Tour of the Back

There are three doors along the back wall of the building. Next to each of the doors was a fireplace. This made sense when the space was divided into three separate businesses. Only the fireplace in the middle has survived (it was paneled over and hidden). The other two were taken out. The door on the left-hand side of the building was also covered over with paneling. The door in the middle leads outside to what used to be a lumber area. This is what you find when you step out back. A tin roof covered concrete slab with tons of lumber racks. A whole lot of moldings, dowels and planks were left behind. Yay!

As you round the corner there is also this awesome, though somewhat random, outhouse. The door is a great old solid wood piece that we plan to salvage. The rest will be going away sometime in the future.

Another treasure we found among the stacks of wood left behind are these cool old wooden boxes. We think they were either nail bins or heavy-duty milk crates. :) We plan to clean them up and sell them.







On the right-hand side of the space is another door. This is not it. This was probably a window they converted into a door  that used to connect to an addition. One story is that a mortician rented this third of the building and the addition was where he did the embalming! Cool! (Or, maybe we were told that story to try to scare us away... hmmmm.)

Over last weekend we were dumping all the materials left behind from demo-ing the office. A woman named Mary came by and asked if she could have the materials to repair her trailer. We helped her load up all she could take. She was very sweet, and obviously a hard working, resourceful woman.

The embalming room, as we affectionately call it now, is housing some of the lumber and materials we wanted to keep. The addition will also be getting torn down sometime in the future. This gaping hole will be bricked up. The proper door will then open to the outside again.

Our idea is to take the building back to as close to its original configuration as possible. We really want to utilize the space outside. The covered area will be great for hosting events and cook outs. The side yard, and porch, will be a relaxing place to sit and visit. The building is not turning out the way we originally hoped, but we are adapting to each new surprise we find (which can be really hard and frustrating). Good thing we have each other!