House Update ~ Chronicles of a Real Estate Nightmare ~ Amber's Room ~ Part 4

BEFORE BEFORE

Amber's room was not part of the mold issue, it was just ugly. It originally had a drab gray paneling and the molding was not done very well. The interim before pictures below don't look so bad with just primer, but believe me it needed painted. The previous owner had built a built-in desk in the alcove area and shelves above it for his daughter Amy which was cute, but not made very well and was now 25+ years old so we tore it apart and use the alcove for the dressers instead. We never got more than the primer on the walls before it started being used as a guest room.

INTERIM BEFORE

See what I mean about the molding?

DURING

Hubby has been a real trooper getting everything done on this house since so much of it wasn't even planned. I did the cutting in and the trim work while hubby did the rolling. We started early and finished just about dinner time after 2 coats of BEHR Oklahoma Wheat which dried very quickly.

AFTER

We do need to do the molding around the ceiling after the room has dried a bit more. We're going to stain it to match the closet and bedroom doors. It will give great contrast to the Oklahaoma Wheat on the walls and the Innocence on the ceiling. I just love the blues and sage green against the warm walls.

Amber, your room is ready!

History of a barn and the hope of a greenhouse

Many have asked so I'm now doing pictures and a bit of the history as I know it that surrounds our barn. We are 'in town' technically, but we have one of the last standing barns, It's in great shape as it doesn't leak and the floor and inside walls were made of half logs. It was built in 1850 according to the real estate information. The only thing the previous owner left behind of any value was an abstract Title that spelled out the history of the property, a story for another time.

The last owner had used it for storage and had it packed so full you couldn't see all 4 walls at the same time. When they moved they took most of their things, but did leave behind a 60 yard dumpster full of junk (you know things like 60 year old vacuums, broken high chairs, plastic one gallon jugs, broken coat racks, etc... I could go on for pages.

We were not told that it is 'sliding' off its foundation by the previous owners, but the previous previous owner has told us it is. He said he shored up in the early 90's before selling. Now we're told the next guy put skirting (we were told it was for drainage) around the shoring to disguise it. This summer we'll take off the skirting and see where we stand. Hubby is thinking about turning it into a workshop. Once we cleared away the debris we found a pretty neat barn. The building itself is about 28 x 30 and has a large attic area. There is a wood burning stove and old brick chimney. The sliding carriage doors (I couldn't get a picture of these today - too many mud puddles) no longer slide open as that side is braced from the ground up, but look neat anyway. The graffiti is leftover from the local high school students. In the 80's our barn was used to construct the homecoming float in each year and became a hangout for the kids. Someone replaced one of the windows with a vinyl slider that looks really out of place. Right now hubby uses it for mainly storage.

And this picture is especially for Barbara. This is the south west corner where you can begin to imagine the greenhouse made from our old sash windows. This spring we will be planting lilacs of various colors along the outside of the chain link fence to create a hedge to hide it and add a touch of privacy. You also have to imagine the yard is green. If you look close, there are still a few small patches of snow here and there. In that corner will be the greenhouse. The door will open towards the yard. I may even set it on an angle for a touch of charm. Now imagine on either side a 3 tiered flower bed made from railroad ties and full of LOTS of color.