If a person wants to build a small home or cabin for themselves. I cannot think of more attractive design than this home.

Originally posted 2015-04-25 13:50:35.

Here are the porches of “the Two Sisters”.

One of the first rules that I’ve always heard about Virginia buildings is that whenever there is a grouping that they always lined up with each other perfectly… they were either built perpendicular or parallel to each other.

These two ladies clearly broke that rule.

I also notice that the house with two chimneys has three front doors… now that’s curious.

And, the other house, has has two doors on the porch… with another that leads down to the root cellar. There is no shortage of doors here, for sure.

At first, I wondered if these houses might have been homes for farm hands or servants. I was assured by the property owner that that wasn’t the case… For one thing there was no “main house” anywhere nearby. And that these houses were both known to have been inhabited by a large family with many extended family members… each seeking a bit of privacy.

Notice the stone chimneys… each with it’s stones laid flat. How about that nice cap detail at the top? sweet!

Within a half mile of my residence there have been at least twenty houses built in the last ten years, all in excess of a million dollars, and not one of them has a masonry chimney. If these down home folks could have these solid stone chimneys back then, why is there no room in the budget of the wealthy for at least one today?

Originally posted 2015-04-25 13:39:03.

I’d like to introduce you to “the two sisters”.

Aren’t they beautiful?

Here we have two small Virginia homes frozen in time. Each is a log cabin… built in the early 1800’s. This is what home looked like for most Southerner’s during that time.

I’d like to spend a couple days with you looking at the details we find in the photos I took of these two places. There are some treasures and mysteries to be found, and lessons to be learned about home/cabin design and construction.

I was called by the man who owned these homes and asked by him if he should sell these for salvage. I spent the day riding out to take a look at them, and in exploring them, and in getting to know the man who owned them.

The owner did not financially need to sell the structures. He was taking excellent care of them. And, he was fond of looking at them setting proudly at the back of his property.

I encouraged the owner that the best thing he could do for these gems was to keep on doing just what he was doing… taking care of them. I gave him my business card and told him that if the time ever came that they had to go that I was the man for the job, but that I hoped that he would never call. I was thankful that he hadn’t called one of the guys who specializes in making furniture out of old houses… that would have been a crime.

As far as I know these ladies are still sitting in this same pasture.

Originally posted 2015-04-25 12:50:26.

This little house, as cute as it was, had acquired over the years a lot of “what were they thinking?” alterations, that needed to be be extracted.

And, since a log cabin addition was planned, someone really needed to give serious thought to coming up with a master plan to ensure that the home was attractive when finished and served the needs of it’s new owners.

The firm that the family hired did none of the above, but they did drain the family’s wallets considerably, and added more “what were they thinking” elements to the home.

I won’t get into details.

It’s too depressing for me.

And, I’d rather not dwell on the negative.

But, I will say this, that this is not an uncommon situation… that I turn down a LOT of work like this… of fixing someone else’s mess.

I could have easily doubled or tripled my workload over the years if I had said “yes” to every request along these lines.

But, this house was so cute, and the family so sweet, and was a place that I drove by often.

I did develop a master plan for the house, but the funds were no longer there to carry them fully out. I did add an old log cabin to their house (that they had purchased) as part of that plan.

And I’d like to share with you some photos of that cabin’s construction over the coming days.

Originally posted 2015-04-17 13:54:03.

This cute little house was originally built in the 1830’s.

She was placed right in the center of a scenic thirty acre farm in Albemarle County, Virginia.

Nearby are a few outbuildings, including a barn, all of which are in fairly good condition. The pastures are fenced for horses, and the driveway leading to the house is lined with cedars.

The place is a bit of heaven.

The farm was bought by a nice family of four who found the house charming, but it had been neglected, and, it was too small. So, they decided to renovate and build an addition.

They then hired the wrong contractor…

Originally posted 2015-04-17 13:19:14.

Ok… I’m about ready to wrap up this project. I will post a couple of finished exterior shots of the house, later today or perhaps tomorrow, and then I’ll move onto another project.

I’ve got a great post and beam house that I’d like to share… there’s not a lot of finished inside photos but some really cool assembly images.

Here are three images of Moriah “going up”.

In looking at them I feel exhausted and overwhelmed at what I accomplished. For someone who specializes in little log cabins, this was a major undertaking, one that no other builder in this area would have done. (probably because they have more sense than I do) lol

Originally posted 2015-04-08 14:10:04.

Here are three photos of the staircase at Moriah (sorry about the exaggerated redness in the photos)

Also, here is one photo of the original staircase as it once was.

For some unknown reason, the house’s original architect located the staircase in a side room of the house and in there it took up the entire room below, and above, with it’s vaulted views. It was “dramatic”, for sure, but yet odd in a way… a staircase room?

I put that space to what I felt was better use. I moved that staircase out of that end of the house, and on the first floor of that area I was able to create an office space, a bathroom, and a large closet, all of which could be alternatively used as another first floor master bedroom if ever desired. And upstairs, I created a very large bedroom with a bath.

I then built a new staircase in the entry hall/ foyer where it would be enjoyed by all who visited the home. I really like how the staircase goes up to greet one of the massive ceiling beams. And, I like the nearly invisible railing that is attached to the wall… it was salvaged from a home that Walt Whitman stayed in for a few years (if I’m ever suffering from writer’s block I go grab onto it for a while 😉

Originally posted 2015-04-08 13:49:05.

I added a seat to the large family-room window assembly.

The way the house was originally built this was an area where you would stand and enjoy the surrounding countryside with a bit of panoramic view. I thought that a seat here would make the space more inviting and cozy. And, as an added bonus, the addition of drawers below this seat created treasured built-in storage space.

All the doors and windows seen in this photo were custom-made out of heart-pine, by the original builder. Notice also the huge ceiling beams in this room… all salvaged from an old cotton mill out of the Shenandoah Valley.

Originally posted 2015-04-07 13:13:41.

I found a replacement door for Moriah on eBay… yes… you can buy anything on eBay. lol… (I once bought a log cabin off of there… but you need to know what you are doing if you go that route).

This door unit came off of an old farmhouse in Ohio. Fortunately, one of the men on my crew was from that part of the state, so I gave him gas money to go visit his parents for the weekend and he brought back this door when he returned.

This antique door unit did need some restoration work, but even with that factored in, I believe it was a smart purchase. It has brought a lot of light into this house and is a constant source of compliments.

Originally posted 2015-04-07 12:49:59.

I did not reuse Moriah’s original front door.

It was one of the greatest struggles for me in rebuilding this house. After all, what gave me the right to change something so key to a home as it’s front door? Some people say that a home’s front door is the defining element of the entire home.

I would never, ever, think of changing out an original door on any house built earlier than the 20th century.

The fact was, I liked Moriah’s original door. It was massive, and presented the visitor with a display of antique wood which told guests what they could expect upon entering the home. And to top it off, the door had a massive box lock complete with a brass knob… nice.

But the lock didn’t work well anymore, it had seen it’s better days. And, the door was showing signs of aging. Upon closer look I could see that it was made by “gluing and screwing” old wood to a plywood core panel. No fine craftsmanship there.

And, the diagonal pattern of the wood to me shouted 1970’s. For those who remember that era, they will recall that diagonal paneling was all the rage back then. What basement could be found without it? Let’s all sing the theme song from the Brady Bunch!

The deciding factor that sealed the decision to replace this door was that I desperately needed light to come in through the front door into the entry hall. I needed a front door with class… and with glass.

So, I went shopping for the perfect antique door for a replacement…

Originally posted 2015-04-07 12:48:09.