Wanna Meet The TIN HOUSE?
As part of my year-long plan, I am focused on getting a small house I own in a tiny town (Matfield Green, pop 49) ready for sale. I have owned the house since the late 1990s, after encountering it on my very first day in Chase County (July 5, 1996). On that first day I began sweeping it, putting the front door (lying on the floor) back on its hinges, and generally cleaning it up.
People (all new to me) kept saying: “Ross. This isn’t your house. Leave it alone.”
I ignored everybody and continued my emergency care over the ensuing months.
This upset the owner, but as I ignored him, too, he decided after several years that his only recourse was to sell the house to me. This was agreeable. The price was $1800 but it might as well been $180,0000 as I had no money. A local, Jane, eventually gave me the money saying: “You love this house so much. And you’ve done wonders with it. You need to own it.”
During this early period, and with no money, I managed to get the house in much better condition. The south porch had collapsed and I carefully removed it. Almost every pane of glass in the house was smashed and I eventually reglazed every window and door. The roof was leaking, badly, and I installed tarpaper all over, held in place with strips of lath. I renewed this every other year. Then, during one Thanksgiving weekend, my friend Suzi and I installed a corrugated metal roof over the one-story section of the house. Suzi donated the metal. We could not reach the second-story roof so that had to wait.
After all the window sashes was restored, I hung thrift-store drapes to make the house not look so desolate and abandoned.
I replaced the rotted sill of the house with new pressure -treated boards.
Annually, from spring till late fall, I drove to the house every Sunday to mow and manicure with a string trimmer. By 2005 the house was still a gutted shell but it looked cared for and was protected from the elements.
Then, in 2006, I started selling restored vintage lighting online. Suddenly, I had money. One would think this would have been a Godsend to the Tin House but, when I was poor, I had time. Now I had money but zero time. I worked on lights 24/7, from morning till bedtime. And the Tin House stopped getting ever better.
I hired a local to mow the yard for a few seasons but then he died. And the lawn stopped getting mowed and manicured.
In 2012, I hired Justin to install a metal roof on the two-story section, and historically correct 1/2-round gutters.
In 2014, I purchased the Cross House, and this consumed ALL my attention for the next 11 years. The poor Tin House suffered grievously. As did my house in Strong City.
In 2025, with the Cross House now on hiatus, and sales slow due to a poor economy, I have something I have not had since 2005: time.
So, wanna meet the Tin House?
This is the oldest image of the house I ever found. The image was given to me by Crystal Deering, who lived in the house as a child. When I met her she was very elderly (and has since passed on). This is the only known image of the long-lost front and north side (left) porches. Just to the left of center, down low, are two children.
I was told that the columns on this house in Matfield were from the Tin House, and from its West and north porches.
In the garage, I recently discovered a pilaster (a half column) in the garage. This would have been on the north porch.
I think this is Crystal’s father, standing on the cistern, looking west. The cistern is extant; all the buildings behind Mr. Deering (on Matfield’s main street) are long gone. The Tine House was later extended to the north and now ends about where Mr. Deering is standing.
This is the east addition, built in, I think, the 1920s. It is by far the best built part of the house and was, I think, a kitchen. If I remember correctly, that is Crystal, center.
South. You can see the 2-story section. This was moved from somewhere else and grafted onto the 1-story structure. You can see my tarpaper and lath strips. This image is from the late 1990s. I think.
The main facade, or west, today, and after all the overgrowth was removed. The house is well-known for the upper door leading to nowhere. I do not plan to reinstate the lost porch but will install a railing to stop people from falling to their death. The thrift-store drapes had shredded in the sunlight after so many years and I have now replaced them. The glass sparkles again after a decade+ of grime.
About 6 weeks ago the property was wildly overgrown. You can see the 2012 metal roof.
Ditto.
My plan for the house. At top is north. The wing to the east (right) is, I think, a 1920s addition and was likely built as a kitchen, as stated. It is now a bedroom. The living room (left) is the 1st-floor of the 2-story section. In the middle will be a dining area. The kitchen is to the north. I show a peninsula here but I actually built an island. The dining area and kitchen are wholly open to each other. To the south is (not fully drawn in) will be a powder room (right), hall, laundry room (left), and full bath (bottom). These three rooms are not built yet. The dark curve upper left is the tail of NewKitty2.
The house, thus, will be 2 bedrooms, and a bath and a half. The new owner may have other ideas though. There is also a storage shed, a 1-car garage, and a historic WPA outhouse (I’m not joking). The house has 4 lots.
As mentioned, the house is a gutted shell but has a new electrical panel, partial new wiring, a buried electrical line, a working septic system (which I discovered), and partial new plumbing (but no hot water heater).
Last month, I hired a local man, James to cut down all the wild overgrowth and haul it away.
But why is it called the Tin House, you ask? That was the name I gave it in 1996 because much of the interior was covered in stamped tin, the kind normally used on ceilings.
The upper walls of the living room paneled with tin sheets.
Tin wainscotting.
And tin top trim.
I sold the house in 2000 to a woman who promised to restore it but the first thing she did was hire two guys to remove most of the tin in living room. She then sold this on eBay, I was told. Later, I learned that she had wanted to tear down the house to create parking for the small restaurant across the street which she hoped to buy. When that fell though she lost interest in the Tin House and sold it to Suzi and me in 2002. Whew!
Luckily, enough tin remains that the look can be closely recreated. I do not know what company create the original panels but it was not the well-known WF Norman, which I visited in 2016. They have nothing matching the lost panels but have some good approximations. I hope the new owners restore this lost aspect.
The dining/kitchen room also has a tin ceiling and matching tin walls. This is largely intact. I hope the new owner keeps this.
The east addition is all beadboard, ceiling and walls, as is the bathroom. The second-floor bedroom is gutted to the studs.
The living room. Six weeks ago the floor was covered with dead leaves and live ivy. I plan to wash the floors and then Mop & Glo them.
Long-term readers will recall these Walmart drapes that a lot of you donated to the Cross House. I finally have a place for them!
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In 2003, I got the East Bedroom done. I scraped all the peeling paint on all the headboard,and then gently wire brushed. I built two closets in the corners, and electrified the room. Note the clever built-in night table nooks. The bed fits into this niche. But, bare bulbs danged from pigtails for all these years.
Thus you can imagine my great excitement in at last, at last, installing fixtures I purchased for the room decades ago. I had the bulbs in a box for decades, and they were orange and from around 1920. I was astonished to discover that they all worked!
The fixtures are way cool. I installed a pair of 1-arm sconces, and a single 2-arm sconce, plus…
….the only ceiling fixture I ever found, sadly overpainted. Curiously, I never found a 4-or 5-bulb ceiling fixture.
During its long slumber, wind ripped off siding. Twenty years ago the paint on the doors was fresh, as with the window sashes. I love the pointy tops of the window and door trim, and how narrow and long the sashes are.
I have mostly repaired the siding.
For many years I lighted the house for the holiday season but this, too, stopped. I will resume the tradition in December.
My plan is to make the house look as inviting as possible for sale while leaving it a gutted shell. While I would love love love to finish the house based on my dreams for it since 1996, a lack of funds and age precludes this. I assume the new owner will want the house to AirBnB it, as this has proven successful in the area. While the town is just a speck, it has become kinda sorta like Marfa, Texas, in attracting artists, musicians, writers, and other creative types. This way cool AirBnB is just north of the Tin House.
I will do some work to make the kitchen island look a bit more done, and will frame out the powder room, laundry, and bathroom. There is a bed in the East Room and I will get some sheets and pillows for it. I will also bring in a dining table and four chairs. I will be putting a tin roof on the storage shed, and cleaning the garage. Do I have enough courage to step into the WPA outhouse and do anything with it?
As bad as I let the house get these past 11 years, I have reminded many people that the house was still WAY better than it was in 1996. And, if not for me, it would have likely been torn down decades ago.
The ask price will be $22,500. Firm.
Oh, and I sold my Toyota! Squee!!!!!!!!! Now I am looking for another car and have been focused on a Kia Soul. In the meantime Scott graciously loaned me a 2015 Buick. I’m now officially a grandma!
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Your progress in cleaning up the property is great!
Could those tin panels installed on the walls actually be tin ceilings from another house in the area?
I’m not surprised that parts of the house have ended up at other houses.
I am so heartened that you sold the Toyota and are looking for something g less expensive.
You are so funny! Driving a 2015 Buick or as you say a “grandma car.” Hahaha!
Congrats on selling the Toyota, that’s one item down to check off the list
The Tin house is a lovely old house, I’m sure the right buyers will come along soon
Are you going to paint it?