New Clue...1915?

I realized this morning that I hadn't bought my car tag. Oops. It was due on my birthday, but the tag is good until......well today. Since I was at the new courthouse, and already passed through it's airport like security, I thought I would see what I could find out on the history of ThirteenEleven.

I met a very nice man, who was quite helpful and took the time to pull up the impressive computerized files on the deeds. (Let me tell you, I am never impressed with anything this city does. So I was taken back a step to see that : 1. They had computers. 2. They actually paid someone to enter information into the computers. 3. They use AutoCad for the property drawings. 4. You can find out a lot of information on-line.... yes ! I typed.... on-line...)

He proceeded in finding the files on PO's, but he actually had less information than they had at the historical society. However, he did have a very interesting detail, that no one else has had. The information at the court house states that the house was built in 1915. (4 years prior any information that we already had.) I also found out that the house next door was built in 1920, which leads me to believe that the man at the archives was not correct in his theory about the neighbor building our house for his daughter. That just doesn't add up.

We talked a while, he was a retired basketball coach at the school whose property border's the Kudzu Jungle. (the backyard) He seemed to think that the reason the records came to a dead end was that the courthouse burned in 1936.

I headed home, new car tag in hand and a new bit of information. The house may have been built in 1915 instead of 1919.

This is the courthouse which was built in 1904 and burned in 1936.

When I was looking for this picture in my book, I found where it reads "diligent local citizens saved most of the county's records." I think I need to make another trip to the new courthouse. There may be hidden files somewhere that weren't entered into the computer.

This is a shot of the not new, but not old, Art Deco style courthouse built in 1939.

That is Georgia Marble folks.

Looking for a picture of the new courthouse? Well.....it is nice on the inside, with a great grey marble on the walls inside the elevator, and appears to be functional. As for the architecture of the exterior............

not photo worthy.

(Blogger spell check doesn't seem to be working.. so please forgive errors. I've got to remember to write in Word first and copy into blogger.

I am starting to dislike blogger....)

It was a Sunny Sunday

Sunday Walk: Part 4-Square

One of my favorite craftsman style homes in town. Just click and zoom in at the detail on the porch to the right of the tree. With some updates on the paint and removal of the screen porch, this one could be pretty handsome.
Not a 4 square, but it certainly has strong Craftsman influence. In my opinion it, someone went a little overboard with the thick obelisk like columns. Believe it or not this one was born a Victorian. I have a picture of it somewhere in a book. When I find it, I will share.

What a difference a week makes. Today it is in the low 60's and finally sunny again.

We have steps.....

More deck progress pics.

Cool Craftsman Collection of Casegoods

Say that three times fast........

As a Craftsman Home owner... who's style tends to tilt towards the contemporary side,

I am absolutely loving Green Design Furniture's current collection.

Take a peak.

Can't decide which style I like best..... Look at those superb lines.



Adore that Armoire... However, they need some help with the styling of the photos...Call me....Really...Contact me.... I can really help you out here.. Maybe we can work out a trade... Furniture and photo shoots, showrooms, and retail stores.....visual merchandising. That is what I do....

See what I mean.... This platform bed is striking if you can see past the spread and pillows.

This table speaks for it's self.

My absolute favorite....the sideboard.

Best of all each piece is made in Portland, ME. (not China, like most of today's furniture)

Move over Gustav, there's a new kid in town.

Thought ....

Home Remodeling is a marathon, not a sprint.

Flippers sprint to the finish. Homeowner /DIYers are in it for the long run.

Sunday Walk: Part 3- White Out

Today the high was 32, which is COLD for a Southerner, for a Northerner, 32 in January may be considered a heat wave, adorned with flip-flops and tank tops.

You see, in the Deep South, folks just don’t have proper attire for very cold weather. Evident from the progress of the deck photos, shorts can be worn until December. Why buy heavy coats when you may wear them once a year or once every 5 years? As a child, plastic bags placed over our Keds, served as water-resistant foot wear for playing in the snow. Why buy anything else? By the time it would snow again, your foot would be 5 sizes larger. Once on a business trip to Calgary in February, I was told to make sure to bring my parka. Parka?!? The only thing I know about a parka is what I’ve seen in the L.L.Bean catalogue. Actually, it may be the only place to find a parka, within 50 miles.

Snow, in the Deep South, is a welcome rarity. The excitement is seen in blogs such as 1870 House, 1928 Bungalow, Westview Bungalow, Plum Tree Studio, and us. School kids are up early listening to the news to find out if school is canceled. Just a little flurry causes a mad rush to market to buy milk and bread. Folks are skidding around on the slippery roads, making sure they are not without milk and bread for the two days the snow is on the ground. Why Milk and Bread? Who knows, but they were out at Publix yesterday.

Small southern towns don’t have things like snow plows and salt trucks. Wait, Chris and I did see a salt/sand truck yesterday. It appeared to be a 1961 Chevy. Chris commented, “They’ve been waiting for years to drive that thing, lucky it cranked.” Snow chains in the South are like grits in the North, not available. As a child, I remember an ice storm, where we were without electricity, drinkable water, and phone for a week. We were stuck in the house, boiling soup on a kerosene heater. Snow is so rare; each one is a memory burned on your permanent hard drive.

Back to the Post at hand. …

Just a couple shots of houses today for the Sunday Walk in the Hood series, because it is cold, snow is still on the ground, and most southerners can’t tolerate any temperature below freezing.

Here are the pics. They are a White Out!!!



Built in the early 30's as a "Honeymoon Cottage". by F.E. Callaway.



A town historian thinks the owner's of the house to the right built our house for their daughter. But, that is not confirmed.

See why we have to paint our house another color besides white, even if it white appears to be the only color ThirteenEleven has ever been painted.

Breaking News.........

For my Birthday..........

We have SNOW..... ( we also really have to work on that part of the lawn....)

WHAT snow in Georgia!?!?!?!
OK.. it was just a couple inches...No biggie... but remember it hasn't snowed here in years.... a little north of here had some snow the other day, but not us...
WOOPIE!!!!

Puppy had lots of fun. He hasn't seen snow since well......he was a puppy.

No mom, it is not sticking to the roads.....just the deck.

Meet the know it alls...

Chris is a contractor. ( Which explains why so many projects around here go unfinished. ) I am an interior designer, who in a former life, was a senior designer and construction manager for retail stores across the country. (This explains some of the bickering that goes on about how things should be done around the house.) We both are know it alls, who look at each detail from a different perspective. I am use to telling the contractor how I want the finish product to look and if it doesn't look that way, I ask that it is re-done until it is correct. Chris, being the contractor, well, looks at everything from a contractors perspective. (Okay, I can't say much, one day he may read this blog.) He does, however, take pride in the jobs he completes and wants them to be done right, maybe not visually correct, constructed correct. Needless to say, issues have risen regarding different projects around the house.

In the beginning I created lists, drew dimensioned plans, created time-lines of completion dates and used all the tools, utilized in the past to insure a retail store was completed for the grand opening. After about two months, I learned, my time would have been spent better scraping wallpaper. (The most dreaded and unproductive task done in this house.) Chris had different priorities that he didn't create lists for, or even vocalize. Yes, many of the priorities weren't apparently known when we bought the house, and many times the priorities weren't the same. Cleaning up the bathroom, so it was livable (my priority) turned into rebuilding the complete bathroom floor, (Chris's priority)which turned into rebuilding the complete west side of the house. (I know, I know already... that's how things go when you renovate a house built in 1919. ) The planner I am,(was) just wasn't prepared for such disorder. However, I adapted. You know, sink or swim. The lists went to the curb with the house's debris, and plans were filed.

When asked about the deck, I vocally expressed some ideas, and left it at that. Later on, when it was mentioned again, I decided to draw up some options, some ideas, and post them where they could be seen (Foyer door). Just some sketches, not a Cad drawn dimensioned plan, like I have provided in the past. So........... here is the sketch of the deck plan. It was happily accepted (after a couple of arm twistings)

The designer in me cringes at this plan. No scale, No dimensions, No elevations, No sections,No straight lines even..NO Nothing,except a concept of a symmetrical steps leading down from the deck. ThirteenEleven is a symmetrical house. This plan keeps that balance and will provide a wonderful view of our garden...(today known as the kudzu jungle.)

Wow, who would have thought something this simple could have solved so many of the brick walls we have hit concerning this house? Speaking of brick walls...........that's another post.

More Progress of Deck

Making Rails.

Carefully measuring.
The "dragon's tail" for the steps.

Progress of Deck

Warm Day in December


Cold day in January



We've been working on the deck mostly at night for a couple months now. It is getting closer to being finished every day. These are some progress shots, I won't bore you with the details.

Molasses Tsumani

This day in history, January 15, 1919.

You just can't make this up..........

While researching a little history of 1919 (the year ThirteenEleven was born), I came across this headline from Boston. It reads that a 8'-15' wave of molasses moving at about 35 mph, rolled down the street.

Can you imagine the conversations years later?........."So how did Aunt Irene die?" ..........."She died from a great wave of molasses." ............"What? Molasses?"............."Yes, Molasses...."

Read more about it..........here.

Re-Use Idea for Re-modelers

Don't you just HATE those nail and screw boxes. They always seem to fall apart, spilling their contents all over. One day last summer, frustrated with the nails and screw boxes spilling everywhere, I looked over and noticed the water bottles waiting to be re-cycled. I thought.......hum...........that would be great!!!!

So here is ThirteenEleven's re-use idea to share with all you re-modelers and house bloggers. It works so well distributing a screw at a time and the bottles fit neatly in a tool belt. Upside down (top on of course) they fit in the round tool holder on a ladder.
(They also make holders just for water bottles.)



Make sure the bottle is good and dry. Air it out for about a week.

Sunday Walk:Part 2

This stately Neo-Classical/Greek Revival has 6 wonderful Doric columns.

Yet, another fine example of the Doric Columns, built 1850's.

The columns on this home wrap 3 side.

Moving along, we find a splendid example of Ionic Columns.

Check out those fantastic scrolled brackets holding up the balcony.

Here is a photo how the home looked when built in 1909. (10 years before ThirteenEleven)

I am trying to keep the architectural styles of the homes grouped together, so each week, we'll have a quick tour and style guide of the homes in our neighborhood.

Great Backyard Bird Count

ThirteenEleven does have quite a few Birds in our backyard, aka Kudzu Jungle, accompanied by the scrap 2x4's, the old deck's iron railing, a couple beer bottles from the PO of course, (really!) some old heavy pipe, and just some plain ol'junk that needs to go. Just this morning I spied a couple of crows "fussing" at a hawk.

The Great Backyard Bird Count is Feb. 15-18, 2008. It is very easy, just write down the birds you see. (You can enter a zip code here, and it will show a listing of common birds in your area and you can click on the bird and see a picture. ) Once you complete your list, you enter it on the website.