This Little Old House

THIS LITTLE, OLD HOUSE

 
 For years many of you have heard Liz and I talk about the ‘little old house’ we were fixing up in Crescent City. Last year we completed the restoration (kind of), sold our big house in Orlando and moved permanently to Crescent City.  

To illustrate our progress I have assembled a series of ‘before and after’ shots of our little house.

      

All in all, we spent almost ten years renovating the little house as it was to become our home-base retirement address. There is probably not one inch of the house that we did not fix, change or demolish. 

 Structurally, the house was remarkably in pretty good condition, although many leaks in the roof had caused ceiling and wall plaster to disintegrate beyond repair.

The

The little house originally was built in 1928, and was constructed from ‘heart of pine’, most likely cut and milled nearby.      The exterior had many boards that needed to be replaced, and overall, the lack of painting over the years had caused what little paint that had been on the clapboards to peel down to original wood. Wiring and plumbing was not up to any code, and most likely had not been changed since they were installed some time in the 40’s.        

I was still at Disney at the time we bought the house and first started renovations. As I worked on it, I found myself thinking that while the workmen were sawing and hammering this Florida cracker house together in 1928, at the same time in California, Walt was making ‘Steamboat Willie’, the first Mickey animation. 

AFTER

 Liz

Liz is resposible for most of the color selections…Paul for most of the manual labor.  (above) Parlor with imported ‘window coverings’ (It’s a private joke we will tell you someday!)  (below) Den/Paul’s OfficeLiz’s ‘Full-Kitchen’-No more washing dishes in the Garage, although we still like to occasionally cook on the old gas stove outside, so we don’t loose such primitive skills to modernization!  No ‘Out-house’ here. This is a real bathroom with hot running water and everything. 

Our favorite spot in the house…the Front Porch.

 Informal Dining Room

  

Our This Little, Old House ‘Mascot’  

Sun rising… 

Come by and see us sometime for a personal tour-it only takes 7 minutes! 

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