July-August-September

A whirlwind of mid-to-late summer fun in the sun took us away from some of our work-load in the house...and also our blogging-time...but, we are back now and making up for the lost time by hiring some professionals this season.

We had the 1st floor Brick House maple floors sanded and refinished by G.E.Miller of Windham, Maine; Bill met with a brick mason, Duncan Traills, who will be sending us a "worst-case scenario" cost on repointing and repairing the exterior; I met with artist and muralist, Sandy Howe, to understand her process and to view her portfolio of Rufus Porter-style murals (see 4.4.09 post). We are still planning a folk-art mural for our central room. We are so excited to be making progress, little by little.

By late August we finished* the little, middle, bedroom on the 2nd floor and had our first overnight guests. Miss Erin Heinert and her bff Kelli brought their own pillows and a Batman** blanket and stayed with us for one night. On Saturday night, the temptation of movie-watching got the best of them, and they stayed at the Kimball's Guest House.

We went to our first Fryeburg Fair with our second house guest, Colleen***. It was an old-fashioned country day at a fair. The usual suspects were present...big oxen, little goats, some very large pumpkins, an old red school house, harness races, maple cotton candy...need I say more? It was fantastic. The fair is 158 years old...just a wee bit younger than our house. We have it on our calendar for Oct. 3-10, 2010.

Our 3rd house guests arrived that same weekend. Lisa Reilly and Bill Bomar brought their newest family member, Leo, a six-month-old Pyrenees-lab mix. Leo is really cute and loves to jump and play. He was all tuckered out by dinner time. Our full day of activities ended with a game of poker for matchsticks. Colleen was the winner, hands-down.

*"finished" refers to a room with a new ceiling, painted floors, and a bed w/ blankets and pillows.

**Erin is a college senior and a South Dakota public radio personality! Kelly is her super-fun and adventurous friend on her first trip to Boston and Maine. Because we had a bat siting in August, Kelli thought the Batman blanket would be a great thing to have for protection.

***Colleen was a perfect house guest, trivia-player, poker-player, and all-around great company. We hope she'll visit again and again.

Big Poppy

Today's post is again brought to you by 'Bill'

As we pulled into the driveway we could see all my efforts from two weeks ago, mowing the lawn with a donated mower from Jeanne's sister Kathy, had gone for naught. With the rain forest type weather and fertile soil, the grass, the trees, the weeds and the gardens (see poppy plant to the right) are out of control. We consulted our friend Judy, the realtor that sold us the house and fellow UNH alum, and we will employ her son to cut our lawn on an "as needed" basis. This way we can focus our efforts inside the house.

But before we head inside, some exciting news. Jeanne spotted some new guests making themselves at home in the "single family" bird house out back. The female was busy gathering twigs and I believe the male (with a yellow chest) was surveying the new neighborhood. i'll try and snap a photo of the happy couple!

We did make good progress inside, again with the help of Phil, closing up the ceiling in the middle bedroom upstairs. This room will eventually be renovated into a bathroom, but for now it will serve as our initial sleeping room. With the ceiling structure now level and strapped, we cut and installed the sheetrock in a 9 square pattern to be finished with battens* and a small cove trim around the perimeter. This will allow removal and replacement of the squares for future access and avoid having to tape and plaster the joints, as typically done today.

Day two we took advantage of Phil's son** and his friend to demo the brick hearth and wall that the old Glenwood stove occupied. With a sledge hammer and youth, our demo crew took turns swinging away and chipping away at the brick. It was a battle, but youth won out and the brick was reduced to rubble. Although we would have loved to keep the wood stove, it was not functioning or repairable and it took up a lot of space. With each dollar and hour invested in the kitchen, it looks like we will work with the timber structure we've inherited and not "raze and rebuild."

Work in the bathroom is also near completion and we had an installer give us an estimate $$$ for a new, one piece, linoleum floor. Because we plan on renovating later (when we add the bathroom upstairs) i think we will live with a self-stick tile from home depot!

Jeanne has been busy prepping and painting the living room and actually was able to coax some more wallpaper off the middle bedroom upstairs. We think we see paint behind it, so there's hope to remove it all. Next trip up will be an extended stay over the Fourth of July holiday and hopefully will spend our first night together in the "little brick house!"

* A batten is flat wood stock for nailing across a joint or seam
** Glen and Brent love to demo !

Best Laid Plans

Today's post is brought to you by 'Bill'

Even the best laid plans are no match for an antique house. With high expectations and armed with environmentally safe cleaning products (to protect our delicate septic system as well as the creeks running either side of the lot) we scheduled the water to be turned on at the street by the Harrison* Water District.

All went smoothly, with no leaks or burst pipes, but when we went to turn on the oil fired hot water tank ............. nothing. After fiddling and diddling for an hour and a half i discovered there was a short in the fuse box. No cleaning this weekend! We'll have to call an electrician.

On a brighter note, Gordon* stopped by to say hello. He had removed some trees and a treehouse on the property last fall and offered to remove the construction debris for us at about a third of the cost of renting a dumpster. He had arranged with a friend to burn all the wood scraps for a bon-fire and haul the rest to the town dump.

So, with some time freed up i took to building those bird houses for our feathered friends and if they like them i'll build some more!

*North Bridgton's water is supplied by the town of Harrison, Maine, just to the north.
*Gordon is our local go-to guy for tree service, general home repairs, and all around Mainer-way-of-life consultant.

Rocky the Squirrel and Other Tales

Spring has begun in Bridgton and our recent visit was all about raking leaves and uncovering early blooms. It was the most perfect weather for cleaning up after a long, snowy winter.


After opening all the windows in the Little Brick House, and slathering on the SPF 30 and a new pair of lime-green garden gloves, I set out for the backyard and didn't look back. A yard full of deep, matted-down, soggy leaves and scattered broken tree branches seemed very manageable when compared to what needed to be done inside the house.

There was two very small snow mounds at the end of the driveway, but, we expected snow-out* by the end of the weekend. We started in the front of the property and worked our way back without really knowing what we were going to do with our new pile of leaves: bag or burn,
that is the question...

When I needed a break from raking, I began cleaning the small garden plots. It was too early to weed - I know a blade of grass when I see one, but- grass roots run deep, and I didn't want to disturb anything. When Bill needed a brake from raking, he was moving boulders and rebuilding the stone walls that had loosened out of place. Great therapy.


We are searching for the perfect birdhouses for our yard. We want them to function well for the birds that come to visit with Rocky*. (i.e. we read that the "perch" outside a birdhouse hole, is a no-no because predators can rest there-who knew?) Bill may end up building them himself from scraps from the house and lath that was removed from the window walls in the Living Room. Maybe I'll select the paint colors.


It will be an exciting new season for us. We will never know what we will find upon our arrival!


*Rocky is a baby squirrel that has found our shed to be quite a comfortable nest. He greeted us in the morning and was playing and jumping all over the small trees in the side yard. He was on top of the shed watching Bill work in the yard. He seems to be a very happy little squirrel.



*Snow-out at the LBH was April 20th. I learned the term "ice-out" while working on a project in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire on Lake Winnipesaukee. In general, it refers to the date when the lake is ice-free There are many variations on the definition.
www.me.water.usgs.gov/iceout.html

The Plan

Our "rambling" farmhouse layout has it's virtues. Although the property lines restrict growth to the north and south, the house is generally one room deep. Almost every room has sunny, southern exposure and all the closets are on the north side. (They don't site 'em like they used to...)

Another benefit in this linear plan is that it feels and acts bigger than it's square footage. The first floor Living Room will easily transform into a private Guest Room when needed. We have nicknamed the Living Room, "Mom's Room", because it is where my Mom will sleep, and where Bill's Mom's beautiful pastel portrait will hang.

The Dining Room has great potential to double as a home office. It is the center connection of the house and would be a great, energized work space. (There has been some talk of a Rufus Porter*-style mural in this space.)

The Kitchen (likely an original timber-frame structure) sits west of the Dining Room, and has a "porch" connected on the south side. I hope we can keep this space wide-open and ceiling "peaked", (There has been talk of needing more closet storage, and Phil Kimball* really wants a Powder Room.) with a nice, long, Dining table for gatherings.

Lastly, the "Barn", otherwise known as the "Family Room" which will be the space of all spaces, the room to which all other rooms will be judged from this day forward. As you can see, the architect-interior designer couple have some big ideas. We love the scale of the space, and potential views and connection to the yard...let me just say, it's going to be great.

I can't wait to get started!

*Rufus Porter, 1792-1884 artist and inventor, www.rufusportermuseum.org

*Dr. Phil Kimball, b. 1956 dedicated friend and home-building enthusiast

The Renovation Unfolds

As a new homeowner to an old home, one expects to find lots of interesting things, and so we did. This first phase of renovation has been all about uncovering and discovering. Some of these discoveries are illustrated in the photo collage below. (clockwise)

Bill has been sorting, scooping, breaking-down, and piling up all the "stuff" that was left behind in the basement over the years and passed down to us. Some big things; a furnace and water tank, plumbing pipes, picnic table, and shelving... and lots of small things; bottles, wood scraps, wires, and preserved canned vegetables. He is also assessing and managing "the creek" that runs through the basement floor. Yes, we have a natural spring of water in our basement dirt floor.

Over the front door is a typical decorative fan*. If this panel was original to the structure, it would likely have had a pattern of brick surrounding it. We could see a granite lintel* peaking out of either side of the wood fan. There is also a dark pattern of brick in a triangle above the lintel, suggesting a pedimented roof once covered the doorway.

The yellow and green colored glass transom windows are probably not original, but, they are a unique feature to the Little Brick House. We were surprised to discover the Living Room transoms that we could see from the exterior, were not exposed on the interior. We now have yellow and green colored glass transoms in two rooms. This is a very happy house.

The south elevation of the kitchen had two boarded-up windows that could be seen from the porch side. It seemed illogical not to have southern exposure, and a view out to the porch from the kitchen. We will do with less cabinetry to gain more sunshine.

Wall-to-wall carpeting covered the wide pine floors in two of three bedrooms and the hallway on the second floor. There are many layers of paint to be removed. The front bedroom has a beautiful floor, giving us inspiration to strip the others.

North Bridgton is home to 200-year-old Post-graduate school, Bridgton Academy. We have a beautiful view of the Chapel's steeple from the dormer in the second floor hallway. One more way to connect to the history of our home.

*The decorative fan is getting much needed repairs and a new home with our neighbor, Ed Somers, a woodworker and furniture-maker who will be helping us restore our home.

*A lintel is a horizontal beam used in the construction of buildings, and supports masonry above a window or door opening. They are made of different materials, wood, stone, steel, and concrete.

The Beginning

The Little Brick House of North Bridgton, Maine was built in 1840 by Boston engineer, Charles Griffin, for his unmarried* sisters. Made of three layers of brick in a brick kiln** just down the road from the house. The house was purchased by Mrs. Burnham by 1871 (the name appears on a map of Bridgton at that time). Elizabeth (Lizzie) Gould took ownership from Mrs. Burnham; and following her a blacksmith named Charles Thomas; a Bridgton-Saco railroad station agent, James (Jim) Bird purchased the house on April 16, 1904. In the 1930's Jim sold to a retired nurse, Ida March, who named the house "Elm's Shadow" for the great Elm trees that sheltered the property. This history has been passed to us from the previous owners (early 1980 until November 2008), Diane and Jon Ray, who interviewed long-time Bridgton resident, James B. Hamlin on February 25, 1985. Bill and I are now caring for and restoring this small piece of North Bridgton history, that we have fondly named the "Little Brick House". We invite you to follow us through this process. *historically called, "spinster", an unmarried woman past the age common for marrying. ** see: The Last Brick Maker in America, currently showing on the Hallmark channel for a nice little story about brick-making.