Pecan Place

1936 Stromberg-Carlson Model 130H vintage radio.

2011-03-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

Economic hardships

2010-12-29T22:02:00.000-08:00

Many of us are facing economic hardships at this time, that goes without saying. It`s a very embarassing reality. We feel its our fault even though we have gone without many of the convieniences that one would normally have. Job losses and cutbacks, layoffs, ever increasing insurance costs and inflation of costs of everyday needs have forced us to do things we never expected. Old houses constantly present problems that you are`nt ready for. We have gone without airconditioning the last three years, and can barley heat this place in the winter. All the work done here has been with our own labor, and we love the work but the time has come for us to end our relationship with Pecan Place. I have loved living here and have never been concieted about owning a large victorian although it has been my dream for many years. Mostly its about pride in being able to rerstore something to what it should be. My work is my happiness and I try to do every job in the best possible way. My wife has been very good about this and has backed me up in every way she could and for this I am very grateful. Shes a wonderful and talented lady and deserves far better than I can give her. After our latest setbacks we decided to make a final loan from my 401K and try to get this place ready to sell. To anyone interested there will still be plenty of work left. we are only trying to sell it for enough to satisfy our mortgage, so everything I have invested will be lost but we must move on. It`s sad to me because I love it so, and have put so much of my soul into it, but I also look foward to the callenge of our next home. We have found one we like, nothing like this one but a beautiful turn of the century house thats a lot more managable for us. God has been good to us and I have a lot of support from my family and friends, and believe this is for the best. Thanks to everyone who has folowed our Blogs and best wished to you all.
Till we meet again, Donnie Mitchell

Mls 143923 Centeral West TN Coldwell Banker

Front Parlor floor finished.

2010-10-31T13:03:00.000-07:00

Its been a long (8 months) job for Christie but the results are amazing.

Heres a link to the process she used on HGTV. You must register to see pics.
8 month project

Vintage Radio Fun!

2010-02-13T08:58:00.000-08:00

If you love old radios then you know that wintertime is a great time to play with your sets and make repairs/restorations. This weekend I`m going to highlight some of my radio collection.To me nothing brings back memories of the past like vintage radios. I have added a player at the bottom of the page, and you can stop it if it annoys you. Just a few of my favorite radio shows on there. Over the years my collecton has grown to about 20, four of them are floor models and the rest are wood and bakelite table models. I only have a couple that work and I had no intention of creating a pristine collection. Just old sets that were reasonably intact and inexpensive. I plan on restoring some of these as I accumulate the parts and knowledge to do so. A lot of info can be found on the internet, in groups like http://www.antiqueradios.com/ and http://www.antiqueradio.org/welcome.htm

The first radio is a 1942 Zenith model 12H670 which designates that the chassis has 12 tubes which was a midrange set for the day. The top of the line Zenith was named the Stratosphere and came with 25 tubes which would create enough heat to warm a small room on a cold day. A photo of the Stratosphere can be seen here.

Other companys made some fantastic sets also, such as Philco Here I have a nice art deco styled Philco floor radio model 41-300 from 1941. Its a large set with 12 tubes and multiband functions like the Zenith that can pickup AM Fm and Policebands. This one is my favorite because of its condition. It still has the original finish and aside from a few flaws is very nice to be 60yr +. The dial and controls are under the folding front cover so they were very well protected and in mint condition. The dial and escution around it were so nice that a screen print company made a copy of it to help a friend restore his. Unlike most radios this one had wheels that controled the Volume, Tuning, Tone and Band selection. This set was missing its tubes and they are of a more expensive variety so I`ll have to do a bit of looking before I restore this one.

I have been studying radio repair on the internet and one thing I have learned is that you shouldn`t plug in any radio until you have had it checked by a pro. Many things are at risk including your health. The power transformers are one of the more expensive parts that can be damaged by a short. Usually all the electrolytic capacitors need replaced. Some of these when shorted can make the chassis hot and you could get electrocuted. A short could also damage the tubes which can also be expensive depending on the set. anyway always better safe than sorry. My next set is the only one i have with a family history. My grandmother had this set since before I was born. We were never supposed to touch it, but you know how curious kids are and I loved it at first sight. Its a Crosley from about 1950 with a built in record player. This one did work a little and I plan to restore it. It has a drawer on the left that holds the record player and a door on the right that hides the radio. This set has beautiful clear knobs and lower side doors to hold your record collection. It also has a very nice sound.One of my small bakelite sets is this RCA 66X11 table top. A real beauty, Its bakelite is bright and shiny and has a beautiful dial with a polished brass pointer. It was made in 1946 and was the first of this modle as designated by the numbers on the chassis. This one had been worken on and plays but probably needs more attention as I dont get stations very clearly.Its an AM band only and the dial lights up nicely at night.

My first working antique clock.

2009-04-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

I felt this mantle needed something special, and as I have been a long time admirer of antique clocks I started looking. I found this one on ebay. An early 1900s Ingraham with gong on the hour and a bell chime on the half. I love to hear it at night and in the wee hours of the morning, and wonder how many more lives it has kept time with over the years. Its like giving the house a heartbeat. Christie and I have a small collection of oriental things some old and some newer and thats what were decorating this room with this year. I also found the black clay dragon vases on ebay and think they fit with the theme . Lastly, while cleaning the mantle and tilework I noticed that the decorative surround for the firebox is made of solid brass, so I gave it a good buffing and clearcoat and now it looks like it belongs. These rooms tell you what they need if you only listen. Thats why the longer you live in a place the more comfortrable it becomes. Ok, I have added to my clock collection. On a trip to Nashville, we found this cool consignment store that had everything you could imagine. The day we happened to visit they had a 20% off sale and I found this beauty. its a Seth Thomas that was in nice condition for the price. It was just missing the glass on the dial. When I got it home I found that it had the special Adamantine finish which is sought after by collectors for its durable, and glossy looks. It also has marbleized inserts and collums. I was lucky to find a guy on Ebay that had an original convex dial galss that fit perfectly for only a couple of bucks. This one has a gong for the hour and a chime for the half hour.

I also found this little cutie on Ebay. It`s an Ingrahm with the gong and chime and is actually the best running one of the lot. It`s size makes it perfect for one of the upstairs bedrooms. Finding these has been a lot of fun and I know I will add to this collection in the future.

Tour Ready

2009-04-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Finished just in time for our anual Teapot tour. Sorry we havn`t posted in a while but we have pressed ourselves to get everything as done as it can get before the tour. Everything has turned out pretty good, I`ve been laid off work a couple of weeks and I`ve put that time to use finishing up projects started and cleaning up the work debris. Christie is planning on making a video the day of the tour and when its finished I`ll post it here. Heres the second parlor mantle finished.

Almost done.

2009-03-01T07:31:00.000-08:00

Ok I see the boarder missing on the left! But we are gettin` there. Here we are trying out the Eastlake set we bought last fall. It may not stay, as we have several suites.

Jewelry for the Queen

2009-02-26T08:33:00.000-08:00

After many hard hours of stripping polishing painting . We are lucky to have the original hardware in good working condition with only cosmetics required.

More wallpaper

2009-02-26T05:36:00.000-08:00

Now the fill goes up!

More progress

2009-02-23T18:32:00.000-08:00

Now we are finished with the ceiling paper and crown moulding and frieze paper and tonight we hung our antique gas/electric light.

2009-02-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

Heres a sample of the Crown moulding , wallpaper and ceiling paper.

More stained glass.

2009-02-13T15:11:00.000-08:00

This one was in the stair hall when we moved in and we figure it was originaly in the second parlor. its in a transome over the center window. We think it was moved to the stair hall due to privacy issues, and being as privacy isint an issue with us we have moved it back. after cleaning it up and getting it in place we noticed immeadiatly that the aqua glass border matches the side windows in this room. we are very happy with this move and feel it adds much to the room. Also the windoe we moved back to the hallway matches the smaller one on the stair landing.

Lookie what we found!

2009-02-13T14:49:00.000-08:00

Ok, you hear that a lot from us as we are always hunting things appropreate for the house but this one is a beauty. Its an original gas electric fixture I found on Ebay. So many of these go for big money but for some reason this one didnt and its now headed for the second (ladies) parlor. We are getting close to completion of this project. Only need to install crown moulding and paper the walls and ceiling and we are also rebuilding the firebox in the chiminey, which may be a holdup as bricklayers are a little hard to get for a small job. And you should see the medallion for this light. Christie finished painting it last night and I love it! More later....

Parlor palor

2008-12-13T14:49:00.001-08:00

Sorry about postings being slow, We have been busy with prep work and naturaly only want to post pretty photos! I`m stuck on the front porch which I believe with all my heart will go on for several more years. So many details to tend to. Its cold here now so I moved inside to help Christie with her parlor project. Well , at least I try not to get in her way while she works on it. She has stripped all the old wallpaper filled cracks and sanded the plaster smooth, then applied liner paper to make the walls even smoother, then primed again and painted with colors that will coordinate with the background color of the wallpaper she has selected for this room. All this prep work will make a nice finish and will make it much easier to repaper in future years. She is also cleaning and finishing the oak woodwork and it really looks good. The old finish was dull and had no color, so she used a light stain to make it look alive and the grain stand out like it did when new. The nine panel doors are 8 1/2 ft. tall and take quite a while to get done, plus the old finish had a lot of acumulated grime and coal dust from centuries past that had to be cleaned off. I think the hard part for me is knowing when to stop. You obviusly dont want it to look new but my nature makes me want everything as nice as I can get it. I worked on the pocket doors earlier to get them working. One had lost a roller and was sitting on the floor and the others had dragged on the floors so bad the PO`s didn`t use them. I had a friend in our shop make a set of rollers and I repaired the track and had to cut 1/4" off one door, but the operate smoothly now, and function in opening up the entire front of the house or closing it off. We are`nt decorating for the holidays as we have had to move furniture around until we can`t get to any of the front windows in which to place a tree. Hopefully this won`t happen next year. At least our neighbors have pretty lights we can look at! :)

Sometimes you just get lucky!

2008-09-21T17:57:00.001-07:00

Our oven quit a couple of months ago and we could have got a new one but I have been wanting a classic range for a long time. So I set out checking local dealers and Ebay and got lucky on Craigslist Nashville. Found this 40" Ge for $75. Everything works except the clock and I will look into that this winter. The original owner must have been clean to a fault as this one is so minty and clean, and the chrome is perfectI replaced a couple of lights and polished it a bit and am very happy with my find. Thanks to Valerie for not sending it to the crusher!

Flea Market Fun

2008-09-07T16:57:00.000-07:00

We had to have a day off, so last weekend we decided it would be good to check out the Nashville flea mkt. This was one of those trips when you see a lot of things you want but my trucks not big enough to haul it all home. Lots of vendors this trip. We found another ( The count is at 15 now) victorian settee, two lovely carpets which will help with those cold floors this winter, a vintage marble top coffee table, and two beautiful stain glass windows which will go in the rear staircase and the bathroom below it. The spiderweb window is for the stairs and is supposed to be from the Chicago area. It`s in very good shape and very tight and very nice colors. The other for the bath is pretty but very loose and little of the grout is left. I will probably have it restored later. Now I just have to make new frames and fit them to the old window casings. I have the bath window hanging now and it looks great and the colors change throught the day as the sun changes.

2008-07-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

Here it is with the first coat.

Filling in the details.

2008-07-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

I didnt really want to start on this, but Was laid off a couple of weeks and had to do something. It had about three layers of old paint and dirt and even clods in it when I stareted scraping. I removed the bargboards and mouldings to make it a little easier and as it turned out it wasn`t the hardest job Ive done. Picking your tools is what takes the longest. Finding ones that work well for a particular job. I used the old 5 in 1, a sharp chisel to get into the square corners and a couple of small files and rasp`s that were cheap but have proved to be most valuable. Only a couple of the little pyramids needed repair. It took about a week to get it scraped and sanded, but I dont fool around, Im working on it when im there just like my real job. Its really getting hot here now and it really saps your energy. I.m using Valspar oil primer and oil base paint. A house sits outside all the time like your car, and they dont use latex on cars! The original paint was oil and everwhere I stripped the original paint the wood was in great condition and all the corners werwe as sharp as the day they were milled. The places where the PO repainted in latex 20yr ago didnt fair so well and the biggest mess of all is where he just slapped paint on the porch posts with out priming. I hope I never have to go thru that again. Im also reframing the remainder of the front porch and rebuilding the front balcony. More on that later.

Kitchen Ceiling 2

2008-03-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

And a finished shot after being painted the color of the trim. The light fixture is an old one that my brother took out of an old house he renovated, but we will probably put up a fan when warm weather gets here.

Kitchen Ceiling

2008-03-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

On a lighter note the new kitchen ceiling turned out nicely. We used paintable embossed paper similat to anglypta. It hides a lot of imperfections in the old drywall and gives a nice finished look. Not an easy job but not as hard as I thought it would be.

2008-03-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

The porch floor metal was probably added in the 1980s and was fit around the trim instead of going behind it. I`ll flash it properly and also shim under the tin on the floor to move the water away from this wall, then atrip and reinstall the siding, caulk, and Paint. If you can keep an old house dry it will last a lot longer.

2008-03-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Heres where the problem lies. I have already removed the verticle beadboard siding and am ready to flash this wall, but the leak is in the corner of the porch sticking out there. The flashing was completly rotted and letting the water run down into the foyer below. So now I will pay special attention to how this area gets the flashing installed to hopefully last a long time.

A couple of steps back!

2008-03-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

Well we had a large snow with some high winds and when it melted it found its way into the new ceiling in the foyer. Yup the one that Christie painted by hand! Well I found out its my fault because of the roof job that didnt get finished last fall, so now I`m up there again trying to make it right.

Home designs by George F. Barber

2007-10-09T17:55:00.000-07:00

Check out my new website featuring the wonderful designs of George F. Barber houses in the links to the right. I will be adding more as time permits.

Hall Bath Facelift

2007-10-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

Christie here.

Well, since the porch seems like it's going to take the rest of our lives, I decided to get in a side project while waiting for Donnie to finish his outside repairs.

Here's where that project started:

Take one dark bathroom that was originally a closet and add wallpaper that isn't pattern matched and flooring that is badly laid over an existing floor and you have one nice nerve-jarring experience for a brown recluse-fearing perfectionist.

I couldn't stand it anymore, especially when I could see there was wallpaper just calling me to give it a pull and I obliged.

Of course what was under the paper was a problem which I already knew, but ya gotta start somewhere.

I started by getting the adhesive and the broken chnks of mirror off the wall behind the toilet with a heat gun. It did pretty good and I was done with that in no time.

Please note that adhesive is flammable. Be careful if you use the heat gun on it. Also, there's no telling what kind of toxins were released when the heat was applied.

The next step was to primer the beadboard. I used Zinsser shellac-based primer. More brain-toasting toxic fumes were inhaled in this enclosed space no doubt.

Next on the list was to line the beadboard wall with liner paper. There was only one wall in the room that was beadboard and not in nice enough condition to paint. Behind that wall is a mountain of blown-in insulation. The wall could have been replaced, but the problems outweighed the benefits, so it seemed ridiculous to consider replacing it.

Liner paper hangs horizontally across the grooves in the beadboard. I used the heavy fiberous type that comes prepasted

Once the liner paper is dry, I primed the paper and the other two walls.

Shellac-based primer dries quickly. Once it was dry, I started working on floating the plaster walls and ceiling.

When the floating was completed, sanded, refloated, etc. I put another coat of primer on it before painting the whole room in a color of the background shade of the wallpaper I would be using. This is not necessary, but helps mask any paper shrinkage at the seams.

After painting the trim, then came the installation of the wallpaper.

Thought I'd try something different with fabrics. Actually, I had something else in mind, but the sheer will do for now and helps make the weird angle of the stairs above the toilet go away.

Well, that was better, but the floor under the floor wasn't is finishing shape, so to keep out the spiders, drafts, and dirt catchers, I culked the cracks between the boards, primed, and painted it in 2 coats of oil base.

It'll do for now. I doubt that this is the finished product, but I can finally stand to go in there.

. . . .Now if the toilet only flushed on the first try!

I suspect that's on one of our lists for tomorrow.

More to come later when I get a break from the porch again.

Attic Window

2007-10-06T19:17:00.000-07:00

Here's one of the attic windows that started out like this:

And believe it or not, this is the same window!

A pain, but worth it.

Post Restoration

2007-10-06T17:38:00.001-07:00

The turned porch posts on the north side of our home had seen a lot of bad weather in the last century and had the scars to prove it. A lot of fairly shallow rot had taken away their beauty but thankfully not the integrity. The center post was the worst with missing sections of the turned part, plus the lower notches were all eat away and I had to make a 4in section for the bottom which had completly rotted away. I first dug out all the rot using a screwdriver and other small tools including a fine tooth blade from a reciprocating saw that worked very well for scraping the soft wood away and leaving a rough surface for the fillers to adhere to. Then we coated it with a thinned varnish to penetrate and seal the dry wood. I then drilled small shallow holes in the rotted section where the filler is to be applied so as to pack the filler into the holes and really give it a grip on the post. On a larger section of rot on the square part, I used an epoxy filler first as it cures slowly to give greater adhesion. Later I started using a two part filler similar to auto body filler. It dries fast and you can get to work on it quicker. I found that by using a square and making reference lines around the post it is easier to get the details mor exact. I filled and sanded the turned section first. It tood all day sanding and adding more filler then sanding again until I got the profiles just right. Sometimes I had to spray on some primer to see how it looked, the primer shows up any waviness, then sand some more until finished the lower notches on the outside of the post were completly gone so I filled the void completly and used my refrence marks and a hand saw to create the straight upper and lower lines. Then I used an abrasive wheel on a drill do grind out the center. Oh how I would love a Dremel! @With that done I went over everything looking for missed nail holes and pits and primed it all. Then christis puts a coat of paint on and I can`t believe it turned out so good. She will put on three coats of oil base paint and it should last a good long time.

Elegant Stairway

2007-10-06T06:41:00.000-07:00

After living a year and a half I still cant get over the wonderful architecture of the house. The staircase is the first thing you see as you enter the foyer. It captures your attention and draws you into the hallway so it can show off its beautfuly turned baulisters and golden oak woodwork as it acends hevenly and out of sight. I never tire of looking at it and only when I have to go upstairs which is seldom do enjoy the openness of the stairwell and the view into the second parlor. It is functional yet it is designed to impress all who enter. It also said much of the original family who chose such a centerpiece for the home. I can only imagine what the rest of their furnishings would have been like in order to compete. Ok now the daydreaming`s over and time to get to work before Christie catches me slacking! :)

She is really amazing!

2007-09-20T19:57:00.000-07:00

My wife`s work is absolutely gorgeous! Her painting is outstanding. She has lots of paitience with these things. Now shes refinishing and reglazing the attic windows. The outside of them was in really poor shape with very little glazing intact. Part of the styles had rotted away and she made repairs that look great. The frames were treated with varnish to help with the dry wood then stained and finished on the inside and painted gloss black on the outside like the rest of the sashes will be. the windows were cleaned with paint stripper to get all the old paint and glazing off then put back and glazed with regular putty the old fasioned way. I also made screens for these windows while they are out.

More finish work

2007-09-20T19:38:00.000-07:00

We have gotten more painted. It takes a long time because you have to let the different colors dry before you can paint the next one. I have been repairing the posts on the north side which had the worst rot. I will be so glad when these are done. North side of foyer has been repaired and I`m replacing the siding on the lower section, the verticle beadboard. It was rotted very badly , and I was lucky to have the old pantry/laundry covered in the same board so I started removing it this morning. Surprizingly it came off very well with very little splitting. Now the wall will look much better and last a lot longer as well. The pantry also has some of the OG lap siding on the outside That I can get for other aeras. The pantry is on the back of the house and I may use the Hardieplank to replace the siding on it. Well, Back to work!

Rot Repaired

2007-08-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Now I`m ready to put the trim and posts back. Everything is in solid shape and should be OK for he long run as long as somebody keeps a good roof on it.

2007-07-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

Here`s a look at Christie`s cut in work. She is also reglazing the windows and the sashes will be painted black.

Painting

2007-07-09T03:22:00.001-07:00

This is where I learn to use my self control! I had to replace part of the front porch floor that was so shakey when we were married on it that I was really worried that the Pastor, Christie and all surrounding would fall thru it! While doing this I had to remove some of the lower sections of vynil siding. When Christie saw what was behind it the decision was made to start the paint job on the porch and move around the house from there. Using a heat gun we started stripping the trim which took off all paint down to a red stain. The wood was in beautiful condition, with very little damage and really crisp edges. The siding is a narrow poplar with an O G milled on the lower edge, really beautiful, with the only damage being from the vynil siding nails driven into it. It had something different under the paint before you get to the red stain (which is on every peice of the house) that might be a paint or a primer. Sort of kacki color and very gummy when you hit it with a heat gun. It was holding on well so we decided to leave it and just prime. We had picked our colors and tried them out on a back wall and were very happy with the look. A golden tan for the body, Burgundy for the trim and a green for the doors and verticle siding. Then we decided on a blue for the porch ceiling, starting with a light blue but ending up with a medium blue with the same value as the other colors. While paint the ceiling we found a bit of rot next to the front door. After a closer look I decided there might be some framing trouble so I started with the roof and found a large section of missing flashing hidden under the vynil siding on the balcony above. I also found rotted wooden shingles , so off with the roof surrounding the balcony and the siding around the balcony itself. Found a rotted joist in the porch roof next to the front door. The porch had droppe about 2" at this point. I ripped off the old roof and wooden shingles which were loaded with termites. added new 1"by 8" decking and new shingles and flashing. Also redoing the crown moulding on the edge of the roof. Part of the soffitt on the porch was rotten too so I also replaced thad and shimmed everything to plumb.

2006-10-02T18:21:00.000-07:00

The home was bought in 1980 by Dr. A.L. Shrader and restored with original colors and cedar shingles. When we bought it it had an asphalt shingle roof and vynil siding. Were hoping to rermove the siding and repaint closer to the original colors. Right after I moved in and just before my wife moved we had a bad storm and a large willow oak from across the street fell onto our fence taking out a large section, Oh yes, It was kinda spooky in here by yourself in the dark in a storm. They say Mr. Henery has been seen on his porch!

2006-10-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

Heres a view of the rear section. It has lovley arched top windows that all work. Kitchen and dining rooms downstairs and bedrooms, one being used as an office upstairs and we also think the rear stairs were original to this part of the house. A closet added in a bedroom has what we believe to be the original front door on it. We will probably move it to the main entrance in the kitchen as that`s where most guest`s come in. this part of the house has really grown on us. It`s very quiet and comftroble sized rooms. It`s told that Henery Elder had watched a civil war battle from an upstairs porch. I wish I had a metal detector! Just think of the souviners buried around here!

2006-09-20T18:53:00.000-07:00

Hi, This is our victorian home in Trenton, Tennessee. We bought it in April 2006 and were married here on May 6th during the town's annual "Teapot Festival." We feel that this Stick/Eastlake style victorian is a design of George F. Barber. The "Elders" were the original family and owned it over 100 years starting with Henry Lucas Elder, who built the original home in 1846 and later passing it down to Horace McClung Elder who added the front part in 1893. The Elders started the banking buisness in Trenton, and John Wesley Elder was the president, and Horace worked as cashier. The home has a lot ot history about it. It once had over 100 acres of land and pecan orchards around it. The pecan trees, of which a few still remain, came from Texas. It has also seen battles fought nearby and the family reportedly sat on the upstairs porch and watched as Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men stood against the Union armies. Trenton is the county seat of Gibson county in Northwest Tn. It is home to a very nice historic district and an amazing collection of nitelight teapots donated by the Freed family. The late Peter Jennings was married to a decendant of the Freed family and was the Grand Marshall in one of the teapot parades a few years back.