I took the photo below in 2006 at Caravati's (a fabulous architectural salvage yard in Richmond), and published it in THIS blog post from January of last year. I love the details of this beautiful piece of a shingle cottage just as much now as I did when I first saw it ... maybe more now. The shingles, the shutters, and the delicate touch of gingerbread is completely perfect!
This past fall, while The Husband and I were at Caravati's hunting for a window to use to finish the north wall of my greenhouse, I happened upon the same piece ... now deteriorating and forgotten in a far corner of the yard. It made me sad.
All it needed in 2006 was some scraping and a coat or two of paint. I'm sure it would take a lot more work to for someone to be able to use it now. Fortunately for me, all I needed it for was inspiration ... and photos can do this quite nicely.
Such a shame.