For the past two years Kay and I worked almost non-stop on the house in Arcadia, FL... Getting it ready so that we could generate the most money possible when it sold, that way we could (hopefully) pay off most of our bills, find a new home in NC and ease on into our retirement. That worked out, but while all that work was going on we (mostly me) had said over and over, "When we get to North Carolina, I Will Not work on our next house, it will be fixed up already, it will need nothing!
Well... So much for that idea!!!...
1/6/2005...Welcome too our New/Old House...
Projects:
Go here to see what we are currently
working on.
Siding:
11/15/05... And yet another update.
11/07/05... Update pix posted.
7/01/05... We have finally started hanging the siding!
Garage:
3/3/05...Installed some house wrap and started getting ready for a concrete
floor in the garage.
Heat, AC & Electrical:
1/31/05 The heat & AC HAD to be first on the To-Do list! Check it out.
And... Check out these pages:
GrandPa Ken's WoodWorking Shop
Tools Page
As seen in the photos below, my resolve to 'not work on' our next house did
not hold up!
The home was built in 1880 and the previous owners had lived in it for about 30 years, putting in lots of work through the years, but there is still plenty to do. We have been in the house about one month and some of the needed upgrades and additions have already taken place, but it will take us about two years to get it all done.
Here's a little look around the inside and outside, as you will see a number
of areas that need to be fixed up or finished.
Things to do:
Siding on garage and part of the house, windows in the garage, concrete floor in
garage, some siding fix up on the barn.
And... remove those two cheesy fish ponds from the front lawn!
On the inside most everything is OK already except for the kitchen cabinets,
master bedroom floor and a few other odds and ends that we will do at some
point.
Stuff already done:
New central heat and air unit, the old heat was a wood burning
furnace that made hot water for the heat, lots of work and money to keep it
running and if you let the fire die down you froze your butt off till the water
temp came back up.
Upgraded electrical, we had an electrician replace the old
system with a new 200 Amp service.
Install a propane gas system for the new furnace, kitchen range (new), hot
water heater (new).
This old wood cook stove came with the house, Kay has plans to learn how to use
it to bake bread and pies.
I am drooling already!!!
Jake and Minnie like this New/Old House a lot, Keith kind of likes it too.
Work on the kitchen cabinets has started already, the one with no doors had a
double oven (electrical) and that had to go.
Kay only cooks with gas, ya know... maybe with wood also now that she has that
old wood stove.
As you can see, the garage needs siding and the roof is not matching the house,
it needs a new red metal makeover.
This shot includes the back side of the barn.
And the front... this barn will serve as my woodworking shop, lots and lots to
do.
Outback... We have slightly over one acre of land, just enough for a nice
garden...
The building on the right is a tobacco barn, after the tobacco leaves were
picked and carried in from the fields it would be stored in these old log barns
to dry and cure. There are log racks inside the barn and the bundles of tobacco
leaves were hung from the racks so that air could circulate around the bundle.
There is a very small stream just past the barn.
