The Miner Cottage restoration project.

Back in the year 2010, I decided to buy my first house... 

This was a cute little house, and the first time I went inside I knew I could buy this house. It took me some time to shop around but I ultimately settled on this one. I have never regretted it.

I hired a local guy to build me a basement under the house. As we were removing additions and parts of the house, I saw the original siding and trim and suddenly realized that this house looked really good once.

I absolutely loved the old siding and trim and the paint color it had! But it would have to be replaced...

Building the basement didn't go smoothly, and things got far worse before they got better! At one point you could look straight through the house because it was just stud framing supporting the roof!

Things did eventually come together and after many years of slow, careful work the exterior is looking remarkably as it did when first built in about 1883. The siding and trim are James Hardie fiber cement, the windows are aluminum clad wood by Sierra Pacific, and the roof is GAF Glenwood Asphalt in the "weathered wood" color. I painted it similar to the old colors I liked so much. The attic is being transformed into living space, and the new basement has served as my residence for many years now.