Road trip to Philly!

This has to be one of the best parts of this job. Road trips to the northeast. We always find beautiful pieces in New York,  Philadelphia and many places along the way. We load up the trailer empty, go to the farthest point and start loading up on the way back! It’s so fun!!

We usually order something in the destination city. We get lots of nice doors and mantels from the Northeast. Sometimes we will find a really cool piece like this closet front from Philadelphia. It’s from the 1870’s. There is one mirror, but look at the key and keyhole! Wow, that’s a really cool find! It’s very hard to find original hardware with pieces this old.

We do have regular stops on the way home. Our favorites are new flea markets or antique malls that we’ve never been to before. We find these by taking a few new exits, noticing billboards or just seeing a tag sale sign on poster board!  This last trip was no exception. We have plenty more to share! Keep checking in….

We call it the Green House

Cullman was hit by the tornados on April 27th, 2012.  A lot of lives were spared in our city. Buildings and homes did not fare so well. There are many houses that had to be demolished or just had to be scooped up and taken to the dump because of damage. Our little green house got pretty lucky. I wish I had an aerial view of how the tornado came through downtown Cullman. We saw it coming. We were warned. We heard about the one that came through Hanceville that morning. We were lucky. Most everyone decided to go home early that day. Schools were starting late and then decided not to go in at all. We saw what might be headed our way. We took cover.

We are building back. We are a fairly small community. Everyone helps everyone around here. All the time. This little green house was unoccupied during the storm. It was right on the outside edge of the tornado. Everything in front of it was destroyed. Everything. There was a little roof damage. We had to cover it with tarps quickly. Another storm was coming through days later.

It takes awhile to get through all the paperwork. It takes awhile to decide what you want to do. We are ready. We have been working on renovating. As you can see, it was a beautiful house.  It sat there with a story to tell. It had so much character and everyone knew exactly which house you were talking about when you said, “the green house”.

Now, we know it will never be the same. It will have new stories to tell. The siding is new, the windows are new.  A lot of the inside will be different. We are refinishing the doors to put back on. We have a great carpenter that loves Cullman. He takes a lot of pride in his work and pride in community. We are lucky to have him working on this project. Thanks Jim Burke!

This is what we do.  Most of the time, the houses we find can not be revived. There is too much damage or not enough money to restore the house. If ever we can make it what it once was, we always want to do that. We have customers come in all the time that are looking for a doorknob to match or a keyhole like they remember from their Grandma’s house. We are lucky to have those pieces. We are blessed when we can help them find the right match. I hope to continue with updates on our Green House. I have another post coming with the history behind it. Dr. Gudger gave me plenty of information! If you aren’t in love with it…..believe me, you will be!