Our home renovations began about three years ago. First came the demolition, which took a total year of blood, sweat and tears!!! Followed by the rebuild, which continues today. We have happily made the home, most said was not worthy, into our home sweet home.

We have begun research at our local courthouse, but there is little documentation on homes here in our town. There were and barely are building codes to this day, so pioneers and loggers who settled here, did not complete much paperwork, other than homesteading documents, which are even few and far between.

We do know, our home was part of one of the original homesteads, which consisted of thousands of acres. Through the years, division and division again, we now have a two acre chunk of beautiful Montana land! Our views are breathtaking, as is the entire valley in which we live, completely surrounded by the ominous Rocky Mountains!!

We also know, Old Man Ted lived here, and was second owner. He passed away a few years back, at the ripe ol’ age of 94! We have heard many stories of Ted, a local gunsmith, and very well known and admired for his skills and craftsmanship.

He was also known for being extremely frugal and lived in our little home with no electricity or running water. The little cabin had once been wired and had two nice wells on the property, but apparently Ted did not see them as essential and let them go into ruins. He used an outhouse on the property, instead of hooking up to the two septic systems he also had and are still in tact and in excellent condition.

Somehow we saw through the mayhem that lay within the poor old wreck of what once was a home. The walls blackened with oil and gunpowder, insulation to keep out the minus temps during long Montana winters, consisted of torn and tattered flannel shirts and jeans. We even found shredded up newspapers shoved between window and doors jams; surely Ted was tough to endure the frigid cold as he did for so many years!!

We knew he must have been a tough old coot…as no one could survive to be 94 in the conditions he lived in within our four walls! We fell in love with the property and the little home, despite the horrid conditions that lay before us!

We knew we had our work cut out for us!!! And WE DID!!! One of the first of two projects was to tackle the bathroom, of which there really was none!! The only thing inside was a huge tub, blackened again with oil, grease, grime from cleaning his guns for so many years!!! There was a small cabinet, which held a sink that had never been connected. Scary, but we set forth to create a real bathroom and began to plug away in the cold, cold winter…our first here.

With no heat, and no wood stove, we bundled up; I once counted, and I had five layers of clothing on my small frame, no wonder I felt weighted down!! Gloves, several pair of socks, boots and caps, we began the demolition! We somehow managed to survive living in our 5^th wheel on the property during this first year of demo….and that too, is another hub!!! At times when the heater kicked off inside the trailer, temps fell to 40 degrees… I swore to Dave, I would be heading back to sunny, warm California if things did not get better!!!! They did and I did not leave!

We spent as much time as we could over at the old house, until our fingers became stiff and our bodies so chilled we could barely move. We spent many hours at local restaurants, sipping hot coffee and running our chilled fingers under their warm water. Once re-energized, we returned to our little homestead for more grueling work. It had to be done….

Months passed and we could see spring on the horizon…hope was in the air!! We had survived minus temps and several feet of snow on the ground and packed around our little cottage. We could see it becoming our “cottage”… no longer Old Man Ted’s wreck of a cabin, it was coming to life and it felt good inside, despite the still frigid temperatures!

During this time, Dave completely rewired the entire house… state inspected and approved, we now had electricity and no longer needed to use the industrial orange cords we had drug across the snow from the electrical pole that fed into our 5^th wheel.

One of the happiest days thus far, was our long trip (89 miles) to Lowe’s and Home Depot, where we selected our new pedestal sink, toilet, lights, mirror and cabinets. All windows needed to be replaced too, so a lovely thermal window replaced the broken one, covered with a film of grime probably as old as the turn of the century!!

Paint and wainscoting, ceramic tile on the floor…it was coming together! There was light at the end of the tunnel!! All I could think of, dream of, was my first bubble bath!!!! On that same visit to the big city, I bought three big bottles of bubble bath… I had waited a long, long time for a hot bath in my big claw foot tub!!

Finishing touches, big fluffy towels, candles and soft music. Our “new” bathroom was complete and I was in heaven!!!! My sweet retreat, especially when we have several feet of snow on the ground and my toes are frozen upon returning from feeding the hungry critters!! I LOVE our new bathroom!!!! All the blood, sweat and tears were well worth, when I slowly slip my chilled tootsies and frozen body into the deep, hot, bubbly water!!

*Note - We continue to clean the mastic from rim of the tub, as noted in the photos... I will update and take pictures once it is spotless!! Wish us luck on finding the perfect claw feet!!