Work Weeks 34 & 35: On Faith and Tulips
Hello! We are still in the thick of the brick mess around here, with the repointing and repairing taking place. The front wall is now finished on the first floor. Hooray! The floor to ceiling windows have been repaired and painted. Now it’s down to finishing the rest of the repairing, scraping, sanding and painting out front. But look! Pretty so far, right? And check out that sweet bench Guy made out of the 1860s outbuilding wood and dropped off! Thanks Guy!
Meanwhile, the east side of the house was coming along pretty well until [insert ominous music here] they got to the bump-out wall. This spot has a small flat roof, and water must’ve been trashing it for a very long time, because when they pulled the outer layer of loose bricks off, what they discovered was that the inner brick wall had basically disintegrated. Doh! So they had to take the whole wall down to the first story, and then Kevin had to go around hunting for bricks so they can finish re-building it. This is what it looked like:
That white part is the back of the insulation boards between the studs in the music room. As of press time, the wall is half-rebuilt. I’ll have completed pictures by next report! This has slowed down the timeline. I don’t even know when our new outside brickwork completion goal is set for. I’m going to guess mid-August. That sounds like a nice time to finish.
Meanwhile, our dormer hero Troy spent a few days here, and he was able to complete the final sad dormer repairs. That dormer was not as scary or sad as we had initially thought, so there’s that at least! All the fancy finish parts of the dormers are scheduled for mid-August as well, thanks to a 4 week turnaround time on the siding, soffit, j chanel and whatever other terms Troy was bandying about. The repairs are not very noticeable, so there is no picture. Instead, here’s our gardens again, because wow! How about those plants!
The porches are scheduled for some more work beginning next week. Won’t that be awesome when I have those pictures to show you?!
And now we go inside! Work has begun on the first floor kitchen, which is getting converted to a commercial kitchen. For me this part was really exciting, because look at the secret linoleum floor that was under the subfloor!
For me this is an especially exciting pattern, because quite a large chunk of my DNA is Pennsylvania Dutch (my maiden name is Laudenslager!), and this is a VERY PA Dutch pattern. It gets even better: One of the designs is the triple tulip! That has always been my favorite hex symbol, so much so that I have a triple tulip hex sign tattoo! The triple tulip symbolizes Faith: Faith in yourself, Faith in your work, and Faith in mankind. I’ve always thought that was a beautiful way to live. Apparently, the house agrees! Next week I’ll have more pictures of the kitchen.
Upstairs, the second floor apartment still doesn’t look very different or exciting, but the ceiling is framed out now and the plumbing is all done (hoooray!), so now we’re just waiting for the drywallers to come and do their thing and then BAM-things are going to move quick after that!
The last exciting thing I’m going to share with you is..our new kitchen counters/island!
Aren’t they beautiful!? Our buddy Paul Theisen stopped by last week and said “hey, I wanna do a fun project here! What can I do?” and Kevin came up with the perfect job for him! He converted all the planed 1860’s wood we salvaged from the outbuilding into these gorgeous pieces. MASTERFUL! We are still debating the best way to finish them, but we’ll get them buttoned up by the end of the week, hopefully! I’m so excited to finally have a place to store all the kitchen stuff properly, and I’m *this* close to having true “after” photos for you of our kitchen!
Well that’s about it as far as the report of the house work goes for this week, but I would like to share one final story about what happened to me today.
Earlier this afternoon, I went to visit my stepmom and pick up a few final sentimental items that were my dad’s. She is moving at the end of this week after selling the house, so this was the very last time I got to see the house I grew up in. In my heart and head, I know it was absolutely the right decision to sell, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t hard to know it’s leaving the family, most likely forever. Fortunately, the new owners have a young child and another on the way. It’s a great house, and so I’m very glad another generation of kids gets to play on the tire swing, roll down the hill, and sled there (it’s an epic sledding yard!).
By the time I got home, I wasn’t feeling particularly enthusiastic about writing the blog. I’m not entirely sure why, but if I had to venture a guess, it would probably be because one part of my grieving brain is busy saying things like “houses are just houses, it doesn’t matter. It’s just stuff”, and it was really putting a damper on my usual cheerfulness and sense of adventure towards the house. But then, something serendipitous happened!
Paul told me there was an old woman downstairs asking for me, saying she heard I wanted to talk to her because she lived here. I went down, and there was Marianne Lauer, nee Kostishion! She is 87 years old, and she is, I believe, one of, if not the very last-Kostishion children who were raised in this house! I got to bring her inside and show her where all her siblings' names are on the wall, including hers! She said it was in her mother’s handwriting, as she was only little at the time. The STORIES she was telling me! My head is still swimming with them! I learned all about the Milk Bar (the little sundae shop her parents ran in what is now the downstairs apartment), and how they had a jukebox in the outbuilding and all the teens would come and dance. She confirmed that this was a happy house full of love, and she was absolutely thrilled we are fixing it, and wished her siblings were still alive to see it restored. She lives in the same neighborhood, so I plan to get in many more visits with her and hear many more stories!
Her visit definitely brightened my spirits. Just like the tulips, it restored my faith that yes, we are doing good work here, and I have faith that the next family to live on the hill in Fogelsville will do the same. Perhaps one day I’ll be the 87 year old holding hands with the new owner, telling her about the time I fell off the basement steps, or that we played hopscotch in the garage, and that our kitchen had all red appliances and the funkiest wallpaper! See? (top photo is me & my sister Julie, bottom photo is my brother Kyle. My sister Kristin was probably the one taking the photos!)
Until next time, keep the faith!
-Sara