Shore Side Farm House

The Wagon Train is Starting to Roll ....start with daylilies

2019-07-13T14:40:00.001-04:00

Its been a busy time here at Shore Side Farm House...the house is much improved twelve years after taking on this humongous project. Even after 12 years the work does not stop. You gotta be dedicated to work to take on a 19th century home, nothing fixes itself and money doesn't grow on trees....if only!!! So you go through times of energy, times of sloth, times of funds and times of no funds at all. The heart gets motivated, the body gets exhausted and the house gets improved, or put on the back burner, depending on how the wind blows. For a long time the wind has been blowing us backwards! Our sails are filling and we are beginning to take on additional projects which have been in progress and which we will up here over the next few months....so subscribe and you will get our updates! Lots of pictures and ideas here on our site. We hope to see you again.

This lily is from my Grandma's house in NY state. She gave it to me in 1974 and she had cultivated it long before that.

Right now its daylily time at Shore Side Farm House. We are blessed with a plethora of daylilies....actually it wasn't a blessing. It was a plan! There wasn't a daylily on the place when we bought it. Amazing as it is a house that is nearly 150 years old and native daylilies are a hearty creature, you pretty much can't kill them! But we have added lots of varieties tall and short. Some were brought with us from New York and have done well. Other disappeared never to be seen and yet others were imported from Home Depot...where I must say I have bought some beautiful lilies like the pink and purple one above.

I call this my lemon lily (above). Grandma offered it to me when I bought my first house in 1974 and it has been with me since then. Moving from New York to Maryland 12 years ago. This is a tall variety. It has a wonderful lily fragrance that can be smelled across the yard The color is a rich full yellow, no shyness here. This one is a star. It has a beautiful fine long thin dark blue green leaf

This photo shows the growth pattern of the pink flower on top of the page. It is a hearty bloomer with good drought tolerance and a full head of blooms...not a great picture but it shows the vitality of this variety

This one to the right is about the most prolific daylily you will ever plant. It is a Stella D'Doro variety and it considered a great border plant. It blooms all summer, most prolific early on and then sporatically through the summer. It is very hearty and colorful, a good choice for a novice gardener.

daylily with sundrops make a great swarth of yellow

Stellla D'Oro variety in first bloom of the year

Daylilies are easy to divide and multiply, Simply dig up the plant gently and separate the plant systems which in this case are an orange tuber. Each one will grow a plant if cared for after dividing.

Bathroom Renovation....new Granite Top over a Maple Vanity

2019-05-11T02:15:00.000-04:00

vanity in process of installation with craftsman

bathroom condition when we occupied the house

Picking fixtures was done slowly step by step. All fixtures were not chosen at once. Each piece was selected individually, but chosen to match the set unlike the turquoise, white and beige fixtures in the bathroom when we purchased it.(seen above) Our bottom line was to have a coherent look in the room, as opposed to piecemeal oddities seen in the photo above left.

new maple vanity, wide and shiny!

vanity requires leveling

A new maple vanity with olden and brown granite top, a white under counter sink that is deep, with roomy drawers for storage, graces the opposite wall. No water splashes back out on the wall or the counters when the water is running full blast, in this nice deep sink. Until I used this sink I never realized that a deep sink was a desirable design! As for picking fixtures for this room, we made some great decisions. The room is beautiful and bright.

The vanity we picked, also has storage.There are six drawers for daily necessities such as combs and toothbrushes. Two doors in the middle bottom store taller and larger items, in addition to allowing plumbing access and some cleaning item storage.

new maple vanity with granite top laid in place

One more point about this room, it has an amazing view of the Nanticoke River. There's a broad water view for 2 1/2 mile straight ahead. Lots of light from the northwest and river reflections. Since this is an old farmhouse the room was not built as a bathroom. After conversations with a woman whose grandmother owned this house I believe the room was a luggage room in its infancy It seems we are doing okay with this reno. We believe others will enjoy it too.

For now the vinyl floor we put in will stay. It is an improvement over the original seen in the photo at top above, but hardwood or ceramic tile would be something I would pick other than how it was when we purchased. Maybe it will happen in time.

new vanity with granite top and new faucet,2 days invested, and a much improved bathroom emerges after much effort

This Delta faucet is high enough to wash under without getting a stiff neck!

sink close up

granite close up

Spring 2019 has Arrived! Explosions of Color!

2019-05-08T19:30:00.002-04:00

Nearly five foot high azaleas

Upon arriving home to Shore Side Farm House two large Red Orange Azaleas greeted me at my front entrance. Their splash of color immediately lifted my soul. They are a payoff. Time, planning and nurturing created them...that and a

huge investment energy. Serious personal investment, conjured with faith it would all work, created a sustenance for myself and others.

My gardening adventures are just that, an investment, a risk taken, an endeavor of projected payoff. Spring is payoff time. BIG payoff time. The 2019 Spring parade is marching ahead. Be sure to look around and enjoy it. It is fleeting.
I wasn't here for the commencement, but boy I am enjoying catch up. The rest of the parade promises pure joy....color, color then more color...peppered by hummingbird visits, mothering house wrens, and responsible Cardinal parents. What a wonderful ride...below are natural treasures I encountered today. I'm so grateful for the ride!

French Weigela

This pink beauty to the left is a show stopper! Look at the patterning inside the flower trumpet. Pollinators are even more impressed with this French Weigela bush than I am. It is usually covered with dueling bees and hummingbirds. The duels are actually quite entertaining.

Columbine brings great color but also a fascinating shape to ponder. This self seeds yearly and grows new plants. This one is a about a 40th grandchild of the original I grew from seed back in the 70s.

Purple/blue Siberian Iris make a great combination with the columbine. They are blooming simultaneously and are planted right next to each other as seen in the next photo.

Columbine and Siberian Iris blooming simultaneously...how nice!

Bathroom Renovation,Custom Linen Closet, 50lbs in a 10 lb basket

2019-05-07T22:54:00.002-04:00

A linen closet short of stature, but big on customized storage
.

Mr is a very talented carpenter who easily carries out my complex design plans when detailed in presentation. Shoreside Farmhouse is a typical aged farmhouse, storage is not in the original design. As my neighbor, the granddaughter of the original builder told us "they were poor farmers, that house had no luxuries!" In addition to no luxuries they didn't have many possessions, therefore having no need for storage. This bathroom was a luggage room as my neighbor remembers, there was nothing but a bare floor to rest luggage on. It was later converted to the bathroom, once plumbing was introduced into the home. Nothing but fixtures were installed in the room.

Six long full shelves only 20" wide but 30" long

All shelves pull fully out for loading and unloading

Modern times, with possessions, necessities and conveniences...not to mention linens, called for the creation of a custom closet. Our design, customized to provide an amazing super efficient linen closet. To maximize the small space the closet was squeezed into, built ins were necessary. Pull outs, much like those in a kitchen pantry maximized every inch to maximum efficiency. Each shelf is over 30" deep. Each shelf is a small closet in itself, and each fully pulls out on rolling drawer slides for loading and unloading. One shelf holds towels, another rugs, another toiletries and gadgetry such as hair dryer, curlers, flat iron.

We cannot overstate the value of this closet. There was definitely an investment made in this closet, but the payoff was well beyond the expense incurred. Every square inch of this closet is exploited to our advantage.
My advice would be to seriously weigh your options if you find yourself in these circumstances. Several hundred dollars invested in a situation such as this could change your experience of living in your house. For us it was worth every cent.

Bathroom Renovations , Delta tub unit and Maple vanity with granite top

2019-04-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

after renovation, replaced toilet, vanity, tub, linen closet customization

After-

After a long interlude renovations have again begun on the Shore Side Farmhouse. The bathroom in this house was the pits and stayed the pits for about ten years. I don't know how we tolerated it. In fact, I did not tolerate it. I moved out!...that's another story. After all these years something has been done with it. In fact its quite better, now that something has been done with it. A rather nice updating has been done, with a few holdovers being recycled but mostly new items in the renovation.

before renovation

The bath had turquoise/green fixtures(as seen to the left in the only before shot I could find)...well turquoise toilet and sink...when we moved in. Please note that all the plumbing pipes were mounted on the walls, not in them!!! The tasteless former owners had replaced the turquoise sink...or maybe I should say upgraded (in their view) the turquoise wall sink to a 1980s oak plywood vanity with a beige sink. Around the turquoise tub they put a white tub "surround". "Surround" is in quotes because it was nothing more than a sheet of plastic no thicker than 3/16th of an inch, that was seriously ugly and had ceased to be white many years ago. The surround had mellowed to a dull vintage orange beige due to the iron in the water.... All in all a great look.Beige sink and turquoise fixtures, what a fashion forward combo! Anyway, believe it or not Mr happily lived with this for over ten years. Thankfully it all went to the great bathroom in the sky, or more practically the dump, this past year.

Gratefully it was replaced with a super Delta brand tub, deep enough to actually soak in...bubble baths always a good thing...with a white surround with convenient shelves to hold shampoos etc. and a white elongated bowl tall height toilet with push button plumbing.

A deep wonderful tub on this Delta unit. This is really a great product, I love it! Deep, comfortable and easy to clean!

Lots of handy shelves....what a pleasure!...room for all of the necessities

so white, shiny and clean....we love this unit, the first of its kind we approve of...

That Delta set is a winner, for sure. So is the vanity, granite top and the deep sink. Next time I will share info about the vanity and sink.

Bathroom Fixtures Needed

2017-04-30T23:57:00.000-04:00

We have been living without towel racks and toilet tissue holder since this bathroom was installed. It is a very inconvenient and disorganized way to live. We are in this situation because we cannot agree on an acceptable design. What is acceptable to Mr. is not acceptable to Mrs.. We have an eclectic mix of styles in this room. There is a traditional vanity,

traditional vanity

very modern lavatory and a classic marble tile.

Classic marble tile

On the other hand the style of the bath is quite modern and up to date. The shower is modern in style and traditional in tile.

We do have some wall fixtures in mind. They come from Ikea. We have had the same line in two other kitchens and baths. They are attractive and reasonable cost. Here's some pictures of what we have in mind.

This selection is a black wrought iron look with white china trim

towel bar #1

toilet paper holder

Multi towel bar, folds flat against the wall, comes forward for use

Back in the Saddle of Construction Chaos

2016-11-03T22:05:00.000-04:00

I see it has been nearly a year since I have posted on this blog. I needed a break from the house renovations and my blogs. It has been a year well spent and a lot of work and improvements have happened. The time away from writing the blog, and from being enveloped in construction, has recharged me. I'm hoping this motivates me to do some more documentation of the changes and improvements at Shore Side Farm House.

Last I posted we were in the middle of a never ending bathroom renovation. Here, in frank confession I will say it all seems never ending! I digress. Anyway the bathroom rolled along pitter patter like the feet of a baby growing into those of a child. A bit at a time, one aspect building on the other and voila! All of a sudden, its done and you wonder where the time went. Inconvenience decreases, and you can see the value in patience. Skipping to the bottom line:, the bathroom came out beautifully.

Selecting building materials was a challenge. We chose not to install a stylistically modern bathroom in

Marble tile with Blue Pearl granite accents

Bench seat in shower

an 1870 house. It had to be comfortable, technically modern not antique. Our selection was a white carrera marble with gray veining and shiny white flecks that glimmer in light. Large tiles gave us broad expanse of solid surface minimizing grouted surface. In addition large tiles covered the walls and floor in a shorter period of time. Limiting the grout, simplifies routine maintenance. An entire wall of white marble proved to be a bit boring. The choice of accent marble tiles was limited, limited being a kind description. Truly it means a dearth of selections. Blue pearl granite was chosen to create a decorative blue border around the shower enclosure and the floor. The style of banding on the floor harkens back to old times. The marble tile keeps the room mold and moisture proof. Tile installation went on for quite some time.

Putting a bench seat in the shower proved to be very challenging. We felt the seat was necessary to simplify personal hygiene and accommodate elderly and younger residents.. It has proven to be a great comfort in self care.

Tile installation went on for quite some time. Putting a bench seat in the shower proved to be very challenging. We felt the seat was necessary to simplify personal hygiene and accommodate elderly and younger residents.. It has proven to be a great comfort in self care.

Bank Run floor stones

We choose bank run stone tile sheets to lay a section at a time as opposed to setting each stone individually. Their soft gray tones blend well with the white and gray Carrera marble walls and floor. All in all the room is super high end, extremely pleasurable and comfortable to work in.

We chose to install a in marble box shelf in the wall to hold shampoos and soap products. The shelf
removes them from arm movements Shampoos and soaps remain on the shelf, they do not crash onto bare toes or the floor.

Next posting will cover the vanity choice and installation.

Picking Bathroom Tiles, More Progress, Some Encouragement...

2015-08-29T18:20:00.000-04:00

Subway tiles seem to be the most popular style
at this time. These tiles are on a sheet that gets installed
all at once. These are white and have a slightly transparent
quality to them. They are nice for a glitzy look.

It seems like the ball is rolling again. Every time the ball starts rolling it is stopped by some unforeseen catastrophe. A broken water line, a failed heat pump, a grown child with a house maintenance problem of their own....that we get suckered into....Finally there has been a bank of time that has helped more this project along. We missed the summer, that came and went while we were wrapped up in this nonsense. To me it is just not worth it anymore. I have done this house renovation for too much of my life and I am done with it. I'm ready to be a tenant!

Another subway tile...there are lots of variations...
this one is a ceramic with a textured look. It would be
pretty boring alone so it needs something to pep
it up a bit.

The progression is giving hope to the final product. The final product is looking very seductive. A new clean level bathroom is a luxury we haven't lived with in eight years since we bought this old place. This eight years has given that clean and new look a gravity it has never held before. I want to wake up in clean and neat places, no spackle dust, no building materials in my face. Needless to say, we are not there yet. If you are considering a project like this measure its effect on your life. It has a way of taking it over and you don't have a life. That gets to be discouraging and painful. Think about it many times before you take up the saw, sledge hammer and crowbar. You could save yourself a lot of time, money and happiness, and maybe even your relationship.

This flooring tile is sold to match the larger subway tile above.
The squares go on the floor and the subways on the wall for a nice
contrast and interest between the two

As for the bathroom aspect of the project, it is decision making time. We went out to shop for ceramic or granite tile, and found many possibilities we thought we could live with. I'll show you some of them in this posting.

In the style of subway tiles, we found two neutral tiles that would work. But, after looking we decided we want something more traditional. These are ceramic and we have decided that they are too modern for an old house.

This is a sample suggested combo being shown in the store.
These are shown at Home Depot. We have done well with
Home Depot for many of our purchases, This tile is
marble, yes, marble. We decided that it is an older more
traditional material and that we should try to lean that way in
our choices. There are many items to choose from.

I really like this combination of shapes colors and details.This is a sample that was posted in the store as a suggested combination of elements. Each gets purchased separately and then is combined at installation. There are squares about 3"x3", longer bar shaped molding pieces above and below a sheet mosaic of smooth river rock. It is all mostly gray and white, but a big variety of values are seen in the marble tiles. None of it is regular, because it is a natural product,only nature controls those colors. The irregularities are the attraction and yet undesirable to some folks who like a very uniform look in their tiles. We like the river rock and the bar moldings, but we felt the small squares were going to be too difficult to clean in a shower. We have chosen a large 12" square marble tile for the walls, river rock mosaic for traction on the floor of the shower and the moldings with some blue pearl granite bars in between the marble moldings. A picture of that molding and tile combination is shown below.

White marble tiles, blue pearl granite bars in between marble moldings..All forms a border at the top of the shower stall. The
little tabs in the photo are the spacers used for placing the tiles in the right spot on the wall, and holding it there.

The Never Ending Renovation

2015-08-21T02:47:00.000-04:00

Oh, this whole project is like being in prison. Construction debris is everywhere. Our entire living space has been overcome with materials, debris, and dust. It has forced me to go live somewhere else. I am still recording progress on the project.

The picture below pretty much tells the story of the cramped conditions, and mess.

In addition to the inconvenience of the mess, the close quarters impeded the progress of construction. The porch of the house is also covered with materials and debris...really difficult living and working conditions..to say the least. Hence the two month project has stretched to a torturous year long mess.

The project creeps along, but there is progress with each day. Most of the room looks like this during construction and the other side of the room looks like the photos below. ...So there is hope for the project if we live long enough to see it!

note the original door preserved for reinstallation

New Bedroom Decisions Made, Bathroom Reconstruction Beginning

2015-08-21T01:21:00.000-04:00

Things are moving along, and the new floorplan is certainly looking promising. Covering the awful brown of the old sheet rock, has been a big visual improvement. The one wall that is remaining intact has been covered with new wallboard and Spackle. Essentially that and reworked moldings are all that is going to be changed on this wall.

Decisions have been made about the ceiling discussed in the last posting. It has been established, that the ceiling can not be torn out to expose the joists and floor boards above. I am disappointed but resigned to the fact that there are design limitations, and this is one of them. The ceiling boards conceal multiple wires and pipes. If that it removed, all the wires and pipes would have to be re-run again in order to conceal them somehow, adding much to the cost of the project. The ceiling stays.

Division of space, bedroom beige floor in foreground,
utility room on left with checkered floor, bath on right

The rebuilding of the bathroom space has commenced. That can be seen on the right in the photo above. Studs have been installed for new bathroom walls. The finished space will be approximately 4' x 10'. Seeing the studs in place establishing concrete room space, makes it much easier to visualize the finished room. It is certainly not big, but not tiny either. A few more feet either way would be nice, but that is not possible because we are redoing existing space that is already under roof . We can not expand our living space, we are simply rearranging it to suit our twenty-first century needs.

Seeing the structure has validated our floor plan decisions. Space division is turning our nicely. Now all we have to do and live through the renovations!

bedroom space being worked

Voila! the bathroom to be

Demolition Continues......Making a Master Bathroom

2015-08-21T01:02:00.000-04:00

Old window that would not open was replaced with a modern window

Demolition and reconstruction continue on the master bathroom project. Junk and rubble are piling up where once storage was piling up. At this point there are five giant bags of rubbish to haul to the dump, just to make enough room to work. It has been several days and progress is visibly obvious.

utility room door, demolished wallboard, and original
wall peeking out behind wall board sections leaning on
wall next to door..this original wall has horizontal boards

First off both doors to the bathroom and the utility room were removed and preserved for future use. These are original doors and considering the rest of the house has these doors, we must reuse them whereever possible. These doors are more detailed, and of different specifications than modern doors. The antique doors are visibly thinner than modern doors. These doors also have a box lock, some have Bennington knobs, and there is even a door with a trace of faux painting on it...that turned up when Mr decided to strip a door without consulting. Unfortunately he removed part of the faux painting job I would have loved to preserve. Going forward we will have to determine the fate of that faux painted door, which now has an interesting chippy shabby chic look.

original wall hiding behind sheet rock circa 1960

Next the sheet rock covering the wall was cut and removed in one piece. This piece was cut in two to make the piece easier to remove from the room. Once this piece was removed from the wall a wall of rough hewn framing lumber was exposed. Mr expected this wall to be a 1960 construction, exposing it proved him wrong. This required a fresh look at the situation and a new discussion of the possibilities.

In the next posting work will continue to demolish the old bathroom, in order to frame in a perimeter for the new bathroom with shower. The rebuilt utility room will be hidden behind walls and doors and will provide a bit of utility storage that did not exist before.

Demolition Uncovers Original Construction

2015-08-21T00:53:00.000-04:00

Original wall construction, stud and cut nails visible

The existing bathroom walls and one utility room wall have been removed. The wall between the bathroom and the future bedroom was found to be an original construction wall. The carpenter expected to find a wall constructed around 1960 and instead he found an original 1860 wall. We regretted having to demolish it, since there is not much left of the original house here. The previous owners destroyed almost all original elements, so we would like to find some use for this expanse of wall, if we can come up with a use for it. Pass the word to us via comments at the bottom if you have a great idea on how to preserve this by upcycling it into some new use.

The construction of this wall is distinctly different than modern construction. This wall was constructed with 2" x5" studs and tongue and groove rough hewn boards.

rough hewn lumber

None of the frame lumber is planed at all. It is all very rough, very textured. It was obvious that they did not use modern processed lumber. Square cut nails were the nail of choice and they were installed in strict straight lines along the stud. The side of the lumber that was an interior surface at some point, was painted a very gray green color and had the evidence of a couple of shelves being attached to it at some time.

tops of 2"x 5" original studs, original gray paint seen on board on the upper right

More Window Construction

2015-08-15T11:19:00.000-04:00

Here are more photos of the window installations. Two posts back I posted some exterior photos of the openings and the old and new windows. Today I'm posting interior photos of the same window installations. You might see a bit of the pretty view out of the windows.

Prepping inside the building for a window installation

It has to be just so. No window is a big improvement over the windows that were there!

Tyvek makes a huge difference in wind penetration of the wall

Opps guess this picture should have been place before the previous one, oh well...
the windows are ready for the tyvek

Pretty far along on installation here. Tyvek is on, windows are in. The trim has been started and you can see how the final window exterior will look..without siding yet

working the interior, note the original interior door on the right...
we chose to keep it for the "charming" antique look

New window, trimmed in with some siding restoration on the left

The project is moving along, but the "three month" construction schedule proposed by the carpenter was very underestimated. We are about one year into this project...but much further along than the photographs here would indicate.

Building the Bathroom and Bedroom 1870s Farmhouse

2015-08-08T23:23:00.002-04:00

As we progress with this project, we are continually surprised with structures or previous renovations we find in the house. As usual each foible required a creative solution to the dilemma it presented. 2 x 4s were actually 2" x 4"...and balloon framing was the style of the day. This time we actually found two original bead board walls inside the construction zone. This wall below was painted battleship gray and was constructed of lumber which appeared to be cut on the property or the local area. Being it was so interesting and textured we cut the wall out and saved it for some future use. In another instance we found a niche created in a wall, both were covered by a newer sheetrock wall surface.

The gray section above is the beadboard segment
cut from the original wall.

A shot of the original wall,

no insulation, exposed wires.

Note the lumber sheathing

The wall behind the wall cabinets were never painted.

The lack of a primer coat or even just paint caused the wall board to turn brown. That

brown appears to be caused by acid in the wall board paper. The damage looks

like an artwork that has not been done on acid free paper. The brown was pretty disguisting and had to be removed. The brown color could not be covered with paint.

Bedroom Reconstruction Progresses

2015-07-31T18:45:00.000-04:00

Boy, this project has been torture. So many things have gone wrong, and we did not anticipate how many elements would have to be replaced. This added to our construction schedule and construction costs significantly. It is a good thing that I am not the craftsman because I would have tossed in the towel long ago. I'll try to post new segments more frequently and I will likely put a lot of photographs on the pages and not much text. Here goes.

The windows exteriors have nearly been completed. The finish work has changed the look of the windows. The moldings, sills, etc are significantly different and much improved. Lets take a look:

original windows..well these were in the
house when purchased

wall structure withut siding, but window iis instaled

two new windows in place

was double hung window, now
it has been chaged to a casement

Bedroom Building, Sheetrocking Ahead, Master Suite Renovation

2014-12-10T01:56:00.000-05:00

Looking into the new bathroom, undressed walls visible to establish the space in the new bedroom

I apologize to my readers for the delay in new postings. I am sure you must think we have fallen off the face of the earth. Well, we haven't fallen off the face of the earth, but we have come pretty close to it with this project. A slower project I can not imagine. In addition to the struggles with this project, my computer fried and I had quite a bit of difficulty replacing it and then even more trouble adjusting to the new programing. I have a touch screen and an apps format. Since I did not have a smart phone until after this new computer, I had no idea how to grasp the new concepts included in this new computer....so I struggled, have finally leveled out a bit and am now ready to attempt to pick up the pieces and move forward .

bottom or new wall with existing flooring

interiors of existing windows, they had to go

This project has eaten nearly every moment of the last six months and still has another month to go before completion. This renovation has been so slow, so expensive and very difficult work.Retrofitting into an already established space is far more difficult than adding on, or gutting an entire house I can't even begin to explain how and why it has taken six months to get this far, other than that. After six months it is just approaching completion. How Mr has continued to work on this frustrating project is a mystery to me.I do admire his fortitude in facing this restoration. I can't bear to be anywhere near it, including photographing and writing about the work done by someone else! As I have digressed with this paragraph, I will try to focus in and get the documentation going again for all those who might be interested. ....here we go.....

When I last wrote of the project in August, the framing for the walls and new room layout was
standing but had not yet been covered with wallboard. I am not sure how many photos I have or how strong my documentation is, but I will now attempt to fill in the blanks from then to now. The photo at top is a look at the space established to create a new bathroom inside the existing space. Part of this space was a half bath when we purchased the house. It was a pretty vile powder room with outdated and discolored fixtures. The bowls of toilet and sink were iron stained orange, they were the original 1960s pink toilet and sink. New basic fixtures were installed when we first moved in, but those fixtures have taken a beating in this renovation. The toilet had a large wrench fall on it, breaking it into many pieces. A used toilet replacement also had its top shattered during work in the room. This whole project has been a "buster" from day one. Nothing was easy!

Window Changes in Renovation

2014-10-07T18:46:00.000-04:00

Before: old window still in place

As construction continued we thought it best to replace the existing windows. The windows had been replaced sometime in the 1960s, but seem to have not been maintained. Resulting in some pretty heavy damage. It seemed easier to replace them, than fix them.

Previous owners covered the windows with storm windows, and never painted them again. This did not bode well for working windows. As a result we made the decision to replace the windows in the new bedroom. The peeling paint and cracked panes were just awful looking, and we decided we could not tolerate seeing them in our room every day.

deteriorated condition of existing window

The old windows have been replaced with a more convenient style of window, not original to the structure. Sometimes you have to go for comfort rather than charm. That is the choice we decided upon for this application.

The new windows are casement windows. They are easy to open and provide a clear view of the water, and allow more light to flow into the room. New windows can be seen below. They have been installed, but are not fully finished. Finish carpentry inside will truly fit them to the interior space.

empty spot where window was

new casement window in place

New windows in place, shown below

Renovation continues

2014-08-15T19:13:00.000-04:00

We have had quite a bit of difficulty with the floor plan for the bathroom.
We want a shower stall with a

new bathroom wall construction

existing bathroom and toilet location

original all and stud

seating bench in it. It seemed an easy proposition to install a fiberglass shower unit with a seat in it, but the floor plan is preventing us from doing that. The toilet needs to be turned to make enough passage past it to reach the shower. Once the toilet is turned, it must back up a knee wall or it will be floating out by itself, and when in the shower you would see the raw unfinished back of the toilet. If the toilet is left in place, as seen in the photo below right, the passage past the front of the toilet would be only 18". We feel that that is insufficient for smooth traffic movement in the room. Our feeling is that nothing less than 24" would be acceptable and 30" would be much more desirable. In response to this decision the toilet was turned 90 degrees to the right and the waste line was moved about six inches to the right of its original location. Making these changes creates a passage of approximately 30" in front of the toilet. Moving the toilet makes it impossible to use a premade fiberglass shower unit, so now the shower will have to be built stick by stick, tile by tile. This will make the time frame needed to create the bathroom, much longer. We are not happy about this but sometimes you have no choice but to do the right thing.

As seen in the photo top right, the room construction on the bathroom has progressed. Taking out existing walls exposed original construction techniques and walls. Exposing that old construction alone, is a crap shoot. You never know what could turn up,and what changes will have to be made before current construction can continue. Fortunately, the demo did not expose any dangerous situations that had to be fixed.

New fiberglass insulation has been installed keeping pace with intended building schedules. The new insulation can be seen as the white wall portion of the photo at right. The room also had wallboard installed, to separate it from the sleeping chamber. It looks great, see the photo below. This is the same wall portion seen in the photo at the top of the posting. Spackle can be seen on the wall, it is to seal the wall board seams.

new bedroom walls that enclose the bathroom.

Reconstruction of Bathroom has begun

2014-08-10T17:10:00.000-04:00

Bathroom studs installed, old fiberglass removed, black bags of debris for the dump

yellow wallboards torn from existing walls

Rebuilding of the bathroom
space has commenced. Studs have been installed for new bathroom
walls. The finished space will be approximately 4' x 10'. Seeing the studs in place establishing concrete room space, makes it much easier to visualize the finished room. It is certainly not big, but not tiny either.

A few more feet either way would be nice, but that is not possible because we are redoing existing space that is already under roof . We can not expand our living space, we are simply rearranging it to suit our twenty-first century needs. Living with renovations is a gig I could give up. Tired of all the mess,chaos and noise. Unfortunately this is an unavoidable renovation, so we grin and bear it. At the end should be comfortable new space, and best of all a modern bathroom. We have hopes of a substantial change of living conditions with this alteration. The previous owners of the house took out a wall changing a three bedroom house into a two bedroom house. With this renovation the home should be back to its original sleeping capacity of three bed chambers.

fixtures and wallboard removed from bathroom

Bathroom Demolished, Revealing Original Features

2014-07-16T12:16:00.000-04:00

Demolition of the bathroom has been completed. Seeing the space as a completely empty space has given us a good idea of what the final bathroom size will be once the walls are up. It seems as if it will meet our expectations, and fulfill our needs if we employ good design and planning.

Tearing out the sheet rock and original walls has exposed some original elements of the structure. What we thought was a forty year old wall, ended up being a 140 year old wall. (seen below) It was removed in one piece to preserve it for future use. The original pieces we have removed from the house are very different dimensions than lumber that can be purchased now. The 2x4s were more like 3x5s, as opposed to modern 2x4s which don't even measure two or four inches. The nails used are wrought iron hand made nails. They are pretty neat.

Remnants of a 19th century tongue and groove wall,
removed as a whole

Instead of an easy demolition, it became a lot more complicated with the discovery of the 19th century wall. That wall was covered with horizontal tongue and groove wood that did not have a decorative bead cut into it. It was simply flat boards applied horizontally and it was painted gray. We believe it was the inside of a pantry or storage room, and as a result was not plastered.

remnants of a niche exposed during demolition

Another revelation was the discovery of remnants of a small niche in the wall that we believe must have been either kitchen shelves or a small cabinet. Whatever it was, its construction was certainly questionable. To create the sides of the cabinet they cut out the upright stud that holds up the floor and roof above it. Considering this is a balloon framed house, that was a bad idea.

bathroom wall with wall board removed and 1960s fiberglass insulation

Ripping out the 1960s remodeling exposed a lot of poorly done insulation application, and the poor choices of the inexperienced do it yourself homeowners who's inexperience is demonstrated in the unique construction. It seems as if they couldn't find their way out of a hardware store, let alone rebuild a historic building. What do you think? Comments welcomed below.

New Bathroom Progressing, New bed and bath existing structure: renovation

2014-07-09T19:40:00.000-04:00

Version 1-existing bathroom circa 1966,
this is what it looked like when we purchased the house

Version 2-New improved bathroom re-done in 2009 or so
demolished 2014

As usual creating this room is taking longer and costing more than anticipated. Nothing is new under the sun, I tell you! My sister's insight on home improvement is "it's the might as wells that get you". If you are changing the tub because of a scratch or a crack, you might as well replace the faucet and the shower enclosure. If you are repainting the walls and refinishing the floors, you might as well replace that yucky window or the room will still look pretty shoddy. As she says..."it's the might as wells will get you!" Isn't that the truth!

We are well into the "might as wells" on this project. If you look at the photos above you can see two of the incarnations of this bathroom space. On the left is the bathroom as it looked when we purchased the house. Depressing right? On the right is the "improved" bathroom we put in to replace the one on the left. Improvement was had by painting the whole place, replacing the flooring, the toilet and the vanity with clean and inexpensive fixtures like the pedestal sink. The powder room in this area will be improved to include a vanity with drawers. Currently the powder room does not have a tub or shower. We have decided to install one to make a full bath on the first floor....another "might as well".. more expense.

Originally we intended only to paint the room, cover the ugly floor and paint all the peeling mismatched windows. Mr has decided to do it right, and make the windows all the same size, and increase their size to the size originally installed in the house. This will bring in more light and optimize the water views. After demolition of the current windows, we discovered that they were installed sometime between 1960-70 by the folks we bought the house from, the windows are poor quality, and would not clean up well. The 1960s windows are also smaller than the original windows. Sooo.... this "might as well" is going to be new windows. Then there is the floor. We still haven't decided what to do with the floor. We know we would like hardwood. We are not sure if it would be affordable. We do know that the flooring in the rest of the house will not match...not happy about that problem...so decisions will have to be made.

Another pending decision will be what to do with the ceiling. I am pushing for removing the sheet rock to create exposed ceiling joists, then top them with a whitewash paint stain. Doing that will make the ceiling five inches higher in most spaces. Presently it is just reaching seven feet due to its civil war era dirt farmer farmhouse construction, any height increase would be most positive. What do you think..we could use some opinions. Share your opinion in the comments box to guide our decisions. More discussion about this will surely follow in future postings.

exposed ceiling in bathroom.

Bedroom Planning, Evaluating the Situation, Problem Solving

2014-06-22T02:25:00.000-04:00

Brown areas are what remains after removing the cabinets

This project is so slow. Neither of us want to be doing this project now. We are so burned out from our last project that we don't have the energy for this one...but it has to be done and it has to be done NOW! Plans and floor plans are developing as we survey the space and the possibilities.

The raw brown areas are the raw never
painted wall board areas on the
walls, ceilings and floors

Removing the cabinets exposed some pretty horrendous wallboard. The previous owners never even painted the wall board, they just nailed in the cabinets over raw sheet rock and called it a day. The wallboard is stained, brown and disintegrating because it had no paint on it. It has to go. This is what I mean by formulating plans as you go. When you work in an old house you just never know what is going to turn up, a problem, a relic, a piece of animal remains. It is the great mystery of restoration of an old building. Much of it makes no sense and makes problem solving a priority. Now we are evaluating the problems.

windows at different heights, electric outlets up at counter top height

Problem number one the creepy stained wallboard, has to go. The paper is disintegrating under finger touch, so it will not...repeat not...be able to take Spackle. Sooo all the wallboard must come out. Translation, a demolition twice the size of what was intended is about to commence. No choice, just is. Lots more time needed for the project. We knew the cabinets were history, not the wallboard. Removing the wallboard does open an opportunity to solve another problem. Many of the outlets in the room are at counter height. Counter height sockets look strange in a bedroom. They will be replaced and moved lower on the wall once the wallboard is removed. They will be installed at proper height from the floor and new wallboard will go over them.

"newer" floor is raised up over the original

The windows in the room are all at different heights...three windows. Two of the windows can be seen in the top photo of this posting. Window #1 is small and was over a sink (left window with air conditioner in photo), it must be made to match the window opposite it on the same wall (top photo, window on the right)...so that means the two windows on that wall will be replaced so that they match each other and will be symmetrical. The third window in the room will likely be replaced too because it is going to fall inside the enlarged bath area, it will have to go.
This room seemed like a small project.... ha ha ha.

before: mismatched peel and stick tiles, what do you think of this combination?

The floor is raised up over the original. We were assured by the previous owners that there was nothing wrong with the floor underneath, they just wanted a uniform surface to install those beautiful, mis-matched peel and stick floor tiles. Well, only half of that appears to be true. The floor is not level under the newer raised up floor. So the "newer" floor is going to stay because it is somewhat more level . It lowers the ceiling height several inches, but hey, just how much are you going to do to make this bedroom? So, the floor is staying and we will have to figure out what to put over it. Carpet is not a choice, hardwood would lower the ceiling even more, and peel and stick tiles is not even an option. Maybe laminate would do...we'll see. What do you suggest?

More next time..see ya.

Bedroom Reno, Storage Room to Bedroom

2014-06-11T11:57:00.000-04:00

Though the room is a kitchen per se, the previous owners and then we followed, used the room as a storage room. Honestly, who needs a second kitchen other than folks with religious needs?...Not our problem! Another bedroom, and storage now those are our problems! So it begins.

After living here seven years, and not having any storage what so ever...attic access has a ceiling built over it...a brilliant design move by the couple we bought the house from, we are rather fed up with the no storage situation. Losing the old kitchen and only storage

room is a big loss and leaves us with a giant mess that has to be housed somewhere. No garage, no shed, no storage space...big problems in a modern life if you have stuff. In the 1860s when this place was built nobody had possessions other than farm equipment, so a barn sufficed. The couple that owned the house before us made the decision to burn the barn down rather than treat an insect problem., stupid if you ask me but to each his own. As a result this place has a dearth of storage. It is problematic, always, and especially at this moment of our renovation lives. We forge on.

The space is pretty large once it was emptied. It is approximately 15' x 17' . We hope to finish with a 12' x 15' bedroom in that area. Closets will have to be allotted for, much of the raw space will disappear into the closets. We dream of putting a shower in the powder room that is there now, but this is not decided yet. It is a goal that will solidify as we progress.

New Project, a New Bedroom from an Old Kitchen

2014-06-04T12:18:00.001-04:00

This project has been discussed from day one of seeing this house when it was for sale. We knew the house needed work. We did not realize it needed enough work to break the bank!

Before: Second superfluous kitchen which needs to be removed

The previous owners ranged from the original builder Mr Insley, to an upper crust family from Johnstown Pennsylvania who used it for a summer vacation home, next a poor dirt farmer who passed the house down to his children none of whom ever lived in it after inheriting it, to the 80+ year old couple we bought it from. The house was built sometime aournd 1870. In the 1960s the couple we bought it from, purchased the house from the group of family members that owned the house conglomerately because of an inheritance. During their ownership the house had several lives. We undertand it to have been a bar and a church in two different eras, and has spent much of its life as a rental property. The house has had lots of hands involved in changing it for the good and for the bad. The floor plan is quite interesting. I have never seen a floor plan like this...and to tell you the truth I would never repeat it in another home. It is not optimum for contemporary living. One must walk through multiple rooms to reach other rooms...very inconvenient. With this project we hope to improve the floor plan and improve our bedroom spaces.

Before: old kitchen space to become bedroom

When purchased the house had two kitchens. Neither was very pleasant or crisp. Both had to go. Kitchen #1 had to go because it was worn out, the other, Kitchen #2, had to go because it was ugly and superfluous. This project involves removing the superfluous one. Out it goes. I am will share any before pictures I find. Pictures of the space after the cabinets are removed will be in the next posting in a few days.

This posting establishes our intention to make a bedroom from the old kitchen space that has been a storage room for thirty years, and in further postings I will document the progress of the project. Its back on here at Shore Side Farm House. Our project at another location is completed and a new one here is commenceing. God bless this house...here we go back into the undertow. .

Plague Epidemic, Ladybugs, Horse flies, Green Head Flies,Dragonflies, Mosquitos, Fruitflies, what next?

2014-05-27T21:00:00.000-04:00

Dragonfly on iron stand

Insects plagues are endemic here. The first invasion I remember witnessing here, left massive quantities of dead, orange, lady bugs with black spots, piled up on a window sill in the attic. The carcuses deeply piled and stranded on the windowsill under the glass pane. That scenario has reoccurred this year and it actually pretty gross. These hording herds would turn up regularly this winter, they'd swarm the window panes and crunch underfoot on the floor. Not my idea of a comfortable home for sure. There are not as many carcasses piled in heaps under the windows this year, but they are here and it is pretty frustrating to deal with their

invasion. I was reading in bed the other morning about 1am when something hit me hard ont he side of the head.. Startled, I put my hand up to my temple to feel the spot, only to find a ladybug posted on my forhead. It was just so weird, to be chasing ladybugs in December! Though the ladybugs seemed to have worked their way out of the house, yellow jackets have now moved in. They were here over the winter. I would regularly find one on a window pane or crawling on the floor, but their numbers were not as prolific as the ladybugs.

tiny spider found on the wall

Today I came upon my first wood spider...wood spiders are three or four inches across, depending on the one you encounter. They are hairy looking and very quick footed due to their long legs. Creepy only begins to describe their looks. I killed one today, and I know there are lots of folks who will be upset that I did that, but a gut reaction comes up when this big hairy thing startles you when you are minding your own business and going about life. News flash to all spiders...you will be killed if you come into my house. You have a giant yard to explore and I will never be in the crawl space, that is yours too. The house is my domain and I will do all within my power to eliminate you in my living quarters!

One of our friends here joked about this the other day. "I think the ladybugs are done. I am getting ready for the mayflies....followed by the green head flies, mosquitos, dragonflies and then the fruitflies." The comment brought a big laugh from all in the group. These are some of the tolerances you build up when you live in the country. City dwellers learn to tolerate cacaroaches, water bugs, bed bugs and rats. We in the country learn an adaptaion of those skills starting with our insect invasions. We waited for spring to come after this wicked winter, yet here it all begins...bring on the bugs.