The finale: holiday open house

The house renovation is far enough along that we were able to include the Setzepfandt house in the annual Holiday Tour. This event is a benefit for the area Chamber of Commerce, and we were proud to participate. Here are a few photos of how the house looked just before guests arrived. Wish I could say it still looks this good now!

Front porch restoration

We realized that repairing the old front porch piecemeal was not a good approach. Not only were the floor boards rotting, the columns themselves were sagging and the whole thing was a big mess. So Ron and Marty took a week or so jacking up the porch, removing floorboards, discovering & replacing rotted or insufficient support lumber underneath. I helped with staining the replacement boards and placing the lattice. Here's the way it looks now.

Pilgrim's progress

Apparently I only blog on major holidays, based on the fact that my last post was New Years Day. We pilgrims to the Midwest have made great progress, thanks to carpentry help from Marty Jess of Bellevue, and the dogged painting skills of Al Thielen and his crew: JR, Laurie, Mitch, Dustin & others who dropped in to work a few days or even a few hours. We appreciate it immensely. Here are a few scenes from the last several months.

Our second New Year

We have marked our second round of "the holidays" here in the Setzepfandt House in Bellevue. No fireplace to cuddle around but a twinkling Christmas tree, a warm sofa and a snuggly dog make up for it. Last year we didn't have enough of the house in place to really decorate.

This year we did a little better. Next year, look out!