Nuts to You!



One of 3 Pecan Trees

 If you’ve been a faithful reader of this blog, you know we’ve already had several close calls when large limbs suddenly broke off of our pecan trees and crashed to the ground. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and there was minimal property damage. However, two occurrences in just a few months was enough for Larry and me to begin thinking about whether we should be making plans to prune or maybe even take down these trees. But that was in July and August and now it’s November. Fall is time for gathering pecans, and boy did we do our share of harvesting!

According to the NC Cooperative Extension Service, North Carolina produces 5 to 6 million pounds of pecans annually. Pecans are harvested when the shuck opens, allowing the nuts to drop to the ground. This natural process is fostered when strong winds prevail, as we had with Superstorm Sandy on October 29 and 30th. For a small-scale operations like that at The Big Yellow House, mechanical aids can also be used to speed nut fall. In our case, those devices were neighborhood boys swinging long sticks.



Our Neighbors Enjoy the Harvest



After gathering our first crop of nuts, Larry and I carried them to the attic and laid them out on window screens to dry. When we went back to the attic two weeks later, I was delighted to learn either we have no “attic critters” or those critters don’t like pecans and decided not to share in our stash. Not one pecan had been disrupted; they were all spread out on the screens just as we left them.



Pecans Drying in the Attic



The following week while Larry’s Dad and his girl friend were visiting from California, Jane and I bagged the nuts so they could be shared with those who attend The Big Yellow House Open House on December 2nd.



Bagging Nuts to Give Away

While Larry and I collected about 6 gallons of these tasty treats, our trees also provided an ample supply of delicious tidbits to several of our neighbors, the mailman, one of the salesmen from the local Sherwin Williams paint store, and a group of four women driving by on their way home from church.

We were delighted to share our harvest and hope we are able to do so again next year. There’s been no more discussion about those trees coming down any time soon.



Hurray, It's Moving Day!



Want to Buy a House on the Potomac River?


What can I say other than moving day has come and gone… and Larry and I are exhausted! Moving day was actually three days so perhaps that has something to do with why we are so tired.



Larry Says Goodbye to the River House







The festivities got under way early Monday morning when the All Star Movers team arrived in Colonial Beach to pack up the “River House”. While not yet sold—doesn’t anyone have a friend who would be interested in a steal on a weekend house with a million dollar view--, we decided to remove the furniture and take it to Edenton.  

Larry and I were both sad to leave our River House.  We've really enjoyed the time we've spent there, enjoying the quiet and solitude while watching the Potomac River flow by. 

On Tuesday morning, the movers arrived at our condo in Vienna with not one, but two trucks. It took them just about half a day to fill the first truck before they drove over to the storage unit to fill the other. Since it was late in the day when they finished, the movers decided to stay the night locally and drive to Edenton in the morning. Wanting to make sure the house was ready for their arrival, I left town when the movers headed off to the storage unit. Poor Larry made the four hour drive to North Carolina that evening.

Waiting at the Condo for the Movers



The Movers Arrive at the Condo



Wednesday morning, Larry and I had several hours to “prepare the house” for its new belongings before the moving trucks arrived from Virginia. It was nearly 7:00pm before the job was finished and the movers were headed back to VA. I was happy not to have to make that trip again and instead climbed into my big bathtub for a long soak before sleeping in my own bed in our Big Yellow House.

 

Ready or Not, Here We Come!



Larry's Retirement Luncheon

Since last I wrote, Larry retired from L-3 Communications. His colleagues gave him a great sendoff, purchasing and personalizing a toilet seat cover that wishes him well as he continues to renovate The Big Yellow House.  They also bought us a subscription to "Old House Journal", a monthly magazine we should have been reading for many years before initiating this project.  Since we now have more time than money, it was great to be able to make a mid-week trip to Edenton without all the usual weekend traffic.


When we arrived at the house, we saw a good portion of the hard wood floors upstairs had been sanded.  Unfortunately, they were in much worse shape than Dave the floor man realized and were taking more time than planned.  While apologetic about the delay, it was obvious Dave was working hard to make our floors look as good as they did when they were first installed 96 years ago. He was also striving to meet our schedule having drafted his father to help with the work!
 

Newly Sanded Family Room Floor





Dave at Work

Pop Helps Dave Meet the Schedule

We are also experiencing delays in the kitchen. The tin ceiling is late in arriving and most likely will not be installed until after we move in. All of the prep work, however, has been completed so installation can begin as soon as the tin arrives.

Tommy and Patrick Frame for the Tin Ceiling



James Helps Fit the Ceiling Lights



Elsewhere in the kitchen, much of the finishing work has been done. Beveled glass was added to the two exterior doors to bring more light into the kitchen, all the remaining hardware was affixed to the new cabinets, a glass tile backsplash was fitted near the sink, and most of the appliances were installed.




Windows Added to the Doors








Glass Tile Backsplash in the Kitchen





 

Despite all of this progress, the delay on the wood floors has caused us to readjust our priorities and to push back our move date. To simplify the floor job we've decided not to refinish the two stairways. While this dirty dusty work is better tackled when the house is vacant, it's just going to have to wait until after we move in. By eliminating these areas, Dave “thinks” he can get the floors done in time to let them cure for a few days before our furniture arrives. Fortunately, All Star Movers can accommodate a delayed move date and we're now scheduled to "begin" moving on September 24th.  I say begin because this will be a 3 stop move.  First we must empty our home in Colonial Beach before the contents of the storage unit and condominium in Vienna can be placed onto the truck.  Then, it's off to Edenton!  

Working Hard on Labor Day

It was Labor Day weekend and boy did we "labor" at the house! I’m excited to see all our work coming together and am anxious to move in at the end of the month.

Last time I wrote, I mentioned I wanted to show you the progress we’ve made in the laundry room. Here is a photo of the slate floor that was installed in the laundry and mud rooms.

We unexpectedly came across some similar tiles in Lowe's, and installed them as a backsplash over the sink.





The laundry room is also home to all the water purification and softening equipment we purchased. As you can see, it takes up quite a bit of floor space in this tiny room. However, the water softener in particular will help extend the life of some of our new appliances so it was worth the trade-off.


Fortunately, we saved some space in the room by replacing our old water heater with a tankless version. Not only will it ensure I don’t run out of hot water before my tub is full, it’s a more efficient way of heating water. Unfortunately, the box that houses the mechanism is located on the side of the house visible from the patio. We definitely need to find a way to hide the equipment without impacting its operation. Does anyone have any creative ideas to share?


How Can I Hide this Monstrosity?

Larry and I spent most of the weekend painting. Returning to our original list of priorities to finish before we move in, we tried to complete all the painting in the master bedroom and bath, kitchen, mud room and first floor powder room.  We didn't make it, but we got close. 



Painting the Mud Room

Since I was also curious what the outside of the house might look like if we painted the window frames, corner boards and belt course Classic French Gray , Larry agreed to do a little experiment at the back of the house. While we won’t make any final decisions until the back door is painted Teal Stencil, I’m thinking we'll probably go with this new combination when we paint the house next spring. Leave me a comment and tell me what you think? 

Experimenting with Gray

After many hours of holding a brush we went home on Monday with big smiles on our faces knowing we just have one more visit before we move in.

Exciting Orange

The call for support came from Scott the “cabinet guy” early Friday morning. The kitchen was ready for painting and he wanted to know if we could get that done this weekend. Since being the painting crew was something Larry and I agreed to do to reduce our renovation costs, we packed our painting clothes, jumped in the car and made our way to Edenton.

Larry Tests Colors
and Primes the Walls

While I had already explored color options and declared I wanted to paint the kitchen orange, now it was time to execute on that plan (yikes). Larry and I went by the local Sherwin Williams store, selected two colors, bought a quart of each and went home to see what they looked like on the walls.

Larry painted an 8-inch square of each color side-by-side on three of the kitchen walls and it was immediately clear which color I preferred. However, as time went by watching those two patches of paint change color was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Well maybe not THE MOST amazing, but it was remarkable how much the colors changed. As the sun set and the kitchen darkened we fluctuated on what our choice would be.

In the light of day, we changed our minds one more time before settling on “Exciting Orange”. But before we could go there, we needed to get a couple of coats of primer on the walls. While I stripped red wallpaper off the family room walls, Larry applied the primer. Two coats and half a day later, we were ready for the color! Larry had barely painted one wall when I began to think I had made a big mistake. A few minutes later I spoke the unspeakable, “Stop, I think I made a mistake.” Larry kept painting and said “It’s gonna be fine. If you decide you don’t like it, in a few years I’ll change it.” I decided to trust his instincts and returned to the family room to scrape more wallpaper.


Is This Going to be "Too" Orange?

After an hour or so of scrapping wallpaper, I returned to the kitchen and was amazed to see the color looked okay. I’m not sure whether it was seeing more of the walls covered, or that the lighting in the room had changed, or the foreboding look in Larry’s eyes when he asked, “So what do you think?” that caused me to change my mind. Whatever the reason, I was slowly convincing myself my “Exciting Orange” kitchen was going to look just fine.


We Painted the Mud Room Orange Too

The next day I returned to Sherwin Williams to purchase another gallon of Exciting Orange so Larry could finish the job. Since paint was on sale, we also decided to buy what we needed for the family room, master bedroom and bath. As Matt the salesman rang up those 7 gallons of paint he said to me, “I sure can tell you aren’t from around here, nobody ever selects the colors you’ve chosen." Hmm, something tells me this won't be the last time someone figures out I’m not from around here. I just never thought it would be my choice in paint colors that would give me away!

Rebuilding the Kitchen Begins

It’s was just Larry and me at the house this weekend. We had lovely weather so Larry headed up to the attic to open some windows and was greeted by what he thought was a dead bat on the stairs. Following a quick retreat to the 2nd floor and a slammed door, he found a shovel and ventured back up to retrieve the creature. Upon closer investigation it turned out to be a bird which he scooped up, bagged and tossed in the construction dumpster. I made a mental note to add another task to the ever lengthening list of projects: Figure out how the bird got into the attic and close it up.


Making Full Use of the Area
Under the Stairs


Since we haven't been at our big yellow house for almost two weeks, we were anxious to see what work had been accomplished in our “new” kitchen. We weren’t disappointed. When we came through the back door we were greeted by the beginnings of a center island and a wall of custom cabinets designed to take advantage of the unique storage space that lurks beneath the back stairs.

 

A brief discussion with Scott later that day revealed the kitchen floor was “sinking slightly” and we “really should” consider having it propped back up while they are under the house anyway. A second discussion led to the decision to add an external light to the area around the back steps since “we are going to be doing some wiring in that wall for the mud room anyway”.



The Makings of a New
 Center Island



We chatted some more about the complexity of  the tin ceiling installation before wishing Scott luck in gaining approval from the Historical Society for the planned changes to the back porch. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they approve a style change request for a couple of doors and windows in the kitchen/mud room area that are more in keeping with the home’s historical style while also bringing some more natural light into these areas.

  

The New Mud Room

Other than checking on Scott’s progress, Larry and I had some work of our own to get done. Prior to arriving, we talked about the need to set some priorities on what we want to accomplish before we move in. We agreed we need to focus first on those areas where we will spend most of our time; the kitchen, family room, and master bedroom and bath.


By the end of the weekend, Larry had painted 2 ceilings (3 if you count the master bath) and 1 closet. I kept busy stripping wallpaper in the family room and many layers of paint from the master bathroom closet door. It was fun trying out my new heat gun, but we’re going to have to reassess the reality of doing this more widely across the house. It took me almost a full day just to do one door. With more than 15 doors and 35 windows, I don’t have the patience to do that!


Larry Painting a Closet

 



Stripping a Closet Door



Stripping Wallpaper in the Family Room



   

A Battle of the Sexes as We Demolish the Kitchen

         

Gary, Nancy and Larry (the Crew)
Have Breakfast on the Front Porch

It's Memorial Day weekend and the "crew" is having breakfast on the front porch. We were thankful Nancy and Gary (my sister and significant other)offered to come down and help demolish the kitchen and complete some other “little” jobs. Since we need to be able to stay at the house while we work on it, we moved the refrigerator out onto an enclosed area of the front porch and we set up a microwave and coffee maker in the family room. After assigning tasks to "Team Boys" and "Team Girls", work began.

Each team reviewed their lists of tasks and challenged one another to see who would be the first to finish. "Team Boys" got all the heavy lifting and removing tasks, while "Team Girls" was assigned those tasks that required a more gentle touch. From time to time, new tasks were added to ensure neither team finished before the weekend was over. (Hey, it was free labor!) While we came to demolish the kitchen, we realized everything in the laundry room (part of the porch that is being incorporated into the kitchen) needed to go too, except for the 45 gallon electric water heater that is eventually going to be replaced by a gas tankless model. By late in the afternoon, all the old appliances and cabinets had been removed from the kitchen/laundry room and placed in the car port where they would await pick-up by Habitat for Humanity.  With both rooms completed, "Team Boys" decided it was time to call it a day and returned to the front porch to enjoy a round of beers before we all headed to town for dinner.

Nancy Removes
Wainscoting Shadow Boxes

The next day, “Team Girls” and “Team Boys” continued to make their way through their respective lists. Like any home improvement project, every task took twice as long to complete as expected and we had to make numerous trips to Kellogg’s the local lumberyard/hardware store. Despite a change in ownership, this is the same lumber yard that was once run by the original owner of our big yellow house. Don't you think we should get a discount to support our renovations?

Gary and Larry Hang the
Living Room Chandelier

By the end of the weekend we saw light fixtures removed and installed, wainscoting shadow boxes and shoe molding removed, several doors detached from their hinges to make for a more open floor plan, bushes trimmed and the walls of a storage closet torn apart to confirm it could indeed be re-purposed into a “butler’s pantry”. We all went home sore and tired but feeling like we had accomplished a lot. Most importantly, Scott’s crew could start building our new kitchen.



And The Walls Come Tumbling Down

Renovations began this week! Our initial plan is to create a “wow” kitchen, refinish all the hard wood floors, and install a claw foot bathtub and new flooring in the master bathroom. Scott Noble will be overseeing this work for us, but we’ll be helping by doing some demolition and painting. Working without Scott, we’d also like to paint as many ceilings in the house as possible, maximize the storage capability in all of the bedroom closets, change out some of the light fixtures, and repurpose a closet under the stairs into a “butler’s pantry”. Since we want to get all this work done before the fall, we figure we have about 8 weekends to do it. We're confident Scott’s team will make their goals, but we’re not sure we can meet ours.



The Back Porch Becomes a
Mud Room and  Part of the Kitchen

While we were back in Northern VA doing our “day jobs”, Tommy Winslow and his crew removed the wall between the enclosed back porch and the kitchen. This area will become part of our kitchen, but will be used more like a mud room. Seeing this was once an outside load-bearing wall, the removal took more than a few swipes with the sledge hammer like we see on HGTV.  Since the wall also included what had once been the home's external back door and a window, both were removed carefully and placed in the carport in case they could be used elsewhere. While there is still some more work to do, it is already clear how much more space this change is going give us.



Timbers Covered with Bark and
Square Head Nails Revealed

 While looking at what remains of the original exterior wall, I was surprised to see it had been framed with rough cut 4X4 timbers—some of which were still covered in bark and square head nails. While Tommy tried to leave as much of the old clapboard on the walls of the old porch as was possible, sadly most of boards split and fell apart as they were being cut.

A dumpster is arriving tomorrow to collect all the refuse. Truth be told, I spent more than an hour going through the pile making sure nothing of historical value was being sent to the landfill.  



Everyone who knows me, knows I love to soak in the bathtub. That’s why it was so important that we find a space in our master bathroom to have one installed. While I hated to eliminate the only closet in the room, it was the most logical location for my new tub. I already know I am going to love soaking here.


Fantasizing About My New Bathtub

 

This is one brick that won’t be going into the dumpster. When the former owners repaved the driveway, they laid an engraved brick in honor of each of the homes’ previous owners. Not to be left out, they presented us with a brick of our own at settlement. How come Larry gets top billing when this is my dream house?



We Become an Official Part of the
Big Yellow House's History

 









Our Renovation Story Begins

Today we go to settlement on our big yellow house and I didn’t sleep a wink last night. I’ve bought and sold nine houses in my life, and I don’t remember being this excited since I bought my first townhome in the spring 1982. Instead of worrying about whether or not I could afford the mortgage, this time I tossed and turned thinking about all the things I want to do to help restore this home to its full glory.

As you can see from my first posting, our big yellow house is BIG. It is also in remarkably good shape for being 96 years old. Not only was it well built (its first owner was also the owner the town’s lumber mill), it’s been lovingly maintained and upgraded by its 7 former owners. Since all of the difficult work has been done, my job is to bring it into the second decade of the 21st century without losing its 1916 charm.

The Kitchen

Here are some pictures of what the house looked like the day we took possession. While small, the kitchen is a real charmer. Exposing the back of the fireplace was a stroke of genius by the former owners. While I know I want to expand the kitchen by incorporating a nearby enclosed sun porch, I don’t plan to make any changes to that fireplace.

The Foyer

The stain glass windows surrounding the front door are a trade mark of the home’s builder, Frank Fred Muth. Similar windows can be found in other homes around town constructed by the same builder. I like the simplicity of the geometric shapes.

The living room with its five large windows, built in bookcases, and working fireplace is a place I am certain to enjoy while reading a good book on Sunday afternoon. If I don’t want to hear Larry watching the football game in the nearby family room, I can always close the glass pocket doors.


The Living Room

 One of the first jobs Larry tackled was closing up the pet door on the back porch. Since the previous owners moved next door, their cat is a bit confused about where he lives. The silver duck tape on the swinging door should be a good clue he needs to try someplace else. 

Closing Up the Cat Door


While in good condition, my list of desired modifications is many times larger than my budget. I know I need to sort out what is a must have vs. a nice to have so we can prioritize and start renovations...but right now I want to do it all!