Starting Point-- Summer 2014

We are in the final phase of the renovation of the guest house, and I am finally making myself sit down and write a post.  Most days we have worked from sun-up to sundown alongside the contractors (well, at least I have -- Stan still has to do his bread-and-butter work.)

Here's where we started:

 It's a cute little house right across the driveway from the main house.  It was built as a one room cabin, then a lean-to addition in the early 1930's (we think) added a bedroom and bathroom. The little part on the left in the picture above was originally a tool shed. 

 Stan's brothers each spent some time living here after college.  Then in 1984 Stan's grandmother came to live with them, and the house was renovated for her.  The tool shed was made into a kitchenette, and Stan's mother had fun decorating the cottage with pink sprigged wallpaper.  Behind the wallpaper the walls were plywood and filled with cellulose insulation.  Not exactly built for sturdiness, eh?  But the low ceiling (about 5'8" at the back wall (see window) added to the cottage-y charm, although you couldn't stand upright at the window! More like a cottage for the seven dwarfs!

After Nana's death, the house sat empty, although Stan's dad used it as a home office some days.  Then in 1999, while Stan's parents were in Australia, a thunderstorm felled a tree that pulled on the wires of the main house, causing arcing, and the house was severely damaged by fire.  Soon after that, Dad was diagnosed with cancer, so they moved into the guest house to bide their time and figure out what to do.  They ended up spending three years here as the main house was rebuilt.  By the time I came along, they had moved back across the driveway, and the cottage sat empty.  No one really noticed when the roof began to leak.  And the mice moved in and set up a mouse kingdom.

Now Stan's dad is gone, and a couple of health scares last year made us realize the day might not be that far off when Mom will need to have us live here or she will need to be here where she won't have steps to climb.  So this summer the renovations began! 

The plan:
---Remove the damaged rear roof and raise it 2 feet.
--- At the front, remove the slates from the shed dormer kitchen roof to allow for the additional height, then put back in place.  The rear roof to be asphalt shingles.  No one will ever be able to see both sides at the same time and realize the difference. 
-- Renovate the bathroom, getting rid of the acrylic shower stall, but keeping the original toilet and sink.

In July, construction began -- or rather, demolition!  More on that next!