By Emily Beckett
Joseph and Pam Teel joke about sitting on the front porch of their Clanton home sometimes and “watching the world go by” as Joseph’s relatives would do when they owned the house in the 1900s.
The Teels and their two sons, Briar and Dylan, are in their third year of living in the house after buying, restoring and adding onto it over the course of several years.
The original house belonged to Joseph’s great-grandfather, Joseph Walter.
Joseph Teel’s great aunt, Billie Gwathany, lived in the house until 2003, after which it sat vacant for several years before Teel purchased it.
“My wife and I decided to buy it so it wouldn’t leave the family,” Teel said. “It was in bad shape.”
Located just a few blocks from downtown Clanton, the bungalow-style house is comprised of the original portion (about 1,200 square feet) built circa 1900 in the Victorian era, as well as about 1,800 square feet of additional living space the Teels constructed.
With the consistent help of his friend Wade Cleckler, Joseph did much of the restoration work himself, from gutting the interior of the original house to completing tedious tasks like hand-sanding and re-staining the pine front door.
“Dad sanded every piece of wood and re-stained it,” Briar said, while standing in the parlor. “Most everything you see here, Dad did himself.”
The original oak hardwood floors cover the front portion of the house, and Joseph was able to salvage the brick surrounding the original fireplace and use it around the new fireplace in the parlor.
The house features pieces of antique furniture and doorknobs the Teels collected from markets, estate sales, auctions and other places.
The chandelier in the parlor, for instance, came out of the governor’s mansion in Montgomery when it was renovated years ago, Joseph said.
“We just kind of pieced things together for the era of the house,” Joseph said. “Modern conveniences with character of age. It’s old but new.”
Joseph said the original house was built before indoor plumbing and electricity were available, and he had to wire and insulate the house from the outside.
“With this house, he knows everything about it from top to bottom because it was a family home,” Pam said of her husband. “He had been in it as a child. When you build it, you know everything about it.”
Although the original wallpaper had to be removed, the Teels tried to choose paint colors for the walls in each room that correspond with the colors in the wallpaper, such as pale green.
They installed vessel sinks on washstands in the bathrooms to contribute to the Victorian feel of the home.
Although the dental mold pinewood trim in the parlor is new, it was a type of trim commonly used in houses in that era, Joseph said.
Pam said of all the projects Joseph has taken on over the years, their house restoration was possibly his largest and most painstaking project.
“He loves to remodel,” she said. “This was probably the largest project he’s ever had. He was so particular with it, too.”
Along with being able to keep the house in their family, Joseph said seeing and enjoying the fruits of his labor every day have made the restoration project worthwhile for him and his family.
“He worked for hours,” Pam said of Joseph. “He’s worked really hard.”
His efforts haven’t gone unnoticed in the community, either.
The Teels’ home was given a Clanton Beautification Award in 2012 for “Most Improved.”
With the grunt work behind them, Joseph, 48, an advisor for United Healthcare, and Pam, 46, a teacher at Clanton Elementary, can relax and savor the same serene view his grandparents had from the front porch many years ago.
“We’re like the grandparents watching the world go by,” Pam said. “We want to stay here.”