remodel: block and seal

It is amazing what progress you start to see when the block work goes in. The layout of the house started to take form. I really enjoyed watching our block layer - he made the hard work look easy, and his lines were straight and crisp. When the evening sun cast a shadow on the blocks, each line was as straight and clean as the last.

After block was was finished, we smoothed the crawl space area. Jeremy and Blake ran the tile around the interior edges, put plastic over, then Rock Chuckers spread pea gravel. Today, the boys brushed on the foundation sealer.

Remote control delivery of our blocks.

Always start with the corners.

Randy laying block.

Clearing away the excess.

Blake brushing it smooth.

Jeremy applying sealer.

remodel: phase one complete

Life this summer looks a little different for us. We are remodeling our 100-year-old farm house and making some necessary changes. The foundation in the South end was settling (actually not the original foundation, but the secondary put in during the 50s). We were having issues like doors not closing, huge cracks in the walls, leaks, etc., so we decided to pull that end of the house off and rebuild fresh. We wanted to preserve the heritage so I will do a post on the history of the house at a later date.

We are roughing it in the main house (no running water), while using a bathroom and kitchenette off the shop. Midnight bathroom runs are interesting - we keep the flashlight and umbrella by the door. No air conditioning has actually been really wonderful. The doors and windows are wide open with the breeze blowing through the house. We adjust to leaks in the office over the computer, and light coming through the cracks everywhere now that the aluminum siding is gone. It is an adventure. The kids are loving every minute.

Before:

North side (front) of house. 

west side

east side

back (south/east)

south side with a cute Frederick

The kids before the remodel.

Remodel Begins:

Down it comes. Jeremy in the excavator.

Frederick helping tear off siding.

Half-and-half.

The girls on the front porch. I love the vintage look of this.

No siding on the old house. (East side).

South side. Jamison crew in the trenches.

West side. 

what attic?

I was so excited today to start our remodel that I began pulling the aluminum siding off and setting it aside to take to the scrap yard. I was making good time too, until I was almost to the top and came across a window. Mind you, we have lived in this house for nearly 8 years, and my husbands family has known the people who lived here before us even longer...so you would think I would know about a window.  We have this cellar off the back of the house and it was always cool because it sets lower than ground level. I never thought about the low ceiling or that the roof was in line with our porch....that has at least a 13' wall.

My diligent work and the found window.

When I peeked in the window I found an attic. Not much of an attic, but I was still very surprised and the attic was just the beginning of my surprises this afternoon. This is what I found:

Does this look enticing or what?  

Yes, I decided to climb through the window and find out what was in our unkown attic. It was probably 3 feet tall and covered with 1900's insulation - wood chips. No wonder old homes burnt like kindling when they caught fire! Elauna was my helper on the ground, and she would collect my "treasures" as I dropped them out the window.  I had been told that there used to be an old general store at our location, and much of what I found would be from at turn-of-the-century store as some of the items were for bulk or merchants.

Some of my treasures.

My helper with more of our finds.

Amazing colors and preservation.  Love this piece!!! 

From Cinci - old bucket tin.

This tin is from around 1900. One on Ebay selling for $325. I think I'll keep mine!

Love this paper sign. The colors are like new. Wow!

Native Purity maple syrup. Found several without labels - this one OK.

Found two. I will try to salvage. Very old Piqua Milling Co paper bag.

Apricots

Seal Rock Apricots

It is a good thing I have a roast on for dinner because I'm going back outside to work more on the siding. At least now this distraction is past and I can move on.....until this old house throws another curve my way and I get to salvage some more. How exciting!!!

hay trolley lights

I love to restore and repurpose vintage items, and I was especially taken with two hay trolleys I found in my barn. They were from a manufacturer here in Ohio: The F.E. Myers & Bro. Company from Ashland, Ohio. One of the trolleys still had the original metal tag with the manufacturer information - very neat. 

I cleaned them of the dust and dirt and we sent them to Skinners Powder Coating in Piqua. They did a great job of prepping them for me, even though they had never done trolleys before. Next, I painted them a vintage bronze with Rustoleum 2x spray paint. (I love this paint for projects....coated well and dried quickly) We found vintage-looking glass pendants from Home Depot to hang from each trolley. The bulbs are the old filament style. 

Jeremy hung them for me, as they are very heavy. He had to rig them a special way to hold the weight and not take away from the look of the trolley. We are very happy with the final product. They fit right in our southwest-themed conference room with local antiques.

barn dirt and all

after initial cleaning - not bad patina

original tag

fresh from Skinners and ready to paint

both units side by side

painted and hung

nice patina without the rust

with lights on in the room

I will post more on this room as we continue to work on it. It is a special labor of love as we try to salvage as much as possible from our farm, family, and local history.

storage solutions

Sometimes good ideas happen completely by accident. I was cleaning my refrigerator the other day and organizing the shelves as I went. Later that afternoon I had to make a run to Meijer for something and was walking through the storage aisle. I love wire baskets and such, and saw these very narrow baskets. I remembered having taco salad this week and trying to pull out the salsa I needed in the back of the fridge. The baskets gave me a good idea: put similar jars in a basket and simply pull the entire basket out when I needed something from that group. It has organized my refrigerator so nicely.

the shelf before....organized but not easily accessible

the baskets with the jars sorted

baskets in the fridge....so tidy

The next storage solution this week was for plastic bags. We have tried using the "green" bags, but still have uses for the plastic from time to time, so we still have to find a place to store them. I have antiques in my kitchen, and one was an old malted milk container - it stands about 12 inches tall. It had been sitting empty for years. I hate to let good storage space go to waste, especially in our old farm house that has very little storage. This week I stuffed all my plastic bags inside and put the lid on. Decoration and functional at the same time! If I had only had this epiphany years ago.

plastic bags

bags in the malt container

no eye-sore bags around. Yes!