Article from "Main Street America" September 1977

 

The Newcomb's, referenced in the article, owned this home. The millhouse referenced, owned by Waltz's at the time of the article, is two houses north, at the corner of Jones and Lacy roads.

Entry Hall and New Entry Door

I haven't posted in a long time! Apologies to those interested in this blog. I looked at the last post and realized I didn't post a picture of the hall after paint. That's Ella (age 16 here) walking up the stairs to her room after volleyball practice.

We've upgraded our entrance door. Since moving in, the entry has always bothered me. The scale, the clapboard and the half-circle window just never felt correct with the Federal style of the home. We finally got around to demolishing the framed entry and filling it with glass and a door more suitable for the scale of the home. Here's a before and after with Loki and Mowgli. We still need to re-paint.

Carpet in the Hallway

We replaced the main hallway stair maroon carpet with new gray carpet. That old wool carpet was excellent quality and had lasted many, many years but it just didn't work with the new feel being created in the hallway. We still need to paint the walls, so you'll have to use a little imagination, but these pictures show the new carpet. We also had the yellow carpet removed that was on the stairs between the 2nd and 3rd floors.

Floors and more Exposed Brick

We hired Patriot Hardwood Flooring out of Indianapolis to refinish all the wood floor on the main level. We explored re-flooring but in the end decided to work with what we had. We're so glad we did. Once sanded down, we immediately knew we made the right decision. Before the project, we thought we wanted to use a dark stain throughout, figuring that each area would have a different look and that dark would be our best bet to make them all match. Once the floors were sanded, and we saw the consistency and beautiful appearance, we knew we needed to stay natural. We applied the protective layer of polyurethane and called it done! I talked Nate (owner of Patriot Hardwood Flooring) into exposing the brick on a wall in the main hallway and on a wall in the living room. Another project that has taken place recently is the addition of an aluminum picket fence which encloses a section of the yard on the north and east sides of the home. This was to keep our dogs in. If you've paid attention to our dogs at all on this blog, by mid 2016 all our huskies (Nico, Ambrosia and Rio) have passed away. In 2014 we added Nala and Mowgli to the family. Nala and Mowgli aren't as good at staying in our yard via invisible fence as our Huskies were. This new fence will provide some piece of mind for us. We really didn't want a fence, but as far as fences go, we do like it a lot and feel it fits ok with the home.

Renovations over the last few years

Since the last post we've accomplished a lot! I'm ashamed I haven't kept up with the blog better. To the best of my recollection, the first thing we did since the gas fireplace additions was to begin remodeling the upstairs bathroom and main level powder room. These were begun in July of 2012 and several other projects began and ended before we wrapped them up. The following is a sort of timeline of events...

Zack was a big help!
Here's a shot of the space after the bathroom had been completely demolished.

Just a picture of Lynn and Zack from around this time period that I love!

Chalkboard paint in the kids' play room.

Removing the carpet in the main hallway

Even though we hated to replace the old shutters, we felt that the home needed it. It also helped relieve a major bat situation! The new shutters are built out of composite material so they won't rot and are resistant to insects. I had them built in a panel style instead of louvers so they didn't act as bat houses. All of the faux and window shutters were replaced with these in January 2014. The works was done by Rex Bell.

In the upstairs bath, a new 2x6 wall was added to continue plumbing to the the third level within the cavity. This picture shows the new tile shower walls and the exposed brick wall (always a messy job but we love the results. This was a slow project. I bit the bullet and hired a pro, Chris Mull Homes to complete the job. April 2014

 This is the vanity wall. It's tough to photograph the small/tall room. We had the door built to mimic the original tall doors with transoms. We were able to us an old door which helped tie it in very well. We went with slate floors.

Loading up all the old shutters (June 2014)

Also in June of 2014, I got a wild hair to convert the spring house into something we'd get more use/enjoyment out of. I gutted it, demolished the back side wall, removed the doors and windows, put a new deck inside and converted it into a sort of outdoor living space. Can't believe I didn't think to do it sooner. We love having this area to sit, watch the creek and kids play in the back yard. It's an excellent space and wonderful addition to the property!

In July of 2014 we had the box gutters in the back part of the home framed over and replaced with standard hang-on gutters. I hated to do this but after battling a lot of water damage and continued leaking, I felt we had little choice. The box gutters still remain and work beautifully on the main section of the home. At the same time we had the soffits rebuilt with composite material and all of the decorative cornice work cleaned and repainted. All of the other painted sections of the exterior were also painted. This work was done by Rex Bell.

 Ella and I built a model for a school project of hers.February 2016

Treehouse modifications. 2016

Full moon

Gas Fireplaces

It's been a long time since I've posted anything. I'll need to think about what I've forgotten to post since my last.

Recently we had our wood burning fireplaces converted to gas on the main level. Until this point we used alcohol burning canisters in them on very rare occasions. The fireplaces include the living room, library and master bedroom. Lynn's uncle Eddie Geier was gracious enough to do the work for us. He is a newly retired pipe fitter from Belden. He is not only very knowledgeable but also very in tune with the historic nature of our home. He was perfect for the job. I've attached a rather comical sketch he later delivered to us. Ella (age 4) and Zack (age 2) really enjoyed his occasional visits. I think Eddie really enjoyed coming over also. He and the kids got some bonding time in that they would not have otherwise. I'd say Eddie had to make around 10 visits to complete the work. As expected, he did an incredible job. All of the gas lines are ran immaculately and in a way as to not disturb the integrity of the architecture.

We're very excited to put all three of the ventless gas fireplaces to use this winter. Who knows, maybe we can enlist Eddie's help one day to do the fireplaces upstairs too :)

Living in an Antique

Our friend Dick Brown sent this in the mail. It's an article from The Courier-Times, New Castle, IN, Monday, December 18 1995 newspaper...