Week One and Two at 1109 Pine

We took possession of the house at 1109 Pine on March 18th. I don't know where to begin to describe the last couple of weeks. Let's start with the stuff. As part of our negotiation with the seller we received a large amount of the contents of the house: a two car garage full of stuff; a garage loft full of stuff; a basement with three rooms full of stuff; closets in the house full of stuff. The seller walked away from rooms full of things that had not been touched for decades, in some cases since the 1920s. We are going through all the contents that we inherited so that we can put together the history of the house and the people that occupied it. The depth and breath of what we have inherited is quite staggering. Here is a partial list of some of the treasures we have discovered (I won't go into detail about the full size dumpster that we used for the non-treasure items that also came with our deal): boxes of vintage photographs; a tool room full of vintage tools; a pipe collection; several vintage stoves; Colorado vintage license plates from the 30s, 40s and 50s; Life magazines from the 40s and 50s; two vintage refrigerators; antique luggage; a lighting collection from the gas era through the 60s; vintage packaging; victorian furniture; antique car parts. The former owners lived by the creed that nothing should be thrown away. This is an enormous job for us and it comes with an enormous responsibility to be thoughtful stewards of the legacies left behind. A rare challenge and a rare opportunity.