Home at Last...



Our Home



Well, we made it to the proverbial finish line. We moved in to our wonderful home in late September. There are still some finishing touches we have yet to add, but all in due time. It truly has been a labor of love... (most days). It has been such a joy to sit on the front porch and watch the holiday parades, and have friends and family stop by for a visit.

Sometimes we stop and look at each other and say "we really do have a great house". So, thank you to all our friends and family who helped make this dream come true. You will always be a part of this home.



Front Entrance

 

Formal Front Living Room

So, if you are ever in the neighborhood, give us a call or stop by... we would love to see you!

        



Kitchen and Family Room



Family Room by Kitchen

The Last 10 yards...

Don't mind my football pun. Afterall, it IS almost football season. One of the holiest periods in southern culture. I can envision the big screen above the fireplace and a kitchen full of activity and food to the sound of "Touchdoooooown.... Auburrrrrrn" ringing through the house. And then, there was something about "roll tide, blah blah blah." Whatever. Divided house... can you tell?

The checklist is as follows: cabinets are 90% completed; granite countertops to be installed in a few days; master bathroom STILL not done; Fireplace STILL not done This is the time whereI wish I had a magic wand or a fairy godmother who can "poof" make is all come together. Lots of little details yet and we are worn thin.

The kitchen is going to be wonderful! the cabinets were done by Terry Ashley of Ashley Cabinets. He is our go-to guy on all cabinets. He did a great job of complimenting the hardwood floor color and working with the lack of plumb and square in the house. It should be a showpiece!

And just a side note... for all of the real estate agents who stop by and visit: thank you for the wonderful compliments. It's nice to know our hard work is appreciated. But NO. It's not for sale. No matter what my husband says. :) Although for a cool million, I will even throw in the neighbor's cat for free!

And to think I used to actually LIKE laying tile...

The color is on most of the walls and the crown molding has been painted. It looks wonderful! Fernando, our friend and painter, doesn't always agree with my color choices, but neutral colors are about all I have left in me at the moment. All the design decisions have come crashing dwon at one time and I am on "Designing Women" overload. The answer today is "paint it all Gobi Desert beige" and move on. I feel a little like Scarlett O'Hara in saying, "fiddle-dee-dee, I shall worry about that tomorrow." But I DO love the dark, peacock blue I picked out for the powder room. Go crazy, right? I am also liking the haint blue on the dining room ceiling. I fully plan on painting my porch ceilings a similar color... southern tradition, you know.

Tiling is fun... for about the first 30 minutes. After that, you find yourself wondering why you didn't hire someone else to do it. But then you realize that it will get done the way you want it to be done, if you do it yourself. Teddy and I have spent the last several evenings, after work, sitting on a the floor and working in the fading sunlight and mosquito farm to get the various bathrooms and wash rooms all tiled. I think I am falling out of love with beige tile, too.

With the upcoming holiday, I hope to get a lot more done to met our late July move-in timeline. We'll see!

"It was falling apart, and now it's coming together..."

States my youngest son, Riley. Profound statement for his age. We are actually further along than the pictures show, but I am behind on taking pictures and posted them. We actually have the drywall in and sanded and Hedie is working on the doors and trim. We decided to insulate the heck out of the house and and made sure we invested in a good quality insulation. Hopefully we can keep the utility bills below the "are you serious" level.

This weekend, which is Memorial Day weekend, we should have the upstairs painted and trimmed out, and maybe event the beadboard ceilings in the dining room, complete. we are hoping to be able to stain the beadboard, but I am not so sure it will work out. Hedie and Fernando sanded them down to remove the old paint, but it may not be enough to get away with staining them.

We found a few more relics and bottles to add to our showcase, but just as important, we may have found a descendent of A.H. Lewis! We are hoping to get a chance to learn more about the family and maybe even see some pictures.

It's getting warmer and the mosquitos are out, so hopefully we can get the house closed up and start running the AC!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I know.. I know. I have been severely chastised for not updating my blog. For those of you whom we are close to, I know you can understand why. But here is the latest scoop on our Church Street abode.

Since our last blog, we have refurbished the windows (AFTER I broke every single piece of antique glass... go big or go home, right?); finished the brick work; finsihed the detail trim; and roughed-in the electrical and plumbing. Hedie (Jeremiah) did a wonderful job on framing in the beautiful oak front door and I should have some pics of it next time. Also, we should have the house painted by the end of the week (fingers crossed). He also did all of our detail trim work on the outside. He's so talented!

We are still looking at a July-ish completion date. Poor Teddy is working so hard to have it done by then and has worked every evening after work and each weekend. I think he is ready for a break. The plumbing has been an interesting challenge... but then again, Teddy loves a challenge.

Next steps... insulation, drywall and finish work. If anyone knows of a good insulation company, let us know!

Until next time...

The Devils in the Details...

We have had so much joy in seeing our home come to life! Additionally, we have lost about half our hair in making sure we kept the integrity of the original home, while suiting it to our style. Talk about having to think 5 steps ahead, adding on to existing OLD house can be a logistical goat-rope. But somehow we make it work.

We have been working diligently on repurposing the original clapboards and discovered that most of the clapboards are actually cypress planks. And what are cypress planks doing in north Alabama, you ask? Well, thanks to our good friend and avid historian, John Rankin and his brother (who is a wood officiando), they have come to the conclusion that the cypress was reclaimed lumber from one of the Lewis family steamboats. History shows that A.H. Lewis' father owed several steamboats which transported cotton up and down the river. Cypress does not rot like pine and poplar, so it was used in vessals that had consistent contact with water. When the steamboats were decommissioned, the wood was salvaged and repurposed. It's not a new ingenius concept that our generation has suddenly developed, it was simply a way of life back then. Go figure.

The brick masons, Rafael and his team, have done a great job of tying on to the 'ole girl and making her stand proud again. The front porch posts look gigantic, but then again, the whole thing is massive anyways.

Spring is coming... and so is tornado season. North Alabama suffered yet again at the hands of mother nature last weel several tornados touched down in the various counties. I figure that if the 'ole girl has been here 140+ years and weathered the storms, maybe she's got another 140. Although I am not taking any chances and will continue to work on the storm cellar.

Raising the Roof...

You can't stop progress, right? Although it can be slow at times. It is a real joy to see the walls, roof and plywood go up. It's a real defining moment in remodeling and renovation. The chance to actually walk through the rooms and "feel" the spaces is exciting. The house is much bigger than we thought it would be. We could move the whole extended family in!

We spoke with several other well drilling companies and they all said that aquifers can change direction over time and "sounding" the well is not a good idea, since it is so close to the house. Sadly, I think our best bet is to fill it in and use it as a cistern or close it up all together. I hate to lose the history and cover up all the hard work that was put into making this well. But safety is the number one concern. I will take as many pictures as I can, for the display in the front of the house.

Additionally, Morgan and Teddy found an intact Coca-Cola bottle and the framers found a whiskey bottle with its cork, in the walls. Those are some of the few intact relics we have found. Again, exciting for me... a true dirt-digger at heart.

We put our current house on the market this last week and have been downsizing our household contents to show how big the house really is - I just didn't realize I had that much junk. I guess I have no room to talk next time "Horders" comes on tv.

Next week they should finish up the plywood on the roof and walls and the windows should come in. Fernando and Jeremia should also be done with the storm cellar. It has been one big mess. It was built two feet too far to the south and didn't line up with the stairwell, so we have had to move some block, pour additional concrete and hope like heck it works. Keep your fingers crossed.