First I had cement floors put in the RV barn. Then I put 3 automatic doors in the RV barn. I also added cabinets from an old school. I ran lines for new electrical outlets. I had several 220V outlets for welding. I put peg board on the walls to hold tools. I put in a welding table, a bookecase, a desk with a sink.
Then I built a house to cover our well. I put barn doors on our barn and tied down the metal roof. I fenced the pastures. I moved the road going up to the top of the property. I had a wet spot where there was a spring dug out and made it into a pond with an island in the middle. I put decorative rocks in places around the pond. I put a weeping willows tree on the island. I planted an orchard with pears, peaches, plums, nectarines, apples, walnuts, mulberries and cherries. I also planted grapes, rasberries, currents and blueberries in where the corrals used to be. I also planted a big garden there every year. I built a new horse corral by the barn.
I painted the house, garage and RV barn first with primer. Then I painted it a color that was supposed to be white. After I finished Kaye and I started to drive away and Kaye looked back and said it all looks green, not the white we wanted. Kaye went back and told the paint store that they gave us the wrong color. They gave up $750 worth of pure white paint to repaint everything. I repainted it all-what a job. Then I did all the trim in dark green.
I took out one of the lawns and made it a gravel parking lot. We put a new septic drainage field in. Inside the house I tore down an old chimney and took out the old wood stove. I put in a new rock hearth and a new efficient Avalon wood stove and a fan system that carried the heat to the bedroom area. We put in new carpet in the family room.
Next we changed our garage into a game room, bathroom, spa, and laundry room. I put a stone hearth and stone walls and mantle in one corner and put our antique stove there. I put a bar with our milk cow stool in one corner and made a small kitchen behind it with cupboards, sink, refrigerator, microwave. I used the redwood countertop we had in our gameroom in California to make the new bar. We moved in a new spa before we finished the wall in the game room. It was brought in the opening for a large window in the game room, put in its place, and then after it was installed, we built the wall where the little kitchen was. I put a bath with anew sink and counter, toilet and shower next to the spa. We made an attic storage area above this area with a door going into it above the bathroom. We put in a separate laundry room coming in from the breezeway. David Reid did the construction on this remodel. Kaye and I did the paint in all the rooms. Game room-burgundy with gold sponging, spa-cream and tan textured paint, laundry room was yellow. We tiled the kitchen spa and bathroom and carpeted the game room. I put a real nice pool table in the middle of the room, a side bank shuffle board on the wall next to the bathroom. I hung our 1917 Hershell carousel horse from the ceiling on a brass pole over the shuffle board. We also put my portrait and Kaye's portrait on that wall. On one wall under a window I built a bench that held our massage table in it. Next to it we put in our antique hall tree. In the corner next to the door I made a pool cue rack out of a round antique table. Next to it we put in an antique armoire. Next to that I put in my mother's cedar chest that was made by my mother's brother, Uncle Harold, for her 18th birthday. My dad cut the legs off so I replaced the legs and restored it. Kaye tole painted it. I put our poker table next to that with a red antique lamp over it. Later we put in a sofa bed. Before long my grandkids, Alicia and Jimmy, took turns living in there. Kaye put a mural by the spa and on the door to the storage room in the attic. I put some cupboards in the laundry room, painted the cement floor, painted the walls yellow and put in a fruit border at the top of the walls. I cut a piece of burgandy carpet left over from the game room and put it on the laundry room floor.
Remodeling the Kitchen
On Thanksgiving Day in 2008 our cooktop stove blew out. Kaye had her other knee replaced in 2009. I decided to remodel our kitchen while she recovered. I replaced the floor with a wooden floor. I cut out the cabinets for a new stove where the broken stove top had been. I cut out cabinets next to the sink to make room for a dishwasher. I extended the cabinets to cover the garbage compactor and to make a storage area for baking pans. I took off all the doors and hardware. I sanded all the cabinet doors and drawers and frames. We painted them a pewter color. We installed new stainless appliances-a double oven stove, microwave and stove vent, twin door refrigerator, dishwasher, and a stainless sink. We had a granite counter top put on the top of the cabinets. I also took out a wall heater and Jimmy put in new oak paneling on the dining room wall. I also put up wallpaper on one wall iwth a grape border. Cathy made us new black and gold curtains.
Living Room
I put up new hardware and drapes in the living room. I also bought a new brown leather couch and chair. It has a motor that reclines both pieces of furtniture. Kaye redid the old chest that we had for 40 years after I sanded it. It is now an antiqued gold color. The living room and kitchen look very nice now.
Preparing House Site on Top of the Hill
In order to prepare the house site at the top of the hill we had to build a new road. To prepare the home site we had to blast the rock to make a pad. We sat up on the hill to watch the blasting. We didn't get far enough away and rocks were flying over our heads. We had plans for approximately 4,000 square foot house drawn by an architect friends of ours, Curtis Folsom. We had to go 800-900 feet deep to get a well that had water. We put in a septic tank and a drain field. We put the foundation in but due to financial problems we couldn't continue to build it.
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