Early March Progress.....

The open floors - before the rebuild began....

The original floors that were preserved under the shag carpet.

Look to the top right of the photo below - and you'll see where there originally had been a floor furnace. 

We will rip down boards to match the  2" width, then piece them in to tie in that whole area. 

Once it is stained - you'll never know it was there. 

( p.s. I say we - but I really mean Brad the flooring guy. He is a Wizard with repairing & matching old floors!) 

Once the floor joists were repaired, the new wood floor could be added in the kitchen. 

These will all be stained to match. 

This was interesting. 

Each of the bedrooms had a small closet. As with many of the homes of this era - this house had a walk through doorway between 2 of the bedrooms. 

Somewhere down the road, someone had closed that passthrough off to make a second closet for the front room. 

( See the brown sheet of plywood? That's just blocking the doorway to the other room.) 

I definitely wanted to open that back up.

I did not want to connect the bedrooms - but I did want to create a larger master closet. 

The closet will be the whole width.  There will be two doors, with the door frames where they were originally. 

The space above was so large - I just could not bring myself to waste it! 

These are going to remain open for additional storage. 

The new master bath ( the old bedroom 4)

In here we will have a shower ( tiled to the ceiling) , a double vanity, floating shelves & a sliding door. 

Originally our contractors thought that we could patch some of the old walls - but ultimately...

We have ended up with new sheetrock everywhere. 

Just as well. 

It gave us the opportunity to add a whole bunch of insulation that this house never would have had. 

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The original trim was saved and labeled - so it could all be reassembled once the walls were up. 

Dining room 

Master Bedroom 

Front Bedroom 

The painters went to town when I was not around & painted everything! 

I should have been there to direct traffic - but I wasn't. 

Many of the doors just needed a good cleaning. The rich color of the aged wood would have been a perfect contrast to the Wickham Gray walls.  

But...

White will look nice and clean. 

Nothing to do about it now. 

Thank goodness they did not paint the hardware! 

Time to get down to the bare bones .....

Before all of the "old" goes out the door - 

I like to at least document some of the details that we can't preserve.

Dining Room Wallpaper 

Kitchen Floor ( 3rd layer) 

Kitchen Floor ( 4th Layer) 

Bathroom Floor 

Bedroom Wallpaper 

The wall between the dining room and the kitchen. 

Some "interesting"plumbing discovered when we removed the drop ceilings in the kitchen. 

The kitchen floor was compromised - and had been replaced with particle board in some areas. 

We are starting from scratch there - to be sure that it is solid. 

Ooh - and See that? 

(the square to the right of the ladder) 

Right where I was going to have to add a window for the half bath ...

When we took down the kitchen cabinets - there was already one there. As if it magically appeared :) 

Once the shag carpet was removed - we were pleasantly surprised by the condition of the stairs & the wood floors. 

The master bedroom was already gutted. 

It took a while, but we finally got it emptied out! 

The hall bath had endured years of leaks. 

It was way beyond repair - and needed to be rebuilt before we added the weight of new fixtures. 

Finally time for construction to begin! 

This is where the laundry will be. 

(The end of the upstairs hall) 

It blocks off the entrance to the  4th bedroom - but...since that is now the master bathroom, there is really no reason for hall access anymore. 

Did I mention how thrilled I am about the condition of the floors?!?

I can't wait to get these sanded - and get a nice fresh stain on them! 

Renovations & Holidays don't Mix Well .....

Unfortunately - I have fallen behind on my blog. 

It happens. 

For those of you that have not already heard me grumble about my current project -

 let me formally introduce you to : 

Little Red 

Little Red was not originally on my radar 

(or anywhere on my schedule ) but, unforeseen circumstances left her floating in the wind - and she almost literally fell in my lap. 

I was actually looking forward to a little break after Woodrow - but, 

I am a firm believer in 

"things happen for a reason" ... so - 

here we go! 

The house was left in an interesting state, with an odd menagerie of miscellaneous treasures left behind. 

Unfortunately - nothing that we could use. 

Except this key 

You know how I love an original key! 

I hate to even post this picture

 As of today the key is missing!

I wanted to put it away for safe keeping as soon as I saw it. 

Joe ( our contractor) assured me that it would be safe, and that he "needed" it, so I left it in the door.

GRRRRR!

I told him that he'd better start praying to St. Anthony - and fast!

I want that key back. 

This is the official Master bedroom "before" picture. 

Yes - this is really what it looked like. 

The one & only bathroom in the house. 

 Back bedroom - which will eventually become the master bathroom. This door originally would have gone to a balcony, but currently goes to nowhere and screams LIABILITY! 

Can't wait to close it up.  

The larger of the 2 front bedrooms. Terrible carpet all over, but....this thick stuff did a great job protecting the floors. 

Another bedroom - more wallpaper - more dropped ceilings - yippee! 

Stairway - I am definitely going to add some light here. 

Even with the window - this seems like a dark spot. 

Can't wait to show you how far along she has come.  

Just peeling back the layers of carpet / wallpaper and acoustic ceiling has made such a difference! 

B 

Isn’t HE Lovely ...Isn’t HE Wonderful...

Oh how I love this little house!

Woodrow has turned out to be as handsome as I knew he would be!