Life in the Barns

[Tarnished]

Homebody, You've done your barns proud! Will be around for a long time to come now. Looking forward to what else you will be doing. I also love old barn's and know that there is a never ending list of things that must be constantly repaired. But that is what keeps us going, right!

 

[1949 caddyman]

Your man cave looks like a good place for the meeting of the "pull up a chair, let's be friends" thread!http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=317028

 

[Homebody]

Well lets get us up to date. Unfortunately for you guys but good for the wifey, the last year has been spent redoing the lower level of our house. It was still all done in the 70s mode with suspended ceiling hiding a lot of treasures. I wont go into a lot of detail and let the pics do the talking. Hope you dont mind house pics for a page or two!

The before, which served us well (surprisingly) for 16 years.
5-1 by
[url=https://flic.kr/p/22Cho2Y] 5-2 by
[url=https://flic.kr/p/22Cho1q] 5-3 by
[url=https://flic.kr/p/22Chntd] 5-4 by
[url=https://flic.kr/p/22ChnrE] 5-5 by
[url=https://flic.kr/p/22Chnpq] 5-6 by

Get a load of this! Thats the toilet and tub plumbing. Lucky one of us didnt take a ride down to the kitchen.lol
[url=https://flic.kr/p/22ChnnG] 5-7 by https://www.flickr.com/photos/153040134@N06/

 

[Homebody]

You think pocket door hardware has improved or gotten worse over the decades? Patented in 1860. Still work flawlessly! We actually thought about exposing these by putting a window in the wall on both sides of the doors, but in the end just took pics and sealed it back up.
5-8 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Gettin there. Love this look actually!
5-9 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
118 wheelbarrel loads of plaster and lath to the trailer.
5-10 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-11 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

My daughter thinking....You've lost your marbles dad.
5-12 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

 

[Homebody]

The wall in the center is that coat wall that's coming down. You virtually walked right into it when opening the door. The other room was the original kitchen in the house before it was remodeled in the 70's.
5-13 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Believe it or not we decorated it for Thanksgiving and had 20 people over for the holiday! (this was 2015)
5-14 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Coat wall removed for that trending "open concept".
5-15 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Those two bad joists replaced.

5-16 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

With the holidays of 15 over (yes we had Xmas in that mess also. it was time to remove the cabinets and go full steam ahead.
5-18 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

 

[Homebody]

LOL
Time for all that **** to come out!
5-19 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-20 by Laine Olson, on Flickr



K, we've seen this on some of those fixer upper shows but never thought we'd have our own. Yes that's a 32 story wasp condominium in the wall!
5-21 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
The intricacy of the outer shell was pretty incredible and really pretty actually.
5-22 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

We had an occasional wasp in the house over the years and evidently we found out why. This was an outside wall until we put an addition on in 2010.

My daughter had the sarcastic remark of "ya it'll be a nice dining room dad but it's an awful small window to look out at the barn" I hate when she's right. lol
5-23 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
So we took out the same narrow window that you see on the 2nd floor and replaced it with a new craigslist find.
5-24 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

 

[Power Sedan]

Wow, that's quite the renovation! Although after all the other renos you've already completed, this should be a walk in the park. Looking forward to future updates!

 

[Homebody]

I'll skip all the drywall work as I think we all know how that works. I did put a tray ceiling around the perimeter of the kitchen to hide some plumbing and ductwork.
5-25 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Floor finally going down 16 months after the start date! I was partially immobile for 3 months after hernia and shoulder surgery the same week so my brother and brother in law did all our floor and installed the cabinets.
5-26 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-27 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

I used 3/4" waferboard behind all the cabinets instead of drywall. Logic being none of the studs in the house are at 16" centers and just thought it was easier than putting stringers between all the studs for something to screw the cabinets to. This way I was guaranteed to hit wood no matter where we put a screw.
5-28 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-29 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Granite countertops being installed.
5-30 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

 

[Homebody]

And 18 months after we started it's all done. (May 14 -Nov 15) I had a family member have a complete house built in 6 of those months. lol Hey, I did this by myself 4 hours a day before I went to my real job.

More old flooring above the faux fireplace.
5-31 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Here I am standing exactly where that old coat wall was. Much better view walking in the house!
5-32 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Looking the opposite direction.
5-33 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Backsplash tile detail.
5-34 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
We opened up this stairway. Wall use to come all the way down where the spindles are.
5-35 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
The island. 625 pounds of granite. It's 3.4 x 8'.
5-36 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

 

[Homebody]

Here you can see the daughter's window idea in the dining room.
5-37 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

I made the table out of 45 bucks worth of wood from the big box store.
5-38 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Have a friend who does stained glass and gave him a picture of our barn and said make it happen. He knocked it out of the park!!
Stunning first thing you see when walking in the door.
5-40 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Behind that wall is where the pocket door hinges from earlier are.
5-41 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-42 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-43 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-44 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

 

[iceman510]

Love it. Both the inside and outside work.

It's great when the old homestead is taken care of. I have lived in two very old houses, but never owned a barn yet.

Looking forward to more "big barn" info.

 

[Homebody]

Soooo much better without that wall there.
5-45 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-46 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
My wife doesn't question me much anymore...lol
5-47 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Painted that barnwood above the fireplace.
5-49 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-48 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Made a few signs out of my stock of barnwood also.
5-50 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-51 by Laine Olson, on Flickr


And this pantry in the wall for canned goods from the wood floor we tore up. Just turned it over and sanded the pieces lightly.
5-52 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-53 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-54 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

 

[GGB]

WOW! Just finished going through your thread, and have to say how impressed I am with the craftsmanship. Congratulations on a very nice restoration.

GGB

 

[J_French06]

Lots of old primitive potential there

 

[1949 caddyman]

Very nice!

 

[Homebody]

Wow, that's quite the renovation! Although after all the other renos you've already completed, this should be a walk in the park. Looking forward to future updates!

lol No, this one by far was the worst of em all so far! Didn't think so going into it but easily it was. New floor joist's, ceiling rafters, all new electrical and plumbing made for one hell of a long and expensive project. Soooo glad it's behind me now.

Which, now that I think of it, I didn't even post pics of the worst part of the project - replacing a 1/3 of the floor joists in both rooms due to heaved floors. Check these out.
Me in the crawl space under the kitchen floor thinking what the hell have I gotten myself into?
5-55 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
All the cast drain going up to the 2nd floor bathroom was tore out and replaced. Also had to re mortar/rebuild that crumbling foundation wall seen here.
5-56 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
Here's the dining room floor...
5-57 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
And same with new joists...
5-58 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Love it. Both the inside and outside work.

It's great when the old homestead is taken care of. I have lived in two very old houses, but never owned a barn yet.

Looking forward to more "big barn" info.

Here's hoping you have a barn some day! Thanks

WOW! Just finished going through your thread, and have to say how impressed I am with the craftsmanship. Congratulations on a very nice restoration.

GGB

Thanks a lot. I don't claim to be any type of a craftsman, but I manage to get the job done!

Lots of old primitive potential there

My thoughts exactly when we first bought the place!

Very nice!

Thanks Caddy!

 

[Homebody]

Welp, obviously nobody likes kitchen pictures so on we go with the outside projects.

So last Spring my brother calls me and asks if I want a shed, and if so you gotta come get it now. Naturally I load up the trailer and go see what he's got on the job site. Ends up it's a ticket booth for a school stadium.
It's 8 x 12 with a 2 foot overhang on the front. Awesome, load it up!

Pretty nervous heading the 15 miles back home as it would have been considered a wide load had I been pulled over. And at 11'8" tall, I knew I had to clear a 12'3" bridge... Hope we measured right....hope we measured right... is all I kept saying...lol

Happy to say that all disasters and tickets were avoided and made it back safely!
5-59 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-60 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

5-61 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-62 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

 

[Homebody]

Pretty sure this will just become a garden shed of some sort or maybe what the women are now calling "SheSheds", a place to go sit and read, take a nap,whatever it is they do in those things..lol

As luck would have it I parked next to a fellow car enthusiast at a local car show a few months later and we hit it off talking about stuff, then he tells me he owns a crane service company - how convenient! Ends up I've seen his truck all over the place over the years and just didn't know he was a local guy.
Anyways I tell him I need to get a shed off a trailer and he says he'll do it for a 100 bucks "cause we're car guys".

So he shows up a few weeks later and an hour later we had it set in roughly the place it'll go. That white garage in the pic is going to be torn down this Summer so The shed will be facing the new driveway and the road.
5-63 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-64 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-65 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-66 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
5-67 by Laine Olson, on Flickr

Sure made quick work of a project that we really hadn't figured out how to offload when I picked it up. Love it when a plan comes together.

No worries about the damage to the roof edge as I told him it was getting a new steel roof anyways so we just went with it.

 

[collmorgen]

great work!!

 

[Tarnished]

Very cool ticket shed! nice save!

 

[Homebody]

great work!!

Very cool ticket shed! nice save!

Thanks guys, I think this thing will look pretty cool once done.

 

[65cayne]

lol No, this one by far was the worst of em all so far! Didn't think so going into it but easily it was. New floor joist's, ceiling rafters, all new electrical and plumbing made for one hell of a long and expensive project. Soooo glad it's behind me now.

Which, now that I think of it, I didn't even post pics of the worst part of the project - replacing a 1/3 of the floor joists in both rooms due to heaved floors. Check these out.
Me in the crawl space under the kitchen floor thinking what the hell have I gotten myself into?

All the cast drain going up to the 2nd floor bathroom was tore out and replaced. Also had to re mortar/rebuild that crumbling foundation wall seen here.

Here's the dining room floor...

And same with new joists...




Here's hoping you have a barn some day! Thanks


Thanks a lot. I don't claim to be any type of a craftsman, but I manage to get the job done!


My thoughts exactly when we first bought the place!


Thanks Caddy!

I actually got anxiety imagining myself starting a project and getting to the point you are in these pictures...WOW!

You did an incredible job bringing it all back together. Looks wonderful.

 

[pablo94sc]

Here you can see the daughter's window idea in the dining room.


I made the table out of 45 bucks worth of wood form the big box store.



Have a friend who does stained glass and gave him a picture of our barn and said make it happen. He knocked it out of the park!!
Stunning first thing you see when walking in the door.

Behind that wall is where the pocket door hinges from earlier are.

What colors did you use for the walls and trim in the dining room/entry? I really like that color scheme and think it'd look great in my living room.

 

[Crown]

Welp, obviously nobody likes kitchen pictures so on we go with the outside projects.

No, we love all pictures but most of us are lurkers and jealous of what you're doing without a contractor. That is a serious amount of work! You should be proud of yourself, I know I would!

Keep it coming!

 

[M-technik-3]

Nice remodel on the house, reminds me of the one I just finished and I am glad It's done.

 

[ishiboo]

Awesome thread gets even more awesome. Your work on the house is brilliant. Love it!

 

[Homebody]

I actually got anxiety imagining myself starting a project and getting to the point you are in these pictures...WOW!

You did an incredible job bringing it all back together. Looks wonderful.

lol Trust me, i got a bit of anxiety myself at that point. When the wife has to walk a foot wide catwalk to get to the bathroom and laundry you start wondering if she really wanted this when she said "i do"! She was a trooper though and kept a good sense of humor about it.At least when she was around me....
Thanks for the comment.

What colors did you use for the walls and trim in the dining room/entry? I really like that color scheme and think it'd look great in my living room.

The trim is plain old satin white. Walls are Grandstand Tan and Chocolate Brown. We have the same colors in our living room and love it.

No, we love all pictures but most of us are lurkers and jealous of what you're doing without a contractor. That is a serious amount of work! You should be proud of yourself, I know I would!

Keep it coming!

Thanks, ive done all sorts of little projects over the past 30 years but never one where they all came together in one project! Just took it one day at a time and surprisingly took most weekends off so as not to get burned out on it. I think that helped a lot. Reenergize and back on it during the week when the wife was at work. Hard part was having to pick up the mess we made each day so she didnt have to worry about anything dangerous while home alone at night. Trip hazards, nails, etc.

Nice remodel on the house, reminds me of the one I just finished and I am glad It's done.

Amen Brotha, thanks.

Awesome thread gets even more awesome. Your work on the house is brilliant. Love it!

Thanks

 

[pablo94sc]

Thank you! Btw, using the old floor as a wall decoration is something I planned to do as well. Yours looks great.

 

[don long]

Ok Homebody
I just read through your thread and really enjoyed it. You have done quite the remodel on the whole property. Very nice work.
I like the way the shed was moved and unloaded. Pretty cool!!

So are you retired after your last employment? or are you working a night job?

Don

 

[Bears Fan]

Wow! I don't know what to say? Except your house looks amazing! Man you should be proud! That was a **** ton of work I hope my wife never gets on The Garage Journal and see's what you have done

 

[Homebody]

Thank you! Btw, using the old floor as a wall decoration is something I planned to do as well. Yours looks great.

Good luck and have fun!

Ok Homebody
I just read through your thread and really enjoyed it. You have done quite the remodel on the whole property. Very nice work.
I like the way the shed was moved and unloaded. Pretty cool!!

So are you retired after your last employment? or are you working a night job?

Don

No retirement here for awhile. I work 2nd shift at a big pharma company.
Thanks For the compliment, and call me Laine.

Wow! I don't know what to say? Except your house looks amazing! Man you should be proud! That was a **** ton of work I hope my wife never gets on The Garage Journal and see's what you have done

Thanks dude and yes, between Pinterest, DIY shows and magazines, my wife is never running out of ideas to keep me busy!

 

[C_F]

I don't know how I missed this thread before, but WOW! You have done a ton of work to your place, and it all looks amazing...especially inside the house. Thanks for sharing your photos and story.

 

[Bob Heine]

Homebody, you stopped by my thread so I thought I'd visit yours. Very very nice place you have. Whenever my wife sees a home like yours (the way it was when you purchased it) she says "there's a place you could fix up" and we laugh. My remodeling projects are far less ambitious than yours and haven't had a result anywhere near as impressive as yours. Well done sir!

I don't have a Camaro but the 70 RS (with a big block) was the first car I would have traded in my 68 GTO for. The dealer made me an offer I had to refuse: with my GTO as a trade-in, the dealer wanted more than I paid for the GTO two years earlier. I kept the GTO and bought a Vega GT in '71. That was the last new car I ever bought in America.

We have a few things in common. I always liked the look of the 3-piece Camaro spoiler so I'm in the process of glassing one onto the back of my '72 Corvette. I first saw it on a Motion Corvette decades ago. .

I also used those blocks for retaining walls in my yard. They're a lot easier to work with than stone or mortared and faced concrete blocks.

Lastly it looks like my wife's name is a dyslexic hiccup from yours: My wife's first name is Liane and your signature shows LaineO.

 

[Homebody]

I don't know how I missed this thread before, but WOW! You have done a ton of work to your place, and it all looks amazing...especially inside the house. Thanks for sharing your photos and story.

Thanks for the comments! Stay tuned because there is PLENTY more to come!

Homebody, you stopped by my thread so I thought I'd visit yours. Very very nice place you have. Whenever my wife sees a home like yours (the way it was when you purchased it) she says "there's a place you could fix up" and we laugh. My remodeling projects are far less ambitious than yours and haven't had a result anywhere near as impressive as yours. Well done sir!

I don't have a Camaro but the 70 RS (with a big block) was the first car I would have traded in my 68 GTO for. The dealer made me an offer I had to refuse: with my GTO as a trade-in, the dealer wanted more than I paid for the GTO two years earlier. I kept the GTO and bought a Vega GT in '71. That was the last new car I ever bought in America.

We have a few things in common. I always liked the look of the 3-piece Camaro spoiler so I'm in the process of glassing one onto the back of my '72 Corvette. I first saw it on a Motion Corvette decades ago. .


I also used those blocks for retaining walls in my yard. They're a lot easier to work with than stone or mortared and faced concrete blocks.


Lastly it looks like my wife's name is a dyslexic hiccup from yours: My wife's first name is Liane and your signature shows LaineO.

Thanks for checking in Bob! When I look at the before pics I always think the same as your wife. We actually moved from a new house we had built to this place. Told my wife the exact same words..."we can fix it up". Lucky for me she agreed.

The spoiler should look sweet on the vette, I know that's a lot of work moulding em in and getting it to look right. We do have Vega's in common, I've had 6 over the years and 2 Monza's. Love em and wish I could find another. Stuffed V8's into 3 of the Vega's and they were a blast.

Liane, lol I get called that mistakenly all the time, just last week again at the doctors office. Just call me Laine, like a pain. Some call me LaineO as Olson is my last name.

As I said above, I'll be updating here shortly.

 

[rixtrix1]

Just read through your whole thread tonight after read the latest update on the Restored 1930's Auto Shop thread and thought your tag line in your signature sounded interesting.
What a treat! Coming from a rural area I really appreciate your going through all the work on your property, especially since it was in your family so long. Subscribed

 

[BuickFarmer]

Man, love your whole place, from the barns to kitchen rebuild. Really like your "style" in building stuff and decor after the build. I'm bettin your wife loves it all too. Can't wait to see what you do with the shed.

 

[Homebody]

Just read through your whole thread tonight after read the latest update on the Restored 1930's Auto Shop thread and thought your tag line in your signature sounded interesting.
What a treat! Coming from a rural area I really appreciate your going through all the work on your property, especially since it was in your family so long. Subscribed

Well thank you sir! Glad you enjoyed it!

Man, love your whole place, from the barns to kitchen rebuild. Really like your "style" in building stuff and decor after the build. I'm bettin your wife loves it all too. Can't wait to see what you do with the shed.

Thanks buddy, my wife still has to pinch herself every morning when she walks downstairs and see's the kitchen. It was a long 18 month ordeal and she put up with a lot of stuff so it makes me happy to see her happy.

I've gotten busy outside again now that the inside stuff is done and I promise I'll try to update this more often. Some neat stuff coming this Summer.

 

[tab2]

Plywood on the cabinet walls is a great idea! My parents had a cabinet fall off the wall once. Spoiler alert, when not all the screws in the 1/4" plywood backing don't go into studs it can't hold a few hundred pounds of dishes

That is a beautiful Reno you did.

 

[Homebody]

Plywood on the cabinet walls is a great idea! My parents had a cabinet fall off the wall once. Spoiler alert, when not all the screws in the 1/4" plywood backing don't go into studs it can't hold a few hundred pounds of dishes

That is a beautiful Reno you did.

Thanks much!
Ya, being that this old house doesn't have a single stud that's 16" on center I figured it would be worth the extra cost to just plywood the cabinet walls. Better safe than sorry they say!

 

[Homebody]

Two months since last post. My bad.

Let's get you started with a brief tour of a very messy big barn. Hang on to the railings and don't trip!
6-1 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-2 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-3 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-4 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-5 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-6 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-7 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-8 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-9 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-10 by Laine Olson, on Flickr
6-11 by Laine Olson, on Flickr