Exterior Work

Days are getting shorter and the nights are cooler.  We have done quite a bit with the house to get it ready for winter.  I will post a few pics of what the house looked like before on the outside and the changes we have made so far.  We also put in a wood furnace add on.  We had used pellet stoves in the past in our other home, however to keep the house historically correct we did not want to put pellet stoves in.  We want the fireplaces to remain as they are.  We are lucky that upon inspection our chimney professional confirmed that the chimneys were all lined and the fireplaces could actually all be used.  AMAZING!  He was even surprised to see it.  So, needless to say that was one part of the restoration that we were excited to learn we didn't have to do! 
Today Scott finished building the large, wooden storm door.  It looks great!  We have temp hinges on for now until we get the ones in that we ordered that are all the same size, but it still looks excellent.  Where there once was an old, rusty, metal screen door has now been replaced with a more proper door for the house! 
The large trees seen in the before picture were one of the first things to go.  My father took them down for us all in a day.  The stumps still remain until spring when the stump grinder comes and then the gardens will be worked on.  We also removed a very large handicapped ramp and deck that lead to the front door.  Underneath we were excited to find the big old granite steps.  The top step seen was a piece of granite found at the edge of the upper drive way under the start of the ramp.  We were hopeful that it would work as a top step when we moved it, however we now think that we will have to remove t and replace it with a smaller sized piece of granite in the spring.  For now it will do and serves the purpose.  Like so many things we will have to try different ideas to get it right for the house.  It may be a lot of work to do it that way, but in the end it will be done whatever way is best for the house.
We have a big goal of painting the exterior of the house next spring and working on restoring the windows, even if it is one at a time.  Many people have wrinkled their nose and commented on the task and expense of having to replace all the windows, but we have no plans to replace them, we want to restore and preserve them....that answer gets us even more wrinkled noses as the thought of restoring that many windows..... apparently it makes some people dizzy :-)