Mansion Clean Up

Yesterday was a very full day for me with the help of my beautiful Granddaughter and her equally beautiful friend, Amber. We took on one of the old houses on the farm that is filled with decades of junk, furniture, treasures and more.

This is the mansion and is over 200 years old and we use it for storage.

The girls came to the farm around 9:30 and we went to the mansion to start the cleanout. Hubby had taken our big farm truck over there the night before after putting side rails on it for us to pack in all the junk we could get on it.

This is the truck we used to pack full of junk for the landfill. We normally use it to haul eight 5x4 haybales off the fields or to haul logs out of the forests for timber. — This is the truck we used to pack full of junk for the landfill. We normally use it to haul eight 5×4 haybales off the fields or to haul logs out of the forests for timber.

I will tell you rather than show how full the one room we worked on all day. There was a small path that I had to walk sideways to get from one room in the house to the other. It was packed wall to wall and higher than I am tall full of six decades of junk, furniture, treasures belonging to the Caldwell family. I must confess that I think that I must have been somewhat of a hoarder over the last 30 years and kept anything that might have been considered a treasure by our previous generations and the present!!

My girls worked so hard but we also had a blast and they had me laughing most of the day but they are both hard workers when given an objective. Our objective was to put anything that looked like junk on that truck and we couldn’t quit until it was full. Four hours later it was full and here’s the proof:

The girls, mainly Amber, did a great job of packing it on so we wouldn't lose it traveling along the road. — The girls, mainly Amber, did a great job of packing it on so we wouldn’t lose it traveling along the road.

Truck is packed and ready for the landfill.

Here’s a few pictures of the cleanup of the living room and a hallway off the living room. We will probably still have two or three truckloads before it’s cleaned out.

There's a wide path from the front door to the kitchen now. — There’s a wide path from the front door to the kitchen now.

Most of the furniture and boxed treasures were moved to one side of the room.

My weaving loom was moved to the other side of the room. The walls in this room are entirely wood and stained very dark as is the floor.

Hallway cleaned up between living room and master bedroom. This hallway was packed with boxes of old Christmas decorations.

Hallway also leads to the bathroom and the stairwell to the second floor which doesn't have a lot in it but will be cleaned out too. — Hallway also leads to the bathroom and the stairwell to the second floor which doesn’t have a lot in it but will be cleaned out too.

You might ask why get rid of all the Christmas decor and old cloth items, well, when we came into our house yesterday afternoon hubby said we smelled like an old house. YUCK!! Everything in the mansion stored for any length of time will have that smell quadrupled!!

I still have a lot to clean out and this was a huge start!

Thank you Victoria and Amber! I couldn’t have done it without your help!

Author: countrygirllifeonthefarm

I am a wife, mother, and grandmother that lives on a farm in Craig County, Virginia and I am retired. I love to cook, read, quilt, craft, garden, hunt and take long walks in the woods. I have one gorgeous teen granddaughter, a wonderful little grandson and two beautiful and caring children, boy & girl. I've been married to my farmer husband for 46 years and he's the "love of my life"!! I love doing things the "old" way such as canning, making maple syrup & cider, handcrafts and baking. I've taught myself to crochet, embroider, and quilt with help from my paternal grandmother. I could read until the cows come home. We live off the products we raise and hunt for the most part. We run 75 head of cattle on our farm, 30 chickens, three rabbits and one dog. I help my husband with the cattle, feeding the livestock, hauling in firewood, fence repair, and general maintenance on the farm. I was a stay-at-home mom to my children and then went to work when they finished high school. I was a cook at a School for At-Risk Teens and part-time substitute teacher. Then I started work at our local Farm Bureau and stayed there for 17 years. I worked at Virginia Tech for almost five years and decided to take early retirement in July of 2015. NOW, I'm a full-time farmwife and loving every minute of it! I love to read fiction and the Bible. I'm currently hooked on quilting novels and Annie's Attic mysteries. I started this blog in 2011 and have met so many interesting bloggers and have kept up with my friends through my blog. I love to hunt with my bow and rifle and with a camera. We hunt to fill the freezer and cellar but would never kill anything for the fun of it. I have friends and family all over the United States. Some of my ancestry last names are Bradley, Dickson, Hylton, and Rose. I've lost both of my parents to brain cancer and miss them very much. I have one sister and four living brothers. I was raised in Paint Bank VA and moved to New Castle VA when I married. I went to school in Waiteville, WV, Gap Mills, WV and New Castle Va with a short semester of college at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke VA. View all posts by countrygirllifeonthefarm

13 thoughts on “Mansion Clean Up”

What a wonderful piece of family history to have. And what a great feeling of accomplishment you must have had when your workday was done. My sister and I are about to embark on a similar journey. We are, sadly, selling the house we grew up in. It is not as old as your mansion; it was built around 1900. It needs more work than my sister, brother or myself could ever afford. We will be going through closets and bins of treasures from generations before us shortly.

Thank you for the tour of your very special mansion.

Ginny

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countrygirllifeonthefarm says:

April 3, 2016 at 11:27 am

You are in for an undertaking! We’ve done that for my mom, Eddie’s mom and the home we are currently living in. I wonder sometimes if it will ever end but am determined that my children won’t have it to do. Treasures and memories are great but it has to stop somewhere!! I’m thinking we need to open a musuem on our farm!!! 😉

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Beautiful home! I hope you are saving it.

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countrygirllifeonthefarm says:

March 30, 2016 at 12:37 pm

Yes ma’am!

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Wow — such a cool place 🙂 Wanna come do my basement? LOL!!

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countrygirllifeonthefarm says:

March 30, 2016 at 12:37 pm

I’ll have to think about that one after I finish this one and four others. 🙂

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What a cool house to have on your property!!!!!

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countrygirllifeonthefarm says:

March 30, 2016 at 12:40 pm

It is the original home of my husband’s great,great, grandfather and grandmother. It may go back further than that branch of the family but we have a journal concerning this one and two other’s built on the farm including the one we live in. Someone at some time covered it with a siding (see in first photo) with an asbestos siding which is one reason we have not done anything to it. It’s way too expensive to remove with our budget!

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I hope to be able to visit inside the mansion soon! We may be going to Smith Mountain Lake Mid April and we would love to stop by and see y’all!

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countrygirllifeonthefarm says:

March 30, 2016 at 12:41 pm

I’m hoping to have it cleaned up and tourable before you get here ladybug!! Hope you can spend several hours with us while you’re here and if I know ahead of time when you’ll be here I’ll fix lunch for everyone.

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