T'ai Shen Do: The Happiest Lady in the World

T'ai Shen Do: The Happiest Lady in the World

Candy cane lane

Thanks to Royce for being kind enough to help replace some worn boards - We didn't quite match the paint, but it's close. We used cedar clap boards for the replacements.

#35 MVP

The tiffer in action - I would have trimmed first ;)

More Before Pictures to Keep Adam Motivated! :)

Adam has been working so hard on the house. Every bit of free time we have, he has tirelessly worked to help create the house we imagined living in together. I know it seems like a thankless and neverending job, which is why I wanted to post some original "before pictures" of the house. It shows how much work Adam has put in already and how much it has already made a difference.


Hope you enjoy the insanity that was once the Forsythe house.

Yikes!!!

Not the bright, airy, cottage kitchen I imagined, but slap some paint on, tear off a few substandard carpentry jobs, and we're well on our way!

Mountain Dew

Coveralls...The Best Christmas Present Ever!

This is a typical Adam expression after he visits our little crawlspace. It's usually a mixture of disoriented and irritated. He typically likes to talk to himself while he works and it wasn't until recently that I realized," no, I'm not hard of hearing. He's just not talking to me." I'll often hear him have whole conversations about the structural integrity of the house and phrases like, "what in the world were these people thinking?!?!"

No Valium Necessary

I have come to realize that you can handle pretty much any home renovation project when you have a capable husband and a nice bottle of wine. I have been described by my closest friends and family as high strung and in general a "nervous" person. I have never really been one to take prescriptions for this, but as our kitchen renovation got well underway, my husband and best friend found the secret to my (and their) peace...wine. For the past two to three weeks, there haven't been many nights that one of them has not had a bottle on hand in case the renovation project gets to be to much for me to handle. I have a feeling once the kitchen has been overhauled, we're all gonna have to be a little more diligent in the gym to counteract the calories. But I'm happy.

I removed a tile platform the previous owners had that was supporting the refrigerator and oven and I uncovered and much larger mess - NO SUPPORT! - I'm surprised the refrigerator didn't fall into the crawlspace (honey grab me a beer it's gonna be a long one) So, I cut the hardwoods back about 2 ft, removed this decrepit joist that was bearly supporting our gas line that you can see hanging out on it, and added 4 new joists with double stacked flooring (Advantech). It's should hold a mammoth now.

Step 1: Strip wall
Step 2: hunk-a hunk-a of burnin' love (i can also balance a protozoa on my back)
Step 3: Voila! Dang! our house is still crooked

I had to strip the wall because there mountains of waves across the wall. I figure the cabinet man would have a time with this and also the corners of the drywall flapping in the wind - there was no 2X4 corners to nail to - The unlevelness came from having true-cut 3X5's and 2X4's on the same wall which produces some nice ripples - I shimmed the 2X4's and made it's a level as i could -

Famous words from Bill Reece( dad-in-law )

"Now Adam,... This house weren't built by craftsmen,.. and no matter what you do, they ain't nary thing you can do to make this house look any better. Now come on - let's get to work.."

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Here's my lovely wife taking the renovation in stride, at least that night.

Reversable drywall?

Man this is nice stuff, plain wall on one side - fancy paper wood paneling on the other

Before Pics! I know, I know. What were we thinking?

These are some shots of the house shortly after we bought it. The colors were actually offensive. But Adam and I did see some potential. It was a decent price and located in a pretty good area downtown. It's not fancy, but if you use your imagination, you can picture a light, and cozy little cottage, over 110 years old that has seen the best and worst of Wilmington. That's why we were drawn to it...I think.




This was our first attempt to cover up the color overkill applied by former owners. There is still the cobalt blue fan and no cabinets to speak of, but very soon, that will all change!



Lucky for me, Adam used to do drywall. So, all those little drywall flaws will eventually disappear...like magic. Actually, I usually disappear for a couple hours while Adam fixes it. I don't get in his way, and he doesn't ask for my help. So, it works out for both of us. :)





"Offensive" is all I can say. But there's so much room for improvement! I mean, it can't possibly look any worse!

The sense of color and design is so...unique.

And that same color sense carries on throughout the entire house. Notice the cobalt blue star trek lighting, warm deli mustard walls, and funky bookshelves. Our job...to undo all of this nonsense.
Before

After (Still a definite work in progress)

Our little barn

We bought in March 2007

New cabinets equal floor repair

Ain't she purty!?

This is what we're dealing with folks, it's where the refrigerator, oven and old cabinets used to sit. The plan is to reinforce and install a new platform.

Raising Our Barn, Bit by Bit.

We have decided to keep a running record of our hundred year old house improvement. We'll start by showing you some clear before pictures so you can see the progress as we go. You may find yourself asking, "Why in the world would anyone buy this house in its current state?" But we do have a vision and can see the historic home we've always dreamt of beneath the disgusting layers of tacky 80's high gloss and sub standard drywall jobs. :)