Newborn House Restoration

We installed Andi’s lastest stained glass creation in our bedroom yesterday — and it looks really nice. (Click the image to see a super-sized version.) Like the other transoms, the window is an original design especially for that room.

After a couple of months of off-and-on effort, we have completed the restoration of our flower pit. Click the image above for a photo gallery of the project.

It’s not an exact replica of the original structure, but, like all of our projects, it’s true to the original intent of the house, but includes our own personal touches. For this project, the gable end has a stained glass window that mimmicks the stained glass on the gable of the house. And the actual gable is finished off with fish-scale shingles. (We have a big paintining project planned and will paint the rest of the flower pit as part of that project.)

Stay tuned.

We’ve made a lot of progress on the flower pit over the past few weeks.

All of the brick work — including rebuilding the arch and re-grouting all of the joints — has been completed. We built the roof and started shingling the gable-ends, which will match the rest of our house. View the photo gallery.

As we’ve worked on the flower pit, we’ve had a lot of interest from neighbors and passers-by.  I haven’t found a lot of information online about flower pits. A flower pit is basically an over-sized “cold frame,” is is used to protect house plants through the winter and to get an early start in the spring garden.

Stay tuned.

Andi and her dad Steve started work on the flower pit today. They got a lot done on repairing and rebuiding the brick work, and installing the window. Tomorrow, they hope to complete the front doorway and arch. After that, we’ll build a roof and whatever else is needed to restore the flower pit.

Below are some pictures: The first shows the flower pit from something more than 50 years ago. (That’s little Mary Formo, the grand-daughter of Mary and J.T. Pitts, for whom our house was originally built in the late 1800s.) The second is the flower pit from three years ago when we bought the house. And the third was taken this evening.

Click image for gallery of window design and construction.

Since the completion of the major portions of our three-year restoration project, we’ve started some new projects and hobbies (in addition to the everyday work and other chores). Andi had taken stained glass classes and is getting really good at it.

She completed a number of small projects as practice for the first big project for our house. She built a custom stained glass transom window for our front door. We installed it today. Click here to see a photo gallery of the design and construction of the window.

She has already started building the transom window for our dining room. After that’s done, she’s planning another transom window for our bedroom door. After that … well, there’s no end to the projects we’ll find to do.

Stay tuned.

View from parlor during installation.

Installation of transom window.

(As for me, since I don’t have enough to do, I’ve taken up building acoustic guitars.)

Click image for supersize view

The move of our old smokehouse is in the final stages. This weekend, we replaced the damaged and missing siding and re-built the door. Andi has already started using it for the potting shed.

The two-toned effect of old wood and new wood should fade over time. We’re still deciding whether or not to spray the whole thing with a clear wood sealer.

All that’s left is to fix a few pieces of missing trim, install a window and wire it up for an overhead light. All of that should get done this weekend. Stay tuned.

Below is a picture of the smokehouse the first time we saw it about three years ago.

Click image for supersize view

The re-located garden shed has footings and a floor.

We spent some time on the garden shed this weekend. It now has a decent foundation and a floor. We also de-grimed it inside and out — sprayed it with deck cleaner and hosed it off. It’s a amazing how much better things look when you get rid of even half of the dirt.

With any luck, we’ll get it finished next weekend by replacing the missing and too-damaged siding and by adding a light and a couple of outlets.

Stay tuned.

Overview of back yard before and after move of smokehouse.

We reached a major milestone on the smokehouse renovation today. We were able to move the structure about 60 feet to a new location where it will be come a garden shed.

The old smokehouse in our back yard was built in the early part of the 20th century and was past the point of being useful. We used it for storage, but not much else. The sill was rotten and the floor was one big trip hazard. The only good thing is that the roof doesn’t leak.

Rather than tear it down, we decided to restore it and convert it to a gardening shed. We wanted to move it further back on our lot to improve the overall layout options for our driveway and parking.

The picture gallery has images of our progress on the restoration and moving. The first step was to empty the building, remove all the junk and tear out the old floor. After that, we shored up the structure by jacking it up, tearing out the rotten sills, replacing them with new wood and preparing it for the move. Rather than taking the simple (and more expensive) route of getting professionals, we decided to move it ourselves without any heavy equipment.

Under the sides of the building, we laid a “runway” of planks and lowered the building on a series of 4″ PVC pipes. As surprising as it may be, the plan actually worked. Once the building was sitting on the planks with the pipes for “wheels” it was very easy to move it with the pickup. The actual moving of the building only took about two hours this morning.

The building is now in its new location. Next, we’ll pour some footings and build some piers to set the building on a solid foundation. Then, we’ll be ready to build a new floor, repair some of the siding and start using it as the gardening shed.

(I’m actually in favor of calling it the “still house,” but I’m not sure if I can make that stick.)

Stay tuned.

Here we are -- Steve, Andi and Tim -- in front of the smokehouse at its new location.

I’ve almost finished the new dining room table. Click the thumbnails above to see larger versions of the pictures.

This table is another project from our old barn wood. In addition to the work table in the background, I’ve built several other projects from the old wood (including the guitar prototype). This table is about 40 inches wide and about 7 feet long. Once we add a couple of coats of polyurethane, it’ll be ready to move into the dining room.