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I have an old cellar.
I’ve always wanted an old cellar. I fell in love with my first old cellar at the slanted little house long ago, when I was a kid. (You can see more about that old cellar in this post.) I never imagined I’d have a real old cellar of my own.
Old cellars are awesome places, alive with the wonderment of what all has been kept there, when it was built, how it was built, all the people who used it over time.
Did you notice this post is not about the upstairs in my new Sassafras Farm house? I was going to show you the upstairs next, then I painted my bedroom and was overcome with adoration of my bedroom and decided I had to finish decorating before I showed it to you. That just sounded like more fun. I also need to nest in at least one room, have at least one room that is finished. So I’m kinda all about my bedroom right now, which is really fun. But you can’t see it yet. But you can see the cellar! And the cellar is FAR from done. So be gentle with me when I show you these photos.
When I got here, the previous owners had left many things behind. They weren’t being messy–we had discussed it. One time when I was out here, I saw some adorable old church pews in the barn and one of the previous owners mentioned that he was thinking of burning them, along with getting rid of all kinds of stuff they didn’t want to move. They were trying to clean up. I said, “LEAVE EVERYTHING!! Whatever you don’t want, LEAVE IT! I’ll dispose of it if I don’t want it, don’t worry about it.” I had to tell him several times before he seemed to believe me. The result is that they left a lot of stuff, for which I’m grateful. I will definitely end up disposing of some things, but many things are fantastic. As I continue on the tour, I’ll be showing you some of the things they left for me, but for now, I’ll show you what they left me in the cellar. And part of the reason I’m pointing this out now is to explain the current state of the cellar. It’s a MESS. I haven’t had a chance yet to go through what they left behind, much less organize my own things.
So I’m about to show you a mess, but it will be straightened up soon.
Let’s start with the exterior of the cellar, which is just as fantastic as the cellar itself. (And by the way, most of what is hanging on the outside of the cellar are things they left behind as well. I like them, so I’ll leave them.)
The cellar has a delightful red door, which is one of my favorite things about it.
It’s built into a small hill behind the house. I’m not sure how old this cellar is, but it likely predates the current 1930s house and goes back to the barn period, circa 1890. The studio, which is a newer structure, was built on top of the cellar at some point later.
The cellar is just a few steps away out the back door, across the back porch, which is very handy.
The gardens around the cellar are very pretty, and I especially love the small statuary peeking through the vines.
It’s all very romantic.
Inside, the previous owners left shelving on the righthand side. The shelves are full of all kinds of things I need to go through to decide what to keep and what to dispose of. They left an amazing array of things, from a dehydrator to what looks like it must be a quite an expensive saw of some sort, and even a tool chest full of tools.
Nice. Cuz I had no tools, and now I do!
I added some shelving on the left side, and put in a refrigerator and a small freezer. I also added a worktable in the center of the cellar so I have some place to mess around with stuff when I’m in there.
I’ve been stashing trash in here, to keep it safe till trash day. Then trash day passed and I hadn’t figured out yet what to do with the trash sticker, though I did really enjoy watching the trash truck come by. As God is my witness, I will figure out what to do with the trash sticker by next trash day so I can put out some trash. Forgive me, I’m not accustomed to trash service. I just keep putting trash in the cellar because, hello, I don’t know how to use the trash service. I’m lucky I figured out how to open the mail box.
I’m not sure I’m ready for civilization.
But I do know how to use the cellar! I can’t wait to get it organized and ready to be utilized efficiently. An old cellar is a wonderful thing, and this one is about to get a lot of use!
Posted by Suzanne McMinn on December 1, 2011
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Love the cellar!
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You are so blessed to have a real underground cellar! They are hard to find these days.
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It sure is hard to get things raked out once they’ve built up that way. That chop saw is great! I know how to use a lot of our woodworking tools, but that one is one of the least intimidating so I am ok with using it and it sure is super useful.
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Over all I am jellous. I have a basement that I cant use because my husban has it all junked up with stuff! It would be a great area for an extra stove, crafting area, tv area in the summer, put shelves for pantry stuff. Well I can dream. lol. Enjoy your cellar for me.
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Past city limits here, the company gives you or you buy (not sure which) particular kinds of trash cans that indicate you have paid for trash service. And on another note, this brought back memories…when I was a country girl, part of my chores were to “burn the papers”. I sorta miss being able to do that. I was a little firebug!
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MN Mona
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I have never seen one so beautiful as yours. I’d like another one someday.
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I hope when we are farm hunting in Missouri that we can find a place like this. Yipee!
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Suzanne, I love your new studio, the front of the building reminds me of a store front or a village home front in the early 1700′s — sort of what you would find in an old English village, all you need to do is hang out your shingle.
What a treasure trove of goodies the previous owners left for you, I wonder if there are treasures buried on the propery, from long times past–how exciting!!
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I also have a cellar (built into the hill), we built ours a few years ago along with a workshop. I have a canning kitchen in mine. I waited along time for my cellar and absolutely love it as you will too. With the water already in your cellar, it would be easy to put in a canning kitchen for you. You already have some of the tools needed, thanks to the treasures left behind. You will have a blast exploring everything. Lucky you for having free gas!!
Suzanne, I wish you the best as you begin a new life on Sassafras Farm!!
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so if you have no basement under your house, where is the furnace? do you have a furnace room? perhaps I’m jumping ahead of you here, and it will all be explained in a later tour, so sorry if that’s the case. I live in the Midwest, and our homes (at least most of them!) have basements and that’s where our furnaces are. My sister lives in Oregon and a lot of the houses out there have no basements either. at any rate, your cellar is beautiful. I once lived in an old farmhouse that had 12″ stone walls in the basement, and it was perfect for food storage. I’m so happy for you Suzanne.
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There has to be a story on where and how they got the stones for the foundation. Any information on the original owner/builder? Maybe a trip to county records.
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Granny had a cellar dug into a bank at the house she lived in when I was born–it was a very creepy place, just like a cave in the dirt with a door. I’d have had to be pretty hungry to go in there to get her canned stuff.
I am so glad you seem to have landed on your feet in a good place. Transitions in life are always hard even when it’s to better circumstances. Love your site–it’s one of the first places I visit when I sit down at the computer. Feels like you’re an old friend!
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In WV, you must either pay for trash pickup or have a receipt from an approved landfill for trash dumping. You can be arrested/fined for improper trash disposal. It is illegal to burn household waste. Landowners are only allowed to burn “natural” things such a brush piles and there are special regulations during fire season for proper times to burn and the fire must be attended at all times. Since the entire state of WV is 80% forest, we have tough regulations to prevent forest fires.
Our trash carrier here limits each household to 6 bags of trash per week! That’s a lot of trash! We do recycle here- it is AMAZING how much packaging our modern food supply comes in. We recycle our plastic, aluminum, vegetable cans, glass, newspapers, magazines and cardboard. We bag these up in clear bags or WallyWorld bags and store it under our shed. Hubby makes a run to the recycling center with his truck about once a month. We usually only put out ONE bag of trash per week. So, that makes me feel great about the helping the environment. Oh, and we compost and or feed scraps to the dogs and cats.
Hope this answers a few questions! Not trying to be a wet blanket = just trying to be helpful.
