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Our Old Farmhouse Renewal
~ Connecting the past to the present and future ~
What a beautiful backdrop for a wedding - the mountains above High Point in northwest Georgia on our farm. On June 4, 2005, my daughter Jillian got married here to John Baldschun.
The wedding was unique in almost
every way. The ceremony in the
hayfield with large round bales
dotting the foreground...the
reception in the barn turned swanky
and the pictures here to the right
taken with the old farmhouse as the backdrop. The old farmhouse never looked so good. Granted, the photographer was able to capture its best assets; i.e. the old brick columns, the warm rust colored tile floor, the hanging basket of flowers, etc. - all to give the feel and flavor of a country wedding - old and nostalgic with country charm and flair yet fresh and unique.
The old farmhouse.....let me take you back to the beginning - at least my beginning with the farmhouse.
The June after I graduated from high school (1976), my parents - by a bizarre fluke - bought through an auction - this farm in High Point. The story goes like this.
The farm had been owned by "Old Man Buckner and his wife." A couple of times during my childhood, our family had actually visited the "farm" through a friend of the family who was an adult son of Old Man Buckner.eMy dad had been awed by the farm even back when (the creek, the rolling pastures, the wonderful view of High Point) - but never even dreamed of owning it. Fast forward to 1976 when my family had just moved back to Chattanooga after earlier being relocated to Michigan. My dad found himself back here, having had recently two major pay raises and now looking for a home. Glancing through the paper one
day, my dad noticed an ad for an upcoming property auction in Chattanooga Valley for the following weekend. To his amazement, it was the Old Buckner farm! Dad's hope was that somehow he might be able to buy one of the property tracts on the creek. That weekend, my parents and I loaded up and headed off to the auction. It felt as though we drove forever...from Brainerd....to downtown...dropped into Georgia and drove down toward through the valley.
As we turned up the long gravel driveway, we saw a big auction tent with old farm equipment scattered around the field. As we approached the house, the above picture is what I saw. At 17, I saw no charm, no prospect, no quaintness - I saw this old run down farmhouse. When we got out and walk through the house, I can still vividly remember my reactions. It was a house where an old farm couple had gotten older and older in. There was old furniture and stacks of junk everywhere - it even had that "old people" smell. There were canning jars everywhere - filled with who knows what from how long ago. All I could think was "oh, my gosh, my parents are wanting to live here?"
The 50 acre farm property was divided into several tracts of land with one of them containing the old farmhouse. There were three tracts of land with the creek running through it. One of the creek tracts was what my dad had hope of getting. He was surprised that the property was being auction at all because Old Man Buckner had oodles of kids but apparently there was strife between the kids and he figured he would never be able to make them happy. So, in his will, he ordered the property be sold at auction a couple of weeks after his death. Even at auction time, the adult kids had not settled their differences enough to buy the property. Some of them had come to see if they could buy a piece of it though. With the auction being so quickly organized, the typical contractors and buyers that usually grab up land for development, had not arrived. During the auction, my dad was indeed able to purchase one of the creek tracts of land but before things settled - the auction terms were to combine all tracts of the property - and see
if they can find one buyer for all of them
plus a bit extra. So, they put up the whole
farm" up for auction" and somehow,
someway....my dad ended up being the
high bidder! I sat their almost
dumbfounded. We had penny pinched and
"made do" all my life - I never knew we
could be high bidder at anything!
So it was. We meandered around the
property to see it all. There was an old
block building near the farmhouse (we
were told it use to be the milk shed) and
big old pole barn towards the back.
Suddenly I saw a light at the end of the
tunnel. Anyone who knew me as a child,
knew that I was a horse nut - crazy as
they get. Owning a horse was way too
expensive for us unless you happened to
have land. Suddenly, at age 17, I saw the
possibility of having a horse - there was a barn and
there was 50 acres of land!
My dad's initial plan for the farmhouse was give it a
major renovation - major. This would mean tearing out
the steep angled stairway (like those really old homes
tended to have) in the middle of the house
and replacing it with a typical one plus tearing off the
back lean-to addition which had a kitchen bathroom
area and building a whole new two story wing which
would house a bigger roomier kitchen, master bed-
room, bathroom, plus bedrooms upstairs.
First step was to tear off the back lean-to addition - where the kitchen, bathroom, and back porch were. The old kitchen cabinets were pulled out (to be used later in the tool shed) plus some other old furniture (primitive not priceless antiques). The tub ended up as a great horse watering tub near the barn.
Back wall was pulled out, roof fell down as planned, first demolition project going well and all was going as planned - or was it?
With inner boards exposed and foundation examined - it was shown that the old farmhouse had a fair amount of termite damage and structural issues. So.....all at once, a plan B was devised - a total 180 idea. They decided that to repair and fix the issues on the old farmhouse plus add on the major addition was going to cost more than building a new house - and a new house could be put up quickly. So...
the old house was left - debri cleared, but
left to stand still
A new home was built about 100 feet away from the old farmhouse...life moved on but the old farmhouse just stood still. Its old front screened door slowly falling apart, the old screening on the front porch slow deteriorating - it looked like a scene from the Great Depression movie, Grapes of Wrath. Some people thought it was quaint while others thought it an eye sore and suggested we should just bulldoze it down.We could see both sides of the issue. Several local families had either been born and/or raised in the farmhouse - but ya hate to tear down their history yet it was old and delapidated in many ways. It did have some unique beauty though - I guess beauty that you can see once you yourself gets a bit of age...yet to fix her up would require so much time and money...so she stood still a bit longer.
David and I were married in 1980, and later we even pondered fixing the old farmhouse but opted to instead build a house in the back wooded area...so she stood still a bit longer.
We used her mainly for storage - old left over furniture, future project supplies, there was even a room full of stuff my parents had hauled up to Michigan and back - old clothes, old boxes of magazines, the kids' school memorabilia, junk, junk, and more junk. My kids played house in her and I remember how thrilled my son Jeremy was when he discovered my brother's 60's and 70's polyester vintage clothes - it was like discovering a lost and valuable treasure!
Ever so often, we would do necessary repairs to the old building - just to keep her from falling all to pieces. A new roof, some revised electrical wiring, patch up a window, spread rat poisoning to discourage the squirrel invasions, stop leaks here and there..she would take as much work as you gave to her. I even used a couple of her rooms for my cats (I raise purebred cats - and liked that I could house them there in the old farmhouse instead of letting them over run my own home). I would put a few cats in a room with a litter box and food, put curtains on the windows, and even paint the room...it was like they had their own house. David would josh about it and call it the High Point Cat House which for people over 40 the term "cat house" has a different connotation than for other people. But, later a little cattery building was built down by my house so the cats were removed, so again...the old farmhouse sat still.
We did our best to spruce her appearance up. All visitors to my mom's house or to my house passed the old farmhouse - so planting flower beds here and there, tearing off the old screen porch netting and screen door, and letting her stand there like a blast in the past was the idea. She stands in the backdrop of so many of our family pictures because each picnic was in the yard beside her, we took pictures of people on horseback - and there she stood, and we have our annual easter egg hunt using her as a grand source of hidable eggs.
(Note: No, that is not a cat in my lap. No, the rabbit is not dead. He is just a very happy, relaxed, and content pet rabbit.)
A famous local artist, Jim Wright, came out several
times to the farm with his painting class. They would
all set up their easils to paint something. Some would
paint Mom's gorgeous poppy flowerbeds while others
would paint the horses or goats. Mr. Wright was
enamored by the farmhouse. He did a great watercolor
of her which now hangs in my house.
Then, in early 2005, Jillian announced her engagement
with John and soon it was decided that the farm was
her choice of where to get married. Admittedly at first,
I was unsure that we could pull off such an event - an
outside wedding was difficult enough plus the thought
of how to get the barn and the farm into shape was also
a concern. A plan of action was developed and slowly
but surely we began to whip the farm into shape. The
wedding ceremony would be in the hayfield which
meant that the farmhouse would be hovering in the
backdrop so we began to spruce her up. We pulled off
all of the remaining boards off of the porch - leaving her
beautiful old brick and wood columns. David did some
repairs to the front wing of her by replacing some boards,
Jill and I did some touch up painting here and there and we planted more beds of flowers, hung some beautiful hanging flower baskets and cleared off all lingering junk.
Suddenly, she looked like an old vintage farmhouse standing on purpose - setting the mood of the farm. Through Jillian's creative eyes, she even made sure that she had a few photos taken on the front porch while in her wedding dress and even a few with her bridesmaid's. The pictures at the beginning of this journal show Jillian in a beautiful wedding dress (revamped from her mother-in-law to be's wedding dress) on this quaint old porch which gave her this
old time but classic look. It all pulled together so well, and partly because of the old farmhouse's ambiance and character!
In April 2006, Jillian and John called late one night and asked my husband David, if it would be okay if they "fixed up" the old faarmhouse and lived in her? Initially, we were surprised that they would even consider it but we were pleased that they wanted to be a part of life out here on the farm - so we heartily agreed. Jillian and John moved into my mother's basement bedroom and slowly began to ponder the task before them.
First was to see if the structural damage issues could be established and fixed. The termite problem was tackled by my dad back in 1977 by a thorough extermination but there was still lingering damage. Plus leaving her partly demolished (the back lean-to section) all these years as well as general neglect - had its toll.
- Below: Baring One's Sins -
Construction on an old farmhouse is always
slow and challenging. You have to start with
what is good and solid...and then alter and
add on to that. Level is not always attainable.
This farmhouse was always an old farmhouse
- it was never an antebellum or victorian anything. It does not have intricate moldings and stairways or arched doorways. It apparently was built a few years following the Civil War. No one had money in the South following the Civil War especially farmers. It was apparently built in stages probably with the back wing first....years later the front wing......and in the early 1900's, the wrap
around porch added...and in the mid 1930's, the lean-to addition was
added with the kitchen and bathroom. A sistern is still on the porch.
Rainwater from the roof was channeled into the approximately 20 foot
sistern/well on the porch with a hand pump attached. We hope to get
it working again too. The house was apparently built solid - with heavy
duty boards and we have even seen square nails (which definitely
dates the house). There is still somehow charm in simplicity...today
they refer to it as Shabby Sheek. Better Homes & Gardens and House
Beautiful is full of it like it is actually something new. Well, we got it
whatever it is! We are simply people (nope, I didn't say simple minded
but simple in our lifestyle) so it is only fitting that we are the ones to
renew it. I say renew because somehow, restore implies that you have
lots of money like when This Old House restores a house and thinks nothing
of going $50,000 over budget. This is sweat equity at its best - a house that
has little commercial value but plenty of sentimental value - on family property - with people who have grown to love it and see value in it and are willing to invest money and lots of time into making "her" a home. This is a house that has stood the test of time - approximately 140 years and finally has somebody to appreciate her and give her another chance at being "part of a family's life" and being useful again.
So much of the support boards under this side porch were damaged that most of it had to be totally redone. It was decided to take out the dormer triangle and opt for a simplier design.
Assess, evaluate, plan, remove rotten boards, repair or replace, then continue on - this is the motto that keeps being repeated.
The back of the farmhouse had been boarded up for so many years, it was indeed a long awaited moment for the back wall to be replaced and a door to be affixed. This old door came from a friend, Mr. Pettit, who had rescued this door from the Incline Pharmacy when it closed back in the 80's. How a door can set a mood! Thanks Mr. Pettit!
It pays to have a plan of attack when coming to renovations - that is sure. But, I also think that being flexible to the unexpected is good - both in regards to repair challenges that surface as well as inspiration ideas that evolve during the process. Case in point - We always knew that there was an old fireplace in one of the backrooms (slated to become the bedroom). The fireplace hadn't be used in years and though the chimney remained up through the 2nd floor, it had been capped off in the attic and the roof had been built over it. Initial plans were to just let the fireplace to just be part of the decor. It was exposed to about 3 1/2 feet high with a low quality mantle around it. Once Jillian started pulling off the paneling that had encompassed that room, the fireplace slowly began to show itself off. It was a very primitive fireplace but it suddenly became the focal point of the room.
Seeing how beautiful the fireplace was, David and I began to ponder other choices. Choices so that this room could become a kitchen instead of a bedroom. This meant figuring out where to put a bathroom. Jillian and John were trying to keep expenses to a minimum and building an addition would be too costly (i.e. extra footage, extra siding, extra roofing, extra flooring, etc.), so their original plan was to build a bathroom within the original walls. This was doable but was going to make their bedroom small and the bathroom placed a bit inconvenientally...yet, there was initially no good alternative......until....
Thinking outside the box, David and I batted around all sorts of ideas. David thought about putting the bathroom on the existing east side of the porch which would eliminate some of the costs of building "outward" but would thus take away one of her better features - the porch area with the sistern. I tweeked the idea a bit and figured out that the west side of the porch would actually work better without much draw back - allowing for a total shift in the room placements, but this would help the house flow much better. Upon approval (always gotta have approval - this is indeed John and Jillian's house - we are only slave labor, general encouragers, an occasionial dose of expertise', and a nagging pain of thinking outside the box)...but both Jillian and John were on board. Plus, with the exposure of the other side of the fireplace, and the elimination of a closet (which had been right beside the chimney)...it was discovered that opening up these two rooms into one large adjoining kitchen/living room (Great Room) would make for a wonderful living space and yes, let the fireplace stand out as a focal point.
There are wood plank floors, wood tongue and grove planked walls, and wood plank ceilings. Most of this had been covered up with several layers of aged paint then several different applications of old timey wallpaper (the kind that has more of a cardboard type backing on it put on with major adhesion), and then in the back two rooms - camoflauged with 60's style wood paneling. It wasn't till a bit of demolition occured that we saw the treasures beneath - a very old and primitive but beautiful fireplace that could stand out. Jillian worked on the old fireplace and removed all the cement filler...exposing a very old and very worn fireplace. It is easy to imagine a family of old hovering in front of it. Later, we will see what we can do to clean it up some more. There were a couple of walls in this (now the living room) that had to be torn off....along with the ceiling. The boards were taken off carefully in case in can use them again. Daughter Heather was a big help for a couple of days during Christmas break with this project.
This day, Heather was pulling off the planks then handed them off to me pull out the nails so they could be stored safely and Jillian would be moving out the damaged boards to the "pile" as well as storing the good boards in the blockhouse. After the boards were pulled off, a good cleaning behind them were often needed - you can't imagine how much filth was harboring behind them! Next, Jillian and I began to work on removing the old but very gripping layers of wallpaper from the front room - her future bedroom. It was in layers on the walls and the ceiling. Beautiful boads lay underneath - but it literally took scraping and spraying down with bleachy concoctions and scraping more and removing staples - such labor intensity but an easy vision of what could be kept us both motivated.
While Jillian and I scrubbed away in the future bedroom (fingers freezing,shoulders aching, hands cramping from all the scraping), David and John were busy building the bathroom on the west side of the porch. There was already a door coming from that side of the porch into the hallway - so it really works great as a bathroom - easy access to the bedroom plus access for guests near the living room.
A concrete saw was used to cut a fair slice into the outside edge of the porch concrete floor in order to lay a single line of plumbing - for the tub and toilet drains. Then construction of the walls began.
Of course, this too required some repairs first. The porch roof had some rotted boards so those were replaced first - giving the stability it would require, then a framing up of the room. I think John really liked this project because it was building not repairing. John is a hard worker. He actually worked several months after his honeymoon for a construction crew - just to learn a bit about construction in case he wanted to dabble in it later. He picked up quite a bit of skill as well as awareness of what is involved in general construction.
Renovating isn't for the neat freaks or faint of heart. We were filthy from head (especially the head) to toes after this day and dog tired.....even the dog was tired of just watching us. (The old barber chair that Jillian is sitting in belonged to my "Papa" (grandfather) who had been a barber for most of his life. When he moved out of the James Bldg. in downtown Chattanooga, he took this one barber chair and a couple of sinks with him. Jillian is hoping to restore it as connection to her heritage - and maybe even use one of the sinks too!
Then today.......
Saturday, January 27, 2007, Jillian makes the announcement that she and John are expecting! Wow! My mother asked Jillian, "Did you plan this?" to which Jillian replied, "People with houses plan babies........" but plan or no plan...baby is on the way and excited we all are! This sure does intensify our timetable and puts a little bit of giddy up and go into our work ethic. With this new revelation, I begin to wonder how much can Jillian now do...how much SHOULD she do?
Early February we had a snow day - yeah! The roof proved sturdy.
That next week, a group of volunteers from Jill and John's church came out to lend a hand. A decision was made to go with a product called hardy board for the siding. They would start with the back where siding was necessary, then gradually over time (after they move in) slowly begin to replace all the exterior siding with this hardy board product. It is made somehow of concrete...it doesn't rot....seals good...comes primed and ready to paint....it comes ready for the long-haul.
Next project was replacing the roof. Ahh...the roof. The roof was in need of all sorts of repair. A major hail storm had left her beaten but luckily State Farm paid for new roofs on all the various buildings on the farm. David took on most of these projects. We hadn't counted on taking on this one, but when the roofers took off a small section of shingles, they saw major problems with the decking. So...again...David began to tackle yet another problem. It became a family affair with most of the kids helping at different times. Jillian liked the thought of a tin roof to keep in the theme, so slowly but surely they began to....remove, repair, repair, and replace (common theme - get use to it).
We can't even claim this to be the good, the bad, and the ugly...from this angle - there seems to be little "good." This is the crucial moment (the word moment used very loosely here because in essence, this moment took several months). If this project is going to succeed and trudge forward, we have to confront the worst of her problems. This was where the "lean-to" kitchen/bath had been removed back in 1976...then left bare till mid 90's when David boarded up this back section. The structural issues before compounded by the structural issues of leaving her "cut open" and left plus sitting here mostly unattended for years - these were serious concerns.
The roof project was already assigned but no need in beginning that until we leveled her out...or it might buckle the decking. So began the long and arduous process of replacing the back seal, replacing or placing reinforced boards alongside old boards, jacking her up here an inch then along there an inch then here then there. It was almost like a series of chiropractic visits...tweeking and cracking her old timbers gently till she stood straight and fairly level. I say level - wanting her to be all level but sometimes realizing that close was as good as it gets with these old buildings. Many frustrating weekends occured yet perseverence overruled.
Then...
Jill and John began to think..and came up with an idea.
The farmhouse is a " house of doors"
because for some reason, in its
original state, it had 5 doors going
from the inside of the house to the
outside - which is a lot for a three
or four ROOM first floor...plus two
more interior doors to boot! But the
old doors have a charm about them.
They all are big and heavy plus they
all are windowed. Out here on the farm there is no hiding. If you are inside, you want and often need to see what is outside. This picture is looking into the hallway from one end of the porch - looking through another exit door to the opposite side of the porch. What stories she could tell - my imagination is left to wonder.
A Back Door At Last
Living Room wall after paneling removed, leaving wallpaper. Next is what we found after the wallpaper was remove from the same wall.
Notice the cute dresser that I found that has an interesting connection to the farmhouse.We have a special plan for it later - more details to following
The day the help arrived, Murphy's Law said it was one of the coldest days of the year....which only showed their gift of service to us brighter than ever.
Second wave of help came later that day with family, Jane and Ben Harper, along with college buddy, Alan, dropped in to help. The guys kept trudging away on the siding while Jill and Jane worked on the bedroom walls. Jane had to go visit the new baby goats before she left...two sets of goat twins.
John keeps trudging away at the new bathroom - digging the trenches for the drains and running pipes for the venting - figuring this out mostly by himself. The new window has been put in facing south....and we moved the dresser (soon to be vintage vanity) into the room to get a feel for spacing and plumbing for that. It is slowly taking shape!
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Painting finally begun on the bedroom. I thought we would need finish the scraping process - three layers on four walls plus the ceiling - my goodness what a chore! Here is the early "before" picture (on the left)....and here is the new look (though I am not sure we are really finished with it yet) on the right
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David has begun on the electrical work now. He recruited a fellow truckdriver from work to come help him a bit (thanks Randy).
What a jokester David can be!!!
Pictures below begin the....ready to move in pictures. The work is not done, the house not complete...but it is getting there...it is functional and Jill's special touches are making it quaint and charming. So....here it begins.
This is Tucker Allan Baldschun - born 9/7/07....about a month after move in day.
