Can I Get A What What??

Do you know how much these bricks sell for???

$5 a piece!!!

When we saw the state it was in, we thought about tearing it down all together.  But I had to remind us that we have always wanted a fireplace (regardless if we finally get one in a climate that barely reaches 50 degrees in winter).

We could have funded another addition with that money (not really).  Onward and upward we went and here is the work in progress:

Here is the before pic:

Upcycling Found Materials

We went into this renovation knowing that we wanted to be as environmentally friendly as our budget would allow, but it never occurred to us how many materials we could re-use from the demo work.

Most of the walls contained old clapboard behind the drywall:

The crew left us a whole pile to work with:

And we plan to re-use this material in the bathrooms where we were going to install (new) bead-board.  Picture is sanded and painted like this:

We could even go crazy and do chair rails like one of my favorite Charleston home designers, New World Byzantine:

Or not worry about new kitchen cabinets

I love the rustic look of this, but I want it outside on a barn door not in my kitchen.

These old beams that were used to frame the walls would be awesome for a farm table:

or maybe a door on a runner

 The Brooklyn Home Company

My husband and I walk over to the site on most nights to check out the progress.  There isn't much to see this week since the foundation guys are working on leveling the floors.  They did leave us a pile of debris they found under the house (wish I took a pic, but it is dark out) and my 5 year old child husband took such delight in rummaging through the dirt and retrieving all the old glass bottles.  While I think these are very cool, I find no need in keeping them.  Maybe it is my fear of becoming a subject on Hoarders after we moved all our crap (yes, it was ALL crap) into storage 2 weeks ago.  I'm kind of digging this light feeling of not having many possessions.  I could "lose" the key to the POD and be happy to start fresh.

Renovations Before Video

Week 1 of the Duncan St Renovation Project

I hope you guys can see these videos.  I'll post some stills below, too.  The above video is of the 1st floor prior to demo work.



I really wish the previous tenants left that bike. Guess what we found underneath the carpet??

Can you say ORIGINAL HEART PINE WOOD???  I am not sure how they survived Hurricane Hugo in 1989, but they did!  The house was built in 1840 and boy did they do it right back then.

This next video is of the 2nd floor.  Keep in mind that I am no video wizard.  The perspective is way off and the rooms are small so it is hard to get a good angle.  I am also mumbling a narrative to myself in parts, but most of it is about how "gross" everything is.



Things are coming along just great.  We only have to rip out the walls on the 1st level since they found insulation in the walls on the 2nd floor.  And we were convinced that there were no hardwoods on the 1st floor.  What an awesome surprise!  It makes everyone's life a little more difficult working around them (foundation work is needed), but who could throw those gems away?