After the new roof I started this project summer of 2015. I stored everything that wouldn't fit in the basement in the carriage house. I dreaded going in there because I had to manuever my way around it all. The cleaning was continuous throughout. I had wanted to keep it as original as I could when painting so the doors were painted yellow and two walls were painted a silver gray, the wall with the window opposite the doors was painted yellow, the window panes painted white. In and out, in and out was the routine. Everything inside had to be moved out to paint and in the process I was able to eliminate a lot of stuff. There was an electric stove that I dismantled and scrapped for $15. Yeah! Mind you all the things inside were my mother's from a storage unit she had and my son who lived with us for a while. So I still was left with a lot of things to organize. I confiscated empty boxes from work to help me with that which made it easier when moving stuff in and out. This year I decided to make the carriage house 'Von' friendly . I designated two corners for my tools and such and made use of the space between the wall frames for storage then put up a couple of shelves for displaying. The carriage house still needs some touch ups but until I can relinquish some of the boxes it is fine for now.
I love your carriage house, it looks enchanting. I always loved the history and historical buildings back home. I was sorely disappointed when I moved here and found out that many here didn't have the same love of history and things from the past. They (Houston city government and many large companies) were quite willing over the years to tear down older buildings and replace them with modern ones. Yuck. Thankfully, there are still some older places down here. I think people are coming to have more of an appreciation for the past, at least with regard to buildings and homes.
My realtor, Fred Washington, got to know me pretty well and only took me to one house that he felt was for me and he hit the nail on the head. During the walk throughs, one in the evening and one during the day I fell in love - there were so many oos and ahs that came out of my mouth. When I saw the carriage house and the big tree in the back yard my jaw dropped. It was like a whole other world. I claimed it at that point.
The doors are one of my favorite characteristics of the carriage house. I didn't remove any of the hardware - locks, bolts, hinges - just painted over them. Once I move out some of the boxes the doors will the be the showcase of the place.
That looks like it was quite the project, @Von Jones ! What an awesome difference you made, and the carriage house is looking beautiful now. Thank you for sharing the pictures with us. Some of the historical houses here in Huntsville have carriage houses, too. Robin and I walked through the Historical District and look at all of the beautiful old houses there , right after she first moved here to Huntsville.
Most of the carriage houses in my neighborhood are in awful condition because when the economy plummetted people lost or left homes and they were vandalized. One located behind our house was a dumping ground unitl my neighbor and I complained to the city about it and they boarded it up.
Here are a couple of pictures. Our carriage house is about the same size as in the black and white photo.
Basically, a carriage house is what people had before we called them a garage. It was where the carriages were kept in the horse-and-buggy days, and also the early automobiles, as you can see from @Von Jones photograph of the early model car being parked in there. I am not sure at what point we started calling them a garage instead, but the idea is the same.
I couldn't upload the photo of our carriage house so I changed my avatar. This is what it looked like before I started doing anything in or outside the house. This is also the view from my breakfast nook window that I enjoy so much and the tree where all the squirrels live.
My daughter's first home in Monterey had a modernized one and the previous owner made it into a place someone could live. My daughter had her live in nanny using it at the time. Grandson was about 1-2. That was an old 1500 sq ft home at the top of a hill which ended in downtown Monterey. It had one bathroom and 2 bedrooms and was about 70 yrs old but redone on the inside. It cost $425,000 and I think they sold it a few years later for close to $600,000. I was there when they were moving and a very old lady bought that house and just recently after 16 years we drove past and saw her sitting on the porch! She must be close to 100!
That's so lovely, Von....I could make a home in one. My daughter should rip up her husband's putting green at the end of the property and make me a little home like that.
Have you suggested it @Chrissy Cross ? Maybe if you had some money left after you sold your house and paid off whatever you needed to, you could build a little place all to yourself. The SIL is bound to have a golf club membership at one or two of the clubs. All they can do is say no.