Family room before we moved in. 
Bedroom painted trim.
Hubby was taking bids and interviewing carpenters to do the finish woodwork. At my father’s funeral we met one of my first cousins that was looking for some work. We set a date for him to come out and see if this job was something he wanted to do.
Joe drove up in a big Ford truck. He opened his door and out jumped his little white dog. Right away he won my heart. I love dogs. Hubby took him around, showing him what needed to be done in the house. Joe would say, “Yah, I think I could do that.”
When he left we weren’t sure about his abilities? He was very different from the other contractors that gave us bids. Most contractors brag on how wonderful they are and that they could do most anything. We found out the hard way that they are mostly full of flattery. Joe didn’t say anything about how good he was.
We decided to have my cousin Joe do the work. He was a simple, single, rough and tough, strong guy who sort of looked like and reminded me of my dad. He had thick, tough, calloused hands just like my dad’s, so of course this guy was special to me right away. Four months Joe worked for us full time.
Not only did we gain a great friend, but laughter began to fill the walls of our house. Our house started to become a home, and to our amazement, Joe did an outstanding job. The job was far better than we ever imagined or deserved. Joe was not an ordinary carpenter—he was a skilled craftsman. Hubby wanted to have the same woodwork that was in the original house. The wood was thicker than what you could buy in the stores today. Joe had rough-sawn oak that was perfect for our job stored in his barn, so he sold it to us. It was lots of work to get the rough boards ready to make into trim, move it, stack it, then plane all four sides many times. Move it, stack it, and put it through a sander many times. Move it, stack it . . . I think we handled each board about fifty times before it was ready for trim.
Then Hubby ordered online a custom molding knife from a company in California. He sent them a profile drawing of the trim, because he wanted the same profile as the original trim in the parlor. The molding knife goes into a shaping machine. Joe would put a piece of wood in the shaping machine and out would come a beautiful detailed piece of trim. I couldn’t guess how many more times Joe handled each piece of wood.
As much as we had, we still ran out of wood, so we had to locate a place that had wood like we were using. We went to Amish country and stopped at an Amish salvage food store. We looked around and got a few things. We told the man as we were checking out what kind of wood we were looking for and asked if he knew of a place we could get it.
“Oh, yes! Down the road, first street, turn left, and it’s the second farm on the right.”
We drove to the farm. There was no sign out front to indicate that there was a lumber shop, but we drove in anyway hoping we were at the right place. The shop was in the back, behind the house. Hubby went in to check it out, and I stayed in the car. About twenty minutes later he came out and asked me to come in because the Amish man who owned the place was my first cousin on my mother’s side and he wanted to meet me.
My home is finished with wood from my first cousin on my father’s side and my first cousin on my mother’s side. Something I never thought would happen, and never dreamed could happen. What a blessing for us.
Joe also had some special pieces of wood that he had saved over the years, and he gave them up; he used them in our house. We feel so blessed for his generosity. They hang in a special place, with love written all over them. I have learned from Joe that unique pieces of wood to carpenters are like beautiful material to quilters. You hang on to them because it’s hard to cut into them. That is, until you find just the right home for them.
Then after Joe put up all the trim, I had to fill all the nail holes. After that, we had to sand, varnish, sand, and varnish again. In some of the rooms, we painted the trim. It seemed like it was an endless job.
The trim is so sturdy that my grandsons, do chin-pull-ups on our family room doorway trim. I say, “Good thing Joe put up that trim because if someone else would have done it, I’m sure it would be coming apart.”
