So the saying goes..............my road was paved with good intention but is far from h*ll. I started this blog with the intent to post pictures, tell our story about our renovation process, lessons learned. Frankly, I was too darn busy to do so!
We officially arrived in Andrews, North Carolina on April 14th, 2013. On April 28th, we drove my mama down to Atlanta, Georgia to fly her back to Arizona. She had come out with us for the move............she told us, "I want to see the ol' cottage before Rick starts on the renovation. That way, when I see it next, I'll know what he did to improve it." Soon after mama's departure, Rick began our renovations.
He started the renovation with the third bedroom by gutting it. This bedroom contained a small closet & window. It also had a very slanted floor, it was dark & overall, a complete failure of a room. He took the room down to the dirt underneath the home. He beefed up the flooring, installed new plumbing & electrical, salvaged original bead-board from behind dark paneling, made a bathroom vanity out of old barn wood & wooden oak pallet from our ranch. Added a vintage sink to that, installed two new windows, a brand new hot water tank, flooring made of Rainbow Poplar, new shower unit, commode..........months later (I think it was 6-7 months), we had a beautiful, brand new loo!
Project #2, he tackled the kitchen. The original kitchen was located next to the new bathroom, far removed from the rest of the interior of the house, so we moved a wall back, put in a doorway, took out old, dated cabinets (they were musty), and removed the flooring, once again, down to dirt. He took down another huge portion of a baring wall, opening up the kitchen to the rest of the house. He put in new plumbing, new electrical, new appliances, new Rainbow Poplar flooring, Ambrosia Maple cabinetry, created a new ceiling..........the man is a genius when it comes to renovations! While I can't show you the old pictures of the kitchen, I can show you the new pictures of the kitchen.
We officially arrived in Andrews, North Carolina on April 14th, 2013. On April 28th, we drove my mama down to Atlanta, Georgia to fly her back to Arizona. She had come out with us for the move............she told us, "I want to see the ol' cottage before Rick starts on the renovation. That way, when I see it next, I'll know what he did to improve it." Soon after mama's departure, Rick began our renovations.
He started the renovation with the third bedroom by gutting it. This bedroom contained a small closet & window. It also had a very slanted floor, it was dark & overall, a complete failure of a room. He took the room down to the dirt underneath the home. He beefed up the flooring, installed new plumbing & electrical, salvaged original bead-board from behind dark paneling, made a bathroom vanity out of old barn wood & wooden oak pallet from our ranch. Added a vintage sink to that, installed two new windows, a brand new hot water tank, flooring made of Rainbow Poplar, new shower unit, commode..........months later (I think it was 6-7 months), we had a beautiful, brand new loo!
Project #2, he tackled the kitchen. The original kitchen was located next to the new bathroom, far removed from the rest of the interior of the house, so we moved a wall back, put in a doorway, took out old, dated cabinets (they were musty), and removed the flooring, once again, down to dirt. He took down another huge portion of a baring wall, opening up the kitchen to the rest of the house. He put in new plumbing, new electrical, new appliances, new Rainbow Poplar flooring, Ambrosia Maple cabinetry, created a new ceiling..........the man is a genius when it comes to renovations! While I can't show you the old pictures of the kitchen, I can show you the new pictures of the kitchen.
The cabinet doors are completed now, all of them. It's my favorite kitchen to date (we have now renovated 3 homes). I love the sturdiness of the cabinetry, the beauty of the counter-tops, the rustic wood flooring, and the darling built-in. More importantly, I love the way it flows & the functionality.
We still have a long way to go on this 114 yr. old house (like much of the exterior), sanding all the original oak flooring inside. I'm not sure how long it will take us to complete this project, it doesn't really matter. We enjoy this type of work, it's rewarding. Mostly, we enjoy this work, because it enables us to save a historic home (not listed), that was so worth saving.
To end this post, I've met a man (online), that is helping me resurrect some of the history of this old home. His mother was related to the man that built this home, Lloyd Hardin. She is now 80 yrs. old, she remembers her great-uncle living in this house when she was a young girl. The story goes, that Mr. Lloyd Hardin was visited by an angel, here at the house, she told him that he would live to be a very old man. Mr. Hardin lived to be 102 yrs. old.
