Balcony scene

November 21, 2018November 23, 2018 Monica Lee1 Comment

Dear reader, we’re taking a break from the memoir-in-progress to assess the accomplishments of the past year. My husband and I closed on the 126-year-old Methodist church just shy of a year ago, and the changes have been immense. For the next couple days, I’m telling the story in before-and-after photos. Whenever possible I’ll try to use the same perspective in the “after” shot as I did long ago in the “before.” We’ve walked through most of the church, but we’re almost done. Today, we look at the balcony.

balcony before — When we bought the church, there was no balcony, only a hidden choir loft. As we were poking around during the showing, there was a dark opening on the second story. Tyler fired up the flashlight and I took this picture of the space between the ceiling and what we thought was the roof (it’s really a second ceiling–there’s another space above that before the roof).

end of balcony after — Here’s a look at that same space now. We removed the first ceiling and drywalled the second ceiling (there’s a thousand dollars worth of blow-in insulation between that ceiling and the roof).

balcony other way before — Tyler built a balcony extending from the second story room(s) and choir loft. This is the north side of the balcony.

balcony built before — And here’s a shot from the north to the south. (This was a scary picture to get because I had to walk to end of the balcony without any railings.)

balcony after — The is how the balcony looks from north to south today (or this evening– this is evening light). We carpeted the plywood (because there was no original floor to refinish) and assembled a sitting area in the center of the balcony.

balcony other way after — This is the north side of the balcony today (day light). I can watch the TV on the fireplace from the chair on the right. This is a great place for an introvert or a teenager to catch their breath during a gathering–can still hear and see the action downstairs but doesn’t have to interact. I also think it would be a great place to put a live band if we ever have a big blow-out party.

Friday: Before-and-current photos of the basement. See them here.

The bell tolls for thee

November 20, 2018November 21, 2018 Monica Lee4 Comments

door to belfry before — The belfry has an interior entrance on the second floor. It’s that open door near the center of the picture, which was taken when we first toured the church.

belfry door after demo — Here’s that space, at a slightly different angle, after demolition.

belfry door with floor done — This is the guest bedroom, with the belfry door, after we finished refinishing the floors and painting. You can see we switched out the door to the belfry so it had windows (this door came from elsewhere in the church).

belfry door after — And here’s how this wall of the second floor looks today.

belfry interior with books — Once you open the door to the belfry, it doesn’t look a whole lot different than it did when we bought the church (thus, no before picture). It’s a lot cleaner, but we haven’t installed trim or painted; I’m envisioning a bank of book shelves on the left and a window seat on the right. The bell rope is new (it’s hanging there to the left of the doorway) and the window is new.

belfry window before — Here’s how the window looked in the beginning. It was covered on the outside with siding. Tyler guessed that hole there was a bullet hole (but wouldn’t a bullet shatter the pane?). I think I can see a face in the upper right pane, can you? (It’s not me — my reflection is in the lower right, beneath the bullet hole.)

Here’s the new window, uncovered by siding, with a view of the neighbor across the street.

belfry exterior before — The exterior of the belfry when we bought the church hid a lot of sins. The roof below the bell was rotted, and two of the eight piers holding up the bell were rotted so it couldn’t be rung. A number of squirrel skeletons littered the roof area (but no bats!)

The belfry looks a lot different from a year ago. The siding has been removed (though not yet replaced), and the decorative detail on the upper part revealed. The window makes a big difference. And the bell can be rung safely again after we shored up the interior structure (neighbors will tell you I ring it every time I have visitors).

Today’s headline is a partial quote from 17th century Christian writer John Donne. Here’s the entire passage: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Tomorrow: The balcony (just wait until you see that before photo!) See it here.

Allow the fires of transformation to burn away all that doesn’t serve you

November 19, 2018November 20, 2018 Monica Lee1 Comment

second floor bedroom before — I’ve shared this perspective before, but to remind readers: This space on the second story had been a choir loft, a bedroom for the pastor at one time in its history, the pastor’s office, a Sunday School classroom and a meeting space.

guest room after demo — This shot, at a slightly different angle, shows the space after most of the demolition. You can see the choir loft railing (with the center chunk removed). That cross-hatch pattern of two-by-fours was also removed when we raised the sanctuary ceiling so we’d have more headroom on the balcony.

guest room framed in — Again, a slightly different angle, but this is the space once we had the bathroom framed in.

guest room sheetrocked — And here’s the space with drywall.

guest room floor done — And here’s that glorious pine floor, refinished with a couple of coats of clear polyurethane.

second story bedroom — And here’s how the guest room looks today. I have decided I am going to turn the rug the other way and put a love seat on the end of it, facing the bed, to better define the space.

lucy's door with knob — This is a close-up of the door to my granddaughter’s playhouse, a 5-by-8 space under the eaves just off the guest bedroom. We repurposed the door from the other side of the eaves, and Tyler found the perfect miniature ceramic doorknob for it.

Today’s headline is a quote from Health Ash Amara, author of the Warrior Goddess book series.

Tomorrow: The belfry, inside and out. See it here.

Piles of paper out, toilet paper in

November 18, 2018November 19, 2018 Monica Lee6 Comments

Dear reader, we’re taking a break from the memoir-in-progress to assess the accomplishments of the past year. My husband and I closed on the 126-year-old Methodist church just shy of a year ago, and the changes have been immense. For the next few days, I’m telling the story in before-and-after photos. Whenever possible I’ll try to use the same perspective in the “after” shot as I did long ago in the “before.” We check out the guest bath today.

bathroom wall before — I’m not entirely sure what this room in the church was. It was filled with a decades worth of Sunday School lessons and choir music. But it also had a gas heater. Maybe the walls were erected after the heater was installed.

bathroom wall after — We tore the old wall down and built a new one to enclose the guest bath. From the beginning, we knew we would locate a bathroom here because it’s directly above the master bath which is directly above the old church kitchen in the basement, and it was easier to run plumbing here. To the right, you can see part of the doorway to the balcony.

inside bathroom before — This is the old storage room before.

inside bathroom after — This is the inside of the bathroom now. A bit of work is still required. We’re missing vanity drawers, we need another coat of paint and the tub needs a surround, but we’re getting there. Given what was in there to begin with, I suppose the space could use a little reading material, too. Once we opened up the choir loft, heating the space was no longer an issue.

Tomorrow: Guest bed. See the transformation here.

The only way to do great work is to love what you do

November 17, 2018November 18, 2018 Monica Lee1 Comment

Dear reader, we’re taking a break from the memoir-in-progress to assess the accomplishments of the past year. My husband and I closed on the 126-year-old Methodist church just shy of a year ago, and the changes have been immense. For the next few days, I’m telling the story in before-and-after photos. Whenever possible I’ll try to use the same perspective in the “after” shot as I did long ago in the “before.” We’ve surveyed the main floor, and now we go upstairs. It’s not all that big, but I’m breaking it up into five rooms. First, we’ll take a look at my office.

office before — When we purchased the church, it looked like the second story was last used as a Sunday School room. I think the local Alcoholics Anonymous group also may have been meeting here. Nearly everything you see in this shot was removed, including the wall with shelving and the carpeting. The window you can see in this shot led to the fire escape, which we removed a few months ago.

office after — This corner is now my office. The eaves (where a pile of colorful boxes is) goes along the entire roof line and is great for storing luggage.

Tomorrow: Guest bath. See it here.

We aim to please

November 16, 2018November 17, 2018 Monica Lee1 Comment

Dear reader, we’re taking a break from the memoir-in-progress to assess the accomplishments of the past year. My husband and I closed on the 126-year-old Methodist church just shy of a year ago, and the changes have been immense. For the next week or so, I’m going to tell the story in before-and-after photos. Whenever possible I’ll try to use the same perspective in the “after” shot as I did long ago in the “before.” Today, we have a look in the master bath.

bathrrom before — I’ve shared pictures of the shower corner of the master bath before. This perspective shows where the water closet was built. When we bought the church, this room was being used as an office. At one time in history, this area was a Sunday School.

bathroom after — I had to sit on the vanity and take a panoramic picture to get this perspective because we moved the wall to make the bedroom behind it larger (the panorama is why the floor looks wavy in the picture). That’s another pocket door on the water closet. The door on the right is one of the linen closets.

Tomorrow: The second floor. See it here.

Sweet dreams

November 15, 2018November 16, 2018 Monica Lee2 Comments

Dear reader, we’re taking a break from the memoir-in-progress to assess the accomplishments of the past year. My husband and I closed on the 126-year-old Methodist church just shy of a year ago, and the changes have been immense. For the next week or so, I’m going to tell the story in before-and-after photos. Whenever possible I’ll try to use the same perspective in the “after” shot as I did long ago in the “before.” Today, we look at the master bedroom.

master bedroom south wall before — I’ve shown off pictures of the headboard side of the master bedroom before; that side didn’t exist when we purchased the church. Today, we look at the south side of the bedroom. When we purchased the church, there was an exterior stairway and doorway and a closet on this side of the room. Both were removed.

master bedroom south wall after — Removing the doorway revealed the window. A TV on an imported cabinet now sits where the closet used to be. The foot of the bed is just showing in the bottom right.

Initially, I wanted to show off the wood slats of the original ceiling in the master bedroom, but there were too many holes.

tray ceiling after 2 — So we repurposed the tin ceiling from the basement inside the tray ceiling. I love looking up at this ceiling when I’m in bed. Tyler says it’s a good think I like it because it was a lot of work.

closet side before — This is look mid-construction of the east side of the master bedroom. This is the pocket door leading to the closet.

closet side after — Here’s a look at the east side of the master bedroom now, complete with French doors.

Tomorrow: The master bath. See it here.

History never really says goodbye; history says, ‘See you later’

November 14, 2018November 15, 2018 Monica Lee2 Comments

Dear reader, we’re taking a break from the memoir-in-progress to assess the accomplishments of the past year. My husband and I closed on the 126-year-old Methodist church just shy of a year ago, and the changes have been immense. For the next week or so, I’m going to tell the story in before-and-after photos. Whenever possible I’ll try to use the same perspective in the “after” shot as I did long ago in the “before.” Yesterday, we checked out the back door, and today we proceed down the hallway to the left of the kitchen that we’re calling The Hall of History.

hall of history in before and after

The Hall of History leads to the master suite and the back stairway to the second floor. We intend to hang historical images of the church and pictures of our ancestors here so we chose to keep this hallway as original as possible. The door to the hallway is original, we left some of the paint patina on the floor and all the light fixtures were found elsewhere in the church when we purchased it.

back steps before and after.jpg

Here’s a closer look at the back steps which were rebuilt and recarpeted (I finally removed the sticky-backed protective plastic covering for this “after” photo). We also had new hand railing fabricated. The walls on the stair landing are shiplap we simply painted after removing the paneling (no Sheetrock there). The door on the left leads to a closet beneath the belfry; this area used to be the original entrance to the church. The French doors on the right lead to the master bedroom.

hall of history out before and after

Here’s a look from the stairway back through the Hall of History into the great room. You can see the antique light fixtures a bit better here.

# # #

Today’s headline is a quote from modern Uruguayan journalist and novelist Eduardo Galeano.

Tomorrow: The master bedroom. See it here.

Out of a closet, a doorway

November 14, 2018November 14, 2018 Monica Lee2 Comments

Dear reader, we’re taking a break from the memoir-in-progress to assess the accomplishments of the past year. My husband and I closed on the 126-year-old Methodist church just shy of a year ago, and the changes have been immense. For the next week or so, I’m going to tell the story in before-and-after photos. Whenever possible I’ll try to use the same perspective in the “after” shot as I did long ago in the “before.” Yesterday, we looked at the kitchen and balcony, and today we take a peek into the mudroom (the alcove to the right of the kitchen).

mudroom before — When we purchased the church, there was a closet in the space that would someday become our back door and mudroom.

mudroom mid construction — About three months into the renovation, we’d pinpointed where we wanted a back door, but we hadn’t opened it up yet because it would have been a door to nowhere–the garage hadn’t yet been built.

mudroom after — Here’s how the mudroom looks today. The doorway to the left is a pocket door that leads to the powder room. the “rest room” sign was salvaged from the basement, which was the only operational bathroom in the church when we bought it. The door on the right leads to the garage.

inside powder room — Here’s a peek inside the powder room. The wall behind the mirror is reclaimed wood from the basement ceiling (we also used this wood on our master bedroom headboard).

Tomorrow: The Hall of History. See it in all its before-and-after glory here.

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be

November 12, 2018November 13, 2018 Monica Lee4 Comments

Dear reader, we’re taking a break from the memoir-in-progress to assess the accomplishments of the past year. My husband and I closed on the 126-year-old Methodist church just shy of a year ago, and the changes have been immense. For the next week and half or so, I’m going to tell the story in before-and-after photos. Whenever possible I’ll try to use the same perspective in the “after” shot as I did long ago in the “before.” Yesterday, we walked into the former sanctuary to see a fireplace where the altar used to be. Now we turn to the left to take in the kitchen.