Country Life Charm Blog

  • Home
  • About Me
    • Meet Me, Kasandra!
  • Farmhouse Renovations
    • Shiplap
    • Porch
  • Chickens
    • Chicken Coop
  • Recipes
    • Dinner
    • Appetizer
    • Dessert

Exposing A Vintage Brick Well – Part 1

Farmhouse Renovations· Porch

1 Jul

Let me take you along to show you how we demoed an old well house shed to expose a beautiful vintage brick well.

before and after picture. top picture is of an old shed made of lattice and tin. bottom picture is of an old red brick well with gravel.

If you read my last blog post, you will know we just took down a big albatross of a cabinet on our back porch. It opened the whole thing up and changed the entire look and view of the porch. Now it’s time to remove this well house. Come see how exposing this vintage brick well brings so much charm to a once drab space.

Oh, but first, if you haven’t read my last post yet, pause, and head over and read that first…. Back Porch Makeover-Part 1

follow me along…

This well house was attached to the back side of the above mentioned cabinet. Both were major eye sores to us and had to go.

well house shed with lattice.

Let me take you inside and show you what we were working with.

well house with door open.
inside shed bricks lay on the ground. an old rotten piece of plywood is leaning against the wall.

Inside the metal and lattice covered frumpy shed was this beauty.

old brick well inside the shed. boards, cords and pipes block the view of the well. an old water filter is front and center also blocking the view of the well.

The first time we came to look at this house and we peeked inside, I knew we had to highlight the beauty of this thing.

I am obsessed with old brick. The look, the texture, the history. Not much gets better than old brick. It might not look like much to some, but I see the history and the charm of a time before running water was a thing.

Let’s Demo

It’s time to take this ugly shed apart and get this brick beauty into the light. Let’s Go!

My boys wanted to get in on the action and help out. They hadn’t really been able to help too much with the renovations of our house thus far. Sanding and carrying scraps isn’t all that fun. It’s a major drag and accompanied by a lot of grunts and deep breathes. So this was the perfect time for them to help out.

We got them some screw guns and off they went.

young boy unscrewing lattice attached the well house shed.
second young boy using screw gun to take apart shed.

Do you recall me saying how they used about 100,000 and 1 nails on the porch cabinet? Well there’s a running theme going on here. All the lattice was held up with about 90,000 and 1 screws, so not quite as many as the cabinets. 

We wanted to save all the sheet metal since it was in really good shape. We have another project in mind that it would be perfect for. After we got the lattice down, we were then able start to unscrewing the metal.

While we were taking the metal down we noticed we had missed a few screws. My husband being the he-man he is, decided to just give a good yank on the metal to release the remaining screws from the wood frame. The process was working with no problems, until we heard my oldest son yell “There’s a snake by your hand!!”  My husband let go and slowly peeled back the half loose metal to find a pissed off baby snake. Where the snake was located, would have placed my husband’s hand about an inch at most away from it. Right up in that snake’s grill. The project had a slight delay while we tracked down the snake and sent it on its way.

A nice Little Discovery

After the snake hoopla, we finally got back to work. Once the sheet metal was off we noticed it had some old tongue and groove wood walls.

shed half way demoed.

They were white and chippy, which I thought was super cute. We assume the original well house was made of wood. Delicious! Somewhere down the line, they covered it with metal to keep it from deteriorating more. Of course, we took the wood slats off carefully, so I could use them somewhere else.

The First look

After we got everything removed from around the well, we were finally able to fully see it in all its glory.

shed has been removed. there is only the brick well.
brick well exposed

I absolutely love the brick on this well! There are some spots we will have to repair the mortar at, but overall it’s in great shape.

There was a piece of metal on top that covered the opening down into the well. We removed it to peek inside and we spotted some names and a date carved into the concrete top.

first carved name into concrete
second carved name.

Can you believe it says 1955? That is so amazing. I just love it.

We don’t know if 1955 is when they redid the well or when the well was built. I believe it was when the well was redone. We do know that the Lawlis family lived here for quite some time and were the owners prior to the 1960’s. The Lawlis mother lived here until right before her death and this well was her only water source. She did not have any plumbing coming into the house.

A Nice suprise… Reusing the white tongue and groove

In order to wrap this project up, I had needed to run to town to grab some supplies. I came back to my husband and my youngest son hard at work hanging the old chippy white wood we have saved off the well house. They hung it up behind the well as a nice weathered wood backdrop.

brick well with old weathered boards behind it as a back drop.

He attached them to the studs we had left to make up his grilling station. I think he made the right decision doing this. I can see that helping to add character to what I have planned for this well area.

another angle of well house and weathered wood.

Exposed! We have a Vintage Brick Well

I’m so glad to have that well house taken down. It opens up this area and makes such a difference. I am most excited about finding those dates on the well. Since we don’t know when this house was built, this gives us an idea of how old the original part of the house might be. Now we know we are looking at 1955 or earlier.

Once again we aren’t fully done with this project. We have plans on how we are going to style this whole well area after we get the porch painted. It’s too damn hot in this Texas heat to be doing any projects outside right now. Stay tuned for when we do get this area all prettified!

Want to know what project we used the tin metal from this well house for? Click here to read!

Follow me on Pinterest & facebook!

Leave a Comment

Previous Post: « Back Porch Makeover – Part 1

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

WELCOME

Hey there! I’m Kasandra. I’m a mother of two handsome boys, a wife to a great man, a lover of animals and all things beautiful, a writer by choice and a die-hard country girl by birth.

Here on Country Life Charm, you will find our journey through revamping and bringing back the old charm to our pre 1950s built Texas farmhouse, as well as all kinds of DIY projects for the home and homestead, recipes that are easy to cook and a look into our little homestead, all while being mindful that money doesn’t grow on trees.

Take a look HERE to read more about me!

Follow My Journey!

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Stay up to date!

Sign up to get farmhouse renovation updates, DIY projects for the home and homestead, easy recipes and the latest from our homestead.

Browse Around

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Farmhouse Renovations
  • Chickens
  • Recipes

Copyright © 2022 · Refined Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

2 shares