The Nichol House Experience - Part 1

Hello, blog fans! I am glad to announce that I have reached a monumental moment in the Nichol Street Experience. As you know, I have been working on remodelling a house to be used as a rental property at the request of my husband. Today, I begin on the final week of work on the Nichol house. Mark has painted all the walls and installed a floor in the room I called the rough room. Now we have to touch up the paint, scrub and wax the floors, paint the stairway to the upstairs and add on the detail stuff like electric plate covers. The people who are to begin renting the house on March 1, dropped off some light fixtures for installation. They have asked that something be done to cover the pipes in the downstairs bathroom. And everything needs cleaning.

      Some of you may wonder why I have posted such an austere photo of myself. I took this myself, sometime early in the process. Later as I looked at it, I couldn't help but see my father's face. He was a carpenter. He built much of our house....slowly...over years.  He was always adding something on. I thought of him often as I slugged away at this project. I thought of my brothers too. Especially the two brothers who are carpenters. I remember going to the new North Cove Elementary School in the Woodlawn community  in Marion, North Carolina with my brother Doug. He showed me the trim work he did on the school gym. A facility that will be around for years. I was amazed at how the wood looked as if it was one form. Tight to perfection. And my brother Elihu with his wonderful wood shop just a few feet from his back door. Neat as a pin.

    My sister Marlene told me not to cry too much at the end of the week. It struck me as funny because I have been feeling kind of maudlin about the house. It was built in 1884. The people who built the house were craftsmen. I can see it in the house. I stayed late the other day to paint the stairway to the upstairs. I mixed brown and black paint and discovered that I had gray/purple steps...so I will be repainting the steps brown. As I got to the bottom of the steps, the steps make a curve around. As I painted the curve around, I noticed a piece of concave moulding trim underneath the step. I've watched enough home repair / wood working shows to know that this curved trim would've had to have been steamed or soaked in water to limber up the wood. I loved discovering this hidden detail because detail use to matter. The house was quiet. And in this instant, I felt connected to those spirits from 100 years ago.

    Stay tuned... It's gonna be a busy week.