Kitchen Cabinets Bare

I found some more pictures that we took in February of 2006, just after mom and I finished sanding the cupboards, right about the time we started painting. This gives you a good idea of what the backs looked like before.

If you haven't seen what they look like now, check out this post.

Trimwork Question Answered

Recently, di asked...

"Hi again. Just curious: what color stain did you use on your trim, and what
species of wood is it? Thanks!"

Well di, all of the original wood trim and doors in the house are American chestnut. The few places where we had to replicate trim in a room full of chestnut, we used red oak. The floors are white oak with white pine centers.



As for the stain... the simple answer is that nearly every room is different. The long answer is that every room was made to match itself because of the variety of conditions. In some rooms the trim had been painted white, when this was stripped, there was some white paint that simply would not come out of the grain. So, what the guys did was to wipe a stain or dye on, and wipe it right back off. It stuck to the paint, leaving the rest of the wood mostly its original color.



In other rooms, the trim had been painted wild colors like lilac, mint green, and even black. Yes, black. We kept coming up with this black, tarry stuff as we stripped the living room and entry, including on the fluted columns. We might never have known if I hadn't had a surprise visit from some ladies who grew up in the house around 1950-1970. They told me their mother was the first to paint the trim. She loved the mint green wall color she chose to go with the black trim. I can only assume this took place during the 60s. Anyway, these wild colors required a bit more work to get the wood back to a normal color. Different stains and dyes were mixed, and different combinations were used for different rooms. I'm sorry I don't have a more definitive answer.

House Tour: Upstairs Hall After

And now, today, the upstairs hall looks like this: This is the view toward the front of the house. At the far left we have the staircase to the first floor, the door to the linen closet, the door to the front bedroom straight ahead, and the door to the side bedroom to the right.

No huge changes here, just repaired plaster walls, a new plaster ceiling, the carpet is gone, the wood floor is refinished, and all the trimwork has been stripped. You may notice there is a transom above the door to the side bedroom. I do have the window that goes there, but I need to purchase the hardware to make it operable before I can reinstall it. Right now the space is filled with cardboard (classy, I know). This is only temporary, and was put into place to keep that room cool this summer, because we only have window units right now.

Speaking of keeping things cool in the summer, we have installed a lovely whole-house fan. I love this thing. I do wish it weren't plastic, but what can you do? I'm told this model is special because of the way it is made, none of the joists had to be cut, the center of the fan rests on one and the fan takes up the space between two joists. Anyway, I'm so glad we put this in because it really helps keep the house cool most warm days. It is only during the most sweltering part of the summer that we resort to the air conditioners.
From this angle you can see the staircase to the first floor at the far right, the chimney stack, then the bathroom door (yeah, the jamb still needs some work), and straight ahead is the door to the back bedroom.

In order to enlarge the bathroom a bit, we bumped the bathroom doorway out into the hall a bit and changed the door so it swings inward. This looks totally natural because it is now flush with the chimney stack. Before there was this unnecessary inset for the bathroom door.

It should be noted, however, that moving this wall 18" required a visit from a building inspector, and he is the reason for the new structural support beam in the kitchen. Which he suggested should have always been there. I was all too happy to have that beam put into place, I didn't want to always wonder when the bathroom was going to come crashing down into the kitchen!

House Tour: Upstairs Hall Before

In September of 2003...
This is the upstairs hall, looking toward the front of the house, door to the front bedroom straight ahead, door to the side bedroom on the right, door to the linen closet on the left, and just next to that is the staircase to the first floor.
This is a good view of bad plaster patching. Don't worry, that's all fixed now. The open door on the left is to the back bedroom, and the open door on the right is to the bathroom. We made some major modifications to this area to enlarge the bathroom, but nothing you would notice today if I didn't point it out. Which I will do. So keep this spot in mind when we get to the back bedroom and the upstairs bathroom.

Newel Post

While I am on the subject of staircases, I have been curious about what treasure may be hiding in the depths of my newel post. Well, more than curious, ever since I read this post by Kristin at 1902 Victorian, who was disappointed when she didn't find the much hoped for old house documents.

Unfortunately, I didn't learn about this until after all the woodwork was refinished, and now I am afraid to mess with it. If I broke the cap while prying it off, I'm pretty sure we couldn't replicate it. I know we have saved nearly every scrap of chestnut wood, but I don't think we have anything that thick.On the other hand, there could be something very valuable in there. No, I don't expect to find money, but blueprints would be terrific.

So the question is: should I pry the top off the newel post? I might get lucky, but the odds are against it. If I don't, I'll never know. Maybe I could get at it from the basement ceiling?

What would you do? Has anybody done this with success?

House Tour: Staricase After

And now, in the fall of 2007...
All the paint has been stripped from the wood work, the plaster ceilings have all been repaired or replaced, that wallpaper border is long gone, as is the carpet from the floors and the stairs.
Funny story about the stairs. When it came time to strip the baseboard trim on the staircase, they couldn't get to all of it without taking the carpet out. Now, I wasn't in love with the carpet, but until this point I hadn't really thought about pulling it out. I mean, it was in okay condition, it wasn't quality to begin with, but still... When it was all said and done, all the carpet in the house was torn out. It made a good drop cloth to protect the lovely original wood floors hiding beneath.

So, back to the carpeted staircase. We started pulling the carpet off at the top, worked down to the landing, so far so good. Okay, this was going pretty easily and quickly. A bit of grotty padding, lots of staples. Down each step, closer to the bottom. I'm laughing, loving how great the treads look. I should have known better than to rejoice until the job is done. So naive.

It is all going great until we get to the bottom step. Oh, you aren't going to be live this. Wait, yes you will. You housebloggers know what horrible things previous owners can do to a house. You see, the first riser, first tread, and second riser were covered with more than just carpet and padding. Someone had tried to put sheet vinyl on the stairs. Yup. Sheet vinyl. And not just any sheet vinyl, it was that fake parquet-looking stuff. You know it. You've seen it. Oh I wish I had taken pictures. Why didn't I? Well, it is still vivid in my memory, almost three years later.

It took me four days, my favourite putty knife, some whining and crying, and many bottles of dollar store nail polish remover. Why nail polish remover? Because the acetone cuts through the adhesive pretty well. Just saturated cheap paper towels, laid them over the gunky steps, sealed it with dollar store cling film, let it soak for a few hours, went back and scraped till my arms were sore. Repeat.

That bottom stair tread is still darker than the rest. And of course it couldn't be flipped because it is the only one that has the curve. Figures, right?

You can see a close up of that particular stair here. Just look under the puppy.

House Tour: Staricase Before

In September 2003... Bland carpet, painted balusters, painted woodwork...
The view from the upstairs hall, showing the landing and its window. Nice curtains, huh? Gotta love that skinny wallpaper border, too. Really. The crooked, aged plaster ceiling is where you want to draw the eye, right?

House Tour: Downstairs Bathroom After

This is the downstairs bath, adjacent to Oliver's room. Now part of Oliver's suite. I believe this room (as well as Oliver's room) used to be part of the back porch. While two windows are definitely original to the house, and look like they have been in the same place since 1930, I'm not sure why they would have been on the porch.

Oliver spends hot days laying in the shower. Sometimes I run the cold water for a few seconds before I leave in the morning. The large shower head continues to drip water (not from a leak, just pressure) for a while, and I have seen Oli chase the drops, trying to bite them. So, fun and cool.

The shower pan, sink, toilet, and all faucets are from American Standard.

I love the taller toilet. I belive American Standard calls it right-height. They are between 17 and 18" tall. I think most "standard" toilets are between 12 and 14" tall. Trust me, those extra couple of inches in height make a big difference. I realize this might be a strange thing to talk about in some circles, but I want to let any housblogger out there know: if you are replacing your toilet, and going with something brand new, give the taller toilet a try. I'm not a tall person (5'4"), but many in my family are a bit on the tall side. My fibromyalgia causes pain in my hips, and I seriously appreciate not having to crouch so much. Okay, that's enough about toilet preferences.

The counter and the shower walls are Swanstone. The cabinets are from KraftMaid. The floor is cork.

Oliver likes the cork floors because they do help to insulate a bit better. It can get very chilly in this bathroom during the winter since it is over an uninsulated part of the basement.

I'm very pleased with this bathroom. We had it completed before we gutted the upstairs bathroom, so we would have a place to bathe and other necessities. I know it isn't very old looking, and I never intended it to be. We are fairly certain this bathroom was not part of the original floorplan, so it didn't have to look original. Instead, we tried to keep with the overall feel of the house. Quality cabinets, fixtures, faucets. High ceilings, and original woodwork.

House Tour: Downstairs Bathroom Before

The downstairs bathroom in September 2003... I was very glad to have a second bathroom in the house at all. And it served its purpose. But when we realized we were going to have to tear out the whole bathroom upstairs, I decided we needed to have a place to shower during the renovation of the upstairs bathroom.


This teeny-weenie sink and toilet would go, and they would be reversed in position before it was all said and done. This was the only way we could fit a sink, toilet and shower into this tiny space. Plus, it kept all the hot water lines along an interior wall.
Also, I'll never understand why they would have gone out and purchased a cheap, hollow-core door for this room when there were two five-panel doors, original to the house, in perfect condition, stashed away in the attic. Duh.

This disgusting little pantry closet (part of the back hall) would become the spot for the shower. I really can't believe they kept food there. It had no ceiling. It was just open at the top. Open to anything that might be living in those two feet above the drop ceiling. Ew.

House Tour: Oliver's Room After

Oliver welcomes you to see his room. Some doggies have a crate, some doggies get full run of the house. We have found this to be a happy medium. He has limited room to get into trouble. Oli gets to stretch his legs, look out the window, and from the gate he can see straight through the house to the sidelight next to the front door.
This is Oliver's gate from the kitchen to his room. The door right behind him leads to the back yard (after you go down some scary concrete stairs).
Oli can look out over his back yard from this vantage point...

This area used to be the back hall, but we took out the wall dividing it from the back porch room. It was not a load-bearing wall, and it opened up the space. Now you can do figure 8s around the downstairs. Which does happen sometimes, if I am chasing Oli when he has stolen something. He thinks it is great fun, I think it makes it hard to corner him.

We had to replace about four feet of floor boards in the back hall. They are not a perfect color match to the rest of the back porch room, but they are mellowing with age, and after only two years it isn't nearly as obvious as it was when the floors were first refinished.

We removed all the paneling: 1950s and 1970s. We took out the drop ceilings and gained 18-24" of height. And we added three spots of recessed lighting to this room. Mom had Jeff, our fabulous electrician, put nearly every light in the house on dimmer switches. A bit overboard, but often appreciated. ... or get a better view by perching himself a little higher while sitting on his chair.

You can see the radiator in the picture above, sporting its shiny new paint job.

All the trim work in this room is new pine. We tried to replicate the original profile as closely as possible. I can see the difference, but I doubt most people notice. We did not put new and old side by side anywhere in the house for this reason.

The tiny, non-opening trailer window was happily replaced with a beautiful set of new exterior French doors. They are wood with the exterior clad in metal. No, they are not true divided lites, they are double pane thermal, and they don't let a peep of cold air in during the winter. Right now they don't go anywhere, but someday I would like to put a porch on the back. Not a deck. A porch.

Now this space is light, bright, pretty, and gets great air-flow in the summer. Oli approves.