Artificial Turf

[ninnymary]

Nyboy, our pocket doors from one parlor to another one are missing. Why did people do that? We thought they may be inside the pockets sealed but nope. Sure wish they were.

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

Smart Red, I would love to see more photos. You know Nyboy and I love old houses, especially victorians. Tell me more about it. How many bedrooms does it have? Large yard? 2 parlors?, etc.

Mary

As you'll see when I post photos, the house looks like a mix of Victorian and Scandinavian to me. Downstairs is the kitchen, dining room, living room w/fireplace, office, bathroom, walk-in closet they plan to turn into a library, and the curved salon with a fireplace, two pocket doors and oak(?) flooring. Lots of wood in that room!

The open, semi-curved stairway has a door at the top -- a remnant from its time as a two-family rental. Upstairs is a large open room with a fireplace off of that is the front bedroom and side nursery/closet. Since the front bedroom is open to the center room, D-I-L has 'built' a wall of window panes to separate it from the center room. Maverick's room has had the most done to take away from its Victorian heritage. There's a 'closet' just stuck into one wall with plywood and plastic trim. No door for the poor guy yet either.

The hallway to Gypsy's room passes an upstairs bathroom and turns into an open area where they put the washer and dryer. Behind them, is the stairway to the third floor which is being used as an art room in front of the attic. Further, past the appliances is a small-ish bedroom-sized room that is plumbed to someday become a walk-in shower possibly with a sauna on the other end. Last room is the old apartment kitchen that has been redone to someday become the art room with lots of shelves, counter space, and plumbing for a sink, but is currently used for storage. This room opens to a back patio/deck as well as into Maverick's room.

Gypsy's room is the only one with painted trim. It also has colored glass panes framing one of the windows. Here I am rattling on and on when a picture or two will more than explain what's what.

 

[ninnymary]

Red, Gypsy's stained glass sounds like the one in our bay window. It is called "poor man's glass" because they are just leftover pieces or scraps. That's why they are usually all different colors.

We love stain glass and had an 8 panel bay window replaced with stain glass and beveled glass to give us privacy from the neighbors. Just love it. At night when our light is on our neighbors say it looks really pretty.

Mary

 

[Smart Red]

Never painted how lucky is that!!! Could never understand why people ripped out pocket doors. Any stained glass windows?

See above for colored glass. The window going up the stairs is leaded but not stained. Even the front doors are original. All the pocket doors (3) are working and in pretty good condition.

We spent weeks removing the huge pile of concrete that was once the front steps after we took the treated wood porch someone threw together off.

According to my research, tupelo isn't used for trim wood any more. It is more often used in the "guts" construction of furniture and skids. Certainly, any wood grown now for those purposes won't have the clear straight grain the house wood has.

The siding on the house has cupped and curled on the south and east sides so another coat of paint just wouldn't work. The lot is rather small from what was the original property. The Judge owned the land on both sides, with an orchard to the South and a barn and covered carriage shelter to the North. Now there are houses on either side.

Of course, with so old a house, there is no insulation in the outside walls. To keep the heat in and the cold out, the walls are double plastered which gives them two layers of air space between the outside and the inside walls. So far we have torn out the plaster layers in the outside walls of the kitchen and the office so we could add insulation.

 

[Smart Red]

Back to @ninnymary's thread and question. We (I) really do want to see photos of your house. No excuses! I love my country ranch, but I've always liked the look and feel of big old houses -- just never wanted to heat and maintain one -- although our first apartment duplex was a huge old (doctor's) house with parlor and salon (pocket doors) and a solid wall of oak cupboards that went from dining room to kitchen.

We kept the wood and floor plan downstairs but redid everything upstairs -- took out the hallway to open it up, changed the kitchen to a bedroom, a bedroom into the kitchen, and moved the bathroom. DH will forever hate hearing me repeat his challenging words, "You can do anything with plastic pipe" as I took that to heart and moved bathrooms and kitchens in most of the apartments we redid.

But I meander once again. . . .

 

[ninnymary]

Red, our house is really not all that grand or big. It is an Eastlake victorian usually called a "stick", because it just goes up and down. It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It is built high so there is a 1 bedroom unit below. It was covered with siding when we bought it but we removed it and discovered the house was built of redwood. Some trim was missing but my husband managed to find or build it. It has dark trim inside that I've always wanted to paint white and update it a little but my husband says it will lose it's character. We've added oak floors in the front parlors and dining room and have remodeled the kitchen twice. Not much else to say about it. My daughter is into design and has helped me to decorate the inside. People are always telling us we have a nice home but to us it's just our home that we've put a lot of work into.

Mary

 

[Carol Dee]

@Smart Red leave it to me to spot the cat in the photo of the new porch underskirt. He/she looks like my sweet old Fido. I sure miss that cat.

 

[Carol Dee]

@ninnymary I love Eastlake !!! I have a few pieces from that period. Red and I are anxiously waiting to SEE your lovely home.

 

[Smart Red]

@Smart Red leave it to me to spot the cat in the photo of the new porch underskirt. He/she looks like my sweet old Fido. I sure miss that cat.

I don't own a cat! At least that is what I told the Vet last week when they cost me $400*. The cat you see is Thumbs. He is polydactyl, having six (left) or seven toes (right) on his front feet. He will eagerly jump up son's leg or go for a ride in the truck, laying in the dashboard tray. His brother is Sunset; both yellow/orange tabbies. Since we heat with corn, together they prowl the workshop to keep it vermin free.

I suspect they are the reason we have few chipmunks picking up acorns in the yard this year. They hunt as a pair, one catches the eye of the prey and the other sneaks up behind it. They belong to my son's family and hopefully will be going back home. . . someday. The other orange cat is Bell. She had an appointment for euthanizing when my Grand, Marissa, called and asked me to take her some 10 years ago. Because of her behavior she is an outside cat that lives at my house, but she is NOT mine.

*got shots for the dog as well.

 

[thistlebloom]

Red, thanks for sharing details of your sons fine old home.
I've always loved old homes and appreciate all the work that goes into restoration and maintenance. My sister and her husband have a 100+ year old Queen Anne cottage. They bought it as a neglected and rundown relic, mostly because it was all they could afford.

It took nearly every spare dollar and all their spare time to get it livable, and finally, many years later, restored by their own hands.

My sister became an expert garage saler, a landfill liberator of discarded antiques (now illegal to pick anything up there) and an accomplished refinisher of old things that others lacked the vision to see beyond the layers of paint and rust and repairs. Her home is full of nice antiques, but they all have a story of sweat and elbow grease.

They're house is on the historic register and really a pretty little house.