Before and After - Part 2

In this, the second installment of before and after photos, I'll begin with the barn. The south end of the barn had steel siding installed when I purchased the farm but it had no door. Sadly, the north end had no door either and this had the potential for disastrous results considering the high winds which frequent the area. After all, I didn't name it Windswept Farm for nothing. This is the south end of the barn as I purchased it and after Rick built a new, heavy duty sliding barn door:

The north end of the barn had no steel siding. I couldn't afford to fix that, but I could have Rick build another sliding barn door. What a difference!:

The master bedroom occupies the entire south end of the second floor of the house. It was originally purple in color, with doors which didn't quite work and closet walls with holes that let in the cold winds. Rick fixed the plaster, the wiring, the lighting, the doors and the painting. Now it's a comfortable, attractive room:

And the other end of the master bedroom which has two large walk-in closets, now with operational doors:

The second floor bathroom was completely nonfunctional and was, in fact, so bad that the water to it had been completely shut off. Furthermore, the plaster was so bad that the cold winds blew right through the walls. Rick gutted it, insulated it, plastered it and installed a new sink and toilet. He kept the old bathtub but put up ceramic tile to make it both attractive and functional:

My least favorite part of the house was what I called "The Railing Of Death." This railing at the top of the stairs was about 24" high, just right to fall over to one's death at the bottom of the stairwell. The back wall (to the left of the before photo) had holes big enough for a hedgehog to walk through. Those flimsy plywood shelves you see at the top of the before photo were so huge they almost pushed one over the railing when trying to walk past them. Rick suggested repairing the railing because it was historic, but I insisted it be removed. They were a danger. Rick also disassembled the flimsy shelves and plastered the walls. He found live wires which led to nowhere behind some walls and rewired everything. He shimmed and leveled the wide old floor boards and painted everything. The results were stunning:

Well, that's a two day tour of the before and after photos. The farm house is now rented to a nice, clean couple who pay the rent (early, in cash), the fuel oil and electricity. I can drive up there whenever the spirit moves and stay in my apartment. The barn is almost ready for cattle. Now I'm going to rest a bit.