The Vintage Colonial: Before Photos

Well, we've owned the house for 5 days now, have done some major clean up, had a leaky pipe in the basement (less than 24 hours after we bought the place) and held a fun 'Before' Open House over the weekend (thanks so much to everyone that came!!  So great to see you!).   And after that whirlwind of activity, I was able to capture some 'before' photos, to let everyone who couldn't attend the Open House see what we've bought.

On the exterior, the house has some lovely curb appeal - kind of a classic, don't you think?

Photo:  Hooked on Houses

It reminds me of the house in Father of the Bride, but on a smaller scale..

Photo:  I am not a stalker.com

And one of our readers thought it looked like the house from Eight is Enough (this is a quiz to see if you're old enough to remember that show!!!)

Inside the front door, we have a tight foyer.  Like most center hall colonials, you can access both the living room









and dining room from this point.

See the sun streaming in through the big bay windows?  It makes the whole dining room nice and cheerful.

And the original corner cabinet adds a nice touch to the space.

The kitchen appears to be original.

It's tight - only 8.5 feet side - so a  galley style.

And lots of doors - one that goes directly into the attached garage (a really nice feature for a Maine winter!), another to the basement, one to the backyard (which doesn't seem to have been used in years, judging by the bookcase in front of it) and the door to the dining room.

The living room is a large, gracious room.  It also has a big bay window across the front, bringing lots of sunlight into the room.

There's a stone fireplace that is a real statement piece.  It has a wood burning insert, but whether it's still in working order is a mystery until my chimney expert comes to take a look.

A feature I love about this house is the office, off of the living room.  This one room has 6 windows, so it should always be nice and bright.  It's perfect for a home office - a nice spot to get away from the rest of the household.

6 windows in one room!!!  How cool is that???

The back of the house has a screened in porch.  It doesn't look too appealing with snow in there, but once the weather warms up we'll do some updates and it should be a really fabulous space.  (I've been shopping for outdoor ceiling fans and there are some amazing options out there!!)

Upstairs, there are three bedrooms and one bath.  (And a quick word about hallways.  I always like to minimize hallways in a small home - they take precious square footage away from living areas.  This house has mastered that - the hallways are just big enough to get from room to room - without any wasted space.  They're perfect!)

Upstairs Hall - Before

The master bedroom is really generous and with lots of windows for summer breezes.  See what a bright, inviting room it is?

The front bedroom is also large.

And it includes a small space (which I guess was supposed to be a closet, since it looks like there used to be hooks on the wall) with a window and a door to the attic stairway.  I keep wondering if we should open it up to the rest of the room???  Of course the room already has 3 windows, but a little extra light is always nice.

The back bedroom is a bit smaller - but is really charming with the curved ceiling,

The bathroom is tight, but functional.  As you can imagine, I'd like to make a few changes :-)  One that I won't change is that bathtub......it's got so much more style than a modern tub and if we get it restored, it will be a thing of beauty.

And last, but not least - at least from a budget perspective - is the basement.  

I love the copper hot water tank!!!  Need to come up with a plan to repurpose it!

All that white wrapping you see around the heating pipes?  That's asbestos.  All those  9" square tiles on the floor?  You guessed it, asbestos.  And the 1952 boiler?  Full of asbestos insulation.  So a big budget item is to have that properly removed.

And it comes with a basement 'throne' - a basement toilet that's surely original.  I know it's odd, but I love old toilets and we're going to do our best to get this one in working order again.  

But it's kind of cool to have a basement fireplace.  And while we won't make this a fancy space, the previous owner said it's always been a dry basement.  So it could be some additional living space - perhaps a playroom for the kids or a craft space?

So that's the tour!!  It's a nice, solid house that with some updates can be pretty fabulous.  What do you think??  

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