It's Been A While, But There Has Been Progress

North side of the house with its new color.

A number of factors have kept me away from the blog for a while, and the reasons don't really matter, but it is time to bring you up to date on the progress with the house.  We are at the time of year where not a great deal will happen, and I will probably go back and write some of the other posts I have planned on the initial demolition and examination of the house. The end of summer saw a great deal of progress on two sides of the house. All of the windows and frames on the north side of the house as well as the door were worked over, and siding either repaired or replaced if it was too far-gone. A body color was selected to compliment the previously chosen trim color, and was applied to the completed work. If you go back through the previous pictures, you will notice what a change this has made in the look of the house. The door on the north was also finished and received an initial coat of paint, allowing us a second access point into the house. With the door completed, we were also able to move the entry steps to the north side in order to be out of the way for work on the east side.

West Side.

On the west side was more of the same, with repair or replacement of the siding and paint. One change was the replacement of the door that was at the attic level on the back with what we feel would have been more likely - a window that mirrors the ones on the north and south sides. There were no other windows on this side, making this probably the easiest one to work on of all the sides.

It is important that we prime and paint each section as we move around the house in order to protect it. After all, it may be a year or more before we finish working our way around the house, as the completion of our main exhibit building restoration and the subsequent installation of all the new exhibits will take a front seat to most of our activities as we move into spring and early summer 2015. This does not mean that work will come to a complete halt on the Stuhr House; it just means that things will be going slow for a while.

It is very tempting to want to run in and work on at least one of the rooms, and that may happen if time and weather allows. After all with the completion of the siding on the north, that means that at least one room - the pantry - could be completed as there is no longer anything that could impact it from the exterior - except for the roof. This, and this reason only, may keep us from doing anything inside just yet, as it would be a waste of both time and money to do interior work before we know with certainty that it will not be damaged by a possible leak.  The nice thing is, we are still able to work on plans for how we will finish interior rooms, assemble artifact lists and work on a furnishing plan. I must say, it is very inspiring to drive towards the house from the north and see at least that much of the house looking good. It makes me excited to see what will happen next.