The Shop...... Curtis's Recreational Home

 Well, it just goes without saying...... Curtis is a master craftsman, so no home would be complete without a place for him to create the beautiful things he enjoys making so much.

He is so proud of this shop, 1200 square feet just on the bottom level, and another 600 square feet upstairs.  It is already plumbed for a bathroom too.

The very first thing he did was get his workshop finished so that he could work from here rather than trying to work from the shop in Brigham.  As you can imagine, he is quite excited with how large and bright it is..... and insulated very well so it stays really cool even in August!

This is the shop as we bought it.  The ceiling on the lower level is more and 9 feet tall, so there is ample work in there for wood working, even after Curtis gets all his toys in here.

Curtis framed in a wall to make an enclosed area for the wood projects, them put sheathing up in the entire room.   He rewired the entire shop so it was all done just the way he wanted.

Curtis did the shop right before we got married, so Janice was here to help him put on the finishing touches, scrub floors and move some of his larger tools into the new shop.  It was so nice to have her here!!

All moved in and hard at work!

September 13-25....... Let the craziness begin!!!

The materials for the roof were delivered on Monday, the 13th!! I took a day off from the whole packing/moving business because I wanted to be there when the delivery truck got there. Curtis was outside working and I was in the kitchen with a sketch pad and a pencil, drawing up something that might look like a laundry room some day.  It was such a thrill to hear that truck come up the hill..... this is when the fun really begins.

Curtis ordered 110 sheets of sheathing, and  54 square (5400 sq ft) of shingles and tar paper, and all the other odds and ends needed to do a roof.  Our shingles are "Weathered Wood" colored, supposed to be very neutral, since we haven't decided 100 percent on the color of siding.

The next day, Curtis and Travis started removing shingles on two sections of the roof...... there are thirteen different sections total!! They found that the old original section of the house had two layers of shakes (wooden shingles) and a layer of asphalt shingles. 

Almost two weeks later, they are still working on that roof...... it is about a third of the way done, the hardest part.  Curtis comes home every day and tells me he can't wait to get that roof done, because it is "really high, and really steep."

Two layers of shakes and a layer of asphalt later, down to the beginning.

On three layers of scaffolding, with harnesses (yeah!!)..... putting on the very first of the new shingles, with many, many more to go.

The one single thing that has Curtis the most excited about this roof is that it is HIS roof, and he can make it as perfect as he wants to make it.

Roofing is a very messy job..... you should see the ground around the house.  If you stop by, don't park in the circular driveway and be careful where you walk..... there are nails everywhere.

September 5-11....... a bit of this and that

Curtis spent the week doing odds and ends this week.

We got a bit of a surprise after a major wind storm a couple weeks ago, when we found a brick from the chimney down on our patio. So, before he started on the roof Curtis wanted to get them repaired.  Some of the bricks were crumbling, and the mortar was in pretty bad shape in spots.  So..... Curtis removed some of the bricks from the top, redid the mortar, and used the top bricks to replace the crumbled bricks. 

You know Curtis... he never slows down, so I am not sure that I have any before pix of the chimney, but it sure does look nice after the fact.  Curtis believes both of the chimneys are original to the house, but one has newer bricks added on to it to make it taller. 

When Curtis removed the sleeve from the furnace chimney (the smaller of the two) he discovered that it is 46 feet from the top of the chimney to the cellar floor, where the furnace is installed.

This is the closest thing I have to a before picture, while Curtis was replacing bad bricks.

This is the "smaller" chimney, smaller on the roof, but 46 feet to the cellar floor!

And this is the furnace chimney.

 The other big thing this week was the removal of the stupid flower box that was built up against the side of the house, under a large window.  This has been a source of debate. All along, Curtis has thought this might have been the "original" front door, because this is where the staircase is. However, we have a neighbor whose name is Matt McBride.  His great-great-grandfather built the home in 1890.  Matt told me that the existing front door is the original front door, and that he has photos that show that. Of course, he has not been able to come p with these photos just yet, so I may need to seek additional sources.

The flower box was ugly and poorly built, and Curtis needed the space to put up scaffolding for the roof job, so he took it all out, and sure enough, underneath the soil in the box was a set of concrete steps. So...... who knows. Now we really need those pictures.  Curtis and his cousin Travis took a sledge hammer to the steps and they are gone now.

This week, Curtis also removed some of the vinyl fencing in the back (he swears they used two bags of concrete per post!), purchased some scaffolding, and got it set up.  Three sets will just get you to the roof! 

Some of the finer touches

Crown molding through out the house, gorgeous medallions for each of the light fixtures, the detail work on the fire place.... one of the owners definitely took care of this house.

My favorite!!! This tub is HUGE -- do you now how many books I could read in there??? Is is actually sectioned off from the rest of the master bathroom in what is supposed to be a sauna.  There are some design issues here (like a mirrored ceiling....ewwww!), but still, gotta love the tub if nothing else!

Challenges....more before pictures

The original lath and plaster are exposed here (the 'balcony room") and in what will be the TV room downstairs. 

Four of the rooms in our home have this little window "bay" area.  The windows in the old section and the windows in the new section are different, so it will be a challenge to replace them in a way that will look good.

Remember I said this house needs TLC? This room is "the paintball room."   This is the room Michaela would like to have.

Some BEFORE pictures

This is the future home of a larger, stained glass window that will feature nothing other than the Marine Corp window. Curtis has already made the window and it has just been waiting patiently for a special spot, and this is it!

Part of my kitchen...... it will be gutted and redesigned.

The staircase still has the original newell posts. Most of the spindles are gone, but Curtis is going to try to preserve these posts. There are three..... one at the bottom of the stairs, and two at the top.

Our formal living room..... the mantle on the fireplace is beautiful! I can't wait to go shopping for antiques for this room! Curtis and I both really love antiques.

The front door still has the old leaded glass... Curtis is going to try and preserve it for me.

May-August

Curtis closed on the house in May, and left for Alaska soon after, so there hasn't been any work done on the house yet. Curtis took his sketch pads with him so he could work on adding a window into the room that Cara wants for her bedroom. He is thinking he can do that by adding a dormer, which will make her room much bigger, but what little girl is going to complain about that? And he was going to replace that section of roof anyway, so it will probably work well.

While Curtis was in Alaska, I just did a little yardwork here and there to keep it looking as nice as possible. We haven't turned the water on yet, so there is only so much I can do with it, but at least it didn't look like a jungle.

It is such a beautiful house and such a thrill to know that gorgeous house at the top of the hill is ours!