Thursday, February 16, 2017

Surprise!!!

Surprise!!! If you ever watch remodeling shows on HGTV (I love them!), I'm sure you've come to expect surprises as each project progresses. Usually unhappy surprises.

Once we leveled the floor in the former porch--now dining room, it impacted other parts of the structure--not a surprise. But as the boards for the ceiling and the walls were removed--Surprise! Termite damage in the exterior walls.





We decided it would be best to tear down and rebuild the exterior walls of the porch...





Now we are assured that the floor will be level and the structure will be secure. Another good thing-- we were able to raise the roof a bit so our ceiling will be higher on the inside.






And look at the rafter tails--we're leaving them exposed. A number of the old Tybee cottages have this detail and I think it adds a lot to the look of this old cottage.





I like what I see so far. 



I am trying to decide whether or not to replace the screen to the tiny front porch entrance. I think I like it open with just some pickets and a handrail. What do you think?

Monday, February 6, 2017

Time To Work--We're Going In!

Things are finally happening at the little Tybee Beach cottage! We had to do some foundation work at the front of the house and while we were at it, we decided to level the sloping floor. The front room was originally a front porch that was enclosed by a previous owner. That's why it was angled--to allow drainage for the porch. There wasn't much crawl space so we went under the house through the interior floor. 

I was excited to find a wood floor underneath the linoleum!




Also there were two exterior doors leading into the living room...



Awkward. And since I want to use the enclosed porch as a dining space, I decided to remove the door leading to the porch from the living room and open up the wall a bit so the two rooms relate to one another better.

Like this...



We're going to get new windows to replace the ones in the porch/dining room. The old ones survived Hurricane Matthew but they are not the type made to withstand high winds, so they have to go.

I can just imagine a table and chairs with a cool chandelier hanging down...
Can you see it?