A Fresh Start

Well, it's finished! I like to think we gave this 80 year old cottage a fresh beginning, and breathed some fresh life into it!

To refresh your memory, I've started with a picture from the first day we looked at the property!

Now, with the trees down.

And finally, project completed.



Well, I say it's completed, but of course it's crying out for planting in front of the new wall and fence now...but all in due time.

I'm Floored!

Well, unfortunately the courtyard wasn't 100% completed by my last trip to Maine, but we're getting very close!

The French drain was installed through the center of the floor area, and that drain--along with the new gutter downspout installed on the front of the house--were all channeled to a dry well dug on the low spot on the property.

Then gravel was installed as a floor base, and random, large pieces of fieldstone were laid for the floor areas.

Finally, several inches of pea gravel were added as top dressing, and to bring the level of the gravel up to the level of the large fieldstone pieces.

This entry pad will be mortared with a swept-in, flexible epoxy grout to help resist cracking during the winter months.

In this photograph, the fence posts have been wrapped in cedar for extra heft.

Now, all that's left is the fence rails, caps and gate, then all wood will be painted white!

And yes, I couldn't resist adding a little whimsy! What in the world could be wrong with that?

The GREAT Wall

It's been about 5 weeks since I left this project at the stage you saw in the last photos. Lots of progress has been made, and I think it's beautiful!

I can't for the life of me figure out how they got that huge piece of field stone, that is the street-level step, in place. My only guess is that, just as in the building of the Great Pyramids, aliens from outer space must come in at night to help out.

Whatever is the case, we're very anxious to see it. Back to Maine tomorrow to see how much further they've gotten....hopefully, it will be nearly complete. I'll let you know what we find!

He Said, He Said

I know I left you all hanging on this project a couple of weeks ago, with the threat of a visit from a City Inspector looming overhead.

As should happen, we had a survey done on our property before beginning this work. (Any work of this nature that involves a property line should start this way.) We found a discrepancy between two older surveys over a corner pin placement on the street side, which would pull our property line away from the street at an odd angle.

Since the street in front of the house is actually a Maine state road, a state official came to the site and said we could consider the previous wall "grandfathered" and put the new wall back in it's place. Footers were poured according to this plan, and the mason started laying the foundation course for the wall.

Now, from stage left enters "The Villain"! A city code inspector came to the site and said that the wall could absolutely NOT be outside the property line, even by 4" at one corner. We couldn't quite convince him that we weren't encroaching on city property, since it's a state road, and it was one of those battles just not worth fighting.

So...from the center point of the wall, (which will be a walkway and steps ultimately), one side of the wall had to be angled slightly toward the house. Not a huge problem, and once all is complete you will never know. But the kind of situation that sends you back to the drawing board to find solutions, since one change often has consequences that drift down to other aspects of the design.
Back fill and a French drain go in as soon as the base wall is in to hold back the road and help channel the rain water. A final layer of loam went in on top of the crushed rock, for eventual planting on the street side.

This was the state of the project when I left, about five weeks ago. We've had a couple of pictures from the contractor in the mean time, but we are very anxious to see the finished (or nearly finished) project when we are there over Memorial weekend. More pictures to follow!

Our Obligation

Back when I was embroiled in my most recent retail venture, I purchased a wonderful antique fan on eBay. It was a chrome and Bakelite seat/table fan...really special! Unfortunately, the seller carelessly packed it in newspaper and shipped it in a cardboard box that was too small to protect it, and predictably, the fan arrived broken. I was not only frustrated because something I wanted was broken, but disgusted that because of someones cavalier actions, a wonderful piece that had survived intact for 50+ years was virtually destroyed!

This is a rather windy anecdote to tell you my attitude about purchasing--and in fact being the "caretaker"--of an older home. I believe that when you purchase an older home, whether it is "officially" historic or not, you take on the responsibility of caring for that home. This can be an expensive, and time-consuming venture. But most homes and structures that were built in the early 20th Century were built with the intention of lasting, and deserve to be maintained appropriately.

Another windy course back to my Maine project! You recall the good/bad surprise scenario? Well, now for the bad...or at least the not-so-good.

As you can probably tell from this photo, soil had been allowed to build up at the foundation of the house over the years, causing decay.

There are no termites in Maine (Oh, blessed state!), but generally speaking, soil sitting up against wood (particularly before there was pressure-treated wood) is not a good thing. You can even see exactly where the runoff from the non-guttered roof has splashed back and rotted the wood underneath the front door. So, now is the time to replace wood along the foundation, and clean up the exposed vinyl siding. (A future project will be to remove all the vinyl siding and reface the home with a lap/shingle combination...but, another day!)

Though this obviously adds $$ to the project cost, it actually makes me feel good to know that we're finding and repairing problems now, and problems that would only be worse down the road.

The next surprise on this project comes in the form of a visit from the city code enforcement! Now that's always fun!!

My Own "Big-Dig"

I knew the house in Maine would look different with the trees down, but imagine my surprise when I arrived to find this!

We forget that things have to be done differently in the cold country! For a 30" high stone wall, 3' of dirt was dug out for footers to support the wall. And even for our small house, it took two full loads of concrete to fill these holes. Additionally, re bar was embedded into the concrete for additional support. The goal, of course, is to prevent the stone wall from heaving in the frost.

The great news of this stage of the work is that new sewer and water pipes were installed since the existing ones were original to the house (or at least original to the date that these services were provided by the city.) Insulating styrofoam was wrapped around the water supply pipe to add additional protection from frost.

Remember how I said that I would only be surprised if there were in fact NO surprises on the project? Well, the first surprise was a good one! We had expected that during the excavation for the courtyard, we would find at least some rock ledge below the soil, which would have involved jack hammers and manual removal. Well, luckily, there was no ledge!

Unfortunately, not all the surprises turned out to be good. More on that to follow!

The Reveal

Remember my Maine house "cliffhanger" from a couple of weeks ago? Just to bring you back up to speed, here are some of the "before" shots again.

Since this will be a seasonal rental, as well as a place we will enjoy ourselves, it needed to be furnished in a "rental-appropriate" way. We shopped scratch and dent sales, floor model sales, overstock.com, Target, IKEA...even our own storage room and attic!...any place that seemed like a bargain was to be had. I also splurged (at least for me!) on a couple of pieces that I felt would give big impact, and hopefully make some of the lesser pieces take on a classier feel.

We painted the rooms (previously all white) with three shades that I call "mushroom", and used very simple stained bamboo Roman Shades on the windows. The carpets were well-served by a steam cleaner rental, and the appliances--though not new, and just exactly why were appliances ever created in that color?!--also cleaned up quite well.

We created custom art for most of the rooms, appropriate to the area. We even created a series of framed images for the staircase (not in these photographs, sadly), from our own local photos.

I am very happy with the results. See what you think!

Since space is limited in the house, we didn't want to dedicate a full-time dining area...how often do you use the dining table, after all? So our table actually doubles as an entry table, separating the two seating areas in the main living space, and a dining table when the paprika chairs (also serving double-duty) are pulled up to it.

You can see more pictures, and get more information about the beautiful village of Ogunquit, at our web site, http://www.240shoreroad.com/. This really is not shameless self-promotion (well, maybe a little), but I promise the town is even more beautiful than we were able to portray! I hope you enjoy the on-line tour of some of our favorite spots there!

My Own Country Bumpkin

For years, my favorite vacation spot has been Ogunquit, Maine. It's a tiny village
(1500 year round residents) without a single stoplight, but some of the best restaurants and the most beautiful settings in the country, including a mile-long cliff walk along the Atlantic Ocean called the Marginal Way.

My hobby (obsession?) became real-estate-watching in Ogunquit proper. As you can imagine, not a lot hits the market, and it's usually pricey. Well, when Ogunquit experienced a downturn in their market, similar to the rest of the country, I took the plunge. Call me crazy, but the timing seemed right!

I was able to find a cottage packed with true New England charm, wrapped around the predictable Early-American-Shabby-Chic-Country-Charm furnishings. But I could tell that with a good cleaning, a fresh paint job and some up-to-date furnishings, it could be a comfortable and cozy setting, both for us and the seasonal renters we hope to attract. Here are some "before" pictures.

I know what you're thinking...."Who in their right mind?!"....right? Well, since these photos were taken, the ugly duckling has transformed. Do I have your attention now?

After pictures to follow!