A Discarded Home

Years ago a man bought a beautiful piece of land on which he was going to build a large custom home. On the back of that land was an old house covered over by vines and foliage. From a distance it looked to be merely a shell that would probably have to be torn down, but upon further investigation he discovered that it was a dilapidated New England Victorian style mansion.

He cleaned the outside of it, cut away the overgrown brush, stripped the chipping paint off of what used to be perfect woodwork, replaced pieces of wood that were missing, and fixed little nicks and notches in the woodwork. He would go to junk yards and find parts that were discarded and worthless by themselves, but were the missing piece for some antique door, fireplace, or stairwell. He used those pieces to fix and repair those things in the house.

He furnished the house with furniture that he had started purchasing as a very young man at junk stores and garage sales. He would find an old piece of furniture that someone had painted, and would strip it, clean it, and restore it to its original luster and beauty. Slowly, but surely, he restored and furnished that old house until one day it was finished. It was beautiful, and he was so very proud of what he had done to a house that once had seemed worthless.

Those visiting his home were taken on a tour, and told of the history of each piece of furniture in each room. They learned how he had found each one, what it looked like originally, and what it was meant to look like. Then he would explain all of the work that had gone into making it look as good as new. In most cases those restored pieces were much more valuable than when they were new. It was incredible what he had done to restore things that once were considered to be mere junk.

What a perfect example of restoration. It is amazing what could be done with a discarded home, a discarded little piece of wood, or a discarded piece of furniture, when one, who is a master craftsmen, and who envisioned what it once was and what it could still could be, with his loving hands begins the enormous task of restoring it.