"Us" Before We Knew It

If you follow our blog fairly regularly, I think it's safe to assume that you have at least a slight interest in old homes. Or maybe crafty projects. Or maybe you're just nosy and like to see what we're up to--all of which are perfectly acceptable reasons to follow us :) The post I'm sharing today touches on the first reason you may be a follower--an interest in the old.

 

 

The venue we had our wedding reception at is just that--old, just like our home. And I thought it was high time we shared it here because it is a wonderful example of how the adaptive use of older homes and buildings can be transformed to historically preserve old spaces while reclaiming them to accommodate modern needs and function.

 

Our wedding was in Columbia, SC and our reception was at a historic building called 701 Whaley. 701 (as it's called for short) was built in 1903 and served as a community center in the neighborhood for many years. Until it was condemned. You heard right. In the mid 2000s some business partners bought the property and began to restore it.

 

 

Today the building serves as a rental property for weddings, has loft spaces, an art studio and exhibits, and houses several small businesses.

 

 

To me, the most wonderful part about 701 is that the new owners tried to leave as many original details as they could intact.

 

 

One of the owners told me that several times he actually had to have serious chats with the subcontractors because they kept trying to smooth over the walls and patch holes.

 

 

How much character would this wall have lost if they had gone through with patchwork?

 

And here is the original staircase that descends into the space--this is how we made our entrance into the reception :) 

 

Exposed ceilings, swoon--even the duct work becomes a piece of industrial-ish art in this space.

 

 

And have you ever seen a more beautiful elevator floor?! That basket weave tile work--love.

 

Even the bathrooms are amazing! Love the combination of the marble tiled walls with basket weave floor tiling.

 

 

This venue was so "us", before we really even knew what "us" (in terms of design) was.

 

So tell me, because now I'm kind of wondering--why do you read our blog?!

 

This post is part of the series:

 

 

To read other posts in this series click on the January 2013 links under 'Blog Archive' in the right hand column.

 

 

Finishing Touches

If you're new to the blog or just now catching up with mountain house posts you may want to start here, here, here, here, here, and here before continuing below...

The last trip we made up to the mountain house before it was complete was in early December 2011. When we pulled up to the house, the exterior was nearly finished.

We had a front door (!), all of the windows were in, the stain was on, exterior lighting had been added, and all the contractor had left to do was add the front stairs, add a ramp (on the right side, where you see part of the railing missing), and stain the window eaves.

The kitchen was also nearly complete, which was huge progress from our last visit where only a few of the cabinets had been assembled. We selected stainless steel appliances at a nearby Sears outlet, and went with the year prior models to save some dough. We decided on tile counter tops, since granite was more expensive than any of us wanted to pay (especially since this is a vacation home and not any of our permanent homes) and we didn't feel good about laminate because we thought we would end up having to replace it down the road.

The light in the eating area right off of the kitchen had been installed, and was just begging for a table to be put under it so no one would bang a head anymore!

The counter tops, cabinet doors, and cabinet hardware had been installed in the master bathroom. All that was needed in here at this point were tile floors, light fixtures, and a mirror over the double sinks.

Our toilets were also in place this visit--yay for plumbing! We went with the toilets that are taller than average, because we all expect to have this house until we are old and gray (we've made a family pact that we won't sell the house, like, ever) and were trying to think ahead to those years where it may not be as easy to get up and down! At this point, this 1/2 bath was just waiting for its pedestal sink & mirror to be installed.

All of the light fixtures had been installed by the front door, doors were put on the laundry room and 1/2 bath, and there was a railing for the stairwell!

As we left from this visit, it was with much anticipation for our next return and a completed mountain house!

This post is part of the series:

To read other posts in this series click on the January 2013 links under 'Blog Archive' in the right hand column.

Road Trippin'

If you're new to the blog or just now catching up with mountain house posts you may want to start here, here, here, here, and here before continuing below...

Back to the mountain house, where else? Last we left off on this new-home-building journey of ours the floors were being installed and the exterior of the home had been stained. Our next visit to the house in November 2011 revealed, as had come to be expected at this point, much progress.

The flat stone on the fireplace was nearly complete and was looking just as we had envisioned.

The crew just had this little bit left to do at the top and then the stonework would be complete and ready for a mantel.

The kitchen cabinets were beginning to be assembled. We had a cabinet maker in Morganton (Mr. Mull's hometown, about 45 minutes away from the mountain house) make all of the cabinetry throughout the home and it turned out so beautiful.

And all of the walls were painted! There aren't too many walls to paint, since the exterior logs are exposed inside as well as out, but for the walls that we did need to paint we chose this sage green (above), a burnt red, and a cream. All of the common rooms are the sage green, the full bathrooms and laundry room are burnt red, and the bedrooms + half bath are cream.

The  master bathroom cabinets were also beginning to be installed on this visit. No counter top or doors yet, but significant progress nonetheless!

And here is a peak at the burnt red color--I love all of the colors that we chose! I think they're very mountain-esque (because that's a word).

The bedrooms were coated with a nice, neutral cream and all of the baseboards were hung.

The doors had also been installed--we love the doors we chose which mimic the tongue and groove ceilings in the great room and loft areas.

Another exciting addition this trip were the exterior balconies off of the two upstairs bedrooms. You can't tell from this picture, but the threshold of each door is higher than average to prevent snow from coming inside!

The tongue and groove ceilings in the great room and loft were finished off with trim and molding...

and those top two windows in the great room were finally installed!

With winter fast approaching (construction pretty much shuts down in Blowing Rock in the winter due to the frequent extreme weather conditions), we were eager for the home to be complete. Luckily, our contractor was working hard to finish in time and get us in before Christmas!

This post is part of the series:

To read other posts in this series click on the January 2013 links under 'Blog Archive' in the right hand column.

Mountain House Progress Round III

If you're new to the blog or just now catching up with mountain house posts you may want to start here, here, here, and here before continuing below...

Last we left off with the mountain house progress the walls had been hung and the rooms were starting to really look like rooms. The next month--October 2011--we were able to visit again and show my parents (who live in Houston, TX and hadn't seen the house yet) all of the work that had been done.

When we arrived the crew was hard at work--always a relief to see when you're building a house and hoping the contractor will meet the deadline! The biggest exterior difference this visit was the addition of exterior stain. Also, siding had been hung on the window eaves, but not stained yet.

They were working on the last eave on the back side of the house while we were there.

And since there were actually items of value in the house now (all of the lighting, etc) the contractor had boarded up those top two windows since they hadn't arrived yet.

The posts for the balcony in the loft overlooking the living room were finally ready--yay! Next visit, no more scary photos from the second floor with no barrier!

And perhaps the most exciting thing this visit was that our hardwood floors were being installed. The entire house (with the exception of the two full bathrooms) has hardwood so this phase definitely helped to make the house start to look more finished.

And the hardwoods had already been laid upstairs!

There weren't quite as many pictures to share from this visit, so in honor of the precipitation we had this past weekend I thought I'd include a picture of our first snow at the mountain house circa January 2012 :).

And a picture of the Mulls in the mountains! If you've never driven at least part of the Blue Ridge Parkway, you must add it to your bucket list (it's what's behind us in this picture, as well as the road off of which our house is located)!

This post is part of the series:

To read other posts in this series click on the January 2013 links under 'Blog Archive' in the right hand column.

Back to the Mountains

If you're new to the blog or just now catching up with mountain house posts you may want to start here, here, and here before continuing below...

Our next visit to the mountain house in September 2011 was met with much more progress--it's amazing what professionals with a crew can do, compared to our snail's pace work around our home in Hickory.



We arrived to windows (although still no front door, which seemed more and more alarming as work on the house progressed...I was very surprised at how long it was until the front door was installed)

And windows PLUS all the sliding doors across the back of the house, except for the top two windows of the A-frame---those came a little later...

There are sliding glass doors across the back of the house in the master bedroom, living room, and eating area. They have screens on the outside so you can enjoy having the doors open without buggies getting inside, although in the mountains that is rarely a problem. (We like to sleep with the doors open in the summer!)

And on the inside of the house we were greeted with drywalled walls! The laundry and half bath (picture above) were actually starting to look like rooms.

And the kitchen was finally designated as such with a dividing wall between it and the laundry and half bath (they share that wall there).

  

The electrician had come out and started to install wiring. How in the world you wire log walls, I have no idea but somehow he did it.

The contractor's crew had chinked in between all the logs. Chinking = filling the spaces between each log and it works similar to caulk, providing a tight barrier. (side note: about 8 months after the house was done, we realized some of the chinking was, in fact, not done when we had some house guests in the form of BATS. Luckily the home was still under warranty with the contractor and he came out and fixed the problem, fo' free)

The fireplace was ready for stone...

and it was still just as scary looking down from the second floor loft without a railing!

Since our last visit the contractor had begun to install tongue and groove ceilings in the great room and loft.

I love this picture--I think it kind of looks like the belly of a boat turned upside down.

And I also think it's neat how all of these points converge in the loft where a chandelier will soon hang.

The upstairs bathroom had walls, too! And a hole for the future potty.

The upstairs bedrooms had walls and windows, and the contractor had built in these sweet little cubbies in each bedroom on either side of the window eaves for extra storage (each eave--two in each upstairs bedroom--is big enough to hold a queen size bed).

And the upstairs bedrooms' balcony doors had also been installed on this visit.

Things were moving right along. It was such a different experience building from the ground up vs. renovating an older home. Things happen so quickly and there is so much that has to be decided (again, quickly) in terms of selecting basically every last detail of what is going into the house.

More to share in another post coming soon!

This post is part of the series:

To read other posts in this series click on the January 2013 links under 'Blog Archive' in the right hand column.