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Thursday, August 14, 2014

Because One Can Never Have Enough Hobbies -- Part Deux...

It has never been my intention to make this blog about renovating a house. It's about my photography and a vehicle to allow me to showcase some of my work. 

In hopes that someone will see it, like it, want it, and maybe buy a print or hire me to produce some original artwork just for that special someone 
- Yes - 
that was a shameless plug so take note
and pick up the phone to call 
501-412-9459 
--- operators are standing by (or not - but you can leave a message) ---

Now - Back to our regularly scheduled programming 

 However, of late my life has been utterly taken over by a renovation project that has pretty well squeezed out all else, leaving a few minutes a day to think about my day job but the only photos I think about lately are photos of the progress. Sooooo...


You remember the house. Or, as I often think of it as it chases me down dark alleyways in the dead of night during my fitful sleeping hours...


THE HOUSE 
cue Dark Shadows music here 
- or Texas Chainsaw Massacre - 
- or Jaws - 
...or whatever music creeps you out... 
Hell - The Barney Song - I don't care

There! Nothing like a little thrill of fear first thing in the morning, now, is there? But now it's time to get real. Progress is being made.


From this...
To this....



Or from this... (which, in an earlier post was referred to as TLC Trauma Room 1)



                                                                                                                      
To this.... 
(What we now refer to 
simply as...The Kitchen)
                                                                         Did you notice the cool pot rack?


I said...DID YOU NOTICE THE COOL POT RACK?

I thought you did. Just wanted to make sure. 


Look Ma...A kitchen!


And a kitchen sink where that big hole in the countertop used to sit.
Yay!

But, lest anyone get the wrong idea...


Mind you, this is still a work in progress....


And it is progressing.



Sometimes more slowly than I'd like...


Sometimes much more slowly...


But - Progressing all the same.


Each passing day brings us a little closer...


We now have AC...


And one fully functioning bathroom 
(complete with hot water - FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!)


And while we used to have to stay hydrated from more primitive means...


Technology (plugged into working electricity) is now our friend.

But make no mistake. While such things as plumbing, some of the carpentry, etc., has been the necessary work of trained professionals, a tremendous amount of the progress thus far has been the work of Lana and myself as we continually teach ourselves new skills out of pure necessity coupled with the financial reality that we are not made out of money. 


Pure Necessity + Financial Reality = New Skill

So, why do we do it? It's hard. It's exhausting. It's financially demanding. Taking on a house and making a home out of a more than century old structure means having the culmination of your work always being somewhere around the next corner, always just a little out of sight but seemingly just within that illusory reach. The photos of progress are just that - progress - with completion being somewhere around the next corner. Just out of sight. Seemingly within that illusory reach. 

But the rewards are already coming in. Amidst the construction zone we live in, we are surrounded by a house that breathes with the history that lives within its walls. This is a house that was built by people who built a city, a state, a nation. This is a house in which generations long past glide silently and without notice among a generation still living and still intent upon leaving its mark upon history while preserving and honoring the generations that came before. All of this intertwined within the craftsmanship that signals pride and permanence, proven by the fact that it still stands. That it is solid. That, despite the abuse and neglect of years, it is viable and will come back to life and will still stand long after your tract houses and McMansions have crumbled into the dust. 

That is why we do it.

We aren't alone by any means. To see what is happening in one of Little Rock's most historic districts all you have to do is go to the
and see for yourself. 

One last word...
If, in the face of adversity, your default setting is despair, my advice is to forget home renovation and take up lawn darts. But, if you don't mind DIY intensive projects, getting dirty, and having your gratification delayed - sometimes delayed indefinitely - there is a renovation project somewhere nearby with your name written all over it. 

Original photo from Downtown Little Rock Neighborhood Association Facebook page/posted by Tony R. Curtis - Tony Curtis Realtors

See?

Until next time....