Uncovering Beautiful Old Original Wood Siding on Small Cottage

It was incredible uncovering beautiful old original wood siding on our small cottage built in the 1930’s and currently in a heritage district.

Since the inside of the house was a little more livable than it was when we first moved in, we could move to outdoor projects. There were many tasks that we had to do out there like remove the siding on the house. 

UNCOVERING OLD ORIGINAL WOOD SIDING

Nate was up on a ladder and removed the last piece of siding to uncover the original siding on the garage. It was very exciting uncovering this beautiful old original wood siding on our small 1930’s cottage!

On the side of the garage was this weird cutout that looked like a window. Nate thought that maybe it was a window before. We don’t know for sure. The garage is attached to our little cottage and was obviously an addition to the house.

Later we decided to place a door in that area instead of a window. We also didn’t want to replace it with matching siding. Especially because the only entrance into the garage was the actual garage door in the front of the house. 

We thought that maybe it would be best to have a separate entrance into the garage. Especially if the garage door somehow malfunctioned. That way we had another way to access the garage. It would also be cool to have a separate door to go in there.

We will eventually get to that as well. So that’s what that section is that looks like a window may have been there in the past. 

We continued to remove more of the siding to uncover the original siding underneath. It was actually preserved under there! We were so glad about that!

Nate moved around the front of the garage to continue removing the siding. I was worried about the wasps flying around. They must have had a nest in one of the corners. Here in our area of Texas we have lots of wasps hanging around. On the bright side, at least they are great for the garden! And they actually have never really bothered us.

Nate wished he was using better tools than he was. Sometimes I think he’s too distracted to find the tools he really needs. Or he happens to misplace them and then ends up just grabbing anything to use quickly. Maybe that’s a bit of what was going on here as well. 

FORTUNATE TO UNCOVER BEAUTIFUL WOOD SIDING

We were very fortunate to be uncovering the old original wood siding on our small cottage.

Incredible that it was preserved underneath that nasty shell of cardboard-like siding on top. I noticed that it was soft and kind of crumbling and wondered if it had water damage. Nate just thinks it was like a cheapy cardboard-like siding that was put over the original wood. It was maybe like a cheap way of renovating the siding. He said it could have some water damage, but was really just junk. 

Now Nate was trying to remove the piece of trim around the garage door. He was apparently not using the right tools to get the job done faster. He wished that he had his bigger crowbar and knew he had a few somewhere, but just couldn’t find them. Instead he was using a hammer and small pry bar.

Sometimes it can be hard to stay organized during renovations when you are trying to move as fast as possible. Especially when you don’t keep your tools and supplies in one place or very organized. 

It took him a while to pull that trim piece off and I wished that I could help. But, I wasn’t sure what I could do. Eventually, with enough elbow grease, he was able to remove it and almost fell over as he pulled it off!

It was so refreshing to be able to uncover the gem of original siding underneath. And it just looked more and more like a cute little cottage. There was so much potential here! We noticed it as we began to peel away the layers and restore this little old gem back to life. It was really so exciting!

The siding pieces around the garage were a lot easier to remove as it was like wet crumbly stuff. Yet, some other pieces were a lot harder to remove and of course, took more elbow grease!

We were so glad that there was this cheapy cardboard siding on top of the original siding. It actually preserved it and now here is Nate uncovering this wonderful gem of original siding!

KITCHENETTE IN SMALL COTTAGE

Hey, take a look at our cottage “kitchen” area! We’ve got totes with food and supplies in our little kitchenette area. We also had our kettle and Berkey set up. Next to it was our antique cast iron sink that was not installed yet. 

What do y’all think about this dream kitchen of mine in our little fixer upper? Basically a make shift kitchen if you even want to call it that as it’s not a real kitchen, but kinda became that. 

Yea, I guess you kinda got to make do with where you’re at and do the best you can with food prep. It’s so easy when you are living in renovations to just pick up take out food. Then you are spending more money and not eating as healthy. We really did our best to create a little kitchenette where we could prepare a lot of healthy foods. Like fruit, vegetables, and salad. That way we were not cooking difficult meals that you would normally have to make on the stove or in the oven. 

Oh, and that is why I got an Instant Pot for the very first time. I had wanted one for so long, but put it off. Being in a situation like this made it a no better time to use an Instant Pot to cook warm homemade meals without a stove or oven. 

Matthew 6:25

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?

CHECK OUT OUR VIDEOS

Thanks for joining us on this journey! We hope that you will find inspiration watching us learn as we go while we’re attempting to renovate and rebuild this old small historic cottage mostly on our own. Stay tuned for more progress updates ahead!

You can also watch a video about this here.

To see more adventures of our tiny fixer upper journey, click on the links below.

🏚 THOUGHTS ON HANGING DRYWALL AND COTTAGE RENOVATIONS 💪🏼❤️

🏚 FIRST TIME HANGING DRYWALL WITH MY HUSBAND IN OUR SMALL COTTAGE 💪🏼🙆🏻‍♀️