What I Love About Our New House

Since we're ripping out a LOT of what could be seen in the house (i.e. the wood paneling), one might wonder why we chose that house in the first place.

The thing is, here and there, there were bits of the original character peeking out from behind the 70s decor. Original trim, vents, the staircase, two stained-glass windows, and a whopping total of one original door. I just had to see what lay underneath the paneling.

One of the Stained Glass Windows

Original Banister

The only original door left, also the original trim untouched

An Original Vent

It turns out the original plaster walls covered with (most likely original) peeling wallpaper were hidden behind the updates. They wallpapered the ceilings, which is actually kind of cool. Also, I nearly cried when I saw the original window trim, hacked away in places to make way for that wood paneling. We discovered a hole in the bathroom wall where an original medicine cabinet once stood, as well as a boarded up window, which now leads to the fourth bedroom. A large window in the dining room was covered and turned into built-in-shelves because of the laundry room addition.

The built-in shelves are covering the original window trim

The original trim was trimmed for the wood paneling

A hole in the wall for a medicine cabinet

A boarded up window

I'm going to try my hardest to restore that trim, because the one window and the multiple doorways where it stayed intact are beautiful. I'm also hoping to find some five-panel doors and a front door at the local architectural salvage warehouse to replace the hollow doors that replaced the originals. I'm also hoping to restore the trim around the old dining room window/built-in shelves and create a more era-appropriate built-in.

The house was really dark with all that wood paneling. It's already brightened up since we took it down. The living room will also brighten up once we put a light in there.

I found out the house was a brick house just by looking around the enclosed front porch. The wall of brick was unfortunately painted an ugly tan and brown, but the original columns are still there, untouched. Un-enclosing the front porch will also help a LOT with brightening up the living room, even though it'll be some time before we can do that.

The vinyl and stone facade that covers the house

Painted Brick in the Front Porch

I'm really excited about how it'll look when all the work is done.

House Remodel Journal Part 2

When we bought this house, we knew we’d need to work on it. Before we put in an offer, I had a list of all the work I’d want done on the house. We planned out how to finance said work. But, as is typical, we may have underestimated exactly how much time it all would take. This isn’t HGTV, after all. It’s real life.

I’m a planner. I plan things until I can no longer plan them. I’m not much of a doer. The follow-through is not my strong suit. I live in the theoretical. There are points where this serves me really well—problem solving, planning a remodel. I make very detailed plans, but sometimes my plans don’t take into account my present reality. I am newly a mother of 2, healing from a C-section that I had three days before we closed on our house. My plans involved me doing a large chunk of the work on the house—not exactly realistic. We also currently live with my grandmother, 40 minutes away from our house, which makes meeting contractors and going over to do work tedious.

The Living Room

A pile of wood paneling in one of the bedrooms

We discovered the drop ceiling in one of the bedrooms covered ceiling tiles, yippie!

After tearing out all the plaster in the attic

Instead, my husband has been making the drive five nights a week to work on the house after putting our son down to bed. He spends 2-3 hours at the house—sometimes with help—while I care for our newborn and go to sleep. It’s taken a toll on our relationship. We only see each other for dinner and a few minutes in the morning as he gets ready for work. Juggling the house, two kids, his job, and our relationship has probably been harder on him than me.

Peeling Wallpaper and Original Trim

Living Room's much brighter without paneling

So, where are we currently? Benjamin’s still peeling off the layers of remodels the house has had in its hundred years of existing, and I’m meeting with plumbers and an electrician this week to get quotes on those jobs. We’ve sent a down payment to our A/C contractor and are waiting to schedule that work. Our 22-month-old is adjusting to big-brotherhood pretty well, despite bouts of jealousy. Our newborn is 1 month old and refusing to sleep in his own bed. And Benjamin and I are strangers sharing a bed (with a baby) at my grandmother’s house.

Despite all this, I am hopeful. This is just a short chapter in our lives, after all. I’m going to push to get this house done as soon as possible, so we can move in and reap the benefits that this house seemed to promise us when we bought it. Things we are currently sacrificing, like time together, we’ll be able to have multiplied to us when we are finished.

House Remodel Journal Part 1

We bought a house--a month ago!

It's a brick American Foursquare built in the early 1900s. We actually bought it from the grandson of the family that built it. They immigrated from Poland and built this house to raise their family. His parents were the last to live in it before he inherited it and rented it out. His parents updated it a few times in the 70s, built an addition and inserted a LOT of wood paneling.

This house caught our eye because of the location and size of the house. It is near schools, parks, and restaurants in a town that is very walkable. It's age appealed to me because I love old houses and have been playing with an idea to start my own business restoring old houses and buildings. This seemed like the perfect way to get my feet wet.

We aren't planning on doing anything to the layout of the house, but instead plan on updating the cosmetics--or, more accurately, restoring the cosmetics to reflect it's original beauty.

We are starting with the interior and working our way out. We may not get to the exterior for a few years, but I fully intend to un-enclose the porch and peel off the vinyl siding and fake stone facade to reveal the original brick one day.

Living Room

Dining Room

Kitchen

Attic

Here's the plan:
Remove ALL wood paneling and worn-down carpeting
Install central A/C
Update electrical (we found knob & tube in the attic)
Insulate attic and basement
Refinish attic to make playroom for kids
Finish the rest of the basement for Benjamin's music studio
Fix plaster walls
Restore trimwork
Install new light fixtures in most of the house
Install new flooring
Paint
Move in!

I know it's a bit unrealistic, but I'm hoping to be finished with the interior and move in by our son's second birthday, which is mid-September.

Wish us luck!