The Historic District

And we are just as delighted and look forward to the after pics. Also, I think you will have a part in this little project, you'll get to do the clean up.

Coming along nicely.

The rain finally stopped which meant work began again (slowly) on the back. More siding was removed from the top front portion, the overhang modified a little bit, first-floor front siding finished, and vent hole measured for a new wood one. Second-story window frame to be rebuilt to match the rest of the house (current isn't original), siding is to be removed from the left side all the way to the laundry room wall, then prep, primer, paint, and voila!

I just hope this portion of the house, my fencing, and well house are complete before my 30th birthday in June... I'd like to say "I did this in my 20s". Plus, it would be nice to have a get-together that doesn't look like it's at a demolition site.

Lady, it's heartening to see this coming together. It gives me encouragement and hope when we do the same at Beebe.

We were originally hoping to bring our home back to the wood siding we know is underneath the mix of AC and Maso tiles this year, but with other recent finds, funds may be on hold for that depending on how the year goes.

One thing I might do, is only reveal the small jut out for the cellar entrance this year. That might give us a good idea of what might be ahead when we move to larger areas of the home.

Oh, and when I went back to browse your blog again, I saw the note about the freeze wait and bees. I'll keep an eye out this year for such, especially since I recently checked our chimney cleanout and found a handful of old dead hornets. We think they might have started a chimney home when the house had a downtime with no residents, and then when the boiler was fired up again...well, we may never know for sure if that was the cause, but it is our top theory.

Thanks for the update! I hope we find a crew as good as yours when it comes to certain projects we're not sure we want to tackle on our own.

Just popping in to let everyone know I have two new posts in my blog, www.mccuistonhouse.com. I finally completed my fall posts and I hope to have the Christmas and winter posts up this evening.

Today, it's a typical housecleaning day but on turbo speed as I will be planting the kitchen garden shortly.

Still waiting on the outside of the house to get finished. Hopefully this week...

Southernlady, a very nice site. Easy to read story telling.

We're getting there, slowly but surely!



The bottom portion of the old garage/shed/barn is finished. The top portion has to have the wood patches sanded down and painted, middle portion of the window area painted (I think the guys forgot...), and the louvers of the air vent will be painted white (once again, I think the guy forgot what I said). We are still working to track down a six-over-six to enlarge the tiny bathroom window to better harmonize with the rest of the house. Once we have one, my guys will be tearing out the siding that's left on this side of the house and fixing it up properly.

I truly can't believe the difference it's made to add a period-correct shade of white and the Benjamin Moore Essex Green trim. The owner over at OldHouseGuy.com helped me select this color based on the signs I found that the window trim used to be dark green. I used his suggestions and also the style of a completely restored ca. 1880s farmhouse not too far from me (Horne Creek Farm--check out my blog for the info) and I have to say--it's made a world of difference! My family and friends thought I was crazy when I told them what I was going to do, but now that they're seeing it in action they have all said it was a great decision.

My mom and I finally got around to putting down the landscape fabric under the picket fence, and we also got the primer started. The fence will be painted the same creamy white of the house. I have ordered two heirloom pink rosebushes to plant along the fence. One is a climber, and I plan to put it in a corner and coax it to grow along the top of the pickets.

I think Joy the Papillon approves of her farmhouse doghouse improvements.

Looks great. Even with the missed paint areas. You fence is coming along nicely as well. And you dog, she really never does miss an opportunity to photo bomb, does she.

Thank you so much. If the rain ever lets up this week I hope to finish the painting and see the salvage Victorian porch post go up. It's been horrible all week with severe storms, local flooding, etc. In fact, we had a tornado yesterday. It destroyed a 50+ year old school gym, barns, homes, picked up horses... Truly unreal.

My Joy is really quite the diva dog. I wish I knew what was going through her mind when she runs into the frame like that. At the request of my sister's friends, she has her own Instagram account now: @Joy_the_Papillon (https://www.instagram.com/joy_the_papillon/)

Things are coming together so nicely!

We're also thinking of consulting with the Old House Guy when we get closer to working on our siding and possibly restoring trim if the original was removed when the AC siding was added. I love his site.