Mud Pies & Sassafras Tea Antiques: We Have Lots Of News And Photos To Share....

It may have been quiet on the Blog, but not in the building. The grant to update the bank building was finally approved. The contractor was ready to go, and then we had a building permit delay...for three weeks. In the meantime, we did some demolition work ourselves. Demolition may sound easy, but not necessarily so. For the record, what you want to come down, you about have to blow up to remove. What you want to remain in place comes apart with the slightest of touches.

Bit by bit, it’s been coming together. The entire North storefront was torn off, and the joists and floor supporting the storefront was reworked. The building is not being restored to original, but we are trying to give it some of it’s old glory back. With our new storefront, the original cast iron columns installed in 1882 will again be exposed. There are tons of pictures, and we’ll make sure to post the before, during and after snapshots.

What’s great is that we’ve been told the town is a buzz over the building being brought back to life. The contractor had spectators every day, several stopping to visit with him to get all the details.

Unfortunately, the mason who is scheduled to lay the brick front fell off some scaffolding onto a broken window. Over 60 stitches later, he’s stuck at home recuperating. Looks like the brickwork will be on hold for a while. In the meantime, the electrician should be coming in, followed by the plumber. When we say the building was stripped of everything, we mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. Had they been able to yank the vault out, I’m sure it would have been gone, too.

We’ve done some salvaging over the winter. The back portion of the building will have flooring and baseboards removed from an old Church in Ricketts, Iowa. We have woodwork for the windows and doors from both Maxwell and Mapleton, Iowa. On the way back from Ricketts, we saw an old brick building being demolished in Rippey. Of course we stopped, and found the original tin ceiling in the building being torn down. They held off demolition for 48 hours, and that tin ceiling is now sitting in the basement vault of our bank building. The light fixtures we’re using ---- are old schoolhouse fixtures, origination unknown. So, not only did we save a whole lot of stuff from the landfill, this building will have the bones from many old Iowa buildings.

So, while we wait for the contractors to do their work, it looks like a good time to start stripping all the woodwork and refinishing it for the building.

By the way, if you’re ever in town and we’re working in the building, please, stop in and say hi.

Becky and Linda