Ye Olde Red Brick House

I finally put up my Halloween & Fall decorations yesterday! All my porch pillows are being ran through the washer and dryer today, so all the chairs and swings are bare.    my beautiful daughters  

I had so many chores today, but still managed to work on the porch! The morning started w/ helping my daughter assemble 2 wire shelves for my grand-daughters room, as she has a gazillion toys. Then, I went out and blew off the porch, and mopped with TSP... it's gotten quite dusty in the past few weeks. While waiting for that to dry (it's a beautiful 74 degrees today), I opened up some windows and started cleaning ceiling fans. I have one cat, and there is always hair up on the ceiling fans; I'm sure it contributes to my allergies! Since I had the TSP and bucket out, I cleaned fingerprints off of doors. Finally, the porch was dry enough to start water proofing it! I used Olympic Water Guard. This sprayer was only $15 and worked pretty good! I sprayed on the water sealant, then back brushed with a paint brush.     it went on white, but dried clear   I am completely done with the front section of the porch! I'm really happy with the color. The railin...

I didn't work on the porch near as much as I should have this weekend... but sometimes the body just needs a break.   On Saturday, I did nothing house related. It felt GOOD.   Sunday, my oldest daughter and I went to Fresno so she could do some shopping. Today is her 29th birthday. :)   As soon as we got home, I painted 4 porch railings (white) and also the section of porch in front of the door.   I am officially done with the painting on the front part of the porch. Now just to get the water repellent sprayed... but not this evening... cause we are celebrating Sasha's birthday. Sasha and Jewell   10/15/83 ~ my sassy girl and I 

I'm late in posting this... but I got the 2nd coat on the front porch Sunday. I have not had a chance to paint the railings or spray the water repellent due to watching my 4 year grand-daughter every evening.     I wish I had started earlier in the year, as it's already getting colder. Today, it even rained! I was a little panicked at first... until I read the weather report. It will be in the 80's again next week. That gives the porch time to dry out if it got sprinkled on today.   I went and picked up the white exterior paint for the railings... on the to do list this weekend. Also picked up some cement to repair the cracked porch step.

I believe this is the company that made the bricks for my house.  W.D. Trewhitt built the Scally Hotel, and I live in the Scally House. These sure look like my bricks!   Southern Pacific Brick & Tile Company History In 1916, the Southern Pacific Brick Company, or the S.P. Brick Co., was organized by W. H. Shields of Fresno, W. D. Trewhitt of Hanford, and L. E. Hays of Exeter to manufacture common red brick about a half mile northwest of Exeter on Belmont Avenue. The office was located at 435 Powell Building and later 1501 Pacific Southwest Building, Fresno. Trewhitt was president, Hayes was secretary and general manager. About 25 men were employed. By 1919, machinery for the production of hollow tile was added. In 1921, the S.P. Brick & Tile Company was incorporated with a capital stock of $250,000. View of the S.P. Brick & Tile Company plant. From Franke, 1930. The clay deposit covered 20 acres. Alluvial gray clay 20 to 40 feet thick was worked by a pit 1,300 ...

I can't believe it's taken me 3 years to post about the family the built my house. But, after reading this post by Sharon, over at Laurelhurst 1912 Craftman, I want to share my house's history as well. She actually found the builder and several articles about her house! (Score!) I started researching the history of the house the first month after I lived here. There's actually an interesting story about my research that's worth mentioning... One night I was watching Gossip Girl on t.v. while my laptop was propped up in my lap. I had ancestry.com open and had just found the name of the original family "Richard Scally". All of a sudden, the t.v. lost sound. I'm messing with the remote control when I hear sounds coming from my grand-daughters room. You can see her room below; the toy that is right above the date started going off all by itself!)  It said "hello, how are you?" over and over again. I immediately started checking to see if it...

A few weeks ago, I posted about how I want to paint the ceilings in my dining room. I want to go from this: to this, except my wainscoting will be completely stripped and re-varnished. But, I think I want to add a corner stencil in each square. Like this :  And also a medallion stencil like this to go around the ceiling fan: I read a blog post the other day that had a tutorial on how to paint the entire ceiling fan white. I may just do that! Oh, and I want curtains, similar to this fabric: Now, to just get the porch finished so I can start on my dining room!

On Sunday, I got the 2nd section all primed.     And also fixed repaired the wood under the mailbox. I placed a new board to protect my porch from further damage. After a coat of black primer, my mailbox looks good as new! Before   After   This morning, I was up bright and early to paint the 2nd section.    Tomorrow, the plan is to paint the 2nd coat and possibly start spraying on the water repellant.