If you kept last week’s photos, compare them with this week’s c. 2010 one. The barn is gone! That one-storey log house has grown another storey! How that was done would be a story in itself. The narrow road has become a generous two-lane with a vivid yellow centre line.
If you didn’t keep last week’s column and photos, they are available on-line.
Neighbour Pauline told me sometime between 1970 and my 2001 purchase, a sunroom was installed on the north side (no logic to that) and a garage was attached to the road side of the house. Dumb moves! Eventually, the sunroom was moved to a southern exposure, an attached garage built on the north side of the house.
The location of chimney (and stove) went to the opposite side. Two more utility sheds were built in the back yard.
And now, I’ll tell you about some of the changes I made since purchasing TLC in 2001.
From 1976-2001 and 2001-2019, both of my homes have been heated primarily with firewood. That wasn’t ‘recreational’ heating. I attached a woodshed to the far side of the house. For direct access to it, I added a connecting doorway.
A series of Hydro lines and ones for internet service abound in this 2010 aerial photo. Five poplar trees were planted and are thriving in an orderly north-south line. After this photo was taken, I decided to deal with the nuisance of having them in the way when mowing the lawn, then raking their leaves in the fall. (I know why autumn is called ‘fall’.) To replace their contribution to reducing global warming, more than two dozen evergreens have been planted along the perimeter of the property.
And what about other changes I made, especially to the interior? (Yes, this is beginning to be much like a Chris Emard DIY column.)
The kitchen’s small single sink was replaced by a large double. The entire counter-top was replaced and extended. “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”, especially since he had regained his bachelor status. I’m not a chef, but I am a cook.
The only person living with me during my occupancy of TLC was Keesha. For her, I broke through a wall (accidentally severing some concealed wiring) to install a ‘doggy door’. That led to a fenced-off grassy area that was at her disposal at any time of night.
The floor sagged about eight inches along its centre line. I sent some construction workers into the crawl space to install concrete-based support posts along the main beam. Rather than stress the entire floor by jacking it up, I had the floor of the room adjacent to the kitchen levelled and covered in ceramic tile. The room’s only window was more than doubled in size. Result: bright during the day time, and made cozy by its wood stove after dark.
The stairway to the bedroom was flanked on the wall side by a very inadequate 2×4 on-end railing and a half-storey drop into the kitchen on the other side. Rescued from a nearby derelict farmhouse were two fine railings and a magnificent newel post.
TLC is now in someone else’s hands. I’m hoping that it continues to evolve and thrive.
