Lucysinspired: Hays House Salvaged

When a house is being salvaged it's because it can't be repaired or someone has decided that the property can be used in a better way. We don't like to think anything can be better than a beautiful old home sitting on it's original land. Most of the time, there is a lot of time and effort into figuring out how to save the house. No one wants to lose history.

The Hays House in Cullman, Alabama has been looking for a new owner for over a year. The city owns the property that the house is sitting on and needs it for another use. They wanted to give the house away. The only criteria is you had to move it. It's a two story home and wouldn't go under the overpasses on the interstate and it would cost a lot to move it. There was some damage to the house when the tornados came through in April of 2011. It was going to be hard to move this gorgeous home.

Several weeks ago, Southern Accents Architectural Antiques acquired the home for salvage. It's controversial, but there are some amazing pieces in this house that need to be saved. If we didn't go in and break it down piece by piece, it would have been hit by a wrecking ball and those gorgeous windows would have been shattered. I love so many things about this house. Emma and I went in a little over a year ago and looked through all the rooms. There was an adorable spanish brass chandelier hanging in the living room, 5 panel, solid doors throughout and columns and hardwoods that could be saved. She stood next to a door upstairs that was a closet and was so amazed at how short the door was! She was probably around 5'2" at the time....now she's 5'7" and looking me straight in the eye. ugh

The house was built in 1901 by Dr. Hays. He and his wife lived there and he even saw patients in the home. It was acquired by the Cullman Historic Society in 2010, who had to move out after the tornado came through. You can read more on the history of this house here.

The deconstruction started last week. I was in Cullman and went by to snap a few pictures of the guys working. They are very organized. This is such a meticulous job. You can't just walk in with a sledgehammer, you have to remove nails individually and pull carefully to get the piece out without damaging the architectural details. A lot of care goes into saving these pieces. Some things are sold before they are pulled out of the house. Others will be sold through the store. I have my eye on a couple of things for MoonGlow. We'll see if I can work that out! I will let you guess what you think I want!