Who ARE these people?

News of our purchase of Greenwreath has spread through Greenville like wildfire.  Some have expressed concern that we may not have realized or understood what we have gotten ourselves into.  To those people, all we can say is that we fully appreciate the historic significance of the house, but we also understand that we bought a 200-year-old house that needs a lot of work.  While we want to ensure that our renovations stay true to Greenwreath’s character, we also want to make sure that the house and its structure have enough integrity to withstand another 200 years.

We moved to this house from England, where Garreth is from, and where he restored a house from the 1930s over a 5-year period.  I moved over during the last year of his renovations, so together, we gained a good understanding of how to tackle various aspects of home restoration under a tight budget.  My background and profession is in archaeology and artifact conservation, so I have a deep-rooted appreciation for history and its preservation.  Between us, we feel that we are well-suited to take on the responsibility of restoring and caring for Greenwreath and seeing that she is preserved for future generations.

The oldest outbuilding, which we also plan to renovate.

Home to Roost

The big day has arrived!  All our new appliances are scheduled for delivery today, so we decided it would be the perfect time to move in.  A friend offered the use of his truck and trailer to move our furniture, which right now only consists of a bed, sofa and two lawn chairs.  Greenwreath is far from where we one day envision it to be, but it’s clean and tidy, and we are eager to actually live in it!  And, since we only have a few pieces of furniture, we can work on the empty rooms while we are living comfortably in the rest of the house.

Let the excitement begin!

Also, my good friend Starr pointed out that the outdoor lighting post, published after the removal of the shrubs, still showed the bushes in the photo.  Here's an updated photo of the outdoor lighting, sans boxwoods.  We wouldn't want to have any errors in continuity.  :)

For Starr

Reprehensible Behavior

We were utterly heartbroken to discover that sometime late Tuesday night, someone broke into our new home.  They kicked in one of the panels in the back door, which is the original Georgian door. Since we have not moved in yet, there was nothing to steal, so apparently in their dismay at the lack of theft-worthy goods, these disgusting people decided to defecate on our 200-year-old heart pine floor.  We feel sorry for someone with such a lack of respect for others and their property, and a lack of respect for a house that has withstood storms, war and periods of neglect for over two centuries.

We cannot thank the Pitt County Sheriff’s Department enough for all their help, support and friendship during this ordeal, as well as their continued vigilance over our community.

Deep breath…and moving on with our lives…

Outdoor Lighting Resurrected

Garreth has been working very hard to get all of the lamps, porch lights, and motion lights cleaned up and functioning once again!  We live in the country, and it is dark out there at night, so it's nice to be able to leave lights on when we are coming and going after dark.  Thankfully, the wiring seems to be sound.

We decided to keep the existing front porch lights - they are beautiful bronze carriage lanterns that the previous owner bought in London and had converted to electricity.

Servicing one of the front porch lights

The lamps in the front yard were totally encapsulated by overgrown hedges and vines.  The vines had even managed to knock the lamp askew on top of one of the posts, so Garreth once again had to wield the chainsaw just to get to them.

Wonky lamp

Lamp with severe overbite

Garreth posing for an artsy shot at the end of the day

We decided we needed to stick with security lights in the backyard, so we went from hideous yet functional:

To stylish, yet still functional:

Lowe's has a tremendous selection of motion lights that are no longer ugly!  We picked a lantern style with a bronze finish.

And the big reveal...

Ta-Da!

Finally, we'll leave you with this, because sunsets out here are stunning...

Yard Work

We are equally as eager to start cleaning up the yard as we are to clean the house.  Since neither of us are master gardeners, this is going to take a while, but over the last few days, we can see little accomplishments slowly begin to change the face of our home.  When we viewed Greenwreath, it wasn’t totally clear what these were:

Two large fallen trees

They just looked like two massively overgrown and oddly placed hedges.  However, after we bought the house and were able to spend more time there inspecting everything, it became clear that they are actually two trees that have been uprooted and left in place.  Judging from the aerial pictures available on OPIS, it seems they came down right about the time of hurricane Irene.  One of Garreth’s first tasks was to wield the manliest of yard tools, the chainsaw, and finally get rid of them.

Two large dead patches in our lawn where the trees once lay

 He then turned his attention to the very overgrown boxwoods surrounding the house and completely obscuring the foundation.  We originally wanted to relocate them to the perimeter to make a nice hedgerow at the property line, but it turns out that the middle of summer is the wrong time to move large boxwoods.  Unfortunately, they have to come out in order to fix the sill, so we made the tough decision to cut them down since they would not have survived being uprooted.  Although we wrestled with this idea for some time, we love the outcome!  You can actually see the brick foundation wall now, which we agreed is much more visually appealing.

And here is the left side of the house, before and after its manicure:

We have no idea what this is, but it's a big old mess.

There's a whole chimney under there!

Now that all of the overgrowth is gone, we can make out a date brick (1791) in this chimney.  It's upside down just below the first shoulder, suggesting that it was recycled from an old chimney in the dining room, which was torn down when the house was extended in 1810.

In case anyone wondered, Garreth disposed of the overgrowth using fire, and lots of it!  At a safe distance from our wooden house, of course.

More to come!

The Brick Path Revealed

Almost visible beneath a thick layer of grass and soil lies a well-preserved brick pathway that leads from the circular drive all the way up to the front steps, and it has been my mission to peel back the overgrowth and expose it once again.  After speaking with the previous owner, Mr. Morgan, it is generally thought that these bricks were laid in 1810 when the house was expanded to its current size.  Mr. Morgan also said that in his renovations, he found an earlier Georgian brick path beneath the one currently visible.  That might make for some interesting explorations sometime down the road, since it really appeals to the archaeologist in me.  :)  It also seems that the three crepe myrtles now lining the path were planted at that time, making them just over 200 years old.  I didn't even know they could live that long!

The obscured brick pathway

I began trying to find the end of the path nearest the driveway, by just yanking up the grass with my hands. Once the bricks were exposed, I was able to roll back the grass like a carpet, since the roots had become so dense and packed with soil over the years.  I also found that the path also has brick edging, another feature that had become hidden with time. 

After excavating the entire width (about 3 feet across!)

It took a couple of nights to clear this section, and it will probably take a month to finish the entire pathway, but it will be completely worth it in the end and give the house back its grand entry!

Slowly coming back to life...

The Big Clean-up Starts Now!

We have begun to assess Greenwreath's overall condition, and so far there aren't any major surprises.  The one thing that you always hope to avoid finding in a house made of wood, the termite, has of course made its presence much known in ours.  We are lucky in that our termite infestation, and the resulting damage, is only found in the ‘newer’ part of the house – the main living room added in 1810.  The termites have not affected the older timbers, which are still solid as stone.  We have had Jason Ecker, a local contractor much beloved and trusted among the plantation-owning crowd around Greenville, to come over and take a look at just what we are facing.  Here is what he found:

That is the visible portion of the main sill that basically supports the front wall of the house on the left side.  It looks a bit like swiss cheese.  The joists in the living room are in much the same condition.  We are planning to remove the lower half of the front porch, raise the house off the sill, and replace it, as well as sister the weakened joists in the living room floor.  That’s pretty much the extent of the structural damage in the house.  Pretty impressive considering its age!

As far as the interior goes, we are basically focusing on just giving the whole house a good deep cleaning.  Since Greenwreath has stood empty for about 2 years, every room is full of spiders, and 2 years’ worth of spiders in quite enough thankyouverymuch.  I hate killing things, so I just remove the webs and allow them to scramble away, although they seem to just relocate to another room.  I’ll have to rethink my strategy.  Also, scrubbing 2 years’ worth of spider droppings (white spots in upper left corner of this photo) off of 230-year-old heart pine floors is enough to make anyone want to cry.

Here are just a few pictures of what the house looks like now.  Check back and see what progress we are making!

Mold and water stains in master bedroom caused by leaky third floor windows

Mold in second bedroom ceiling from leaky third floor window

Broken window pane in the master bedroom

Crumbling exterior paint

Old water stains in second bedroom

Spider webs aplenty!

Mold on the banister

Damaged window frame

Water damage and fried socket in the living room

Separation in wainscoting in living room caused by compression of termite-damaged front sill

Porch ceiling on lower level

One of several missing porch railings

Termite-damaged wainscoting and flooring in dining room

Sand from second floor hearth collected and caused drywall in dining room ceiling to collapse 

Fireplace in kitchen pulling away from wall

Old water damage to floor in den