Welcome to the website dedicated to the restoration of our Victorian house. We purchased the house in December 2000. The picture above shows the current state of the restoration. To view a comparison of what the house looked like when we obtained it, simply place your cursor over the image. I try to take a photo of the house from the same position each November or December to catalog the changes for the previous year. To view the full archive, side by side, click here.

Since we are doing a total restoration/renovation, and doing 99.9999% of the work ourselves, we take a lot of pictures of the process. This site is the collection of some of those pictures. We also describe in detail how we accomplished some of the processes. Hopefully, some of this information may be of help to others who are restoring old houses as well.

NOTE: Because I'm still working on designing this new site, there aren't a lot of pictures up yet. If you'd like to see more pictures, please click here to go to the original (ugly) version of this site.

NEW! Since I've been so busy with everything going on recently, I haven't been able to update the site as much as I'd like to. So, in order to get things a little more up to date, a lot easier, I've decided to add some quick photos here and there accessible by links. These links will be below, in purple.

The "rummage sale" page is now live. Please check back often as more items will be added. NOTE: The contact form on the rummage sale page has recently been fixed (I wasn't aware it wasn't working until just recently). So, if you are interested in buying something from the rummage sale page and couldn't get the form to work, please try again. Sorry!

Current status at a glance

Current working projects and their status (updated 12/10/08):

Exterior Painting
- Working on the tower siding on the uppermost part when the weather's been warm enough.
New Fence
- We decided to go ahead and fence in the west side of the yard with the same style picket fence that we installed on the east side. It's a slow and tedious process, but we finally completed the span across the front (updated 10/26/07), the front corner (new pic!), and part of the side (new pic!). I think it will really add to the look of the house when it's all complete.
Tower
- Build scaffolding. I recently finished building the scaffolding (updated 9/11/06) that enables me to safely reach the tower roof to install the shingles.
- Removal of old shingles. I have the entire front (updated 10/10/06) of the tower roof stripped of all the original wood shingles.
- Felt paper added. The new felt paper (updated 10/10/06) has been completely installed on the front of the tower.
- Re-roofing in progress.
After much research, I decided to use cement fiber "shingles" on the tower roof. Since none of the companies that make this material offer separate singles the same size as the original wood singles currently on the tower roof, I am having to compromise. I figured out how many separate singles were needed (approximately 1200) and then purchased 50 pieces of the 12" cedar textured cement fiber lap siding. Each shingle needs to be 1 foot tall (7 inches hidden, 5 inch reveal), so I cut all of the 12 foot strips down into 1 foot squares (so the "wood grain" is oriented correctly). Next I had to cut 2, 4 3/4" wide shingles out of each square, leaving a thin strip of scrap, and finally ended up with approximately 1200 separate shingles.
The next step was to paint the shingles so that they looked like they were made out of wood. I first primed the cut edges (the faces were pre-primed) with a "raw wood" tinted primer and then painted the entire shingle with 2 coats of dark charcoal. The next step is to dry rag (from the top down only) a "fresh wood" color and before that completely dries, dry rag (from the bottom up only) a "weathered grey wood" color. The 2 colors mix a bit here and there and produce an old weathered look. Surprisingly, in a side by side comparison it's a fairly close match to an original wooden shingle from the old roof. The biggest difference is the "fresh wood" color. I chose the 3 colors from the 3 main grain colors of the asphalt shingles on the rest of the house, so that the tower roof will blend in better than it does now. Once they are actually installed on the roof, over 30 feet in the air, I don't think anyone will believe that they aren't real weathered wood.
The next step was to cut the diamond (approximately 625) and half-round (approximately 130) shaped shingles and then paint them as well. It's a LOT of work, but I think it will be worth it in the end.
- Installing new shingles. I have finished installing:
the first 5 rows of straight shingles (updated 10/10/06)
the next 9 rows of diamond shingles (updated 7/13/07)
the next 3 rows of the half-round shingles (updated 12/10/08)
the next 5 rows of the diamond shingles (updated 12/10/08)
The remaining 4 rows of the straight singles at the very top are almost complete.
- Also replacing the lap siding on uppermost part.
Breezeway
- Roof complete.
- In the process of demolishing/rebuilding walls.
- Left side of front (south) wall is complete (updated 12/10/08).
- Right side of front (south) wall is nearing completion (updated 10/26/07).
- Back (north) wall is nearing completion.
Summer Kitchen/Servant's Quarters
- Old roof completely removed and felt paper installed. There was a lot of rot in the decking and some of the actual framing had to be replaced on the right side of the front dormer. I used a combination of the original decking lumber that I salvaged from the breezeway roof and some new wood. The east and west dormer detailing has been removed and the underlying structure tightened up. Finished installing all the new flashing, valley metal, and drip edge. New shingles are now installed.
Baby's Bedroom
- Room is now complete.
Dining Room
- Demolition complete, re-wiring complete, and plumbing moved into the wall. Ceiling papered and painted. Walls patched, skim-coated and painted. New crown moulding all installed. Currently working on stripping, refinishing and re-installing all the woodwork. Both doorways an both windows are now complete. The new curtains are up. The only woodwork remaining to be refinished is the part that goes around the opening to the sitting room. But, since that can't be re-finished and re-installed until the other side is removed, it will have to wait. Also, the picture rail needs to be installed.

Winter 2009-10 goals and their status. (updated 02/22/10):

Baby's Bedroom (100% complete)
- Finish bottom part of walls. (100% complete)
- Install chair rail. (100% complete)
- Install shoe moulding. (100% complete)
- Refinish and re-install window sashes. (100% complete)
- Install door stops. (100% complete)
- Hang wallpaper border below chair rail (100% complete)
Dining Room view photos (new pics!)
- New "plaster" crown moulding painted and installed (100% complete)
- Refinish and re-install window sashes. (100% complete)
- All woodwork stripped, refinished, & re-installed. (100% complete)
- Picture rail sanded, refinished and installed. (99.9% complete)

Spring/Summer/Fall 2009 goals and their status. (updated 12/10/08):

Exterior Painting
- Get as much of the main house done as possible. I'm sort of going from "the top down."
- North side (20% complete)
- East side (10% complete)
- South side (10% complete)
- West side (10% complete)
Grounds
- Build and install front gate for picket fence. (100% complete)
- Complete front of arbor. (100% complete)
- Complete left side of arbor (0% complete)
- Complete right side of arbor (95% complete)
- Complete back of arbor (0% complete)
- Complete paved area (updated 9/11/06) under arbor (100% complete)
- Add bench (updated 9/11/06) to right side (100% complete)
- Build picket fence (updated 10/26/07) on west side of yard (40% complete)
Breezeway
- Old roof removed and new roof and drainage system completed. (100% complete) view photos
- Front wall removed and rebuilt. (100% complete) view photos of left side | view photos of right side
- Front windows restored and installed. (30% complete)
- Back wall removed and rebuilt (90% complete) view photos of left side | view photos of right side
- Back windows restored and installed. (0% complete)
Summer Kitchen/Servant's Quarters
- Old roof removed. (100% complete)
- Rotted out decking replaced and structural issues repaired. (100% complete)
- New felt paper installed. (100% complete)
- Drip edge and new flashing installed. (100% complete)
- New shingles installed. (100% complete)
- East and west dormer decorative work completed. (0% complete)
Tower
- Old roof removed and new roof completed. (49% complete)
- Flat shingles cut (100 % complete)
- Diamond shingles cut (50% complete)
- Half-round shingles cut (50% complete)
- Shingles painted (50% complete)
- Upper level siding all replaced. (50% complete)