Final Posting

It is official and Zelda is now owned by someone else.  The closing and changing of hands happened on Thursday April 4, 2013.  It is a mixture of happiness and sadness about the sale, as we never got a chance to live and enjoy the house and owned Zelda since July 2007.  Looking back there are a lot of fond memories about working and restoring Zelda but also a lot of windshield time traveling between Washington D.C. and Chattanooga to Zelda on the weekends.

We hope the new owners enjoy Zelda and take the restoration further and enjoy the friendly neighbors in the area.  What started off as a roofing contractor turned into a trusted friendship and additional work.  The entire Workman family that lives nearby had a tremendous hand in the restoration of Zelda.

We did find out that the new owners have one (1) young child and are expecting their second child in May of this year.  Glad to know that the house will be occupied by a young family.

No more entries as we have finished and Zelda is no longer a part of our lives.  I do expect that we will find some excuse in the future to drive by the house and look at its continued progress.

New Beginings

On March 1, 2013, we celebrated the arrival of our first grandchild, Jillian Grace in Evansville, IN.  She is a beautiful red-headed girl who has already stolen our hearts.  Both mom and Jillian were healthy and happy while dad is as proud as one would expect.

We also received an offer on Zelda the same day and upon returning back to the area on Monday, accepted and signed the offer.  Since we will not be able to live and enjoy Zelda, our wish is for the new owners to fill the house with children and take the restoration further than we have.  One item Brent planned on building was a wrap around porch, especially after he found out the house originally had one.  An older neighbor living just down the street had grown up in the house and explained alot of the history of Zelda to us.

Jillian Grace weighed - 7 lbs 13 oz.

Gram holding Jillian

Gram trying to pry Jillian away for her dad.

Jillian and "Pappy" meet.

Spring Cleaning In September

We drove over to Zelda on Saturday, September 22nd, and spent the entire day cleaning.  Jo Lynn literally cleaned the house from top to bottom while Brent reapplied a water sealer on the deck with a paint brush.

The yard looked great as Sara Workman has been doing  a good job of mowing and trimming the yard and the the spraying that Brent did on the fence line during the winter did a good job of killing the weeds.

The outside building is in the long process of being torn down as the Workman family is using the lumber for their new estate in East Carolina.

Still waiting for the right family, well any family to make Zelda their home.  We are now contemplating renting the house because the housing market with this current, and hopefully soon ex-president continues to be down.

The storage building in process of being torn apart.

The deck after Brent applied the water sealer.

Lynn did a great job of cleaning the house.

The house still looks great.

Cookie inspects the stairs.

Another Quick Trip to Zelda

We made an unexpected inspection trip to Zelda over the weekend.  We received an email from our listing agent who informed us that there was some sort of "fungi" on a wall in the Murphy Room and the living room.  Well the first thought that will run through your head is black mold, but after doing some thinking and internet research, we thought it would be mildew.  Well it was mildew.

We were able to spray and remove the surface mildew from the wall will little effort.  After researching the issue on the internet, Brent left the ceiling fan running in the Murphy Room (and all bedrooms upstairs) to increase the air circulation.  We also raised the heat downstairs from 50 degrees to 56 degrees and placed some moisture absorbing containers in the rooms downstairs.  The air circulation and the moisture absorbing containers (cat litter is also suggested to be used) were suggestions from the internet on how to prevent mildew.  It appears we are having this problem because the house is vacant, there is no consistent fresh air circulation (people coming in and out of the house) and we are in the south.  We will make another trip in a couple of weeks to see if it has returned.

Tried to take pictures of the mildew but it would not show-up from any angle.  It rained the entire time we were there except for enough time for us to gather another full sack of pecans.  Those trees this year were unbelievable.  We opted to eat lunch at Blackwoods Drive-In which serves good food.  The onion rings are great.

A Flyby

We did a quick flyby on Zelda Sunday afternoon on our way back from Gatlinburg.  With the colder temps, Brent decided to shut off the water and drain all the lines.  Why?  The house is heated with no danger of freezing lines, but in this crazy world, if some steals the hvac units, then we could end up with a lot more repair work.

We did have someone view Zelda on Friday and now they are making a return visit on Tuesday.  That is a good sign.

While at Zelda, JoLynn did pick another bag of pecans.  These trees really did produce this year.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from Zelda.  Maybe this will be the year a family makes Zelda their home and our nation gets a "positive change".  A-B-Z (anyone anything but zero)

Chimney Tops in GSNP.

Seeing Zelda Finished

We made another quick trip to Kings Mountain to check on Zelda.  Anna, JoLynns' mom, is spending Christmas with us and wanted to see the finished Zelda as she only saw her during the construction phase.  Needing to pay the property taxes before the end of the year, we headed off to Kings Mountain for the day.

We ate the lunch special at Loves' Fish Box one of our favorite spots to eat in Kings Mountain and as usual we brought a lot of food home.  Brent ran into Shelby to pay the taxes while JoLynn and Anna stayed at Zelda to explore, clean and pick up pecans.  Oh yes, in just a short period of time, two (2) bags of pecans were picked up from just one (1) of the five (5) trees.  This was a great year for pecans at Zelda.

Anna was surprised and impressed with the finish of Zelda and wanted to move-in.  We showed her the proposed downstairs room (The Murphy Room) which would have been her bedroom while visiting.  This would have given her access to a full bathroom and prevented her from going up the stairs all the time.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas.

Anna inspecting the keeping room.



Anna said she feels like a model and strikes a pose in the family room.



Anna explained to JoLynn that she really likes the black marble foyer floor.

While inspecting the kitchen, Anna was looking for all the food for Christmas dinner.

I hope she is not too disappointed but we are not serving a meal today.  I hope she does not wait there too long.

Anna waits to wash the dishes.  I don't think she knows that none are coming, besides there is a dishwasher.

The pecan orchard in the backyard.

Anna picking up pecans.

Still Looks Great

We went by to check on Zelda Sunday afternoon.  The interior looked fantastic and the yard looked great.  We were able to pick up a bag full of pecans as the four (4) pecan trees on the property are in full production.  While inspecting the inside of Zelda, we both wondered out loud why no one has decided to make Zelda their home.  It really looks great.



Looking at the front of Zelda.




Looking at the back yard and pecan trees from the deck.





Lynn picking pecans in the backyard.



Looking at the back of Zelda from the pecan trees.





Looking at Zelda from the driveway and the pilot is under another pecan tree.



Nothing New

We did have a couple of serious buyers interested but at this writing still no offer.  Looks like we will make a trip to Zelda on Saturday to check the house out and do some cleaning. 

Nothing new at Zelda

Nothing new to report as of this date.  We have had several people look at Zelda but no one has decided to make it their home.  We are expected to visit Zelda within the next few weeks to check things out.  At that time we will post new pictures.

Setting The Table

We left Maryland on Thursday evening and drove down to Gatlinburg, arriving around 3:00 am.  After catching up on some sleep, we loaded up Brent's Grandmother's dining room table and chairs and headed off to Zelda around 10:00 am.  The weather cooperated and the Duncan Phyfe dining room set looks great in the dining room at Zelda.  We were able to lower the chandelier and we also put a few other items we collected in the kitchen.  After a couple of hours cleaning and putting things in order at Zelda, we headed back over the the mountain to Blackbearry Ridge.  We have selected our new real estate agent and as soon as the contract is signed, we will link the address of the new list.  Below are the kitchen photos first followed by the dining room.

We had some period canisters in storage that were added to the counter top.  The hot pot rack to the right of the stove was purchased at IKEA outside Washington, DC.




An aerial view of part of the kitchen.





Looking over the eating bar into the kitchen.





The eating bar.




An aerial view of the kitchen.





The dining room.



Aerial view of the dining room.





Who would not want to celebrate family gatherings in this dining room?




I wish Maw Maw Conley could see this setting for her dining room table and chairs.




The table is ready to be set.




The chandelier with the stair case in the background.

 


It is funny but the dining room table is back home in North Carolina.  It was made at Drexel Furniture Co in Marion, NC and shipped to Montgomery Ward in Baton Rouge, LA.  Then it was shipped to their home in Melville, LA.



The window to the left is the front of Zelda.




A photo of  how Cookie views the dining room.  She did not make the day trip to Zelda from Gatlinburg.

 

New Listing Agent

We will be heading over to Zelda around noon on Friday.  We expect to leave Maryland early Thursday evening and drive straight to Gatlinburg.  After a few hours rest, we are loading up Brent's grandmother's duncan phyfe dining room set and bringing to Zelda.  It is a period piece and will make a nice display of the dining room (sorry folks, but it will not be staying at Zelda), especially since we can lower the chandelier over the table.  We also picked up a few other items at the thrift store in Maryland to stage Zelda and will bring those with us.

Brent has notified our former agent about not extending the listing and we will put the new agents information on the blog as soon as we sign the contract.

The Interview Process

We made the trip down from Maryland on a cold and wet Friday morning.  We left around 2:00 am and arrived at Zelda shortly after 9:00am.  We met with three (3) different agents and were excited about the upcoming change.  We will review all the data but expect to make a decision this week.

The house was in great shape and it did not take much to clean.  It was a surprise but there was not much dust throughout the house.  We did turn on the gas and light the fireplaces in the keeping room and dining room.

Chip (the cat) was no where to be found.  We hope that Sarah has convinced him to stay at their house.

Changing of the Guard

The changing of the guard at Zelda will happen on February 15, 2011.  That is when our contract expires with our current representative.  With hardly any communication (none if Brent did not initiate) during the past half year we look forward to the coming Spring.

Looks like we will be heading down from Maryland on Friday, February 4th, to clean and interview potential agents.  We will keep our fingers crossed.

If anyone can recommend a real estate agent in the area, please let us know.

Happy New Year

Wishing you a very Happy New Year from Zelda.

May 2011 bring a family to Zelda to make it a home.

Merry Christmas - 2010

Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Christmas Tree at Smithsonian Museum Washington D.C. -2010

Ford Theatre

Our last trip to Zelda was during the Thanksgiving break.  We spent a day there cleaning and finishing a few items on the punch list.  Everything looked great and even our adopted cat "Chip" was there in the storage barn.

There has been several showings of the house and we have two (2) interested parties.  One (1) family is scheduled for a second visit with the other family indicating Zelda is there number one choice.  Still no offers but we know it is only now a matter of time.

The only advantage leaving near D.C. is the ability to visit the museums.  Recently we were in the district to view the Norman Rockwell painting collection of Spielberg and Lucas at the National Portrait Gallery.  We arrived around 10:00 am but the gallery did not open till 11:00 am, so we walked around the area and stumbled upon the Ford Theater.  It was disappointing to find out the interior of the theatre had been destroyed but it was restored to its original condition.  There was a museum in the basement that housed a lot of interesting pieces which included the gun used to kill President Lincoln.

The front of the Ford Theater in Washington D.C.



This is the boot worn by Booth that Dr. Mudd  had to cut to remove.



The gun used by Booth.

Happy 2010 Veterans Day and Thank You

Thanks you to all the veterans who have served in the past and our prayer and thanks to those serving today.  Brent's Dad "Paw Paw Neal" served in the US Air Force and JoLynn's Dad "Paw Paw Joe" served in the US Navy.

American Heros

Also Happy Birthday to the USMC which was formed by the Continental Congress on November 10, 1775.

First Visit in Two Months.

Looks like we will head down to North Carolina this Thursday night to Zelda.  We plan to stay through Friday afternoon before heading over to Gatlinburg and seeing the twins.  We will do some cleaning and interior touch-up painting in the laundry room, mudroom and a closet.  We have not been to Zelda since the end of August.

Zelda Entertains Grandmother and Pa Pa Neal

While on their way to Maryland from Louisiana, Grandmother and Pa Pa Neal (Brent's parents) took exit 10 off I-85 in North Carolina to stop and see Zelda.  It had been one (1) year since their last visit and how things have changed.  The electric was not turned on, none of the finished floors, interior doors, baseboard, crown molding, etc.were finished.  Grandmother took all the photos except the one she is in by the fireplace.  We think she did a great job.

With Grandmother and Pa Pa Neal in Maryland, this weekend we drove around the Annapolis area, went to G&M for crab cakes and of course, thrift store shopping.

Pa Pa Neal trying to remember the code for the lock.

A view of the kitchen.



The front den/library.  When entering the front door it is the first room on the right.



The fireplace in the dining room.

Here is a different view, looking down the stairs.

I really like this photo Grandmother took of the master bath room vanities.  Her artistic side came out in the photo.

Looking into the master bath room walk-in shower

Pa Pa Neal smiling at the refinished original heart pine wood floors.



Grandmother inspecting one of the two original fireplace mantles to Zelda.  Brent added alot of additional trim to the mantle.




Grandmother says this is one of her favorite views inside Zelda.  Both Grandmother  and Pa Pa Neal thought things had changed a lot in the year since their last visit.



Grandmother, Lynn and Cookie in front of the captial in Annapolis.