And the renovations continue...

My aunt called me this morning to remind me that I haven't been blogging and there has been activity in my house that needs to be shared.  She is correct on both counts.  We have moved most of our things in to the city house and have been sleeping there since Sunday.  Christmas decorations are slowly coming out of their tubs and are being sprinkled around the house here and there.  However, my husband has been tackling the biggest "new" project we have going on at the moment - heat.

Right after Thanksgiving, another cold spell arrived and we noticed the heater that we thought had been fixed was not keeping pace with the cold air.  No matter where we set the temperature, the first floor remained cold.  The technician came out for a second time and basically told us that the heater was firing up fine but there is no insulation under the flooring on the walk-in level.  My husband bought roll after roll of insulation and has been stuffing the rafters in the basement in hopes of warming up the place.  Unfortunately, yesterday morning the thermostat registered at 57 degrees.  Thankfully, our bedrooms are on the second floor and we did not suffer in that condition.

Today, we had another heating and air company come out and give us a second opinion, which was not good news.  They are recommending that we pull everything that is in place and covert to an new system which would include gas.  The current system is all electric and should only be used as a back up system we have learned.

Needless to say, we are frazzled, furious and frustrated.  Home inspection? Why did we even have one?  Sellers?  Now we know why you did a short sale so the house could be sold "as is."  I am baffled.  For the past two weeks as the house didn't heat I remember asking my husband, "how did a family live here before? Certainly this isn't all new?" 

Lots of phone calls will be made today to see what can be done.  Meanwhile, starting tomorrow we are predicted to have the coldest weather of the season hit.  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

History Through Photography

These pictures didn't come out as well as I hoped.  Even without a flash the gloss on the story boards shines through.  I believe this is the renovation that was done in 2006. Better them than me!  A lot of hard work went into restoring the home as you can see here:

This is the front of the house:

And this is the kitchen:

This is the sun porch which is located upstairs in the master bedroom:

This is interesting...the top picture is actually one of the downstairs bedrooms which is the room where the leak is in the ceiling but beneath is a photograph of the restored dining room:

And finally, the back of the home restored with a new deck that we absolutely adore:

A History Lesson

Left behind in the basement of our new home are multiple story boards that the "flipper" had made up in 2006/2007.  The renovations that were done in 2006 were unreal and I will have to figure out a way to share them with you.  For now, I will post the story behind 1910 Dream Street. As we start to dig into the history of the home, we have found that there is a slight dispute on the age of the home.  The records from when the home was on the Tour of Homes in 2007 say it is c.1905 but according to our agent, the tax records state c.1910.  I foresee some research in my near future!

In 1901, widowed Mrs. Elizabeth Cottingham Patterson returned to the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison M. Cottingham on the same street as the current home is located.  Three months later, she purchased a lot on this street and constructed a marvelous new home of cypress. Originally, this property was part of the Archibald Howell plantation, and was cut from the portion he sold to Laura Brumby in 1882.

As the United States involvement in World War I escalated, Mrs. Patterson became involved as the founder of the Marietta Chapter of the American Red Cross. Desiring a greater role in the conflict, she sold her home in 1916 to E.D.C. Hames and prepared to travel to France.  "Lady Pat" as she became known to hundreds of soldiers whom she and her staff entertained and provided with coffee and doughnuts on a daily basis, remained in France until the end of the war.   Upon her return to New York, "Lady Pat" was presented a government citation for her outstanding work.  "Lady Pat" was remarried to Charles Walter Dupre and resided on Habersham Road until her death.

Following the Hames ownership, the home became the property of the Brumby Chair Company president, Thomas M. Brumby, from 1921 until it was purchased from his estate by James. R. Black in 1926.  In 1932, it was sold to J.R. Miller and remained the residence of the Kingsley Miller family for nearly 60 years when the upstairs was rented to tenants as a charming and spacious apartment.

Tim Raasch and Michael Motes purchased the home from the Miller family in March 1992 and did remodeling to the house.  In July 2006, Christopher Crawford purchased the home and began five months of extensive renovations to bring the property into the 21st century.

Now it is time for my family to add to the history of this wonderful home...