Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time is a wonderful little magazine for children's authors. I had an article published in the Spring 2009 issue. Editor Audrey Baird is looking for submissions, so if you have wisdom or encouragement to offer other writers, send her your work.

I originally began this blog for my children who are scattered across the country. I wanted to keep them up to date on the remodeling project next door that my husband and I took on. The article published in Once Upon a Time resulted from watching the process. Here's my article and some pictures to add a little interest.

Remodel, Revise, Reinvent
by Doraine Bennett



My husband and I recently bought the house next door to us. The shallow-roofed, fifties style house sagged like a worn out volume of Good Old Archibald that no one had picked up for years. It might have been a good idea in the fifties, but today, it looked like a really bad first draft.



We began remodeling with the idea that we would remain within the original footprint of the house. Structural damage forced us to boost the foundation with helical piers. We tore off the roof and added a second story. We rearranged the interior walls to make fewer, but larger, rooms.

One day our Hispanic brick mason pointed to the exterior brick wall. “No good,” he said shaking his head. The bricks were not tied to the house structure. The whole wall could collapse at any moment.

I have a few first drafts, stuck away in drawers or buried in computer folders, with as many structural problems as the house next door.

Sometimes, I get stuck in the footprint of the original draft, not realizing if I just pulled the roof off or moved the bricks, I could expand my story, find room for ideas that I hadn’t considered, or add a new dimension with subplots, stronger characters, and deeper themes.

It doesn’t necessarily mean throwing out the whole thing, just looking at it with new eyes, finding what is of value, and not being afraid to tear down a few walls or words.


We named our revised house next door “The Resting Place.” One day, when the work is done, it will be a place of solace for friends and family who need to be refreshed and reminded that joy can be found in difficult places.

I would like for my stories to do that, too. Refresh a reader. Offer a small reminder of peace. A glimmer of hope.






Revision is challenging. We tend to see what is there instead of what could be there. But when the finished product brings joy, the time and effort is well spent.

The house has insides now!

We're actually making progress!

Here, you're looking at the main floor living area.



This is the kitchen.

Upstairs, looking from the living area looking toward the outside entrance.

Shadows from the setting sun.

Second Story

Did you ever wonder why the second floor of a building is called the second story? It comes from the same latin word, historia, as the word "history", but it means "the stages of a building." I suppose somebody way back when they were inventing words knew that the plot and characters on the first story were different from the ones on the second. So far we have Pancake and Blanchard; a big black carpenter with muscles of steel who likes to take naps in the rafters at lunchtime; and Micky, a single father with a 13-year-old diabetic son who likes to put things together. And there are more.

So far the house has only frames and angles. This one from our side yard.

Trusses

There is now a floor for the second story. Cliff couldn't convince me to climb the ladder and look out over the back yard. It's a very long way down.


It's not dried in yet, but it's starting to looked closed in.

It's Raining!

Not pouring, thank goodness. Just a soft drizzle that left about an inch of water in the basement.

Headless

It's definitely more serious than a dental procedure. It looks like the house has been completely decapitated.

Roof Canal

The house next door is having its roof removed. Sounds like a dental procedure, huh? Looks a bit like one too. The big gaping cavity opening up as one board at a time is pounded out of its place.


The bugman came today. He said, "I don't think I've ever seen it take so long to build a house. Everytime I come over here, it looks like they've taken something else off." I didn't enlighten him on the project as my husband probably would have done.

Bare Roof

The roofing is gone. I watched them scrape it off with shovels. It took two days. I would hate to think I had to shovel anything for that long. The dumpster is empty now and the yard is cleaned up. Ready for the next step.

Once the roofing came off, we discovered the roof itself is tongue and groove number one pine. Amazing. Put down with 16 penny nails. If you don't know what that is, it's about the biggest nail you can get. It's going to be hard to get off.

Studs

As you can see, Blanchard and Pancake have been working hard. New studs mark where the new walls will be placed. Some of the old walls are still standing, so it can be a bit confusing when you're trying to sort out where one room ends and the other begins.


Mom and Dad came by to look at it on Saturday. We agreed to delete the half bathroom that sits just off the great room area. When we stood in the pantry area (the smallish square at the window in the above picture), we realized there was no way a freezer was going in this room and still allow space for anything else. So now there will be a larger pantry. If you're visiting and need to use the facilities, you'll just have to walk through the guest bedroom.

Structure

Last week, two carpenters, Blanchard and Pancake, began bringing some structure back to the house next door. It now has outside walls again.

Cliff makes sure it stays clean inside and out. It's an emotional boost to the workers, he says. They see you keep it neat and they take more pride in what they're doing also.

Playing hooky

Cliff played hooky from church today. He didn't go last week either. He said this is the first time in over twenty years that he hasn't had responsibility for something on Sunday. He needed some time to chill. So what did he do? Pulled nails out of boards, stacked wood, blew the floors clean with the leaf blower. What else?

They say it gets worse before it gets better

No windows. No doors.
The next thing to go is the roof.






Beneath the vinyl siding we discovered tongue and groove number one pine boards. The ceiling of the carport was built from the same stuff. Number one pine is not even manufactured any more. The best you can buy is number two pine. What makes it number one? No knots. Apparently it's too expensive to go through all the pine trees and pine boards cut from them to find pieces that are not knotted and put them in a separate pile marked number one. The boards will be salvaged, somebody has to pull all the nails out, then put them through a planer, then stack them somewhere safe until the house is ready to be finished inside. They'll go on an accent wall somewhere.


You have to admit, even without the windows, the view is outstanding.

A few signs of spring

Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, our resident Mallards.








It might be hot, but it still looks like spring.

Hardwood floors

The heat index says summer already. At 5:30, it's still 83 degrees and hot if you're pulling weeds. Every flat surface in sight is covered with a yellow layer of dust. If the wind blows, yellow smoke gets in your eyes and nose and makes you sneeze. My deck is ankle deep in pine pollen sacks and their little wings. Trying to sweep it off only adds more yellow dust to the air. Pray for rain!


Today my dad ripped the rest of the hardwood floors out of the house next door. Give him a mallet and a crowbar, and the man is happy.

Picture

I'm still trying to figure out all these new commands. Besides trying to figure out the new system on my computer at the same time. And apparently the new keyboard is just different enough fro the old one that I keep mispelling words. Bear with me. Apparently to get a smaller image on the profile, you have to have one published somewhere one line. So now I'm published. Self-published, I suppose.

The House Next Door

Last year, we bought the house next door. After sitting empty for over a year, it was in sad shape. The basement was flooded, due to poor lot grading and lack of drainage, and reeked of mildew. The foundation was questionable in spots. The lovely vinyl siding on the eves offered cosmetics for the damaged wood underneath. The kitchen floor was rotted. A limb came through the roof several decades ago, and it was roofed over it and left it in the attic.









After months of piddling with small demolition projects:










Major work has finally begun.


Our Mexican brick mason took one look at the outside walls and said, "No good. No ties. Wall fall down." In other words, the bricks weren't tied to the construction. If we take the roof off to add a second story, which is in the plan, the existing walls will tumble without the benefit of silent marches or blowing trumpets. So, now the house next door looks like this:









Isn't this going to be fun?!