Sunday, February 26, 2006

My pretend root cellar

Under another side of the addition I find things like this...
I imagine it to be a root cellar...
But that may just be my wishes that life were like "life on the farm" as in the Wizard of Oz...

But that is just my imaginings because I am pretty certain it is the service entrance to the basement as I can see stairs that would be directly under the addition from the basement that lead in this direction.




the root cellar?, originally uploaded by Blair Necessities.



In the historical documents we have that relate to the house, it is said that there was a Chinese chef/cook at the house, he cooked outdoors (which must have been really dusty) and would bring the meals to the basement kitchen, most likely through this entrance.

I have a dream of redoing the addition so that the stairs that are there can be incorporated and that would provide us with another entrance to the basement... I am not sure how this could be done, but should we ever win the lottery I am sure there could be a way to do this.

Our addition is at the back of the house, and holds our office area. The laundry room is there and a little porch that looks to our neighbors backyards and some lovely mountains in the distance. This is a time when I am so glad that we have laws limiting the height of buildings here... I can still see things in a distance, the wide expanse of our gorgeous sunsets...

I do have a love hate relationship with this house. I love it so dearly, It is precious and feels right, but fixing it is just not easy and full of delays that are not in my control.

But, now that I think on it, I think this house is teaching me something valuable... let go, enjoy the process.


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3 comments:

StuccoHouse said...

I'm from the midwest and here we use those for tornados (just like the Wizard of Oz). Lots of houses in my city still have them....some houses have built a little entryway that incorporates the old stairs into the interior, so the old callar becomes a basement.

The photo you posted is called a bulkhead door. There are actually companies that manufacture them and also complete entry sets for old cellars. It might not be as big of a job as you fear,

Blair said...

It is the doorway to the basement... but thanks for giving it a name for me. This is the only one I have ever seen in AZ!

Unknown said...

Wow, I'm so impressed. What a beautiful home you have and I know it's a lot of work. Hubby and I have often thought we'd love to restore an old house.

Then of course we look at our bank account and laugh hysterically. Four children keep sucking the money from us faster than it can come in.