Saving the Unpainted Wood Trim

This house is our 23rd project - and yet it's the first home we've renovated that has the original wood trim. I am determined to keep the original woodwork, despite constant naysayers from the team 😂 (once again, they think I'm crazy!).  And in some respects they're right - there are a lot of challenges to make that happen. 

First challenge - a lot of the existing woodwork has these globs of shellac beaded over it.  I'm not sure what the cause of that is, but I read that Denatured Alcohol will melt it away and decided to give it a try. 

It's worked really well!  After I clean up the old bumpy finish it, I re-shellac it.  It looks fabulous, like brand new!  But it's a huge amount of work, that I can only do when the guys aren't around creating dust.  So this is a slow, slow process.

Freshly shellacked trim 

But look how great the original trim looks when we install it on the updated walls!  It instantly gives off that vintage vibe!

This baseboard has been refinished and looks fabulous!

And I love how the original trim goes so well with the new cabinetry.

Second challenge - the windows. We are replacing all of the windows, but I want to keep wood interiors.  I found these beautiful windows from Matthews Brothers (and they're made in Maine!).  They are vinyl (aka no maintenance on the outside) but have wood trim on the interior.  Best of all, they're copied after antique style windows with divided lights on the interior and exterior.  I absolutely love them, but I have to stain and poly each and every one of them, which is taking lots of time and energy.

One sash down.....lots to go!

Doesn't this new window look great? 

These warm wood tones are beautiful

Third challenge - the Sunroom.  Since this is a totally new space, it needs additional trim that doesn't exist.  There isn't enough of the old trim from the walls we removed to do the whole room. So we're trying to finish new wood to look like the old.  

So far, so good.  The new fir looks similar to the 100 year old wood.  So now, I'm frantically trying to stay a step ahead of the guys by staining and sealing the trim as quickly as possible!  It takes me about 48 hours to stain and seal a batch of woodwork.  It takes them about 48 minutes to install it.  So I've got a lot of catching up to do!

New fir beadboard for the powder room

 

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The Kitchen Milestone

 

There’s only one milestone that makes a full renovation really start to feel complete – the kitchen.  And now that the floors are finished, Kyle has started installing the cabinets.

This kitchen was ready for an update, and we’ve done just that!  This was a total gut job and included opening up and replacing some walls.  And of course, while we were at it, we replaced all the electrical, plumbing and insulation with new, building code compliant products.

Kitchen Before

 

With the elimination of the wall between the dining room and kitchen, we were able to extend the cabinets a bit, resulting in a lot more storage than the original kitchen.  The stove will no longer be crammed into the corner and we were able to add a beautiful farm sink.

 

We also removed the old furnace flue, which allowed us to move the refrigerator to the front wall.  This is a huge change and opens up space for a center island with space for bar stools.

 

The island is cherry, to tie into the wood tones of the original woodwork.  The plan is to add a cherry butcher block top to make it more of a furniture piece.

 

One feature I’m really excited about is the addition of a pantry.  There are two units, one with pull out trays.  The other unit could be used for hanging coats or shelving – the new owners can decide how they would use the space.

 

Last week, the quartz countertops went in and that made it all looks so much more cohesive!

Such a heavy piece of quartz!!

I'm in love with this pattern.  It looks so much like marble, but won't have all the upkeep associated with marble! 

We are waiting on delivery of the crown molding and the cherry butcher block top.  Once that’s installed, we will be almost done!  But isn't it looking good?

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100 Year Old Wood Floors

I love the patina of old wood floors and want to save as much as I can.  But when you remove walls and old forced air heating systems, there is a lot of patch work that needs to be done to put everything back together.  And that adds some challenges!  

It was a foregone conclusion that the kitchen floor couldn't be saved.  That's true in 90% of the houses I renovate - kitchen floors are subject to so much abuse, that they rarely look good when we pull all the extra layers of flooring off of them (this kitchen had ceramic tile and linoleum over the original hardwood!).  In this house, it looks like there were some persistent water leaks that left large stains and lots of gaps between the floorboards.  So our amazing flooring team tore out the old floor and saved what was usable to patch other areas.

Primary Suite flooring will be unified with all new beech hardwood

The other problem area is the primary suite.  Since we made this room three feet wider, it would look really odd to install new wood in that section.  It could never match the original patina. So we decided to tear that floor out and use it for patching all the other areas we have throughout the house.  We can't let that precious 100 year old floor go to waste! 

But the biggest challenge turned out to be the entryway.  Turns out, this was a nightmare to tear out.  There was plywood under the tile.  It came out in big splinters and it took hours to get it all up.

The guys were not happy that I wanted to save the floor under this tile! 

The original floor had been covered with plywood and then green square tiles were installed on the plywood (those tiles are sending out a 90's vibe!!!).

Starting point - 90's flooring???

The result?  It looks pretty nice, aside from a zillion staples that will have to be removed!  And some will get stitched in to fill those areas where we removed walls.  They also need to fix the old floor heat vent.

The living room had a big 4x4 foot patch that must have been from an old floor heating vent (interestingly, this house never had central heat on the 2nd floor).  We discovered the subfloor below created a hump that the guys needed to address before they could stitch in the reclaimed flooring. 

And now that they've patched it all up, it looks great!  When they sand it, all the wonky colors will disappear and it will be uniform and beautiful!

All the gaps and holes have been stitched closed with reclaimed flooring

These floors are beech.  We've only had one other project with beech floors, so I asked the guys to sand down a section for me, so I could see what a natural finish would look like.  I love the color - but don't love the giant footprints in the middle of the test area! 

The middle bedroom was enlarged a couple of feet, which meant some patching had to be done there as well.  See how they stitched it in?  Once it's sanded and finished, you'll never be able to tell!  

All stitched in with reclaimed flooring from other rooms

Beech is not a typical flooring that is readily available.  So we had to order it and wait for it to arrive.  But when it did, we realized it was worth the wait.  It's just beautiful!

Kitchen floor in process

Look at that beautiful beech floor! 

There's quite a bit of work to do to get it sanded and a first coat of finish.  But then we can move forward with installing the kitchen and baseboards in the rest of the room.

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The Ensuite Half Bath

Adding a half bath to the primary bedroom is a huge upgrade to this house.  And while it isn't a huge space, I want it to be really pretty and really functional.  So I've spent lots of time figuring out all the details to make that happen.

The layout was a bit tricky, thanks to the sloped ceiling - that part of the room isn't tall enough to stand upright.  We're going to put some storage space under the slope and have pulled the toilet far enough forward to be functional.  

The sloped ceiling pushed the toilet forward from the back wall

For the finishes, the first area I focused on was the tile floor.  I decided to splurge a bit, since it's a small space it didn't completely destroy my budget.  I can't tell you how much I love this tile!  It's a mix of lava rock and cement and the mix of matte finish and sheen gives it some life and vibrancy.

It was also a bear to install!  
 

But once the grout was installed, I loved how it came out!! 

There is room for a small vanity.  I chose this 30 inch wide vanity that will provide a couple of drawers and space for towels and baskets.  

We did a test fit to make sure it would work and I'm thrilled with it.  I wanted to make sure there was a lot of storage.  So the vanity provides some space as does the Pottery Barn medicine cabinet.

For even more storage, Kyle's building custom storage cabinets under the sloped ceiling.  Plus, we have lots of finishing touches planned.  We will be adding a beadboard wainscoting around the perimeter.  Oh, and did I mention wallpaper???  Stay tuned to see it all come together!! 

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So Many Details in the Tiniest Room

We're lucky to have a half bath on the first floor - that's a rarity in an old house.  I want this one to be really beautiful.  One of the fun things about a small bathroom is you can be a bit bolder than you might be in a larger space.  And while I try to keep the color palette neutral for the main areas of the house, I can be a bit more daring in this small bathroom.

First things first, the fixtures will be white and classic - no new trends in here!  It's a small space, so we'll use a pedestal sink with a brass Kohler faucet that reflects the simple styling appropriate for a Craftsman home. 

I really want to add beadboard wainscoting.  I will need to stain it to match the rest of the woodwork in the house - which just adds to the crazy amount of wood finishing I need to do.  So it's possible that won't happen.  But I think it will look beautiful!  This is a fir wainscoting I installed behind a mud bench at a previous project.  I love that natural wood! 

And to make the room really pop, I want to install this Morris & Co paper.  As a reminder, William Morris was one of the key figures in the Craftsman design aesthetic coming out of the UK at the turn of the last century.  This paper is from their Emery Walker collection and is manufactured in the UK - my rolls just arrived and I can't wait till the room is ready for me to install it! 

The wallpaper has arrived!

And as a reminder, here was our starting point.

And here is our current status.  The new window brings in the morning light.  A pocket door will provide privacy (the previous bathroom only had a curtain).  Still lots to do before we get to the pretty stuff! 

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Creating Basement Living Space

With so many people working from home, having additional living space is a priority for many homeowners.  No one really wants to do a zoom call with their bed in the background.  It's so much nicer if there is a dedicated space with a door that closes to keep everything quiet.  We have a nice big, dry basement that can provide some great office space. 

But it's an interesting challenge to figure out how to best utilize the space.

The biggest challenge in the staircase.  The steps are NOT to building code.  They're not even close.  They're very narrow and steep and pretty scary!

But it's not easy to figure out how to fix them.  Option 1 - extend them into the kitchen to make them safer.  But losing a couple of feet would dramatically alter our kitchen plan and make it much less desirable.  Option 2 - leave the steep steps from the kitchen to the landing for the exterior door and update the lower part of the staircase to be code compliant.  But honestly, it's really not safe for any of the steps to be left as is.

Which brings us to Option 3 - which I know is going to be controversial.  We are going to remove the door to the exterior.  Normally I would be loath to remove a door from the basement.  But this door is on the far side of the house, away from the driveway (oddly, it's next to the neighbor's driveway).  This isn't a door that would be used frequently, probably just on rare occasions.  And the landing when you come in the door is very small, so it's not particularly helpful for bringing in large items.  So reluctantly, we've decided it has to go.  That way a safe stairway can be properly installed.  The silver lining is that we will replace it with a window that will bring more sunlight into the basement.

End of life furnace has been removed

Next, we had to decide how to divide up the living space.  There were already some walls in place, but we tore most of them out when we had the waterproofing system installed.  We also removed the old furnace and oil tank - which freed up lots of space.  Now we have a blank slate!

Basement 'Before'

After lots of thought we came up with 3 distinct areas.  1) the utility space which includes the laundry, hot water heater, electrical panel and storage.  2) a home office space, with doors that can be closed to provide privacy.  And 3) a bonus room that can be used as a playroom for kids, exercise room, or whatever else the new owners might want.

The guys have framed up the space and spray foam insulation has been applied.  Next, the drywall team installed the ceiling.  

The electricians have installed the lighting and the rooms are starting to take shape! 

Future home office

Future Bonus Room

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