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The Ruth house… part 7

Every timber, every single piece of flooring, that you see in this photo, was created by men more than two hundred years ago, using nothing but hand tools to convert trees into what you see here. They harvested wood from forests that had never seen an axe, nor a saw, and from those primal woods these men chose the best of those trees to create this house.

Even the nails holding the flooring in place were handmade, by a blacksmith, one at a time.

All this wonderful material and craftsmanship… so abused and unappreciated… was about to live again, in all it’s deserved splendor.

Originally posted 2015-05-28 14:04:42.

The Ruth house… part 7Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:35+00:00

The Ruth house… part 6

But where many would see nothing but mess, I witnessed wonder when I walked into the remains of this house. I did my best to keep my excitement to myself, but I had found the timber frame that I wanted… one of the finest that I had ever seen.

Originally posted 2015-05-28 13:48:26.

The Ruth house… part 6Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:34+00:00

The Ruth house… part 5

It was not love at first sight.

My mission was to find a very nice antique house frame that I could use to build the addition off of the little log cabin.

Two-hundred year old house-frames are much, much harder to find that old log homes.

I had driven for two hours on a hot summer day, with no a/c in my truck, to find this “gem of a house”.

I debated for a moment or two on whether I should even bother getting out of the truck to look the house over… but, I wanted out of that truck, and there was something about this house that told me that there was.. “potential”.

* (Always remember… “potential” is the most dangerous word that there is in my profession).

The man who owned this house told me that this was half of the original home on this large farm, and that twenty years prior he had pulled the roof off of that large house and then he cut the house in half, and then he pulled the two severed sections to different parts of his farm to be used for hay storage.

He had put a flat metal roof over each section to keep them somewhat dry.

The other half of the house didn’t fair as well as this half, so he eventually dozed and burned it. And that’s what was eventually planned for this half too. Unless, I wanted to make him an offer.

BTW… this photo is not photo-shopped … the house really did sag that much.

Originally posted 2015-05-28 13:38:55.

The Ruth house… part 5Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:33+00:00

The Ruth house… part 4

Here’s a corner of the enlarged, upgraded, kitchen that adjoins the dining room within this “connector” area that is between the log cabin and the new/old timber framed addition.

We made the cabinets ourselves out of chestnut paneling that we salvaged from an old 1920’s vintage home. The countertop and farm sink is made of green slate.

Not too shabby huh? 🙂

Ok… that ought to keep everyone happy for a while that wants to see what this home looks like inside… now let me get back to construction photos and tell the story behind the building of the timber frame section of this home…

Originally posted 2015-05-27 21:37:05.

The Ruth house… part 4Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:32+00:00

The Ruth house… part 3

Here is the wainscoting that I used in the dining room, it was just laying there in that old dirty straw like a piece of discarded trash.

But, I could see from the backside that this was piece of fine woodwork, crafted from the best of materials, starting with an axe, then with adzes, and then on to hand planes, nearly two hundred years ago, by someone much more talented than I.

I didn’t need to roll it over to be impressed… I knew I was looking at a treasure. I was practically shaking with anticipation.

Originally posted 2015-05-27 21:16:32.

The Ruth house… part 3Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:31+00:00

The Ruth house… part 2

Here’s the finished dining room which is positioned in the connector area between the little log cabin (which is to the right in this image) and the new timber frame section (which you can barely peer into on the left).

Notice the bow window in the background… and the antique heart-pine wainscoting underneath it?… I’ll post a photo of it as it was salvaged next. You’ll get a kick out of the “before” photo.

Originally posted 2015-05-27 20:52:50.

The Ruth house… part 2Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:30+00:00

The Ruth House… part 1

The owners of this cabin had seen some of my timber framed homes that I built after putting their cabin up (you know, the ones I’ve shared here on FB where I had used the antique structures salvaged from vintage homes) and they decided that that is what they wanted for the addition to their cabin.

I gave great thought to what type of structure would look best connected to this cabin and what would best compliment this parcel of land and what I eventually came up with was to create something that would resemble a colonial era tavern.

Here in this photo you can see the beginning of that antique timber frame in the process of being assembled, but for now, I’d like to point out the “connector” part of the addition that stands between the log cabin and the timber frame.

The connector part of the house is framed out of all new wood and will provide the house with the square footage to…. enlarge the cabin’s kitchenette into a full size kitchen… and created a sweet dining room… and two more bathrooms which will service the two new bedrooms that will be within the timber-framed area.

Originally posted 2015-05-27 20:43:31.

The Ruth House… part 1Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:29+00:00

The Ruth cabin… part 18

After five years the cabin had aged well. The siding was well on it’s way to turning grey. The copper roof was now a chocolate brown… the “new penny look” of fresh copper was gone.

That’s one of the great things about building a home with a traditional design and in using antique materials… the home improves with age… every year that goes by your home gets better.

Wouldn’t it be great if everything worked that way?

You can see the cabin’s addition rising on the far side. I’ll share some photo’s and stories of that addition with you over the coming days.

As always, thanks for letting me ramble on!

Originally posted 2015-05-27 13:18:30.

The Ruth cabin… part 18Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:28+00:00

The Ruth cabin… part 17

So, we finished up this little cabin.

We packed up our tools and went on to build many other structures, some that I’ve already shared here with you.

On occasion over the coming years I’d run into the cabin’s owners at the local deli and they would share how much the cabin meant to them… how it had created so many precious memories for them. It always warms my heart to hear such things.

I had left this side of the cabin rather plain, but prepared for an addition that would one day occur which would convert this weekend cabin into a full-time residence. I wondered if I would be the one that they would call. I wondered if I would still be building twenty years later.

But that call came only five years later.

The pull of rural life grew stronger for these folks. Each weekend stay at the cabin had grown harder and harder to leave for their return to the urban lifestyle. They had figured out a way to make the transition sooner.

Originally posted 2015-05-27 12:55:35.

The Ruth cabin… part 17Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:27+00:00

The Ruth cabin… part 16

There is nothing finer than enjoying friends on a front porch of a little cabin. Once the cabin was decorated the owners had the whole crew over to celebrate their new retreat.

Originally posted 2015-05-27 12:09:38.

The Ruth cabin… part 16Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:16:26+00:00