Strength in Hidden Treasures

When we began this renovation we joked about finding treasure in the house that would pay for the work being done. Unfortunately, we never found anything like that, but we have been told by several that Lord willing, this will be a “new, old house” stronger than any homes built today.

Its walls and most ceilings were shiplapped.

When we demo’d a partially rotted wall in a bathroom, Shane stood on a ladder pulling the wood down and when he gave me the all clear, I would grab a bundle to carry out to the dumpster. It was exceptionally heavy wood. We learned that the wood used in homes a hundred years ago was grown the way nature intended; some call it “tight pine.” The trees grew for years and years and were amazingly strong.

Nowadays, trees are grown superficially fast and yield much lighter wood.

More than one builder has told us that it would cost a fortune to build a home like ours today. While that gives us a little encouragement, encouragement doesn’t pay the bills.

One bonus to stripping the house down to its bones was finding hidden momentos from the past. I’m not sure where most of these were located, but the workers found them in the demo process.

This vintage Christmas card was postmarked in the year 1947.

Take a look at this reading list. When was the last time an American middle schooler read anything close to the number of books on this Reading List for Junior High School?!

This 1922 Billy Whiskers Out for Fun book was a smelly, but cool find. Sadly, we had to let it go after a roof leak finished it off.

Someone who once lived here must have enjoyed clipping newspaper images of movie stars.

After a quick online search, we learned that this booklet was a sales promotion at Kroger grocery stores. With each 25 cent purchase, the customer received a Silver Nugget token and once their booklet was filled, they could get a set of Lady Doris Silverware for a discounted price.

Early in the renovation process, one of the guys working on the house found this original swinging door in the attic. In the late 1920s, it separated the dining room from the keeping room and kitchen. The Mississippi humidity through the years has made the door sticky, but we are hoping to salvage it. I’m thinking of stripping it and strengthening it with a frame, then mounting it as a sliding door going into the laundry room.

Our hope is that after essentially rebuilding this almost hundred year old home, it may stand for another hundred years. We haven’t left any material treasures or time capsules in the walls yet, but we did take permanent markers and write Scripture verses and songs of hope and blessing on the framework of this home.

My youngest daughter’s inscription brought tears to my eyes in this season –not just the exhaustion, the stress, the physical location change, or the renovation, but the change of this season of motherhood with grown children who may not live under our roof again. It reminds me of the greatest treasure on earth: family.

I hope wherever we are we create a home that will draw in family, friends, and even strangers with love.

My prayer is that the real treasure will be the life and light lived out in this home; the time spent in fellowship in the rooms, around the table, on the porch, in the yard, and in the community.

Keep coming back to Plant Life Today to see what I’m up to and find encouragement to plant life today in your family, your home, and your community.

-Andrea