The Questions

The thing I love about old homes is that they are mysterious. We always wonder what they were like 100 years ago. What kind of decor and furniture? What were the tenants wearing when they walked through the rooms? Were they business men or farmers? Wealthy and well known or just a plain family?

All of the houses we looked at prior to buying this one had some sort of remodel/add on done. I don't think any of them were in their original state and design. Now that we are in this house and starting to tear things apart we have other questions like, "why would you put linoleum down on a bedroom floor?"

Seriously? It's sparkly.

And what is this? The linoleum stops part way through the hallway and the wood is exposed.

 

We discovered that there used to be a wall where one of the bathroom doors now stands. Did you need to cut it open and put 2 bathrooms right next to each other?

Right now we are really trying to envision what the master and craft rooms used to be. The shape of the darkened areas suggest that the wall where the closet is did not exist. Neither did the wall separating the two rooms. Our current theory is that it used to be one large room, perhaps used as a dining room and that the stairs actually came down and landed in that room not the current living room. It's typical for these older homes to have the stairs towards the back of the home or not right in the entry way (although there are a lot that have them right when you walk in the door). Maybe one day we will do some major demo and put it back how we think it may have been in 1912.

 

The Centruy Old Wood Floors

I am really excited about the projects that are going on this week! One of the things I really wanted our house to have was original wood floors. At least in the main living room. When we got in and peeled up a corner of the carpet my hopes of this happening dwindled. The floor in the living room looked horrible! Our contractor mentioned that they might not be salvageable. My heart broke a little bit. The floors in the other 2 rooms and hallway seemed to be in good shape.
We were given the name of a wood floor guy and had him come out and look at it. He said he would be able to refinished the floor in all 3 rooms! Yay! My hope was restored! So, all of the carpet came out and the work began. This is supposed to be a 3-4 day process. It's also one of the more expensive projects we are doing so it's kind of a big deal. I can.not.wait to see the finished product!

This is the living room. We are not sure what is covering the wood. Wool? Horse hair? Carpet padding that was on there way to long, deteriorated and got stuck? Who knows!

 

There is this weird patch in the corner of the room. I really wanted Daniel to pull up some of the boards to see if there was hidden treasure under neath. He didn't want to mess with it. :(

 

The hallway that leads to the master and craft room.

 

See the difference between the living room and the hallway? Why are the floors so different? They were both covered in the same carpet so they must have been covered different a long time ago!

The master. This room has the same weird dark square as the craft room. Russ (the floor guy) thinks at one point it may have been partly covered in some sort of vinyl and the glue darkened the wood over time.
This is the second day Russ has been working on the floors. I went over there to check on the paint in the master and I have to say, the floors are looking pretty nice. The paint color in the master, not so nice. We bought the wrong color. Oops. Anyway, he should have one layer of whatever he is covering the floor with on tonight. I might try to sneak over there and see it. :)

So for now, here is a sneak peek of what the living room looked like after 1 round of sanding!
  

 

The blue room demo

Our kids call this the 'blue room' for obvious reasons. This was the place they would play or watch movies while we were working. This week we Daniel started the demo process. I am willing to help paint or pick out trim but sanding the texture off the wall and patching holes and cracks is not my thing. Daniel is very good at it and has been working on this room the past few nights. My vision for this room is super cute, can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

 

 I guess the 100 year old walls can't handle the scraping and pounding. There are a few of these that need to be repaired.

 

The one place

We spend a fair amount of time over at the house. Usually if I am there so are the kids. It's kind of a mess with all of the wall scraping and carpet removing. I really wanted one place in the house that feels "done". The kid's bathroom is in pretty good shape so we are not going to be doing anything with it for awhile. So I took myself to Target and got some pretty things for it! A new shower curtain, rug and towels. I love it. Now on to unpacking the bathroom things I took over there...

 

The Progress

The work has officially begun at the house! There is paint on the walls and carpet is coming out! I am so excited about this room. Temporarily it will be the older kid's room but in the (hopefully near) future it will be my craft room!
I was a little skeptical of how the color was going to look on all four walls vs. just a small area, but I have to say I am in love! I love it with the white trim and wood floors! And I love the wood floors! We are planning on having them refinished. I am not sure why the middle is a darker color than the outside. I am just happy that the carpet came up and there is not glue all over. I love the sound of walking on wood flooring.

Daniel found some pretty helpful painting tricks and techniques online and I must say, this is the best paint job I've seen him do.
(I went over to take pictures in the middle of the day when the sun was shining right in to the room so it's kind of hard to see the floor!)
 

 

 

 

 

         This is what my little munchkins do while I am running around taking pictures of the place. :)

The Plan

We are not planning on moving in to the house until the end of September. We are planning on doing some work on the downstairs unit before we get all of our stuff in there. Our focus is on the living room, craft room, nursery and the master bedroom. This will hopefully include painting, new carpet and (possibly) refinished floors. Of course there are several other things that have to be done before it can be painted but I don't pay attention to those things, that's Daniel's job!

After we get the downstairs livable we will move in. Then we will start on the upstairs. It needs a lot more work than the downstairs. The second kitchen needs to come out, the bathroom gutted,  the cracks in the walls need to be addressed and more painting and carpet. After all or most of that is done then we will open the wall and rebuild the bottom of the stairs to make it a single unit! Sounds easy right?!  I wish we had as much time and money as we do ideas!

I tried to get in and take some pictures before we started working. I didn't get the camera over there until after we put some paint samples on the walls! I'm thinking I am going to post pictures room by room as we work on it so for now here are a few pictures.

 

 Baby's room

 Master

Craft room

 I love the door to my craft room!

 The house doesn't have as much charm as some of the others we looked at, but it does have original doors and cool door knobs!

 Living room

The 2 bathrooms right next to eachother. Weird right?

 Our back yard.

 I am having a hard time working over there because these things are everywhere outside! They are really pretty and they spin beautiful webs but I can only pretend I'm not freaking out in front of the kids so many times before I might actually loose it!

Rec. room

The Stats



Right now the house is a duplex. It has been that way for awhile.

Year built: 1912
Square footage: 2556

Lot size: .45 acre

Beds: 5

Baths: 3

Parking: Detached Garage

 

Since it is a duplex, there are 2 kitchens and 4 exterior doors. There is also a detached structure we are calling the rec room. It's (mostly) finished inside with a bedroom and a half bath. Attached to it is a one car garage.
The square footage doesn't count the large, unfinished attic. There are 2 bedrooms up there right now plus a large open space. Possibly a place to put teenagers in a few years? Or a big master suite? There are really so many possibilities with this house!
Here are some photos from the listing. These were taken when the tenants still lived there.
 

Downstairs kitchen (the one we are keeping) 

 

 Living room

 Rec. room

 Attic

 Detached garage/shop

Back yard

Large fenced garden



It's officially ours!

After 45 days, 2 loan applications, several inspections and lots of stress and frustration, we finally became home owners on August 17th! It's exciting and scary at the same time!