Renovation Plan for the Maison Mansard

On the one hand, we have big plans for this house.  On the other hand, we're keeping the basic layout and not making major changes.

Huh?  Let me explain.

Big picture, we're going to do all the stuff we usually do - update all the electrical, plumbing, insulation, add heat pumps, etc.  We will also create a brand new kitchen, renovate the existing bath and add fa irst floor half bath.  We'll also take the small 4th bedroom and turn it into a new bathroom and a walk in closet.  So many changes!  But the overall style and flow of this Second Empire home will remain the same as it has been for almost 150 years.  And we're keeping the character and architectural elements intact (the window and door moldings are gorgeous!)  

Here's the plan.  The first floor has very clear, compartmentalized rooms.  This was great when it was first built.  But we will be updating all of that, which will allow for a better flow between rooms.

The new plan removes a few key walls, to create a more cohesive floor plan. We'll share a lot more about the kitchen design later - but the new kitchen will be even larger with a central island and so much storage!

The rear bonus room is a great entrance from the driveway, so we'll create a mudroom entrance with closets and mud bench. And then the new owners can use the rest of this bright space however they would like. 

Upstairs, we have lots of plans as well.  Here's the existing plan with 4 bedrooms, a hall bath and a funky turret room (it's 8x8 feet, but with the sloped ceilings, it feels much smaller).  

The big change is creating a true primary suite.  The existing front bedroom will get larger and include the fun little turret room as a sitting area (and will include some additional closet space!).  The small bedroom will be incorporated and become a primary bath and a walk-in closet.

These changes will make the house work better for modern living, but we'll make sure we honor the antique styling as well.  

The guys have been hard at work and it's starting to take shape.  Here are a couple of sneak peeks.  The first thing you see as you walk in the front door is now a large open space to compliment the beautiful staircase  My guess is the foyer was cold and drafty in the past and that's why you see the plastic accordion door to the living room.  Once we finish air sealing and insulating the house, that won't be necessary.

The kitchen is the darkest room in the house, in large part because of large shrubs and trees outside the windows.  Our arborist is working on that.  And of course by opening up the walls, we allow light to flow from the rest of the windows.  

The dining room will be open to both the kitchen and living room.  It's not a true open floor plan, instead the spaces retain their own function, but flow seamlessly from one to the next.

What else do you notice?  Well in some rooms we gained as much as 18 inches of ceiling height!!!  And by opening the spaces, the house now feels so big!  It's a dramatic change.

The structural beams go in next and then it will really start to look like we're making progress!

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Mansard - Second Empire Style

Since I don't know a lot about this architectural style, I reached out to the experts at Portland Landmarks, to ask their advice on good local examples.  They sent me a long list of houses and my husband and I did a Sunday morning tour to learn more.  

It seems there are a LOT of mansard/second empire homes in Portland - that we had never noticed before!

What did we learn?  Well, most have beautiful architectural trim on the windows and frieze boards (that's the wide wood trim, right under the roofline).  

Many have gable dormers, which give the home a distinctive style. 

There are a lot of two story plus a turret or bay window homes, but also a few one story with a mansard roof the are similar to our project. 

Like ours, this one in South Portland highlights the style that ours probably had before the vinyl siding was added.  

I can't wait to start tearing the vinyl and aluminum siding off of ours, to see what's underneath! 

And did you know this style of home is called Second Empire?  These houses were wildly popular after the Civil War (they were often called General/President Grant style), when everything French was in vogue.   That was especially true here in the northeast, where there are many of these houses.  There are far fewer in the southern United States.  

Don't you love the little porch on the front of the house, shaded by the giant rhododendron?

The actual mansard roof  design is named after the 17th century French architect named Francois Mansard.  It became very popular during the reign of Napoleon the III and eventually made its way to England and then the US.  

Our Mansard is a 'straight with flare' style, but many other styles (concave, convex, etc.) are also popular.  Part of the popularity came from the living space they provided in what was typically an attic.

Does the style seem familiar to you?  Well it's also been a style that's popular with scary and horror movies.  Remember the Adams Family house?  Theirs was a turreted mansard roof.  The Bates house in Psycho?  Mansard roof!  Let's hope ours isn't quite so scary!

 

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The 1898 House - the Kitchen

This is the house that a respected local builder said should be a tear down. This is the house that tested all of our renovation skills - over and over and over again. This is the house that we now call home (my husband says we’re never moving again). 

What was the most challenging part of the renovation?  The kitchen.  It started as two very separate spaces - a main kitchen area and a separate room that was a service porch with the washer and dryer.

From the moment we walked in the door, I knew this kitchen could be amazing.  The room above was unused attic space (just begging to become a cathedral ceiling!).  The structural wall between the kitchen and service porch could be opened up - creating a larger, more useful space.

The antique armoire is our pantry

But there were problems that we discovered when we started opening things up.  The entire wall on the driveway side had sills that were so rotted, we had to jack up the house and replace them.  And in the service porch, the floor joists were also rotted almost through.

We had to gut everything and start from scratch.  Which meant sealing the crawl space with its dirt floor and spray foaming the foundation.  

We had to gut everything down to the crawl space

But look how nice it is now!  Don't you love that original door?  It has wavy glass that adds so much charm.  

But before you ask, I'll answer two questions we hear a lot!  1) Why is there a grandfather clock in the kitchen?  Simple answer is it's too tall for anywhere else in the house!  2) Why isn't that door finished?  I have 17 doors to strip down to their original wood - I've done 2 1/2.  This is the 1/2 one!! 😂. 

We also had to install crazy engineered beams to create the big, open ceiling that I envisioned.  This is a real feat of structural engineering.  

And totally worth it for the final result!  

Kitchen front window - before

Kitchen front window - after

This floor plan might make it easier to understand the changes and the 'before and after' photos.

It took months to get the custom tile I ordered - and then I broke my wrist and couldn't install it.  But I finally finished up last weekend and the kitchen is mostly done.  Except for that 1/2 stripped door!  

My husband loves his coffee/cocktail bar area!  It's also a convenient spot for the dog bowls.  

In many respects, this kitchen gave me the chance to utilize some of my favorite features.  A dutch door, antique style tile, two sinks, lots of built ins, etc.  And now we get to enjoy them for many years to come!

 

Sources:

Crownpoint Cabinetry - in Sherwin Williams Accessible Beige

Antique Armoire - Portland Architectural Salvage

Central Light Fixture - Visual Comfort

Sconces - Pottery Barn with Amazon Globes

Eating Nook Light Fixture - Wayfair

Tile - Moore-Merkowitz Tile, Ltd.

She loves to peek over the door! 

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Demo Day Discoveries

When this house went on the market, I expected it to get snatched up right away.  But instead, it languished a bit and when we made an offer, there was just one other offer (also a flipper).  That's pretty unusual in today's real estate market, but there were understandably some things that would scare a prospective buyer off.  And we found all of them as we started opening up the walls and ceilings!  

What were our concerns?  

1) Cracked plaster probably lies behind all that paneling and suspended ceilings.  Our guess is it was shaken loose when the house was moved a couple of blocks in 1960.  

And sure enough, we have found lots of cracks.  But also LOTS and LOTS of wallpaper - which may be holding the plaster together.  I won't really know until I get it stripped off.

Most of the first floor had two ceilings, but the dining room gets the award for 3 ceilings in one room!

(BTW - my mother's favorite color scheme is in this wallpaper - avocado green, burnt orange and harvest gold.   I'm betting this is from the late 60's or early 70's!) 

Eagles, cannons and the Liberty Bell!!! 

My plaster/drywall expert is coming to look at the walls this week.  I really, really want to save the plaster.  But I also want to insulate the walls (we can add blown in cellulose behind the plaster), so I need his expertise to determine if that is feasible.

2) Structural issues.  There is serious sagging in some areas (as much as 2 inches) and also a weird hump at the top of the stairs (we think maybe they over-jacked the floor when the house was moved).  As we pulled back some of the layers, we found areas where the joists were seriously under spanned and had pulled away from the beams (that's why joint hangers are required by modern building code).  We will 'sister' all of these to add more structural integrity and straighten out the floors.

This is a post and beam house - meaning the posts and beams hold up all of the load of the building.  The studs that connect the beams to the floor are simply there to hold the lath and plaster.  So when we saw that a plumber had completely cut out one of the beams (over a doorway!!!!) - we were amazed.  How is this house still standing? 

3) Knob and tube wiring.  Even when an inspection says the knob and tube wiring is no longer active - I don't believe it.  And this is why!  Unless the ceilings had been totally removed, there is no way to eliminate all the knob and tube between floors.  These light fixtures were wired directly into the old wiring.  Ugh! 

But while that's not a great thing, a nastier discovery was someone had cut all the knob and tube wiring in the attic (so for the homeowner, it would look like it was disabled) and then tied it all into a single box for the 2nd floor.  Our electrician was so appalled, he took it as a souvenir to show how bad it was!

4) Heating issues.  There are so many heating sources, which points to a very badly insulated house. There is an oil tank in the basement, but the steam boiler is now connected to natural gas, so the oil tank is just sitting there.  The house also has a pellet stove in the basement, with metal grates between floors to allow the heat to go through the building.  There is also a Rinnai propane gas heater in the living room.   That's a lot of heat sources!! 

Oh - and there is zero insulation in the walls, except for the kitchen when it was redone, probably in the 70's. 

5) Old Roof - the disclosure says the roof is 25+ years old.  And it will be a tricky roof to redo!

6)  Tired old kitchen and bathroom - while both of these rooms are functional, the kitchen drawers don't open/close correctly, parts of the stove are broken and it's just time to update both of these spaces.  

Of course we will be updating all of these items!  I'm in the process of getting quotes to see how much it will all cost 😬.  Wish me luck!

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The Well Traveled House

This house is far more interesting than many of our projects.  According to neighborhood legend, the house was built in 1880 and started life as a part of Holy Cross Catholic Church on Cottage Rd.  It was used over the years by the nuns and the church staff.  

I found this aerial photo from the early 1950's (part of the South Portland Historical Society archives).   It's really hard to see any detail, but it's clearly our Maison!   The only odd thing is the back of the house, the mansard roof doesn't have the same angle as the rest of the house and the window looks very different than it does today.  So maybe they changed something when it was moved?

Close up of Maison Mansard.  See how the back looks clipped off?

In the late 1950's, Holy Cross wanted to build a new, larger church where the house stood.  But what to do with the house?  It was in good shape and it seemed a shame to tear it down.  So it was moved a couple of blocks to a new location.

There are good things and bad things about moving a house.  The good news - it got a nice new (aka 1960's) basement, which is a big upgrade from the typical old rubble stone foundations we find from the 1880's in Maine.   The maybe not-so-good news is the plaster is probably a mess from cracking on the move.  Most of the walls are covered in paneling, so we really can't tell what shape it's in.  But it could be a budget buster!

I've been searching for photos of the original house.  A friend found this house from an anniversary booklet the church published in 1963.  You can just barely see the edge of the house on the left.  I've tried to enhance the quality of the photo, but still can't make out a lot of detail.

The amazing Kathy DiPhilippo from the South Portland Historical Society has been helping me figure out the history of the house.  She was able to find this photo, which again shows a corner, but not the full house.  She's helping me learn more about the history of the house - so there's more to come!

If any other local folks have more information on the history of the house, I'd love to hear it!  Not many houses are this well traveled!  😂 Pin It

Introducing the Maison Mansard

I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to find a new project that was intriguing and affordable. In fact, I'd decided to take the summer off and catch up on my own home projects.  And then suddenly this popped up - and what an AMAZING project it will be!  

So let me introduce the Maison Mansard. This is such a big change from our previous projects.  It doesn't really fit our usual cottage style.  And yet it has such fabulous bones, it will be a fun challenge.  

Here are a few photos of the existing home.  It has such great features - high ceilings, large rooms, etc!  But it's also ready for some updating.  I'm still working through the plan, but there will be changes to come.  Here's the foyer - look at that staircase! (Note: I know the stairs look incredibly steep, but they are only slightly taller than current building code - but there are a LOT of them!) 



The living room is a big room with multiple windows 

Living room - lots of paneling!

The dining room opens to both the living room and kitchen (look at that 80's wallpaper!  It was the height of fashion!)

 

The kitchen is big - maybe one of the biggest kitchens we've ever renovated!  I can already envision what it will look like when it's done! 

The refrigerator sits by itself, in front of the basement stairs.  We will change that!

I bet there is a nice high ceiling above that suspended ceiling!

This funky shaped hallway (so narrow!) leads to 2 bedrooms

Upstairs there are 4 bedrooms.  

This is the largest bedroom - future primary suite? 

I'm pretty sure I had that acanthus border in a house in the 80's!

This is the smallest bedroom

What's behind all that paneling?

There is also this funky upstairs room.  I guess just for storage?  It's only 8' x 8', so really tiny with sloped walls making it feel even smaller.


The family bath is large! 

Look at those amazing curves on the stairwell! 

Back downstairs, there are two more bonus rooms.  This one might be a nice home office?


And there is this additional room on the back of the house.  It's adjacent to the driveway - my guess is it's the door the family will use most of the time when they're coming home.

Join me as I dig into the history of the home and update it for today’s living (but still keep all the amazing vintage charm!).  There is so much to do!  Thanks for following along!  

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