  As much as I wanted to restore the house, even I knew that we were going to have to do something different than what there originally. The first flooring job was to work on the structural parts.  We installed plywood under the joists so we could insulate the floors.  We then installed the floor decking material.  That was a lot…