Basements, Boats & Picket Fences...

Jack painting his Grandparent's house in 1960.

As I've mentioned here once or twice before, I correspond with Jack.  He is the 80 year old grandson of the original owners of our house.  He is a wealth of information and I love hearing his stories of spending time in this house and neighborhood.  

Mr. Bell in 1924

Many of his stories involve people I remember and some I do not.  He speaks often of Mr. Bell.  He lived in the house to the East of ours.  He knew Mr. Bell from the time he was a small boy.  (Years later, I met Mr. Bell when I was 8 years old.)  He said that he would wear a path out from his parents home to Mr. Bell's house every day.  Mr. Bell called him Buddy and would give him a candy bar each day after work.  (Mr. Bell was a salesman for a candy distributor.  He had long retired by the time I met him, so I didn't get in on the candy bar giveaways.)

Mr. Bell once built a boat in his basement.  (The basement of that house is rather large with tall ceilings and plenty of space to work.)  He worked hard building that boat and when it was finally finished, it was too large to exit the house using the doors.  It's a boat after all.  So, he had to excavate a portion of the basement/foundation and remove it that way.  Quite an undertaking for a boat!  He named the boat "Buddy" when he was done.  Isn't that an awesome piece of history?  So sweet, too!

This story that Jack told me came to my mind again when I saw today's furniture flip.   

Our very talented furniture flipper, Diane Kelly of DK Fabrics, located in Barrington, R.I., was quick to act when her friend dismantled a well worn picket fence.  Diane snatched up three sections of it and took them home.

She decided to upcycle these fence pieces into a bench.  She didn't take the easy route, but put some good sweat (and probably some tears, too!) into it by using an old fashioned handsaw as her tool of choice.  Much like Mr. Bell did, she didn't give much thought to how she was going to get it out of her basement once she was finished with it.  Luck was on her side though, as it was able to barely squeeze through the bulkhead and emerge from the basement.  (No removing foundation for her!)

Let's take a look at this fantastic "new use for an old object". 

Very nice!  It's amazing what one can do with a piece that had been headed to the landfill.  Fantastic rescue!  

You can see more of Diane's work on her DK Fabrics website and on her Facebook page.  She is an amazing upholsterer, too.

Thanks so much Diane for sharing your awesome Furniture Flip!

Dear readers, have you submitted your furniture flip yet?  Whatcha waiting for?  Email me before/after pics and plenty of details to furnitureflippin@gmail.com .

Oh, that picture of Jack painting his grandparent's house in 1960?  He likes to let me know that he has painted this house twice in his lifetime.  We are tied!  Because I've helped paint this house twice in my lifetime, too!  Thank goodness for siding.  I don't like painting houses.  

~ Stephanie