Second Guest Bedroom

This is a second guest bed room above my office. It was in pretty good shape except the corner by the fire place. There was some rotten wood from rain damage over the years. After several months the room is done all except the floor.

This shot is how the room looked when I bought the home.

Before I got going on the room I had taken the fire place mantel off and found some interesting items. You can see on the right side the rotten boards I had to replace.

            

Took time to repair this section.

     

Had some more bat problems in the window dormer. Had to cut the ceiling and remove the stuff.

Window side of the room. Originally had to take all the bottom boards at the base of the ceiling slanted boards off due to the bat poop that had piled up.

Repair work shown. Had to sand the walls, caulk and do repairs to some parts of the wood. Then primed and ready for the top coat of paint.

Door area before start of all the hard work

Finished with the room at this point except the floor!

Lizzy hard at work on the restoration

Took off the door hardware and restored it too!

Before the Purchase of the House

The Hardy Smith House was run down and in danger of being torn down. Luckily the Captain Hardy Smith Camp #104 Sons of Confederate Veterans got together and became the lead force in Dublin, Georgia to preserve the home.

This picture was taken around 1994 and as you can see the home was not in the best of shape.

Root Cellar

In 1873 there was no air conditioning, in-door toilets or electricity. So how to store your vegetables? A Root cellar! Root cellars are for keeping food supplies at a low temperature and steady humidity. They keep food from freezing during the winter and keep food cool during the summer months to prevent spoilage.

The Bertha Theatre

.This ticket stub was found behind a mantle in the House. It is to the Bertha Theatre. Below is the history of the Bertha Theatre written by Scott Thompson, Sr.

The Bertha Theatre (1913-1918), the largest auditorium ever built in Dublin, was the site of many of the country's best traveling musical and vaudeville shows. Champ Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and John Burke, Treasurer of the United States, spoke to large crowds of concerned business men and farmers at the Bertha. The first talking pictures, which featured a gramophone played in synchronization with the film, were shown at the Bertha in 1913. The theatre also became the weekly site of wrestling matches. A local promoter even boasted that Dublin was "the Wrestling capital of the Southeast." Dublin's most glamorous theater burned to the ground in 1918.

The Well

.The Well is located on the breezeway between the front part of the house and the back kitchen area.

Another view of the well on the breezeway. Water from the well is cold in the summer and warm in the winter.

My Office

. My office a few days after the purchase of the house. Note the old wallpaper. All the rest was torn down shortly after the purchase due to water damage and age.

I had the floor done shortly after purchase. You can see the condition of the walls and the fireplace.

To get the room complete I took a natural stain to all the walls and ceiling to bring out the natural beauty of the wood.

After staining the walls and ceiling I restored the fireplace.

Some shots of the walls in my office now.

This picture shows a section of the original wallpaper that once covered the walls of my office. This wall paper was discovered when the electricians pulled the bottom boards off. I took the nicest pieces and constructed a section to show the pattern. My office was once the dining room.

The Parlor - Gone With the Wind Room

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The front room on the bottom floor where guests were entertained was in pretty good shape. It was floor to ceiling wall paper that had to come down due to water damage.

On the wall original wallpaper.

What fun tearing all the paper down!

Above the fireplace before major work is started....to the left the wall is to be moved forward to match the right side. The right side has plywood which was put to cover the central heat/air heading upstairs.

 

The Wall had to be rebuilt to cover the plywood. Another shot of the fireplace.

The priming begins.

 

A lot of work on the ceiling getting it ready.

After priming the painting begins

The gold trim is original. Restored to it's original beauty by hand painting.

Done!