Icebox Access Panel from the Enclosed Porch

Because Karen Ann was curious about our iceboxes, here are the pics. The panels are at the backside of the iceboxes, which are built into the walls in the pantry on each floor, adjacent to the back porches.


Back in the 20s/30s when people had ice delivered every few days the iceman would just open the back panel, put in the ice and leave, all without disturbing the family.

My great-grandmother had one in her kitchen but the iceman needed to come into the house for the deliveries.

Our iceboxes themselves are in great condition with the exception of the panels being painted shut years ago, a sad battleship grey. They look like several layers of paint from over the years. Future project, when we get as far as working on the porches, will be to strip the backside of the iceboxes and open these panels again. Not that we expect ice delivery anymore but it would be a neat authentic touch. Our icebox is now being used for additional storage space in the pantry. Good place for wine. :)


Box Mom

Clap On! Clap Off! Clap On, Clap Off -- The Clapper

Jeez, I didn't even know The Clapper still existed. I wanted one desperately when I was a kid, but my parents wouldn't get any for the house. But this afternoon, while rummaging in the ice box in the downstairs unit, I found a box of assorted light bulbs and not one, but two Clappers! They look new. No one else seemed to share my glee, however, because we also have to deal with this:
We've been at The Box House for almost three weeks now, and we've spent the majority of our free time when we'd like to be working on the house doing clean-up chores instead. The Previous Owners left so much stuff behind, despite assurances from their agent that it would be gone. The tub shows a small selection of what was inside just one icebox--not all of it would fit. That's the icebox below. Each unit has one in the pantry.

A few of the things we're finding are, admittedly, kinda neat and I'll feature them in upcoming blog posts. But most of it is just junk, but not junk I feel comfortable throwing away. (I know I'm driving both Ted and my mom crazy with my constant, "Wait! Don't throw that away! Someone will take it!") In this most recent haul there's a perfectly good but rather fugly phone, a bottle of white shoe polish, a coffee can of miscellaneous screws, and at least half a dozen bottles of some rather unpleasant-smelling upholstery cleaner. I think we'll have to have a garage sale to try to rehome it all. For now, all of this junk is making its way to the garage to be dealt with later, and a little of it makes its way out of here each week via Craigslist.

Now, with some more shelves and cabinets cleared out, we can fill them with important things:


Venison dog food? Really? I know, I know. Maggie is completely spoiled. She'd tell you so herself, but her face is stuffed at the moment.

Pantry Project

A quick, feel-good project that Mom has decided to tackle first is pulling up the old contact paper and recovering the shelves in her pantry. Each unit of the Box House has a rather large pantry, which compensates for the rather smallish kitchen. There is a ton of storage space in each. Just looking at all that space makes me want to try my hand at canning and preserving summer fruits and vegetables!

The glue on the old paper is so dry it just took a putty knife to loosen an edge before peeling it all off. All she'll have to do is wipe the boards down and recover them with fresh paper.

I'm not sure what I'll do in my unit yet; I thought about peeling off the paper, stripping the paint, and leaving them as bare wood. Both our inspector and buyer's agent laughed at that idea, saying that new wood is cheaper to buy than the opportunity cost of going through all that effort. They're probably right, and Ted agrees. (He checked out wood prices at Home Depot today--our fifth trip there in the last week or so.) But I have a weird nostalgic streak, and like the idea of stacking my cans of food on the same shelves the original lady of the house would have used (if they are indeed original!)

In the vertical photo you can just catch a glimpse of the built-in ice box behind my mom. Yes, a real ice box! We were very excited to see these when we first looked at the Box House. My parents had one when I was growing up, and I would store all my crayons and art supplies in it. (Later, when it was temporarily stored in the garage, I accidentally tapped it with my car a couple of weeks after I received my driver's license. I have never been able to live down the fact that it fell over and more or less shattered. I swear I was just inching my way in.) At present, both ice boxes contain more junk to sort through--although I was grateful to find a large stash of light bulbs in the downstairs one. We've had two bulbs burn out since we've been here.

As these ice boxes are built directly into the wall, the back side opens onto the porch, and the ice man would deliver the ice without ever having to come into the house. The porch is now enclosed, and the boxes seem to be pretty well preserved. The backsides are coated in paint, but it looks like I'll be able to strip them and get them to open up again. I'm not sure what we'll use them for, but am open to suggestions.