My poor husband, I should've told him these things before we purchased our current home. It was built in 1918 as the town boarding house...great big porches on the front and back of it, beautiful large windows throughout, formal living & dining rooms, parlor, huge open hallway upstairs lined with 5 bedrooms that leads to a sunroom through french doors. I took it in and saw past the ugly wallpaper, bad paint choices, worn carpet, teal cabinets, and imagined what it could be...or maybe what it once was. I loved the character of the wooden ceiling beams, and the door in the kitchen that opened to a closet (that I'm convinced is covering up a servants stairway to the upstairs "attic" room), big walk-in closets, and the opportunity for entertaining others comfortably. After the 7 previous houses we had walked through that day, this one seemed like a palace. We signed the dotted line and started getting to work.
Did you know how much renovating/updating an old house can cost? We soon found out...and the dream of what the house could one day be seemed distant & foggy. Looking back now, I see how much progress we've made, and how much we have yet to do. People comment on what a beautiful house we have and I have to just say, "It's a work in progress"...because there is really no other way to describe how much money, sweat, frustration, & tears have gone into it. In 6+ years of living here, we have yet to sit back and say, "I'm bored!" I do believe that day isn't actually going to come!
Last week we were finally able to take on the eyesore of the house...the kitchen. It has been totally gutted. I think it already looks fabulous. LOL!
Before:
Notice the beautiful linoleum...circa 1970's...or before. And the stunning teal paint on ALL the woodwork.
And please take careful notice that I took the wallpaper off the soffit only to come to the conclusion that we didn't want to put any money into the kitchen right now, whatever we had was going towards the renovation.
And after demo:
Good-bye soffits!! If you look closely at the floor, you will see black paper. This is the tar paper they would glue to the wood floor to use as a moisture barrier before they put on the tile. We found a layer of tile (light green & beige), then plywood, then the lovely brown vinyl that we've been living with since we moved in.
And look at the insulation stuffed in the wall where they took out one of the big windows to put something more "modern" in. I wish they hadn't done that. ;o( But I've thought that a million times the past few years about different stuff.
Took out the 1/2 walls above the doorways. Still thinking how we want to proceed with the ceiling area here.
Our kitchen has been at least 4 different colors as we can tell: peach, light green, tan, white...and teal.
Here's what's beneath the tar paper:
Maple and fur wood floors. Today I spent a little time trying to figure out what was going to bring the tar paper up. So far, mineral spirits does the best job, but I think I might take a walk on the more chemically side of things and try something stronger. I'm not against elbow grease, but if something else can help me put in less elbow grease, it has my vote ;o)
Working on this floor today...and this entire current project...got me thinking about why I'm so fascinated by old houses. But I've rambled enough for now, so I'll pick up on that thought in the next post.
BTW...our contractor is the best. You should've seen his face when we told him we had decided to save the old wooden floors. Priceless. Poor guy.
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