I have had a few requests to upload photos of the inside on my 1938 teardrop camper.

I will post a history of the camper soon.

This is of course the outside - It is made of aircraft aluminum that is riveted much like and old airplane wing. In fact the profile is designed to reflect or simulate the cross section/profile of a DC-3 wing.

Read more and see interior photos of the tear drop camper

At some point in the past a previous owner of Carley Brook Farm, instead of fixing the plaster ceilings, nailed up furring strips and then fiber ceiling tiles. Those ugly tiles.

The tiles on the kitchen ceiling had shown signs of leaks and water damage from one of the upstairs baths.

First things first. Explore to find out exactly where the leak is coming from and fix that. Perhaps just removing a section of the tile and see what I can find. I was not quite sure what I was going to find under the fiber tiles but it seemed simple enough to remove a few of them.

Read more on the knob and tube

Restoration costs are always more than anticipated.

As so eloquently stated by Heather and David on their blog back in July of 2004:

Our motto: Projects cost 3 times more than you think they will and take 2 times longer to complete.”

Ain’t that the truth. *grin*

They have a great site by the way entertaining, heartfelt, informative — AND an outstanding home! - I’m sore just looking at the work they did :-). It is absolutely beautiful. The woodwork! Those ceilings! Those floors! It goes on and on. Here is their site: 1912 Bungalow.

Since going through restoration on this place and now tackling the farm - Ive been honing my skills in bartering, finding good deals on Craig’s list, general negotiations, doing it myself, electrical, plumbing, painting, fixing this and that all the while managing to keep a stiff upper lip and my humor. — It all helps.

Read more on peddling for pennies

I’m headed to farm today to further evaluate my list of projects in the restoration of the farmhouse and repair a plaster ceiling in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

The house, built around 1820, needs work. Structurally it is sound except for the porch which needs to be rebuilt. Eventually the vinyl siding will come off and the clapboard restored. Luckily the original molding is on the outside of the windows and doors. I have also discovered that the vinyl siding is hiding some other interesting wood work details and a window in the gable.

Throughout the inside the plaster walls are in good shape– smooth and solid with very few cracks. Some of the plaster ceilings have been covered with ferring strips and fiber ceiling tiles which will all have to come off.

Read more about repairing plaster ceilings

In addition to the multiple other projects that I’ve gotten myself into I embarked on the restoration of a 1928 Magic Chef 1000 range for the kitchen at the farmhouse.

The finished range will be a handsome detail to the recreation and restoration of the white Victorian cabinetry planned for the kitchen. The cabinetry will have the appearance of freestanding units.

There are a few touch-ups that will need to be made to the porcelain but otherwise its in excellent shape. Of course I will have to install a safety valve on the gas line - without which I would be tempting disaster.

I will also make sure that I have the stove thoroughly inspected by a plumber friend of mine that is an expert in gas appliances.

I’m confident that this will look quite handsome in the same room as the 1928 double-door Frigidaire. (I’ll snap a photo of that soon)

Finally an update.

The porch windows have been fixed — painted on the outside and ready for final paint on the inside. New panes of glass have been installed in each.

I still have to scrape off a little of the paint that got on the panes but thats not a big deal. Each hinge was also removed and cleaned. There were a couple of windows that were in such bad shape that they had to be rebuilt entirely — of course Ash was used as in the originals.

Over the next several months we will discuss restoration of a log home as well as building a log home.

Bearfort Lodge was built around somewhere in the early 1900s. Feel free to visit the gallery and take a peek around.

I love the layout and general design so I will be keeping much of the same elements and plans but expanding on them greatly and taking a few liberties by increasing the square footage and altering a few things here and there.

Read more about log home construction